Vocal Domain

Anyone who has gotten up in front of other people (singing, speeches, teaching, etc.) will tell you what it’s like just before you get started. As you go over in your mind what you think is going to happen during the performance, your heart starts to race, your breathing rate increases, your hands start to get all clammy. Many call it stage fright others might only get some pre performance jitters. Even the greatest, most world-renowned performers and singers attest to still getting that rush of anxiety and emotion just before going up on stage. So what are some good techniques for overcoming that stage fright or those pre performance jitters?

Prior to going in front of a crowd, I always try to envision putting on a great performance and I experience all the joy and pleasure I would get afterward from knowing I did a great job. I try to focus more on how great I will feel afterward than the on the details of what I will do during a performance. This helps to alleviate my anxiety and allows things to flow more easily as I get started.

When on stage or in front of a crowd, I always try not to look at faces in the crowd right off the bat. I look just above people’s heads so that it appears that you I’m looking at them without actually having to make eye contact. As things progress and my anxiety subsides, I gradually look at peoples faces and try to really feel the audience’s emotions.

It’s not anything new to find that your favorite artist or band has either or admitted or been caught using some type of mood or mind altering substance just before going on stage or even during a performance. I’m not trying to judge anyone and if you’re into that sort of thing than so be it, but the worst thing you can do is ingest some type of substance just to get past your stage fright or pre performance jitters.

First of all alcohol and especially cigarettes are horrible for your vocal chords, and just like the actual affects of drug abuse, using substances to get over your performance anxiety will only lead to relying on these substances throughout your musical performance career. Not to mention the possibility of addiction and overdose. Besides, the audience wants to hear you perform, not some drugged up or drunk version of you.

Instead, try singing and performing at smaller venues until you get comfortable and then work your way up to bigger audiences. You’re never going to get over the nervousness, so instead use these feelings to your advantage to put you into that hyper aware state that will really prepare you to rock the crowd. After you get on stage and embrace the anxious energy rather than fight it, you’re only going to grow as a performer and singer.

The best way to overcome stage fright and pre performance jitters is to simply practice. I can’t emphasize how important practice is to really get that edge you need in your performances. After all, the best confidence booster is just knowing that you’ve been there and done that before. Just have fun, and try not to over think about how well you’re singing or performance will be.

Criticisms should start with what is good about an individual’s singing technique and build from there. For some reason this seems to run counter to what many singing and vocal instructors incorporate into their teaching style.  A great many instructors find everything you might have done wrong and attempt to fix all of these supposed problems.  What I’ve found to be the greatest talent of my favorite singing and vocal instructors is their ability to find what I’ve done right in my singing technique and then continually build on this.  In the end this always takes care of the original problems that were found in my original singing technique.

Obviously one of the goal’s should be to address problems and work toward solutions, but constructive criticism is just that – it is constructive.  So ask yourself, “How can I build someone up if I am only focusing on this person’s weak points in my analysis?”  Don’t dwell on what is wrong with a singer’s performance to the extent that the problem becomes a distraction.

One of the most clever techniques for dealing constructively in your criticism is to give out what I’ve come to know as a good-bad-good sandwich - slice of critique in between two pieces of compliment.  Start out with what a singer is doing right, transition into what is needs improvement and end with another compliment of the singer’s strengths.  This way your student is opened up by the compliment, the problem is addressed and then they’re left with the good feeling of another compliment.

Lastly, keep in mind your non-verbal behaviors, like posture or facial expression. These are powerful indicators of your thoughts. If you look relaxed, your student is more likely to accept your critic because his or her self-esteem won’t be damaged.

Many singers go into a practice session with songs that they very much enjoy singing, and they simply sing these same songs over and over.  Sometimes the singer is looking to improve the singing voice, other times the goal is to simply get better at singing the given song for an upcoming performance.  What often happens, however, is that there are particular sections of the song that you might feel just don’t work out right.  Instead of singing the song over and over again to improve, the solution is to simply break the song down into parts for optimal practice sessions.

This might seem a bit obvious to some, but many times we overlook the thing that is staring us right in the face.  What you can do is break apart all the sections of the song that you feel you are doing right and separate those from the parts that seem to be running flat or just out of tune.  Work on each difficult section individually until you eventually eliminate the whole list of parts of the song that you are having a problem with.  It’s easy to get overwhelmed by going through this process, but as you overcome the various portions of the song in which you are having trouble, you will build confidence and self esteem as the list dwindles and you eventually tackle the whole song.

A drill I’ve found that is very helpful to go along with this process is to strip all the words out of the various portions of the song and replace all the syllables with a “Nay”.  So for instance if you were singing a line like “Here I go again on my own”, instead you would sing “Nay nay nay nay-nay nay nay nay.”  This makes it easier for your mind to focus on the notes since it won’t be preoccupied with also having to form words to sing.  This greatly increases the speed at which this process works.  Once you get all the notes down in a particular section, put all the words back into that part.  Wash, rinse, and repeat until you get the whole song down pat.

Take care and good luck.

