Hey guys. This is my first post on this forum. First of all I wanna say thanks to the most amazing Jaime Vendera. Your books are of the highest quality imaginable! It feels like there is nothing you left out. Just purchased "Raise your Voice." I am happy like a kid on Christmas. Waiting for the approval.

I'm gonna give you a little background in my singing experience; may be it will be of some use to you in answering the questions that I have. I always loved to sing; however, everybody told me that I wasn't born with singing abilities, aka talent. The other thing that I was told is that I have a powerful and really strong voice, but its only use could be in yelling and screaming. People always tell me to quiet down. My voice rarely gets tired; even after talking for hours on end. At the age of 14 I gave up on singing. Following that period, I wasn't listening to much music at all. All that until late 2006 (I was 18 at the time), when my friend brought me a CD of a Russian Metal Band "Aria." I was blown away. All this music was powerful, strong yet melodic. Nothing like pop music that I listened to when I was a kid. Well, I didn't know any better. What impressed me the most, however, were the vocals. The singer sang really high. Being raised in a world of stereotypes and being always told that guys should be singing low I thought it was a woman singing. I was shocked; how could he do that? I tried to sing those songs, and ended up with sore throat in 30 minutes. Of course, I didn't hit any of those high notes, and I missed most of the low notes as well. I did some research on the Internet and came across "Singing Success." I got it and did a decent chunk of exercises. They taught me to access what Brett Manning calls the head voice. I learned many things from that course; however, it was not enough. It simply lacked power that many metal singers use. Then I came across "Raise Your Voice." After seeing amazing 5 star review I could not help myself and had to purchase it. If this was the course that could teach me to sing metal, then I absolutely had to have it. I decided to get a vocal teacher. This summer I went back to Belarus to visit my relatives, and hired opera voice teacher for a few sessions. She told me that I was a high baritone and would not sing above G#4. I dismissed that idea right away. I knew that many great Rock singers had voices waaaay deeper than my own and sang really high notes. When I came back to Canada I decided to get another voice teacher. According to him I'm a low tenor. So this brings us to the present.

In September I started working on Raise your Voice on my own, concurrently working with my voice teacher on his techniques. He has not read Raise your Voice, although I gave it to him. I showed him Falsetto Slide and he approves of it. By this point I am pretty good at falsetto slide; and my teacher acknowledges that. I can hit F5 in falsetto. I feel like it is time to move on to transcending tone; however, my teacher says that it will be too hard. It seems to me that what he has been doing is teaching me strong chest voice. And I can hit F4# in chest voice. Beyond that my voice either goes into falsetto or voice with resonance at the soft pellet. He says that my voice resonates at the back and that this is improper technique to sing. To me it feels right. With resonance at the soft pellet I can sing up to G5# without much strain or effort. I recently discovered the great amazing Nitro and attempted to sing along. Of course it's nothing compared to the great Jim Gillette, but no one can blame a guy for doing what he loves to do eh? After sliding along some of those screams my voice seems to get more connected. It feels likes I'm pulling my head voice down until around D4; and the resonance is at the back of my head most of the time.
What my teacher is saying the proper way of singing above F4# should feel like below. He says that my resonance should be at the top of my mouth and in my face, and that I should be moving lots of air. He tells me to imagine a resonance mask on my face. However, it seems that when I go higher the only way to sing notes above tenor high C is by decreasing the amount of air. When I sing a high note with resonance at the back of my head, my teacher says "it's not a [singing] note." But I cannot seem to do it any other way. I cannot sing above F4# with full chest-like resonance no matter what I do. The area between F4 and A4 is the hardest for me at the moment. It feels easier for me to sing above, but then again according to my teacher these are not notes. Any advice?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. And sorry about writing a novel here.
Thanks,

Stan H.

