Valuable Tips, Tools and Techniques for All Singers

About the Writer of this Ebook, Al Koehn

Al Koehn is recognized throughout the world as the teacher and coach of top recording artists, tv and movie personalities and actors. His powerful "Vocal Visualization" techniques are being used by singers in all genres of music. For over 30 years Al Koehn has taught private singing, theory, composition and performance techniques in Florida. Many of his students are top professionals, working throughout the country, including such "stars" as Peter Reckell("Bo Brady" of Days of Our Lives ); ....... the members of B5, ( P Diddy-Bad Boyz Records - Disney recording and tv stars); ....... Rick Derringer, Rock and Roll legend ("Hang on Sloopy", "Rock and Roll Hoochie Coochie"); Victoria K, (Nashville's newest young award-winning sweetheart); ..... Midnight (lead singer with Crimson Glory); Velez, ( "Project 1805" hosts and recording stars);......Matt Kramer (lead singer with Atlantic Records' rockers, Saigon Kick); ....... Big 3, Atlantic Records recording stars, Prymary Colorz; ......Actress, Deidre O'Connell, (Second Hand Lions, Law and Order, "Shirley" on ABCs Second Noah); ...... Country music's "Bad Boys, "The Warren Brothers ....and many other professionals whose fame extends across movies, TV, radio, theater and recording. Al also works with performers and headliners at Disney, MGM, Bush Gardens and Universal._ Al holds degrees in music education, drama and voice development from Murray State University, Kentucky with extensive graduate work at SIU and Michigan State. He taught high school and university choir, drama and humanities for 11 years and has been teaching voice, public speaking and presentation techniques in St. Petersburg, FL for over 26 years. He was "on the road" for 9 years as a single singer-keyboardist. Literally hundreds of speech and singing students have worked extensively with Al over the years. His powerful and comprehensive downloadable singing course THE SINGERS BIBLE is popular with professionals and amateurs throughout the world. www.vocalvision.com

Thanks for checking out my ebook. Theres a lot of powerful stuff here that can greatly improve your singing. The normal price for this is $49.00, but I am giving it to you free simply because I feel too many singers out there are not wellinformed about the basics of good singing. As a teacher, this bothers me, and I hope this information will help you and many other singers. Of course Im hoping that you will visit my website and download my SINGERS BIBLE. Whether you like to sing pop, rock, country, metal, punk, Broadway or karaoke, you will find something here that will improve your singing. I set this up as a series of questions and answers because I find this method very effective for readers to follow and understand.

Al Koehn

(Question) I keep hearing about singers having to open the throat. I thought the throat was always open, otherwise we would die. What is that all about?
Think of the throat as being a tube, through which the sound has to travel in order to get out of your mouth. This tube is very pliable, and tends to close itself much of the time, leaving just enough room for air to pass through in order for us to stay alive and to speak. When we swallow it closes completely. Singing is one of the very few activities which requires the throat to be wide open (yawning is another). You can see that the throat is much more practiced in being closed than open. Imagine holding a solid sheet of plywood in front of a speaker. The sound would be cut off. Drill a small hole in the wood, and a small amount of sound would come through. Cut a bigger hole in the wood and more sound comes through. Take the wood away and the sound comes out of the speaker in all its glory. Apply this concept to your throat when you are singing. You have mind control over the opening of your throat. think it open:imagine the uvula hanging up very high, and the back of your tongue lying very low. When you sing feel as if you are yawning. Then the full sound can get through and out your mouth.

What is the chest voice?

Teachers have coined several terms to describe the different vocal sounds and the feelings we get when we make those sounds. Chest voice usually applies to the sound and the feel we get when we sing in the lower part of our range. The head voice is often the term used to delineate the sound of the higher notes being sung. When we take the feeling of the chest voice up too high in our range we begin to strain, and to become hoarse. Falsetto is a term applied mostly to male voices, and refers to that part of the voice which sounds lighter and more feminine. It is often breathy and weak but can usually be strengthened through vocal exercises. The best singers use the falsetto to great advantage. Don't neglect yours. Use it often. (Much more information and recorded demonstrations in THE SINGERS BIBLE ) I am a girl, and I try to move smoothly up from my chest voice into my head voice, but all I get is a strange abrupt change in quality from a rich, full sound to a shrill, whiney sound. I hate that, so I usually strain my lower voice trying to reach the high notes without getting that break. Is there any help for me? This is a universal problem with female pop singers, and is most easily fixed by working with a good vocal coach or teacher. I do have a couple of tips, however. First: sing a lot in your head (high) voice. Chances are, you have avoided this part of your voice so long it has become weak. Remember that the voice is run by muscles, and muscles will strengthen and coordinate themselves with exercise. Second: sing scales and phrases down from your head voice into your chest voice. Try sliding down, using an oo vowel. Singing from high-to-low is much more beneficial to your learning than practicing from low-to-high. (TIP; For the singer, the instrument is the body. Most instrumentalists take much better care of their instruments than the singer does of his body.) When I sing up high I tend to sing flat, even though Im not straining to hit the notes. What am I doing wrong? You are probably keeping your sound too big and fat as you move from low to high. The sound, color and feeling of the voice must become progressively thinner (not weaker) as we move up. Trying to make the high notes too fat makes them flat. (Wow! Im a poet.) (TIP: It is very important to imagine the vocal cords as being very low in the throat. They do move up and down when we swallow or yawn. When you sing, feel as if you are singing through a yawn.)