A concern that invariably comes up for those just starting out in their singing careers is the ability to sing at the right pitch.  This was one of my biggest up-hill battles when I was first getting involved in singing.  Many people sing with the thought in their mind that they are hitting the right pitch, but to those listening the singer is just slightly flat.  Other singers can hear that they are doing something wrong, but they don’t know how to get right into that proper tonal level.

At the time I struggled with this problem, I was in that category of singers who could hear the problem but had a hard time fixing it.  One of the tricks I would use to hit the right pitch would be to sort of “slide into the pitch.”  When I could hear that my tone was a bit flat, I would slide slightly up or down a bit in my tone until I hit what I could hear was correct.  But this is hardly a solution, and it is a fix that is easily picked up by the audience.

So how is one to go about hitting just the right pitch without having to use some trick after you’ve already let the note out?  A simple fix but one that comes with practice is to let go from your diaphragm.  This is an part any vocalization that gets hammered into all young practitioners, but really breathing out from the diaphragm while singing or vocalizing is a deliberate action that has to be developed until it becomes habitual.

A simple yet practical drill you can do on your own is to match random tones on a keyboard or piano.  Really you could do this with just about anything that emits musical tones, so you could try this drill even if you don’t own a piano or keyboard.  You can even record yourself doing this exercise and then play it back afterward.  How you hear yourself in your own head compared to how others hear you is markedly different, so the sound you hear from your recorded voice will give you a fairly comparative version of what others hear when you sing or vocalize.

One of the best pieces of advice I received from one of my first instructors and one that helped me to clean up my pitch problem is this.   Instead of sliding into the proper tone or pitch during the out breath during singing, hold the idea of the sound in your mind during the inhale so that you are prepared as you exhale.  It is more than just having an idea of what the note should sound like in your head, and this is where the keyboard drills I mentioned before will come in handy.  This idea will make more sense as you practice individual tones and then gradually incorporate this technique into all of your singing routines.  Practice thinking, hearing and feeling the note as you take a breath, and then as you breath out with your singing voice, it will become easier to get the pitch that you want and out of the flat spots.

Any vocal coach or singing instructor worth their salt will emphasize the importance of vocal warm up exercises.  Just like warming up your muscles before a physical exercise session, warm up exercises are vital to protecting the vocal chords and throat from undue wear and tear.  But unlike most athletic trainers, your average vocal coach or singing instructor pays no attention to or is often unaware of the importance of vocal cool down exercises.

Any athlete or even casual exercise enthusiasts will tell you, you can do a great deal of physical exercise and then just walk away, but you face risking future injury and decreased muscle development without a proper cool down and stretch.  The same is true of your vocal instrument.  You need to go through a proper vocal cool down after any length of singing or vocalizing.

The mechanics involved during any increased level of singing or vocalizing are similar to those involved in physical exercise.  In both instances, greater flows of blood are directed to the area being utilized for exercise, in this case the voice, throat, and larynx areas.  Just as runners continue walking after a long run, singers and vocalists should perform a cool down after a session in order to bring blood levels down to normal in order to avoid damage to the vocal instrument.

To perform a vocal cool down, a good exercise is to try quiet lip or tongue trills up and down your range, or softly and quietly hum five-note descending scales in the middle of your range.  Keep in mind that this is a vocal cool down, so you don’t need to go through all the exercises from the warm up session prior to singing or vocalizing.  The idea is to bring things down from your peak performance level, just like bringing down your heart and breathing rate after a bout of physical exercise.

If your vocal coach or singing instructor doesn’t currently include, make sure you request to have this included in your regular lessons from now on.  If not, don’t be afraid to make a change where your instructor/coach is involved.  You must take every precaution necessary to protect your vocal instrument.

Singing is technique. You as a singer will spend a great deal of time and effort developing your vocal technique. One of the most important aspects to consider in developing your technique is balance and control of your airflow. Too much or not enough air through your windpipe results in overworked and overused vocal cords, and this eventually leads to painful swelling, hoarseness of voice, and eventually damage to your vocal cords. Many singers do not much consider the damage they may cause to their vocal cords even though this should be a priority one item any singers should guard against. Having the sound you want is useless if it eventually leads to irreparable damage. So first and foremost – protect you vocal cords!

One common misconception is that you need a great deal of air in your lungs to be able to sing, especially when it comes to belting out those big power high notes. You don’t need more air than you can muster; you just need to manage the air capacity that your lungs already have. If you take in more air than you’re comfortable with, you wont be able to manage it properly to start, so you’re following a self-defeating approach. Of course there are exercises that will help build and expand your lung capacity, but until you get there, you need to be comfortable with your current abilities.

When you take a breath, inhale with your diaphragm into your lower rib cage area, aka your reserve tank. Your stomach should expand while you make this action and you should do so without lifting or tensing your shoulders. As you are singing, press upward with your diaphragm. This way the effort and pressure of making sound is not completely on your vocal cords. When you sing, your ribcage – the reserve tank – should be full/expanded and you should sing as if it were coming from your stomach.

When it comes to singing, always remember to protect your vocal chords. One way to do this is to always remember to engage your diaphragm on both the inhale and exhale of you singing breaths.