Stan,

Welcome to the board. I am a bass. I have a 6+ octave range. I am Jim Gillette's protege'. In fact, I called him the other day abd started singing parts of Freight Train to him for a good laugh;) Point is NEVER let anyone tell you what you can and cannot do. I will not knowck your vocal coach because I am sure you learned a lot, but things that I'd like to say is this-

1- Higher notes take less air not more air. More air will cause damage.
2. Don't think about the "mask" By placing the voice into the soft palate and allowing your body to be a tuning fork (massive resonance) your face teeth nose and cheeks will vibrate on their won without thinkin "mask" .
3. the transcending Tone Exercise is the toughest exercise you'll ever do. Want to sing thise high notes in full voice? Then don't listen to your teacher's advice on that one. Start doing them AND Sirens all the time!

This stuff WORKS!!! Brett Manning is a good friend of mine and has even talked about carrying my book system for his "rocker and Metal" students.

How bad do you want it? I set a world record shattering glass with my voice because I wanted it that bad. You can do ANYTHING you put your mind to! Check out the new raiseyourvoicebook.com to learn about the new book. Look at MEET THE TEAM link and see who all helped with this book!

Keep Screamin,

Jaime Vendera

Let's put it that way. I'm 19 years old right now; I am a University neuroscience student with above 3.5 GPA; however, singing is the only thing that I never get tired of. Despite the fact that I am good at many things it seems that singing is the only thing that I have a true passion for. My parents have always told me to become a doctor, but I cannot see myself doing well in that area. I just wanna be able to sing a metal song and have the public be like "wow this is amazing." I don't care about fame or star quality or any of that shit. I just like to sing. I put on an Iron Maiden or whatever song and I cannot stop singing along with Bruce. It's weird I know, but I never get tired of singing. And my voice has loooots of power; I mean lots. Everyone has been telling me that. I just hope that some day I will be able to come to L.A. and get some lessons from the best Jaime Vendera.
P.S. really love your idea of making this the best forum for voice technique.
P.P.S. I had a conversation on youtube about Bruce Dickinson singing "Hallowed Be Thy Name" and people wonder what gives him such power and strength to the top notes. Here is the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vP2hFFV57E
I told them it's a little bit of screaming with lots of resonance in head voice. Some people suggest that Bruce is pulling his chest voice up; however, I do not believe it to be true. If he was pulling his chest up I think his career would've been done by now.

Thanks,

Stanislau (aka Stan) Hrybouski

I think the physical debates are overdone. Who cares if he sounds like he's "pulling chest";) I hear that about me all the time. If you like to sing, then sing your heart out and don't let discussions get you all fired up. If it sounds cool and it doesn't hurt, then it doesn't matter how it's produced. That's because we are all our own instruments, which makes every instrument slightly different. What might work for one person, might not work for another. If you have the gift of intelligence, don't throw it away. If you become a doctor, that doesn't mean you cannot become a rockstar. Excell at both and see which one you become first;) If you become a doctor first, well, you'll have plenty of money to build your own studio and buy all sorts of musical toys;)

JV

Hey Stan
Welcome to the board!
First of all, im 20, and im not a natural either, ive worked very hard to get this far, and im still miles away! :P
And most of the stuff you have said i have gone through too. Im a baritone and ive been told that i should nt be able to get past a G4 etc... but its a load of rubbish, like Jaime said, if you want something enough, then you will get it. I can hit a tenor C how a real tenor would hit it, i dont have to start blending my pharyngeal voice until everything after the tenor C, and i can get up to a Soprano C (with a bit of a struggle i must say) but im sure it will get easier the more i practice.
And theres noway Bruce Dickinson pulls chest lol, he wouldnt get through 3 songs if he did, and theres no way he would be singing now all these years later. He just has a very developed head voice.

Hey Lee you're an awesome singer, and your band rules. I love progressive metal !!!

Thanks a lot guys. I'll post any questions that I have on the forum. You're the best. The Dickinson discussion started out with a guy saying that he wants to sound exactly like Bruce, his raw model. I told that he's never gonna sound exactly like Bruce, nor should he try to do that.
So guys what you're saying here can be summed up:

1. Work on developing strong resonant voice.
2. Sing from heart; that's when it's gonna sound the best.

Correct?

P.S. Raise your voice 2 has arrived. Gonna go read it now.

YES!!! I managed to convince my vocal coach to work on "Raise your Voice." Finally he's gonna read the book.

Stan H.