Shower Singing - More Than Just Good Clean Fun

Shower singing has long been considered a humor-worthy activity. It conjures up the image of a hairy, barrel-chested man singing into a piece of Soap-on-a-Rope, head thrown back and accompanied by the family Bassett Hound howling outside the shower curtain. (Did I get this straight from Norman Rockwell?) What possible use could shower singing be to a professional singer or singer-in-training?

Actually it’s an activity I recommend to all my singers. It’s good for us; the steam plumps up the mucus membranes of the nose and throat. It’s fun; who knew you could sound this great? The shower reverb and echo cover a multitude of mistakes. It’s a terrific training device; novice singers feel empowered by the flattering acoustics and respond by reaching out to sing more boldly.

Our comfort-driven modern habitats are artificially heat and cold regulated; both have a drying effect on our tender respiratory tissues. When you’re in the shower singing, steam produces a moist environment which permeates the mucus membrane of the nose, sinus cavities, throat and vocal cords, and help keep a singer’s tone and resonance healthy and fresh.

Also, you have to admit that singing in the shower is just plain fun. It turns an otherwise mundane grooming activity into an opportunity to be self-entertained, creative, and amused. Even if it only sounds good to the dog, it’s the one place we all feel comfortable about cutting loose and letting go with our voice.

The acoustics in the standard North American shower are second only to Carnegie Hall. (Some suggest they’re even better!) The shower construction creates an acoustically rich environment that returns a flattering reverb to the singer’s ear.

Fusion bass player Mark Tallent talked with me about expanding his musical skills by learning to sing. During the course of our conversation I advised him to record his efforts with very little or no reverb effects so he would have a realistic idea of how he was progressing.

Well, he did a complete reversal on me and recorded all his practices with his voice so awash with reverb and special effects that you could barely distinguish the vocal line.

But, here’s where he was right and I was wrong. His bare "un-reverbed" vocals returned the sound of a beginning singer’s vocals to his ears. They sounded pretty raw and unruly. But whenever he put all those fancy Euro effects on his voice, it sounded wonderful to his ears. The sound was so good that it gave him the confidence to keep trying.

It took months of his equivalent version of singing in the shower before he had the courage to turn off the effects, but when he did, he found his bare vocals had evolved into the sound he truly wanted to hear.

Lesson to be learned about shower singing? It is confidence-building for singers to be rewarded with a sound that encourages reaching out to lead with the voice. If you want to feel good about your singing, forget the fancy sound effects and head home for some shower singing with the dog.

Nashville vocal coach Renee Grant-Williams reveals the trade secrets that have already helped hundreds of aspiring singers become celebrities: Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Miley Cyrus, Huey Lewis, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Christina Aguilera...

Like me on Facebook at or follow me on Twitter @MyVoiceCoach. My blog can be found at MyVoiceCoachBlog.com.

Go to CyberVoiceStudio.com and sign up to receive my free weekly Video Voice Lessons.

For more information go to MyVoiceCoach.com or call 615.244.3280 to schedule a private voice session in person, by telephone or by Skype.

Singing Basics - Must a Vocal Coach Always Start There?

Covering the singing basics of breathing, support, and resonance was the way I used to start off every new student before I would move on to non-physical issues such as phrasing or interpretation. But that was many years ago (back in the Jurassic Age, actually).

Although I still believe this is generally the ideal approach, a large portion of my clientele are established artists that I see only sporadically. The singers at this level have touring and recording schedules that don't allow them the luxury of dropping everything else to handle vocal problems when they sneak up on them. Often time passes and the problems become serious before they seek help.

It's logical to assume the source of voice damage is physical, perhaps due to poor breathing or a lack of basic support. But, in fact, many of these professionals don't need to embark upon a course in singing basics at all. Many have already figured out what techniques work best for them. They are looking for a Band-Aid, not open-heart surgery.

When I work with these singers or with a young student in trouble, I try to identify the most critical problems first and work to correct them. I consider whether there are other factors that may be contributing to the problem, factors that may have nothing to do with the physical application of the techniques of the singing basics.

I listen first for over-singing, a most convenient and likely culprit. We seem to be suffering through a detrimental "Epidemic of Loud," possibly due to the widespread influence that national competitions have on the music-loving population. Maybe it's time for artists to get back to the singing basics of communicating the words and emotions of a song -- without the loud singing, the long held high notes, and endless vocal inflections.

