Quick backstory. I'm 39 and the closest thing to singing I've done was calling cadence in the Army last century. I've got some friends who play in a band - parties, a few local festivals, etc. - and it always looked like fun. So I'm at surfing school last summer (I know, I know...midlife crisis - lol) and I meet a guy who wants to get a band going just for fun and long story short I agreed to take lessons and take a stab at being a singer.

I find a "rock style" teacher in Hollywood (I live in Orange County) drop $600 on a block of lessons and have at it. Teacher says I've got a good voice and at the end of my block of lessons says I'm going to "blow them away". Then my bandmate moves to NYC

I go over to my friend's house (the guy that sings) to get some pointers before I start prowling Craigslist for any other 40 year old *rockstars* to get together with.

He was thoroughly unimpressed. Said I was shouting too much instead of singing (my teacher praised me for being able to "howl"). Says I need to keep it inside more?!?! I tried a local teacher who said I had potential but he's a Japanese exchange student and just too difficult to understand.

I just can't seem to get a feel for it. The closest I come is singing old cadences. Deep breaths, abs working not the chest or throat but it's very loud. When I try to "keep it in" it doesn't feel right. It's like water skiing but the boat is going too slow to plane up onto surface of the river. I feel like I need to increase the volume of air...but then I get loud/shouty again.

Any advice? Anyone know a good teacher in Orange County?

I live in Germany, so I'm afraid I can't direct your to any teachers...

but if you could post a clip of you singing, we can probably tell you what you're doing wrong and if the "shouting thing" is hurting you.

Also, you should definitely buy Jaime Vendera's book, Raise Your Voice.

hello Phillip,

you said:
>>> When I try to "keep it in" it doesn't feel right. It's like water skiing but the boat is going too slow to plane up onto surface of the river. I feel like I need to increase the volume of air...but then I get loud/shouty again.

You're thinking of this in the wrong way. By taking in lot's of air but "controlling" its release, your actually enabling yourself to INCREASE the intensity. Jaime's metaphor (hopefully not giving away too much) is like a water hose....flowing out regularly vs. partially covering the hole with your thumb. Not only do you conserve air that way, but this extra intensity allows your range to float up much easier. Of course this is easier said than done, and it requires careful training of the many muscles and bits of the vocal mechanism...this is why I totally agree with legatoman and highly recommend Jaime's book. Not only will you find lot's of great tools, but it's relayed in very natural language that doesn't require a lot of previous technical knowledge.

Have fun!

-Paul

Philip,

I agreee with Paul, I am 41 and haven't done much more than leading worship at our church off and on.
I would get both of Jaime's books - I have seen drastic improvement in my vocal range as well as tonality! Do his exercises religously and watch what happens, it is an awesome system!!!!!!

Phillip--I have no knowledge of your voice in particular, not having heard you sing or speak, and having only a very limited, untechnical description to go by... So please don't take this for a gospel truth, this is only me speculating.

It's -possible- that you have what the opera world would call a 'dramatic' voice. Meaning basically that your voice is very loud by nature.

If that were the case, I could see why your rock teacher might think you sounded great, but someone else (who I'm guessing might not be a rock singer?) thought it was too shouty--a dramatic voice that isn't well trained tends to be 'too big' for a lot of people, and does end up being extremely shouty.



On the other hand, it's possible that your $600 teacher just ripped you off completely and told you what you wanted to hear.


It'd be great to hear some soundclips of you so we could get more of an idea of what's up with your voice :D.

Thanks for the responses. I have the ebook and I'm about halfway through it. I'd noticed occasionally that sometimes when I was singing that it felt like I was inhaling so it was nice to read about the "inhalation sensation".

I'll record and post some clips this week for feedback.

Thanks again,

Phillip