People tell me I sound nasal. Is this something I was born with, or can I change that sound?

Excess nasality can be caused by a physical deformity. The most common physical cause is having adeviated septum, or a misshapen nasal cartilage. This can be corrected by a relatively simple surgery. However, most nasal singing is caused by lazy muscles at the back of the throat, including the back of the tongue. If the tongue rises up and, or, the top of the throat lowers while we sing, nasality occurs. A good exercise for this is to work with the consonant K and then work it with the vowels uh and oh; kuh, kuh, kuh and koh, koh, koh. A five minute daily workout with these sounds should clear up your nasality in a short time. I hate to hear vibrato in my voice. I sing heavy rock, and it just does not fit the music. Ive noticed that most good rock, pop and blues singers have no vibrato. Any comments? Yes. You are not listening close enough. I almost never hear a professional singer in any area of music who does not have some sort of vibrato. Vibrato comes in many sizes and shapes, some wide and operatic. while others are small and fast. Vibratos are like fingerprints. Most good singers have vibratos which are unique to them and to their style. Yes, there are times when we need to turn off our vibrato in order to create a certain style or emotion, but these are exceptions. Your vibrato should always spin unless you choose to turn it off. (TIP: Guitar and keyboard players have almost a built in bad posture. This works fine for playing, but is deadly for singing.) (TIP: Vowels do not waste breath. Consonants do. Keep your Ts, Ps. Ks, Gs, L s, Ms and Ns quick and light. If you are popping the microphone, you are wasting your breath. Think of the vowel sounds as moving water in a stream. You can toss big rocks (heavy, popping consonants) into the stream, stopping the flow, or you can toss leaves (light, soft consonants) which will still be seen (heard) and yet not disturb the flow.) I have heard singers say that you should always expand the belly outward when you sing, and not collapse inward. Im a little fat around the middle, and Im afraid that if I do that, my belly will stretch even more. Muscles do not work like this. Keep your posture straight and no one will notice that your are expanding your belly. What should I take for a cold Whatever works for you. Be aware, however, that all over-the-counter cold remedies are detrimental to good singing. They may make you feel better, but they will negatively affect your voice. Many colds are responses to stress and emotion. Check your stress level. I usually cant sing well in the morning. Why is that?

When you wake up after a night of singing there is usually a layer of mucus covering your larynx. This is a protective layer the body has placed over the vocal cords as a reaction to the shock of singing. Try gargling with warm salt water to remove it. (Put only enough salt in the glass to lightly cover the bottom) (TIP: Think of the vocal cords as the sound source, like the strings on a guitar or the speaker in a speaker system. The guitar strings make the sound, but it has to vibrate into and around the guitar box to get quality and volume. The speaker without the box sounds very small and tinny. As the sound vibrates in and around the box it gains quality and volume. The vocal cords make the sound, but the sound must then vibrate in and around the bones, muscles and spaces of the neck and head in order to achieve quality and volume.)

