Vocal Lessons

[Mustang]

Hey all,
For sometime now I have been wanting to take vocal lessons to turn my love for singing into something others can enjoy too. A few years ago I took a few lessons at the local college. But those were way to pricey and they make you pay for a pianist and several other things . So I’m wanting to find someone else to learn from and I was wondering any of you have any tips on how to find a vocal teacher. I hope no one minds me asking this on here. If any of the mods have a problem feel free to delete it. I'll understand .

Thanks!

 

[Cheiron]

Lots of ways really. You could do general searches. It might help if you indicate where you are from as well. But the yellow pages is a decent start. Also, you can call the local high school or college and talk to their choral instructor to get some ideas.

Good luck with it by the way. A lot of people think that just because they can't sing or aren't very good that there is no hope. But most vocal teachers will say that while some start off ahead of the curve, most can develop into good singers with enough time/effort.

 

[Bryan316]

I've been wanting to take lessons as well. I can sing quite well (my bandmates would think otherwise! HAH! ) but my endurance is total crap. I can't keep singing really difficult stuff like Maiden or Sym X for more than about 45 minutes, cuz my throat gets so damned tired. I've got good ears, can tell when I'm hitting the right notes, can get a good range, and tone and pitch control. But I just don't have the strength to be one of those Ralf Sheepers guys for more than two songs. And let's not mention Matt Barlow... after trying to sing even one IE song, my throat is shot! I also have a much harder time singing while standing up, cuz I need to build up abdomenal strength.

I'm planning (heh heh.. we know how plans go, right?) to take lessons from Wayne State U's choral and vocal professor, but NOT through the school. He does private lessons at his own studio. So I can avoid the university costs, and I don't have to actually join the college of music. So go back to your local college, and talk to that instructor again, and ask him if he also does private lessons outside of the school. Look around at the other colleges with good music programs, contact the instructors, and ask the same thing.

 

[AngraRULES]

Hey all,
For sometime now I have been wanting to take vocal lessons to turn my love for singing into something others can enjoy too. A few years ago I took a few lessons at the local college. But those were way to pricey and they make you pay for a pianist and several other things . So I’m wanting to find someone else to learn from and I was wondering any of you have any tips on how to find a vocal teacher. I hope no one minds me asking this on here. If any of the mods have a problem feel free to delete it. I'll understand .

Thanks!

Where are you based out of? I could maybe give you a few tips and hints here and there if you're nearb, but I have a feeling you're not.

 

[Landisb]

"I can't keep singing really difficult stuff like Maiden or Sym X for more than about 45 minutes, cuz my throat gets so damned tired."
I took lessons from a guy for a few years. I would still be taking them, but I had to go into "saving money mode". At any rate, he let me sing pretty much anything I brought in, be it Helloween, Queensryche, even heavier stuff. He said you'll learn with metal fast that a lot of the singing relies on amplification. So while it sounds like those guys are belting their lungs out, most of the time they just know how to get the resonance out of their voices to carry further and get a more piercing attack. General rule is if your throat hurts or becomes unreasonably tired after singing a while then you're probably not doing something right as far as your voice/throat is concerned. You have to find the way to keep the tension out of your throat as much as possible while you are singing. Easier said than done, however, and in rock in general you have to do a lot of things which are not the healthiest things vocally for the sake of sounding cool. I would recommend private lessons for sure though. I was paying something like 60 bucks per hour for lessons, which in that area was pretty reasonable. And my instructor was a VERY cool guy. He had the opera credentials but it was more of his attitude and method of teaching that I appreciated. Lots of instructors are in it for the money only and they could care less if you improve or if you practice on your own, as long as they're seeing the green. And of course you also don't want to get a guy who's going to make you strip your gears while singing and f up your voice. If your guy is at a University, he's probably a safer bet than the ones you find in the local newspaper ads claiming to have found the newest fastest method to singing like a god.

 

[nightwish58]

Hey all,
For sometime now I have been wanting to take vocal lessons to turn my love for singing into something others can enjoy too. A few years ago I took a few lessons at the local college. But those were way to pricey and they make you pay for a pianist and several other things . So I’m wanting to find someone else to learn from and I was wondering any of you have any tips on how to find a vocal teacher. I hope no one minds me asking this on here. If any of the mods have a problem feel free to delete it. I'll understand .

Thanks!

Why not just ask Keith?

 

[Mustang]

Why not just ask Keith?

Keith has worked with me some. However he is in SC and I am in Illinois.
The time that he is here is spent mostly working on the new album trying to get it ready for the studio.

I'm located in the Peoria IL area for those who asked.

Thanks!

 

[LuCinda]

A couple of friends of mine, as well as my son, are vocalists and they found this book most helpful:
Pro Secrets of Heavy Rock Singing (available at Amazon.com)

It has suggestions in there from some of the great ones like Geoff Tate and Rob Halford. I remember it also had info in there about how to make your voice last longer.
Hope it helps.
Cindy

 

[Sonrise]

When I first started singing I used the Metal Method-Vocal Power series with Jim Gillette. They have some great exercises to help you build your stamina. I have taken lessons for 15 + years and to this day I still use them for warm ups. I believe that you can still order them on Amazon and maybe E-bay.