Next I listen for the rhythm in the track. Does the singer tend to fall behind the rhythmic pushes that drive the instrumental tracks? Does the tempo drag and the energy drop at the end of phrases, stepping on the fills? (Fills are those instrumental noodlings that carry the singer from the end of one line into the beginning of the next.) Or does the singer appear to be in sync or out of sync with //the pushes and pulses in the rhythm track?

Is the performer really singing what the words mean, or simply slinging a lot of voice around? Do they make clever use of the relief that a liberal use of silence and consonants can bring? Or do they get bogged down by over-extending the vowels?

These are a few of the issues I often address when time is limited. It's amazing to me that simply bolstering the phrasing or pronunciation, or thinking about the words would have such a therapeutic effect on what would appear to be purely physical issues like bad pitch and voice strain.

So, although it may not be my ideal purist approach, I have found you don’t always have to start with the singing basics of breathing, support and resonance. You can get a lot of mileage out of other, non-physical, techniques that will give a busy, probably over-extended, singer quick results and a bigger bang for their bucks.

Nashville vocal coach Renee Grant-Williams reveals the trade secrets that have already helped hundreds of aspiring singers become celebrities: Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Miley Cyrus, Huey Lewis, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Christina Aguilera...

Like me on Facebook at or follow me on Twitter @MyVoiceCoach. My blog can be found at MyVoiceCoachBlog.com.

Go to CyberVoiceStudio.com and sign up to receive my free weekly Video Voice Lessons.

For more information go to MyVoiceCoach.com or call 615.244.3280 to schedule a private voice session in person, by telephone or by Skype.

Techniques For Singing - Try a Vocal Lesson

Techniques for singing can be improved substantially by scheduling a vocal lesson with a reputable voice coach.

How do you know if you need help and when? It's a good idea to start out your performing career by laying a foundation of good techniques for singing. Starting with an empty slate is a whole lot easier than finding out later in your career that you have to correct long-standing bad habits.

Watch for these symptoms of a voice in trouble:

            Sore throat during or after singing

            Pitch problems, sharp or flat

            Feeling that you need to sing louder to maintain the tone

            Feeling that you need to whisper to get the words out

            Finding it difficult to pronounce the words

            Lack of emotional communication with audience

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, you might want to start asking around for that vocal coach we talked about and begin to develop some valid singing techniques for yourself.

I once asked country singer (first singer to record "Wind Beneath My Wings") and Broadway star (Les Miserables) Gary Morris why he thought he needed to take a vocal lesson. He replied by saying, "You might be a big, tough guy, but you wouldn't get in the ring with Mike Tyson without an expert trainer in your corner." Good analogy, Gary!

How can you know what to expect from the singing coaches you may interview? Look first at their resume, client list, and fees -- as is true in many fields, you tend to get what you pay for. Are any of the students known to you? Ask the coach to supply you with a way to contact present and/or former students. Encourage the coach to explain their personal philosophy of techniques for singing. What is most important to them? Vocal safety? Emotional impact? Perfect singing techniques? A five octave range? (And you need five octaves for what?)

At some point you have to quit looking and start trusting. Once you have the information you need to make a carefully considered decision, it's time to hand yourself over to the strange things this individual will ask you to do in a vocal lesson. I, for one, admit my warm-up exercises sound a little dorky, but they work! And that's what counts.

You have to trust your singing teacher, but keep an open mind. Regularly check your progress by taping yourself and listening to the results. Ask for progress evaluations from trusted friends and family. If your progress seems to be stalled or you are plagued by the serious voice problems listed above -- well, it might be time to move on to a better fit. I always give my students a %100 guarantee that if my techniques for singing better don't work for them, they can always go back to what wasn't working for them before.

With the right vocal coach you can learn how to sharpen your techniques for singing freely and how to craft a song to move an audience from tears to joy and back again. But when it comes to making career moves you need to be a self-starter.

You can ask for feedback from your singing teacher when opportunities come your way. They should be able to help you make informed decisions, but don't expect your vocal coach to manage your career, or get you a record deal -- that is, unless they offer that service and have a track record of success.

  

Nashville vocal coach Renee Grant-Williams reveals the trade secrets that have already helped hundreds of aspiring singers become celebrities: Tim McGraw, Martina McBride, Dixie Chicks, Miley Cyrus, Huey Lewis, Kenny Chesney, Faith Hill, Jason Aldean, Christina Aguilera...

Like me on Facebook at or follow me on Twitter @MyVoiceCoach. My blog can be found at MyVoiceCoachBlog.com.

Go to CyberVoiceStudio.com and sign up to receive my free weekly Video Voice Lessons.

For more information go to MyVoiceCoach.com or call 615.244.3280 to schedule a private voice session in person, by telephone or by Skype.