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We assure you that if you study with us, you can greatly increase your vocal range. Of course, everybody has their own limits, but in general, people can have a much larger vocal range than they think they can.
During our lessons, you will learn to release all unnecessary muscle efforts through the control of your larynx, through the correct use of all vocal registers and through vocal exercises that trick and condition our body. Thus, we nullify some natural reflexes that most of us have which cause tension and discomfort leading to hoarseness, losing our voice and pain while singing.
The classic answer to this is: go get yourself some Ear Training.
But often that tuning problem that bothers us so much is not caused by lack of musical education, but by vocal technique difficulties – although we consider Ear Training very important in the process of singing!
When singing in high registers, for example, you may not reach the notes of that song because you are using of an inadequate vocal posture. And often, our body responds much better when we focus on another aspect of the voice like resonance, for instance, then we end up being able to sing that passage of the song in tune.
Our body – our instrument – is different from one day to another, therefore, so is our voice. It depends a lot on how well and how much we sleep, diet, weather, having exercised, etc. But by studying singing frequently, your “good voice” days will certainly increase.
All these questions relate to the concept of timbre on someone’s voice.
Timbre is the “color” of your voice, all its characteristics, all the adjectives we can give to it.
Our vocal folds work more or less like an electric guitar: without plugging into the amp, the sound is almost non-existent. Our “amplifier” are the resonant cavities of our body (chest, mouth, nose, head, etc.). Just as a guitarist adapts his equipment to the repertoire he is going to play, in our lessons we will find the best vocal posture for a particular style or song.
You will also learn to understand the relationship between what you hear internally when you sing and what comes out from the speakers. That way, we avoid surprises when singing into the microphone. Therefore, the recordings of your voice lessons (offered free of charge by us) and recitals (pocket shows) are very important.
We don’t have anything against opera – we actually work with singers of this style nowadays, but these questions are not fair!
To understand this, it is essential to differentiate technique and style.
Technique has more to do with vocal aspects (not hitting the notes, tension, discomfort, etc.), and style is more about the musical aspects (phrasing, interpretation, runs, etc).
We could say that Timbre is a two-part concept: when we talk about extreme unbalances, it’s a technical issue; when it’s a slight detail, a matter of style.
It is true that there are few good vocal instructors (especially in Brazil) that work vocal technique aspects without calling for classical music, but the great coaches in the world do that. And the world’s greatest singers, in turn, only study with these great coaches.
Depending on your development as a singer, trying to solve issues related to vocal technique is usually our first approach to the lesson and to a certain song; style comes at the end of the lesson (or at the end of a song training), when we have already overcome some basic questions related to that particular song. And most importantly: we are going work on songs that you like or that you have to sing! Of course, after we get to know each other for a while, we can make more and more suggestions based on the style(s) you like, taking your voice and your moment of technical development as starting points.
Of course not!
As we said above, we usually detach vocal technique from style aspects. If you are happy with your style, we will only work on vocal technical difficulties that you may be facing.
As the great master Brett Manning says: “Good technique makes style easier”. Instead of working traditionally with right and wrong terms, we will focus on balance in your vocal technique during our lessons. We will explore all the possibilities of your voice and you will be informed of the consequences of all the postures that you intend to sing on.
If you find that a certain song in your gig calls for a “shout”, then “shout”, but in a way that will harm you as little as possible and, above all, try not to do this for prolonged periods of time. Everyone has screamed at one time in their lives in a moment of anger and we didn’t have to go straight to the hospital for vocal fold surgery.
Two beginners may never have the same difficulties or the same level of vocal development, simply because we already use our voice a lot (whether speaking, shouting or even trying to sing). Therefore, we prefer working with PRIVATE, ONE-ON-ONE and CUSTOMIZED LESSONS that are much more efficient than lessons in schools. During your first session, we’ll get to know your goals and test your voice. With this piece of information, we create the course outline and also how long each stage will take.
We like to keep track of your knowledge with our worksheets and Google Forms feedback. With those, we are constantly planning our next lessons. All that, of course, can be altered if you have a more urgent appointment, such as a concert, a recording, an event, a live or simply if you are going to sing at a party with your friends next weekend.
Just as a personal trainer will focus exclusively on YOU during your physical exercises, our vocal coaches will take into account your goals, rhythm of development, repertoire or anything else you find important to prepare your lessons.
Don’t be fooled by handouts or classroom materials that schools produce, no matter how colorful they are! 🙂
Usually they are very reduced, not efficient and they “reinvent the wheel”. Nowadays we already have physiological exams, a team of speech therapists, ENTs and vocal coaches all over the world who have very serious books on all aspects of the voice. If you are interested in this, we prefer to give you a bibliography and references on YouTube for you to research, rather than producing a handout or cd’s.
Despite that, in general, our classes are geared towards the practical part of singing!
You leave every class with MP3 files of everything you need to practice at home.
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