You are probably having some problems with endurance probably because you are not using proper breath support. You have to support your vocal tone by using your diaphram muscles. Also, you need to practice everyday. In a perfect world I usually do vocal warm ups (exercise/scales) for 30 min 5 x's a week, then I will do my practice for an hour or so with my favorite CD. I don't know if this will help but I hope so. If you have anymore questions I'll be more than willing to help.

 

[Bryan316]

In a perfect world I usually do vocal warm ups (exercise/scales) for 30 min 5 x's a week, then I will do my practice for an hour or so with my favorite CD. I don't know if this will help but I hope so. If you have anymore questions I'll be more than willing to help.

Brutal.

If only I could even find time every night to practice my bass playing...

The majority of my "vocal practice" is in the car, during long drives. I typically use Kamelot's Fourth Legacy, Maiden's Number of the Beast and SymX's The Odyssey as practice material. Especially The Odyssey cuz it starts off quite gently, and builds up strength and volume as the song goes, so it warms me up slowly.

But actually dedicating time, standing instead of sitting, having a regular written-down warmup, and a real practice regimen? That's why I want a good teacher. I think once I can have someone show me the right way to do it, it'll be a great step forward. Also as someone told me a while ago, even if you've got natural talent and ability, unless you learn about YOUR voice and throat, you really don't know anything. And this college instructor told me flat out, that's the very first thing he'd work on. Understanding the physical aspects of what my throat is actually doing when I'm singing softly, singing chest strength, falsetto, banshee wailing, growling.. how it physically works explains a lot. He told me he's got all kinds of photos and diagrams showing how your throat behaves and gets those sounds.

I'm actually quite glad Mustang started this thread. It reminded me how important this really is, and I'm gonna get crackin' to start lessons. I'll go pull out his business card tonight.

 

[Cheiron]

It always amazes me how people will spend years upon years and dedication on their instruments, and then they have a lazy ass singer who will only do what comes natural.

Many of my favorite bands have singers that worked hard on their voices. Singers who say, "I learned how to sing on my own," often have audible deficiences. Whether its their inability to consistently hit a note, strength when hitting those notes, power of the voice in general, lack of knowledge of their own range, lack of knowledge on how to actually sing in falsetto; they are all noticeable.

And if nothing else, you can do the James Hetfield way, and just work on endurance exercises (which to him was mostly how to warm up and cool down his voice). My guitar teacher also does vocal lessons so once I start making a bit more money I'm going to start doing vocal lessons too. Mostly so that I could be a capable backup singer. But he said that recently he went to a vocal therapist (different than a singing teacher), who worked with him to warm up and cool down his voice properly. He stated that after just one lesson he was already singing much better after performing the day/night before.

 

[Jibrille]

And if nothing else, you can do the James Hetfield way, and just work on endurance exercises (which to him was mostly how to warm up and cool down his voice). My guitar teacher also does vocal lessons so once I start making a bit more money I'm going to start doing vocal lessons too. Mostly so that I could be a capable backup singer. But he said that recently he went to a vocal therapist (different than a singing teacher), who worked with him to warm up and cool down his voice properly. He stated that after just one lesson he was already singing much better after performing the day/night before.

Yeah, sometimes endurance is the biggest problem. Especially with people who have natural singing voices and never bother with lessons. That was actually a big problem with Amy Lee anytime I saw Evanescence which is why I'll always say Cristina Scabbia destroys her in any live atmosphere even though I prefer Amy's voice on CDs. She actually did work on some endurance training right before they started their first tour in January before Fallen came out but either didn't retain much information or just has a lot of issues being able to breath while singing as you could definately see and hear her struggling by the time it hit the second half of the show. At that was while their shows were regularly only 45 minute sets and occured all 4x I saw them.

 

[Mustang]

Thanks for the input guys & gals.

 

[OdinsCourt]

Vocal lessons are worth it for singers of any level. I took lessons from Steve Whiteman (frontman of the famous 80s band KIX), and they did wonders for me. Everyone could hear my voice improve by leaps and bounds with lessons. Once you get the knowledge and practice like you should, your voice will develop. And having someone else observe what you do and give suggestions for technique improvement is worth it alone. I think the biggest thing I learned is that warm ups are a must for getting the best vocal performance you can!

 

[Dominick_7]

Ditto what Sonrise said Hey Steve! Anyways, I've taken lessons from various people, but they don't teach what is needed for Metal/Power/Progressive. Purely operatic or any other method/type of singing is NOT for metal singing. What you need is Power singing. Metal Method- Vocal Power with Jim Gillette is fantastic for a DVD/CD. He knows what hes doing. His student who learned how to break glass with his voice from Jim, Jaime Vendera who's in Cali (www.myspace.com/jaimevendera), has a book that is used by James La Brie, and many other great singers. If you don't live by him, Tony Harnell is on the East Coast NY, or I'd assume Jaime can recommend someone else. What you need is a teacher that teachers Power Singing. Other than that, 8-10, 8 oz glasses of water per day and 30 minute vocal exercizes daily.