SELF-ASSESSMENT
These songs were recorded in my bedroom during a night of singing practice. I’m not an audio engineer so I hope you’ll keep that in mind.
Remember, too, that the vast majority of vocal coaches don’t share samples of their singing. The few who do often record their samples at professional recording studios with heavy vocal editing from professional audio engineers.
The sensation of singing is moving from feeling trapped down and back in the throat to feeling up and over the hard palette out in front of the face and mouth. Singing has become easier and more fun.
The sound is brighter and lighter, with more clarity and the desirable ring/metal quality that most singers are after. Articulation is much better, including emotional expression. Yes, there’s room for improvement.
THE CROWDED HOUSE SONG
I recently rediscovered this song. I love to sing it, especially the chorus. Listen to the 2nd and 3rd choruses at 1:22 and 2:44. This is where my voice is heading. There’s a nice, clean, connected, bright tone that I could never find before.
THE LEWIS CAPALDI SONG
I’m not trying to imitate him. In fact, he has some of the pressing problems that I’m trying to overcome, so it’s dangerous to imitate.
There’s a crispness, a brightness and clarity coming in that I’ve never had before. You’ll hear it in the pre-choruses (“I need somebody to…”) and the chorus (“The day bleeds…”).
THE OLD AND EMBARRASSING SINGING SAMPLES!
I challenge you to find another voice coach who shares samples of their earlier bad singing! I’ve never found one.
I’m willing to humiliate myself for you. Have a listen. If you like the sound of my improvement, I’m certain I can teach you how to train as I do to bring about similar changes to your voice.
REFLECTIONS ON MY EARLIER SINGING
These songs were recorded three to five years ago. They are painful for me to hear. They would sound much worse if they hadn’t been pitch-corrected to 100% accuracy. I can’t go back and change that as I toss out old recording projects regularly.
This is what “pressed phonation” and “ventricular dysphonia” sound like. The false vocal folds are partially closed and interfere with the natural flow of air through the vocal folds. The vocal folds are also pressing too tight together. These problems plague nearly all singers, especially males. They are just described in different ways, such as “closed throat vs open throat”.
There are loads of other problems, too. You’ll get the idea.
I don’t claim to be a great singer. I’m certainly working hard toward that aim. What I do claim is that I know how to improve. As my knowledge of vocal training improves, my rate of improvement accelerates.
If I could start all over again back in my 20’s training the way I do now, my life would have been different. I’ve come to see that even the training I was doing five years ago is simply not very effective.
Traditional vocal training and exercises can lead to improvement. The improvement is slow, frustrating, and can get very expensive with private lessons. Online courses can save you some money, but those coaches are teaching the old exercises, and not always very well.
I’ll explain more in future posts and I plan to regularly posts samples of my singing progress. You can always replay to my email or send me a contact through the website.
Be well,
Joe Naab