I know its harder to sing after a big meal, but Im not sure why. There are two basic reasons: When the stomach is full the diaphragm cant move down completely for us to get full breaths; and the primary job of the body is to stay alive. Digestion is of utmost importance to this. consequently when digestion is taking place shortly after a meal the body routes energy from all areas of the body to help with the process. During digestion we suffer from a noticeable lack of energy because it is being used for that purpose at the expense of singing, deep thought, etc. What foods should a singer avoid. You can be a good judge of that. Everyone's system is different. However, avoid food that make you feel "heavy," or seem to remain in your stomach for a long time. Definitely avoid milk and dairy products before singing; they gum up the vocal works. Red meat takes longer to digest, and can make you sleepy. Fruits are always good. What about smoking? NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! What about drinking alcohol? Moderation is the key. Alcohol dries the throat and vocal mechanism. If you are drinking, and start to feel an uncomfortable dry throat, you're probably drinking too much. Remember the purpose of all "highs" is to screw around with the mind. Do you really need to do that while you are performing? Room temperature tea or water is best for the singer when performing or rehearsing. What about caffeine? Caffeine is a drug and an acid, and needs to be neutralized by the bodys stealing water from the mucus around the larynx (vocal cords). This dries your vocal mechanism and causes problems in all areas of your singing.

 My band complains that I occasionally sing out of pitch. Can I do something about this, or do I just have to live with a "tin ear?" The percentage of singers who just can't sing on pitch is very small. The two most common reasons for pitch problems are singing with a faulty instrument and failing to create the sound in the mind before singing it. Many people have give up singing because they believed they had a "tin ear," when actually they could have continued singing professionally for years, had they known the factsand worked with them. Poor breathing habits; singing in the throat or nose; trying to sing too high without knowing how; trying to copy the sound of singers with radically different voices; and not understanding how to care for the voicethese are almost always the causes of poor pitch; and above all, the singer must think ahead. Pitch problems are almost always caused by poor singing habitsnot by a "bad ear." The main causes of singing off-pitch are: 1. Not knowing the song really well. (Do you REALLY know it?) 2. Not creating the melody in your head before you sing it. THE GENIUS OF THE SINGER DEPENDS MOSTLY ON THEIR ABILITY TO MENTALLY "HEAR" WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT TO SING, like a fortune teller looking to the future through a crystal ball. 3. Letting your current mood (happy, sad, angry, etc) affect your singing. If you sing a gig the day you lost your job, chances are you will sing flat a lot. 4. Letting your current health problems (a cold, a headache, constipation, exhaustion, etc) affect your singing. 5. Are you singing with a "smile in your heart? (That sounds like a Fred Astaire movie title) An internal "smile" does wonders toward keeping the pitch from going flat. Also, sadness, a hot room, anger, not being "with it" that night, depression, etc can cause you to sing flat. Going sharp is usually caused by pushing too much energy. If you don't hear yourself well through the monitors you are in danger of pushing your voice so you can hear it. This could take you way flat or sharp. Are you having that problem in rehearsals? If you are pushing your voice there you are establishing a habit which could continue when you are on stage or in the studio 6. Is your monitor placed so you can hear yourself clearly in relation to the rest of the band. 7. In the studio you MUST be totally comfortable with the sound through your headphones. Be very fussy about this. Don't let a producer or engineer tell you what s best. You're the best judge of that. If the earphone sound is not balanced the way you want it, pitch will probably be affected. Also, if you feel most comfortable hearing a little reverb , ask for it. Too much will be a negative, but a little might be just the thing to relax you and get the best performance.

8. Too much alcohol or weed. 9. Drinking hot drinks loosens the cords and makes it harder to stay in key. 10. The same with very cold drinks. (They tighten the cords.) 11. Are you getting enough breath to finish the phrase. When you run short of breath at the end of a phrase it's hard to stay up on pitch. Learn correct breathing techniques. 12. Are you singing with an open throat? When the back of the throat (the bottom of the tongue and the top of the throat pinch shut our pitch can be affected. 13. Are your nerves under control. Being unusually nervous can cause us to push the voice and go sharp. 14. Are you feeling your sound down in the throat. (Husky, dull) rather than higher in your forehead? A throaty sound often becomes a flat (pitch) sound. VERY FEW PEOPLE ARE TOTALLY UNABLE TO SING ON PITCH. A true "tin ear" almost never occurs. Almost everyone can learn to sing on pitch. Im hoarse a lot, and my voice doesn't seem to do what I want it to. You have just described what could very well be a major problem. Sore throats are just simply sore throats. But hoarseness indicates problems with the vocal cords. Any time you are hoarse for an extended time (say, 10 days or so), see a specialist! I keep hearing about vocal nodules. What are they? Bad news! The inner lips of the vocal cords (where the sound is made) are very tender, and we can raise blisters on them if we aren't careful. these blisters are usually caused by poor breathing habits, incorrect singing habits and straining into the high range. Like a blister on a finger or toe, nodules will usually go away when we stop rubbing and irritating them. The best way to get rid of them is to stop singing for a while, and then begin to develop better singing habits, as presented by good private vocal teachers, and on my course. Prolonged hoarseness is a good sign of nodules (or polyps) . If this is happening, see a specialist now. Surgery is not often required, and if your doctor recommends it, get another opinion. Prolonged hoarseness isn't always caused by nodules or polyps. For example, drainage from sinuses or irritated tonsils can also cause this. See a specialist if you are hoarse for 2 weeks or more.!

