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Have you ever heard someone sing with a breathiness to their tone? Sometimes singers use breathiness as a way to style a particular phrase or note, but if the singer has a constant breathiness, chances are they have not mastered the art of cord connection. Not having this skill can be a detriment to your performance. Mastering this skill is…

When first taking voice lessons, every student works on the same thing—the production of sound.  Understanding how to produce a quality sound without hurting your vocal instrument is a definite priority.  This can take years to master.  In my case, it was the only thing I worked on for many years, but at the same time I was perfecting my…

The muscles of the body are funny creatures. Any trainer will tell you when you’re working out, that you must switch up your exercises often. The reason is because the body muscles quickly adapt to any change in their environment. To get the muscles to grow, a body builder has to keep changing the exercises. This will keep the muscles…

Audiences are smart.  They know the difference between good and superior.  You may have listened to a friend sing and thought, “She’s amazing!”  However, you know that she doesn’t have the same kind of talent as Beyonce or any mainstream artist.  To understand the difference between a seasoned performer and someone with potential doesn’t take 30+ years of training.  As…

Learning how to properly sing vowels is a major obstacle for beginner singers. One of the hardest vowels to sing is the Ee vowel. Why? When we were young, we were taught to “Say Cheese” before taking a photo. Saying “cheese” not only forced a huge, toothy grin, but also tensed muscles in the jaw, cheeks and lips. These muscle…

What does it mean to color a song? Basically, it means using elements of your voice to tell a story.  These elements can include dynamics, breathiness, inflection, style and numerous other features of the human voice.  When I was young, I grew up in the church.  Every service, someone would get up to sing a song.  Most of the performances…

Whenever a new student comes to me for voice lessons, their biggest fear is always the same…singing high notes.  Even if they don’t say it, I can see fear in their faces as they sing higher and higher.  In an industry consistently wowed by the belt and high notes, learning how to properly train muscles in the higher register is…

The Vocal Break What is the vocal break? Quite simply, the vocal break is the weakest note in your vocal range. It is the note that separates the chest voice and the head voice. Have you ever noticed, as you sing higher and higher, how your voice essentially gives up and produces a light, easy-to-sing sound? The point where your…

The throat has four functions that can affect our singing.  These functions are breathing, swallowing, communication and yawning.  All of these functions are very natural, however there are only three that benefit the voice: breathing, communication and yawning.  The function of swallowing can be detrimental to the voice but can be combated with a lowered larynx. The Larynx Let’s…

I have been teaching for 14 years.  Many times I get new students, both professional and beginner, with amazing talent. They come to me because they want to either learn or they’re having problems with certain songs and notes in their higher register.  Most of the time, these problems are immediately fixed by teaching proper breathing techniques. The Problem Most of…

Taking voice lessons can seem so complicated.  When I was in university, every vocal student drenched themselves in the process of learning voice.  From reading books to constant practice, every voice student abandoned their personal lives and committed every second to vocal technique.  When I started teaching voice lessons, I realized how daunting this could be to new students and…

Metro Vocal Group was invited by the Russian government to compete in this year’s Moscow Spring A Cappella Festival. The festival saw 120 groups from all over the world performing on 61 stages all across Moscow. In the end, MVG walked away with first place in the 2-4 category and we are incredibly proud. Metro Vocal Group’s members are all…