TOP TEN FAQ’s FOR SINGERS

8.   How Can I Project My Voice Better?

The wonderful Elizabeth Sabine talks about how when we are all born, the first thing that the doctor does is smack us

on the bottom to get us to cry and kick started into life, so to speak. Then, for the next year we cry when we are

hungry, unhappy, sick, need changing etc etc. and guess what?, we never lose our voices because it is natural for us to

use our bodies properly and yell. Then our parents (except the really enlightened ones – thanks Mum & Dad) start

telling us to be quiet and that children should be “seen and not heard”. You all know that expression!!. So we start

losing the ability to project and often we lose our ability to portray emotion as well as it is so often frowned upon,

especially in schools, and the corporate world. There is absolutely nothing wrong with showing emotion and it is

obviously a very important part of singing, however for most of us it has been so repressed that the majority of people

who come to lessons haven’t a clue even how to shout. That’s where we start. It is a mixture of good breathing, using

our bodies just like when we were a baby and over-riding the subconscious which has been programmed into being

quiet and repressing our emotions for years. They say never shake a baby but there are some parents and

schoolteachers I would love to get hold of and give a good shake to as it can take a long time to get rid of the notion

that we should all be quiet and start to enjoy being open and display our feelings again. There is no hope for the

corporate world I’m afraid!

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VOCAL TIPS