Izzy reporting in!
I demand siggy tag.

wow didn't notice there's such a thread!

[quote=kawa_e,Mar 17 2010, 08:55 AM]those people are god gifted

I like singing too. I'm a soprano but I cant really hit those high notes always. Then, do any of you sound diff or have your own style when singing a song? Take american idols. When they sing, they dont usually sound like the original singer did. I'm really figuring that out. Is it you sound diff on certain notes because you cant emulate that singer to sing that high/low ?

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Hi there. One of the problems of not being able to sing high notes is your co-ordination of your vocal cords/folds. Thore are the muscles to control the flips/breaks between passages. Passages, in this case, are the connections between chest, head and nasal tones. Nasal tone, regarded as the essential tool to connect smoothly between passages, is always ignored even by some major singers or teachers.

In terms of an unique stylistic approach in contrast to original songs, you will need to have basic knowledge in music arrangements. Let's say, Birthday Song, you know it too well. Can you interpret it in a combination style of R&B and Rock? I'm sure you could do it once you know what key elements are in both genres.

Usually, singers don't emulate. They sing, technically speaking, in different ways to present their unique voices. There are rigid steps to follow and work out in singing. It's just that it's not commonly known in Malaysia.

By the way, I'm a professional vocal coach. If you wanna know more about singing or music related things, I'll be glad to help.

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Added on August 14, 2012, 7:01 pm[quote=Royaleague,May 11 2010, 01:02 PM]
my personal opinion as a vocalist is....
after i've done some survey in both teaching and learning...i realized that the range of our voice is actually decided on the day we are born...we can only extend the range if we train in the correct methods...many people think that "wow...he/she can sing so high....he/she can sing so good"....well...personally i think that a good vocalist is not how high he/she can sing...its how well he/she can manage her own range...everyone's voice is unique...u cant find people who have exactly the same voice...for people who have lower range or what..do not be upset cause as long as u know how to manage your voice..u can sing good too...i've many friends who are alto and basses....and they sing so good...even baritones and mezzo sopranos might sound very good if u train in the correct way....

no offense to the higher voice people...




Thanks for sharing your personal experiences in singing.

I agree with you, partially.

I was classically trained as a tenor voice. I struggled a lot when I tried to sing contemporarily and was having a really hard time to hold on to E1 on the piano. While I was in the States doing my music degree, I changed my singing approach to contemporary singing. And I havent struggled since then. In fact, my voice has evolved amazingly and is able to sing G2 on the piano, like Adam Lambert. Credits go to the perfect vocal coach in the States who happened to teach systematically and sing like Adam Lambert.

Worried not, I'm real. I'm currently coaching singers, giving workshops to professional singers and some major singing contestants.

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Added on August 14, 2012, 7:07 pm[quote=Gravity,Sep 26 2008, 02:55 PM]
the most important thing about getting a vocal coach is that he/she must has a good ears and know how to tackle your problem by providing you a custom exercise...

so my question is, is the teacher there good and effective? i'm actually planining to find brett manning.. lol but the cost for a week is around 10K including fees, accomodation and air ticket ....

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I'm very very thrilled you have the passion to fly across the world JUST to study with him. He's one of the knowledgeable vocal coaches I've ever known. Tell you what, I happened to study from one of his colleagues while I was in the States. If you currently are still interested in singing, you may stop by one of my schools in Damansara. I'm currently giving contemporary vocal lessons to some major music colleges and private students as well.

This post has been edited by Lazarox: Aug 14 2012, 07:07 PM

Izzy~ you like to sing too?


Just noticed too!

high pitch voice sound good only when they are pitched RIGHTLY.
and u don't have to be high pitch to sound good, sing in your own comfortable range first.
If you want to hit high pitch but in the end you sound like chicken, it's gonna suck also.
all in all, enjoy singing and keeping singing, not SCREAMING because it'll hurt you vocal cord.

Guys, as long as there are singers here, I wanted to ask a question. This is mostly for songwriters but would like to hear the opinion of others too.

Do you make it a point to find out which key you sing best in and stick to that in your compositions? Reason I'm asking is that I play rhythm guitar and sing, and am usually tuned half a step down, drop C# (not sure if you guys can get me, but lets just say I play most my stuff in C#). Due to the nature of my tuning, I almost always write in that key of C#. Its starting to feel difficult reaching high notes, but the riffing on guitar sounds great though, which is the trade off.

Brett manning video only give tips and stuff. but you'll need to vocal teacher to guide you properly, just my 2 cent.

drop C#? wow that's quite low dude, rarely do i hear guitarist do that setup. lemme help you out on the explanation of that for non guitarists - drop C# is dropping the tune of the 6th and lowest string from E, which is the standard tune (meaning going 3 half notes down - E, D#, D then finally C#). but just correct me if i'm wrong

well, the goal of art of creating music itself is simply sounding good to the ears, regardless of the pitch and vocal range. yes, riffing on guitars with a drop C# setting sounds good because of the lower frequencies and it actually allows you to reach the octaves from the 4th string (D3 and higher). but the vocals are more important - is that your natural range? does your voice sound best at that range? if so, at least at that point you have a good base point. but of course at some point of your songwriting, there will be a need to reach higher notes than usual (those high tenor notes around F4 and higher), perhaps for emphasis of the chorus parts or establishing a good bridge, or a +1 or +2 transposition going towards the coda, or simply a variation. in that sense, i would say you should try reaching those notes, those ones high enough to give you a good build up. most of my compositions are like that.

