For years, RYV has had a five star rating on Amazon.com. With the release of RYV 2nd Edition, only a few new comments have been added because it is considered an entirely new book. Apparently somone from NY bought my books and felt that it didn't give them anything. They gave me a three star rating, bringing my rating down to 4.5. Here is what Tyro3 had to say-
Jaime Vendera's book is full of positive energy. He thanks God for his success and gives advice, through most of the book, on everything but singing. From the hype you would expect a novel approach to singing, but his isolation method is not that different from traditional scales. The bulk of the book is lifestyle advice: diet, speaking the right way, martial arts (!), avoid cigarettes and cocaine, and a variety of products he recommends like throat spray - sometimes dubious-sounding herbal concoctions. This is fine, I guess, but, if your vocal problems are anything like mine, you probably want advice on how to open your throat and improve pitch and tone. The book barely touches on this crucial issues except to give the usual "yawning" advice (I've found a better method). That said, the book comes with a lot of extras, and the "siren" exercise (where you begin with a low tone and move to the highest note in your range) may help extend your range. Personally, the breathing advice in the Ultimate Breathing Book was more useful to me. It showed clearly how to slow down your exhalation to hold notes longer, with the side effect that it can give your voice a soulful, vibrato-like sound. The sections on improving resonance seemed pretty vague to me - they involve a lot of visualization. This book may be a good choice, certainly better than expensive singing programs, but I think I would start with the breath book, which can be downloaded for half the price (it's short).



As much as I care about singing, I was floored when this guy wrote this today. I was proud of the 5 star rating of RYV 1st edition. I feel this guy bought the book, thumbed through it and wrote a post. If anyone on this board feels that RYV 2nd Edition deserves a Five star rating, I would appreciate it if you'd post a review on Amazon.com for RYV 2nd Edition. Don't feel obliged. Only post if you feel like it;)

Achh...how annoying. But, amazon makes it possible for everyone to voice their opinion I guess.. no matter how educated!

That's precisely why I'm going to go add my 5 star rating now.

Ohh... it won't let me make a customer review because apparently I haven't bought anything before... but I have! How strange.

Dude, relax.

Not everybody is going to consider RYV2 to be the ultimate singing bible. It's just a shame that this person got in and wrote the first review. Their opinion is just as valid as anybody else's.

You just need to remember that for every vocal (no pun intended) negative person, there's usually about 100 silently positive people.

And keep in mind that RYV2 hasn't been out for that long. It will all balance out in a few months or so and no doubt be sitting around the 5 star mark.

The Good Book tells me to be glad that at least ONE person doesn't like me. If everyone thinks positively of you, something is wrong. To stand for what you believe in and not back down for anything, at least one person will be offended and be upset with you.

I haven't bought from Amazon.com so I can't comment either.

Yep you are right. I was just a little shocked, haha;)

If it makes you feel better Jaime, you've got a board full of people here that think your book was worth at least 6 stars. You've changed lives, thats worth a hell of a lot more than a 5 star rating on amazon.com.h

You can't expect EVERYONE to get results from your book Jaime. It IS incredible, but i'm sure someone in this 6 billion person Earth would have trouble visuallizing resonance. Also it seems this person is not as intense about singing as most of the people on this board. I find the life style advice to be a great added bonus to the actual singing advice. This guy didn't.

I'd post a comment on the book, but you need an account which you've purchased on amazon.com to leave a review. I would of given it a 5 though

Actually, you CAN expect everyone to get results.
The only people who won't get results from either version of RYV are the people who don't do the exercises.



Tim

Well his complaint was visuallizing resonance, and it was too hard. Which is why I said probally he's not as much of a dedicated singer as the people on this forum. Also, theres a lot of "freak" cases, in which someone just doesn't understand ANYTHING in a certain application and thinks it sucks because of that.

Thats why when you and 99.9 percent of everyone in your town LOVE a movie, and you randomly meet 1 person that hates it. That person probally had trouble understanding parts of the movie.

I just bought your book (off Amazon) and I've only gotten through the first chapter, but I plan to give it 5 stars. I don't think it's fair for me to give it a high rating until I've read more of it, but so far I doubt I will give it anything less. I will try to get through more of it this weekend and post a review by Monday.

Don't worry about it Jaime!

Thanks guys and gals. Yeah I got upset over nothing. But it peeves me to know this guy said the book has nothing to do with singing??? The three star bothers me even less than that. I just know when someone reads through the book and doesn't try to apply it;)

It's funny. Whoever Tyro is, completely re-wrote their review on Amazon so I am assuming they have read this post. What's odd, is he upped me to a 4 star and gave a review that was worse thsan the first, hahaha. Some people just don't get it. Listen up, singing comes from the soul, the technical stuff can be summed up pretty quick, but I guess RYV just doesn't have what they were looking for;) Good luck on finding it:)

That would be interesting indeed. All teachers and approaches don't work for everyone. I think that's something Tyro should have kept in mind.

Hell yeah, Jay Sin! Raise Your Voice sure changed MY life... it ignited my passion for singing. A fire that had already been burning inside of me, but was inhibited by my fears and doubts that I could not expand my range and would always be labled "a bass". When I finally found out that this was not true, it was like a dream came true. That's when I started to get interested in all of the other facets of singing... and finally summon the courage to sing in front of other people! I will always be grateful to Jaime for that.

i think it was lincoln who said "You can't please everybody all of the time." or something to that effect. The exercises are very effective but they aren't fool proof (nothing is after all) and like anything you get what you put into it. They apparently didn't put enough into it. I already gave it a 5 star review and I am not sure if I am able to do it again.

Hey Jaime !! I think it's great to have people talking about your book... whatever they say, you wake up interest !! The more negative critics you'll get, the more people who love you will stand up for you !! That's the biggest reward !

Your book is fantastic and very complete and I know the energy, love and great passion you've put in there !! Thanks for sharing ! So here are my stars ...*****... ;)

Mag

p.s. : glad to be back on this board btw !!

Hey Mag, I was with Labrie last night after the DT concert. He said he freaking LOVES RYV. He's blown away by all it covers;)

JLB is awesome! And a prime example of not letting poor reviews bother you. He used to get them all the time, due to his vocal folds rupturing. Plus a lot of people just don't like his voice, as he was said "F**k em". If people can't take a moment and ponder why he is DT's singer or why your book is so GREAT...F**k em. There is double the amount who say the book has changed there whole outlook on singing if not there life. Sorry went on a rant there lol

Yeah James Labrie is one of my favorite singers. So many of my friends hate his voice and think its weak. Personally I think his voice sounds more on the thin side, but **** its incredible. It fits the music amazingly too. Also along with Mike Portnoy's contrasting voice, its perfect. So I just tell my friends to shut the eff up ;)

I've met Mike Portnoy, John Petrucci, and Jordan Rudess from Dream Theater! I have a signed shirt by Mike. And a signed picture by all of them. I'm obsessed haha. The songs are **** fun to play on guitar too ;)

One more to the list, I am not a member haha... so I cannot comment. But I understand why you were angered... people do decide which vocal technique programs to use based off of those reviews and if there's even one negative review it can cause doubt in someone looking for something effective since other programs didnt work. That guy obviously didnt put in the time and effort and if he thinks there's something wrong with visualization he's just stupid. Singing is about visualizing! You think about and act out a song so if you shouldn't practice visualization... idk what you should practice. Nobody's gonna buy ur album unless they believe you. I know how ya feel Jaime... you can have 3 million people telling you your book is great, and one person says something negative and it'll send you into a mental tailspin of anger because you KNOW it works! I am the same way with things.