I never warm up, but usually by the second song of the evening, my voice

is working pretty well. Are warm-ups that important? Any time you are going to rehearse, or sing in public, you need to warm up. any activity which requires a well-tuned creative mind and coordinated physical activities deserves a warm-up. Singing songs will not do the job! Does the jogger or basketball player start without a warm-up? noand neither should you. A good vocal warm-up should take about 10 to 15 minutes, and should cover light humming in the lower register, the vowels, the low and high notes, and some more involved melodic passages to get the creative juices flowing. My SINGERS BIBLE contains a terrific warm-up for all types of singers. What is the vibrato, and how can I get one? Often, the only thing standing between an excellent voice with good quality, stable breath support, control of volume and a workable range is the VIBRATO. It just doesn't seem to develop along with the rest of the voice. Many students have come to me with the sole purpose of developing their vibratos, and for a good reasona voice without a smooth, natural-sounding vibrato is not complete. The vibrato is the most elusive of all the attributes of a singing voice. Many excellent voice teachers (including several of mine) teach that the vibrato will appear naturally, without any special exercises, once all other elements (quality, range, coordination, balance, breath) are mastered (this can take years). This is true, but most of us are performing now, and need that precious vibrato as soon as possible. That is me. How do I get one as soon as possible? There are two types of vibrato. One is manufactured by bouncing the breath as we hold a note. This feels a lot like singing a series of "h's" (ha-ha-ha-ha-ha). Try that; singing a bunch of "h's" on one note until you run out of breath. Now, do it again only this time don't separate the notes with the breathy "h", but rather, "bounce" the repeated sound on your breath (ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-). If you have trouble with this, try to remember how a very old, palsied person with a shaky voice sounds. (Katherine Hepburn is recognized for speaking this way.) Try saying v-e-r-y s-l-o-w-l-y, "I am going to town." Make your voice shake as you speak. Now, sing that sentence with the same palsied shake. (Bad preachers often use this effect"God will get you if you don't watch out!") Once you've got the idea, try holding a long note, "shaking" a vibrato into it as you sing. Got it? OK. Now, you need to understand that THIS IS NOT A PROFESSIONAL SOUNDING VIBRATO. If you are currently "shaking" your vibrato, or if you have no vibrato at all, pay special attention to the following information: A smooth, natural sounding vibrato is made of some "shaking," or breath pulsation, but is more dependent on pitch fluctuation. Studies have been made, recording the voices of many excellent singers in all fields of music, and the results show that vibratos are actually movements in pitchup-down- up-down, a little sharp-a little flat, etc. The distance the pitch varies depends on the size, shape and other elements of the instrument (the singer's vocal cords, body shape, skull size, etc.) These variables dictate that "every singer's true vibrato is unique to that particular voice.

Your natural vibrato will be uniquely yours, fitting your voice perfectly. You may be able to emulate another singer's vibrato very well, but until you find your own, a very special and unique part of your voice will be false and manufactured. This is a good reason why many teachers feel that the vibrato will develop naturally as the voice finds its own unique self-image. What is the best way to breathe as a singer? (THE SINGERS BIBLE Sessions 3 & 4) This question is important, and must be addressed by any singer who wants to achieve professional quality, range and control If a singer isn't getting enough breath upon inhalation the "fuel tank' is always near empty. With a car, we can drive with full power and control until it runs completely out of gas, but for singing, we always need a reserve to call on for high notes, or when we decide at the last minute to hold a note longer than usual, or make it louder. Almost all people breath "shallow;" meaning they don't fill their lungs completely up on inhalation. In fact, most mere mortals (non singers)take in about one half the air they are actually capable of, even though they feel like they're packing it in. Here are some relevant questions and answers concerning this problem: So what am I doing wrong? I take a breath in, my chest rises up and expands when my lungs fill, and I sing until I need another breath. You're not doing anything wrong. It's just that there is a better waya much better way to inhale. I pack all the breath in that my lungs can hold. How can I improve on that? The secret lies with something you just said: that your chest rises up when you breathe in. The chest must remain high and still during inhalation. How can my chest stay still when my lungs are in there? Don't they expand when they fill? Yes, but they expand downward, not up. Any noticeable expansion should be in the area of the lower rib cage and the stomachnot the chest. When we breathe correctly our stomachs become "fatter" all around, even at the back. You mean my belly should come out when I breathe in? Exactly. That's weird. Not really. Actually, that's the way we were made to breathe. Watch a young kid breathe and you'll see their bellies move in and out. This continues until we are around six or seven years old. Then we begin to notice that our parents, family and friends breathe by raising their chests. (They learned the wrong way when they were children.). Since we all learn by imitation, we imitate; and we screw up one of nature's

