Singing Lesson Notes

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Student's Background and Goals

  • Andrew (Anwar) is 19 years old and has been singing his whole life.
  • He started playing guitar two years ago, which increased his interest in music.
  • He wishes to improve his singing overall.
  • He currently has around 31,000 followers on TikTok and aims to grow his following.
  • He identifies a need to correct his vibrato technique, which currently involves moving his head.

Demo Class Structure

  • The demo class is 35 minutes long.
  • Feedback is requested after the class.
  • Enrollment process will be guided if he wishes to take more classes.

Initial Assessment and Discussion

  • Defining Vibrato: Vibrato is oscillation in tone caused by consistent air and vibrations of vocal folds.
  • Student's vocal goals: overall improvement in singing, correct vibrato technique

Warm-ups

  • Humming: Five notes up and five notes down to gently start vocal fold movement.
  • Vocal exercise: "Me, me, ma, mo, moo" to work through comfortable vocal range.
  • The importance of warming up before singing, likening it to warming up muscles before exercise.

Vocal Registers: Chest Voice vs. Head Voice

  • Chest voice: Described as full sounding and punchy, used for talking.
  • Head voice: Described as floaty and soothing, used for atmospheric singing (e.g., Billie Eilish).
  • Voice Types: Bass, baritone, tenor for men; sopranos for females.
  • Most men are baritones, and most females are sopranos.
  • Student has warmth in his lower register and good notes in his higher register, indicating a beautiful range.

Identifying Comfortable Singing Range

  • Student feels most comfortable singing in a higher range, similar to Billie Eilish or Daniel Caesar.
  • He notices he can sing some songs with a lower voice and others higher, feeling comfortable in both.
  • Explanation: He is likely flipping between registers subconsciously, showing natural ability.

Mixed Register

  • Mixed register involves using both chest and head voice for consistent sound throughout the range.
  • More common in musical theater, classical singing, and opera.
  • Pop/folk music typically isolates chest or head voice.
  • Mainstream radio often features lower female voices and higher male voices in the same range.

Artist Comparisons

  • Artists student sings: Billie Eilish, Daniel Caesar, Shiloh Dynasty, Olivia Rodrigo, Frank Ocean.
  • These artists typically sing in the head voice/tenor range.
  • Lower range practice: Elvis (bass baritone), Michael Buble, Frank Sinatra.

Addressing Challenges in Lower Range

  • Student mentions practicing a song by Miles Catton (from "Sinners") with a deep voice.
  • He found it difficult because he's used to singing higher and was using his head to create the blues-style vibrato.
  • Goal: To be equally good in both ranges for more options.

Analyzing Performance

  • Student sang a song, incorporating both chest and head voice especially in the chorus.
  • Observation: Chin movement during singing.
  • If you lift your head up, you probably feel a little bit of a stretch in your neck. Right? And so all of that is actually already kind of putting you out of alignment with your instrument.
  • Instead of compensating and thinking that this is gonna get you higher, instead, I want you to feel like there's space in the back, especially as you're lifting higher. In the sky

Chin Position and Larynx Displacement

  • Keeping a finger on the chin helps stabilize it and prevents larynx displacement.
  • Lifting the head can feel like adding emotion but displaces the instrument (vocal cords).
  • Maintaining a neutral chin position helps find more space and stability.

Aspirations Between Notes

  • Aspirations (breaths) between notes were noted as stylistic choices.
  • Exercise: Sliding between notes to ensure smooth transitions without clicking or stopping the sound.

Sliding Exercise

  • Practice sliding up and down notes to smooth transitions.
  • The goal is to glide through notes rather than clicking into each one.
  • Practicing accelerations (faster vibrations) to find the distances between notes.

Shifting into Head Voice

  • Exercise: Sliding notes into the head voice range, focusing on gradual transitions.
  • The body may naturally want to switch into head voice to avoid stretching the chest voice.

Connecting Hand Position To Mouth Space

  • When you're adding a vibrato almost, like, post the sound coming out, if that makes sense. It should all be in that same mechanism. So same thing, feeling suspended.
  • Hand position helps feel the space of the interior of the mouth to lift correctly.
  • This is to keep the tone and placement of your voice high as opposed to down and pressed.

Review of "I lied to you"

  • The lowest part of the song from "Sinners" doesn't fit his vocal range.
  • When someone's comparing themselves to someone, Right, thinking, oh, I can't sing that low or, like, I'm not good enough to sing that low when it's just physio physio.
  • Reminder: The same note can have a different context based on chest voice vs. head voice.
  • Vibrato should be natural and not forced.

Lesson Plan Overview

  • Warm-ups and vocal range exercises
  • Expanding chest and head voice
  • Positioning between registers to fully combine a voice

Enrollment and Scheduling Process

  • Flexible lesson scheduling.
  • Option to change tutors if needed.
  • Discussion about lesson packs and pricing.
  • Guidance on using the Wingi app for communication and scheduling