Hi everyone!

I've only recently "discovered" Jaime Vendera and this website, and I'm definitely planning on buying "Raise Your Voice".

That being said, there is something that concerns me. I've always primarily been a guitarist, and have heard lots of progressive rock music (such as Dream Theater) through my passion of playing guitar. Of course, when I'm walking to school or wherever, I like to hum the tunes quietly to myself- so in Dream Theater's case, I would be "humming" James laBrie's lines. I had never been particularly interested in singing before, but since I could "hum" such high notes as a high F#(the alto one), for example, I always thought that if I wanted, I could develop my voice and become a really "high" singer.

So when I finally joined a Dream Theater cover band(as a guitarist of course), we didn't have a singer yet, and I hoped that I could maybe take over the role of the lead singer. My mother is a professional opera singer, and was glad to give me voice lessons. I was really starting to like the idea of being a singer, and every day my "passion" for this new "instrument" grew larger. Unfortunately, on my first lesson, we found out that I'm a "Bass-Baritone". I apparently have a great lower voice (you know, hitting low D and stuff) but I could barely hit an F above middle C(not the alto one)!!

So my mother's idea was that I had always been humming in my "head voice", or "falsetto". I knew that wasn't true, because I had often sung in falsetto before, and it sounded/felt completely different. But I DID feel a kind of transition between the range below the E(over middle C) and above it. It wasn't a crack, but I felt the "sound" go more into my head when I sang the upper notes. Unfortunately, I could never sing these "head notes" as loudly as my "chest notes", but I knew they weren't falsetto.

Eventually, we came to the conclusion that I didn't really have a high enough range and there was nothing I could do about it. Frankly, I'm not sure my mother knows too much about the male voice and what you can do with it, so I'm asking you GUYS if you know what kind of "head voice" I'm talking about and more importantly if I can DEVELOP it to make it as powerful as my chest voice, so that eventually, I might be able to sing Dream Theater stuff.

Hey brother, I was told I was a bass. You should check out the notes I hit on my profile video at www.myspace.com/jaimevendera. I respect your mother, but I was on Good Morning America about 1 1/2 ago and sanf higher and louder than over 20 opera singers (professionals from the New York Opera), both male and female....and I'm considered a bass. Humming is a good start, it develops muscle memory, you just get mixed up when you try to apply power, then all of a sudden you crack on that F below Tenor C. Guess what. I couldn' even hit an E 20 years ago! Can you sing higher??? YES you can. Let me tell you something, James LaBrie himself asked me if I could teach him to sing higher. If you don't believe me, email him through his website. Don't let ANYBODY tell you that you can't do it, because you can!!!!!!!

Jaime Vendera

YES!!!!! I knew it!!! Thanks so much Jaime for that amazing reply!!

I feel so motivated now..."Raise Your Voice" is already on it's way.

As for the DT cover band, we already have a different singer, but I've decided to sing all of the backing vocals, and I think that's all I can really manage if I'm playing lead guitar at the same time. And I think it's a good think to start out with.

I will definitely keep you e-mailed on my progress (if that's ok with you, of course!)...Thanks again!

No problem brother. Let everyone know how you are doing and ask plenty of questions on here along the way:)

JV

Hey, maybe you wont be lead singer, but can't a band have more than one singer?

I'm pretty sure Queen actually had several of the band members do solos. Or maybe that was after Freddy died. I'm really not sure.

But either way--if you develop your voice well enough, I hardly see a reason the band wouldn't let you do some singing too :). Maybe you could sing something evrey now and then to let the lead singer rest his voice for a few minutes and get some water ;).