to answer your question - Do you make it a point to find out which key you sing best in and stick to that in your compositions? the thing in the setup for my band is i (the lead guitarist and backup vocals), along with my co-songwriter (which is the rhythm guitarist), do all the song writing and both of us are neither the lead vocalist. for my case, i have a slight higher vocal range than our lead vocalist. so there's always this part of the melody creation part when i do the chorus part, asking ourselves "would he able to hit those notes?". there are very few cases that we make minor adjustments to the pitch, but thankfully most of the time our vocalist tries his best to hit the notes as how we originally composed the songs, and he would sing them beautifully.

one of the most important things that i have learned from experience - don't let the vocals solely adjust for the instruments, or else you'll lose the natural beauty of your singer's voice. if it can't be avoided, at least have the voice and instruments meet halfway. but of course you can risk even a bit

This post has been edited by brownman90561495: Sep 11 2012, 11:05 AM

Thanks for the input mate, that took a while to digest.

Yes u r right, the guitar is tuned half a step down, with the low E string dropped to C#.

To be honest, I've never really studied my singing all that much, and have never really consciously attempted to find my key. It never really mattered until lately, when I realise that by the end of the set, my voice would be spent and i have trouble nailing the higher registers.

I agree with the logic of achieving a compromise between vox and instrument. Since I write in C#, using the blues pentatonic scale more often than not, I tend to end up with songs that have a C# verse and a C# chorus. I realize that in order to create a good contrast between the verse and chorus, among other things, I would have to sing on a higher octave. This is where its starting to strain my voice.

I've half a mind to just go lower and play in drop C, but I doubt my bassist would like it

On a side note, being a self taught musician, I'm unfamiliar with the concept of D3, F4 etc. how does that work?

i do... and i found my voice key are lower than i used to listen.
wonder if that is recorder's fault?

you're welcome bro!

same here, i have been more of an instrumentalist (studied very basic of piano and note reading just for a few months when i was 6 years old, then self taught all the way including guitars) than being a vocalist. didn't care much about keys as long as i can sing the songs i used to love. just a few years ago i became aware of the registers and vocal range.

that's the exact principle that i have developed in my songwriting - creating the vocals on a higher octave to create contrast between the verse and chorus, but at times i tend to lean on the 5th of the key as a starting point rather than getting the octave, which works wonders for me. maybe you can try that on your upcoming songs

yea i would agree to you that your bassist would like dropping further down to C. i myself wouldn't even like to go lower than D for the bassist, but i guess that's always a personal preference.

as for the numbered notes, that's basically how many octaves from the lowest in the piano (if you know how the keyboard structure works, this will be easy to understand). C4 is the middle C. check this out, maybe this will help - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_%28musical_note%29

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Added on September 11, 2012, 3:36 pmi observe this too at times. there are several factors affecting this (but i am just basing this from experience and reading some materials so i may be wrong here):

warning: wall of texts, may cause for some noses to bleed



so to answer the question - if that is recorder's fault? yes, but it's not exactly a "fault". it's more like knowing your recorder more

This post has been edited by brownman90561495: Sep 11 2012, 03:36 PM

try different kind of recorder.
i was shock when i listen to mine..

i only use phone recorder.
i was shocked too... i can hear much fine sound when listen thru recorder, compare to directly thru the air straight to the ear, even some minor key changing that i not used to realize.

but my biggest problem is tend to follow the singer's style when i singing his/her song.
i have no my own singing style.

sharing this to everyone

http://www.bandtips.net/2011/07/8-band-vocalist-tips.html

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Added on September 11, 2012, 7:12 pmi think this is ok - copying someone's style of singing as long as you're not emulating his/her voice. in this way, you're developing your own style, with your own voice

This post has been edited by brownman90561495: Sep 11 2012, 07:12 PM

Thanks. Linked for further reference.

I think another problem i having is, when i singing high pitch songs, my voice will be shaking if i continue to sing next songs without rest.

And my throat muscle feel tired too.

Is this consider normal?

ya i think this is normal for people who don't regularly sing and regularly exercise their vocal chords. if you sing regularly, well maybe they're something wrong with your technique.

the key point there is having your vocal chords get used to getting strained the right way (NOT abusing), this will definitely improve your vocal stamina. i think that's also one of the points in my blog, but it's not that highlighted.

Well i don't sing regularly... maybe like the quote said, practise makes perfect?
I'll try to sing more regularly (even may annoyed my house-mates and neighbours.)

This is useful stuff man, thanks. The theoretical stuff is gonna take a while to digest - one thing leads to another and I think I'm gonna have to have a long sit down session with a piano and guitar some time to make full sense of it.

But that whole starting at the 5th thing is an interesting idea, will give it a try.

try to hit your highs and lows (not necessarily exceed your limits, but you can do this when you're already comfortable with your limits). and as an optional addition, try to apply vibrato at your modal voice first (if you haven't been employing vibrato before).

welcome dude yep correct, one leads to another. with a good enough musical IQ to get you going, this will be just easy for you, as long as you're reading and studying the right topic at the right time. i've seen you around way back as i started joining the forum - i'm pretty sure this will be easy for you to digest.

btw, if you wanna hear my work with the chorus starting off the 5th, i can of course share them to you

By all means, plz do. Got links?