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For the faithful listeners of this show, you’ve probably noticed that we’ve been on hiatus for a while.   I started Singing an Octave Higher with the mission to help as many people become great singers as possible. As a part of that mission, I want to share a brand new podcast with you that focuses on one of the most important aspects of being a great singer: Music appreciation.   So without further ado, I’d like to introduce you to Thank You Music, a collection of stories about a time when a song changed someone’s life. It was all inspired by one premise: picture a time when a song played a crucial role in your life.   This week, I’d like to share my interview with Laurie Winckel, another singing teacher whose entire life changed after hearing a Barbara Streisand song from the film Yentl.

Vowels are an exceptionally important tool when you’re singing. As a singer, I like to think of vowels as the spaces between consonants (like the “uh” in “Mum”). While you may not be thinking about these open spaces in words, they are incredibly important because they are very easy to sing wrong or strain on. Even if you’re singing a song with relatively simple words, vowels are still very important. When the singing gets tough, you’d be surprised at how much easier it is to sing when you have your vowels in the right place.

As a singing teacher, I see the effects of nerves (I call it “Singing Insecurity”) on singing all the time. Whether in a live performance at a sold-out show, or just singing during a voice lesson, singing insecurity affects all singers. The question becomes: How do I deal with those nerves? I reached out to Alida Annicchiarico, my coteacher in Vancouver, Canada who specializes in wellness in singing to share her 4 tips for battling your singing insecurities.

I believe that everyone, regardless of their age, should be able to enjoy the art of singing. Admittedly, I’m a little biased in believing that EVERYONE should take voice lessons, no matter their level, so I reached out to Alida Annicchiarico, my coteacher in Vancouver Canada because she specializes in health and wellness in singing. I interviewed Alida to get her take on whether ANYONE is too Young or Old to begin singing.

The future is NOW and technology is your friend! If you’ve ever considered taking lessons, but are skeptical about learning over Skype, watch my student’s progress in our first Skype lesson together. She’s takes lessons from Nairobi, Kenya.

Singing exercises are just one part of keeping your voice healthy and flexible. I’m often amazed at how simple things like exercise and hydration can make a huge difference. Here are the 3 daily activities you do to keep your voice sounding its best.

Unfortunately, our time together is brief. Even an hour lesson with some singers is barely enough. Many of my students ask how they can properly warm up before their lesson so they can use the time we DO have most efficiently. Here’s my best advice about warming up before our lesson!

You’re super psyched to be taking voice lessons! Your energy is great, you’ve set goals and we’ve begun to work on your voice in lessons. But if you feel like you’ve hit a wall physically and you’re not getting as much out of your practice as you put in, it’s time to ask yourself: How Much Practice is Too Much?

Many students struggle with memorizing lyrics to a new song they are learning. I’ve been in situations where I have only minutes to learn a new song and I’d like to share two simple tricks that will help you memorize lyrics twice as fast!

So you’ve gotten to the gig early for once but you realize that you forgot to warm up on the way over. Now you’re stuck at the club and the instruments haven’t even arrived yet. How do you warm up? I’ve got you covered.

There are many risks to singing when you’re sick and going to the Doctor early is the best way to avoid them. Here’s what you need to know about singing when you’re sick and some of the first treatments that a Doctor will probably use.

Students ask me all the time “Can anyone learn to sing?”. In most cases, the answer is yes. Barring medical conditions, many people with the proper instruction and technique can learn to sing well. But like we discussed last week, the journey to singing well is laid with lots of obstacles that take a long time to overcome. With every obstacle you pass, we say that you have reached another stage of development. In this week’s video, I talk in detail about the different stages of vocal development and how they add up to the goal of LEARNING TO SING WELL.

Many first time-students ask me how long it takes to sing well. This is one of the age-old questions, because it is incredibly difficult to answer. One would think that it changes for every student. But is that true? Are some people more naturally talented than others? If so, do the talented students need to work as hard as everybody else? I turned to Anders Ericsson’s study of violinists at Berlin’s prestigious Academy of music to find the REAL answer to this age-old question.

Everything I do is designed to help the people around me become the best musicians they can be. As a voice teacher, I have students ask me all the time about how they can practice better. As it turns out, good practice is really a science. In the performance science field it has been studied and observed for decades to determine what works and what doesn’t. I turned to Daniel Coyle’s fantastic book, “The Talent Code”, for guidance and applied the principles from his book to create 5 scientifically proven steps to maximize your vocal practice.

Have you always wanted to tour but thought you had to be a superstar first? Listen to student Mike Storey share his latest experiences touring Europe and what he’s learned from his time on the road.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to sing (or play golf, or write novels, or anything difficult) so effortlessly? It turns out that while everyone has different talents, there are also distinct ways in which every person’s brain works to master a skill. Many call it “muscle memory.” But Paula Starche asks: “What is muscle memory? And is it true that it takes 20 times of doing something before it is ingrained?” This week we take a look at so-called muscle memory and learn how it works to make some people do incredible things so darn easily.

If you are a developing singer, imitating other singers is a no-win game for you. While you may have learned a lot by singing Adele, John Legend and Sam Smith, ultimately your voice is your own and imitating others will probably only lead to vocal strain. But what are we really working towards? What does your voice actually sound like and how do we find it?

Recently I’ve noticed a ton of people asking about how to improve their speaking voice. From working with actors, singers, and even managing accents I’ve noticed how many people are dying to know how to improve their speaking voice. The majority of people that take voice lessons from me notice within a few weeks that their speaking voice is more powerful. So let’s talk about how to work with all those soft-spoken voices, those loud-speaker voices and those voices for whom English is a second language.

Many students have a hard time choosing a song to work on during our time together. Because there are so many songs to choose from, here are my criteria for choosing a song that challenges you. The song must have a variety in melody. It doesn't just stay in one comfortable place. It moves and challenges you to stretch higher or lower in your range. The song has good technique. In other words, can you understand the singer, or are they so bogged down with vocal effects and ornaments that you can't figure out the melody or words? By far the most important is that you have an emotional connection to the song. This will keep you enthused in the song, even when the going gets rough. If you still can't think of anything, no worries. I created the Octave Higher Mix Tape just for you. The Octave Higher Mix Tape is a collection of songs with good vocal technique and ranges in difficulty from easy to hard. Now you can choose from more than 100 songs! You can follow it here: http://www.octavehighereast.com/octave-higher-east-mix-tape-2/

Octave Higher Podcast 10 Food and drink can affect the voice on two levels. One is at the vocal fold level, while the second affects the stomach and body as a whole. Food/Drink can affect the vocal folds very quickly and acutely, like smoking or drinking alcohol. But you also want to avoid foods that will increase the PH of your stomach which makes it more acidic Avoid sugar, dairy and grains right before singing. You should also drink lots of water or sparkling water if you’re craving an alcoholic beverage right before you sing.