wonderful giftsdeep and healthy breathing. A good way to practice this is to lie on your back on the floor, or another hard surface, and put your hand across your navel. Breathe deeply 6 times, feeling your hand rise as your stomach expands all around. Then stand up and do it (6 times), then repeat this whole thing twice more. It will probably be a lot harder to do when you stand up, but keep with the exercise daily and you will begin to breath at the belly. (Diaphragmatic breathing) You said I can get up to twice the amount of air in with each breath if I do it this way. Come on, Al, is that really true? Absolutely! Raising the chest to breathe limits the downward movement of the diaphragm, so the lungs can't fill completely. Belly breathing allows the diaphragm to drop much farther down, thus letting the lungs fill up entirely. How much breath should I take in for singing? Most of the time you shouldn't have to worry about it. Just be aware of the length of the phrase you are going to sing, how loudly you will sing, etc. Your sub-conscience has been breathing for you all your life. Chances are it will take in just the right amount of breath to do the job, provided you are "belly breathing." You should never pack the lungs completely full. This (like eating too much food) will get in the way of good singing. What if I run out breath during a phrase? You should never put yourself in the position of completely running out of breath. Think ahead. You'll know whether or not you can make it through the phrase. Always be prepared to catch a small breath in order to finish a phrase. Catching that small breath is preferable to losing tone quality and energy because you chanced trying to make the whole phrase on one breath.

Give me some pointers on how to extend my high range. The voice must contour itself like a triangle or a Christmas treefat sounds on the low end, then progressively thinning its sound as it moves up the range of notes to the highest sounds. This thinning does not mean pinching the sound, or closing the mouth or throat. In fact the mouth and throat opening must open even more when we sing higher. (Watch the best singers, and you will see that they open W-ID-E when they sing their high notes. The trick is to open the mouth and throat wider and longer (more vertical than horizontal) for the high notes, but don't open, or fatten, the actual sound. It's something like shooting a rifle bullet through a bazooka. Closing the mouth and throat for higher notes is the worse possible thing you can do. You limit the range; you put great strain on the throat and vocal cords; you pinch the soundand you risk

vocal "burn-out." A great exercise to extend your high range is to start on a low note, singing an Ah. Slide smoothly up as high as you can comfortably go and then slide back down. Feel how your voice wants to thin as you move up. This doesnt mean it should get weak, but rather thinner. As you move higher notice whether the feel of your voice seems to rise toward the top of your head. It should do this. If you bump across the break into your falsetto (girls: head voice) dont worry, just keep going. Dont strain your voice. It will extend in range as you continue to do the exercise. As you work with this exercise daily, you should find yourself going higher and higher before having to go into the falsetto-head voice. Fat on the bottom, thin on the top. How do I develop my own unique vocal style? I quote the old quote: "there's nothing new under the sun". There are only new ways of putting old stuff together. Great comedians will tell you that they have spent years collecting funny lines, concepts and jokes from other sources, and that very little of what they do in their routines is completely new. What is unique about their humor is the way they use this collected material. In other words, they have built an arsenal of funny stuff, and they call it up and put it together in constantly changing new ways to make new routines or fit the occasion. This is their "originality." Every great artist is influenced by others They collect and file into the subconscious bits and pieces, ideas and techniques they learned from others. Ask a guitar or bass player and they will often freely tell you their influences and often even show you where they "stole" from Hendrix, Steve Vai or Paul McCartney. Too many singers take pride in insisting that everything they do stylistically is totally their own original idea. It just ain't so. This doesn't mean that we lift whole finished phrases, lyrics, riffs and progressions and claim them as our own. But it does mean that we should constantly be aware of what's being done by others, and begin to integrate the things we like into our own style in our own unique way. This certainly doesn't condone duplicating another's style. But drawing on the creativity of others and consciously or unconsciously using what has already been done in totally new ways is today's "originality". So, just as the comedian constantly collects and files things which have already been said and done, so the singer needs to listen and collect. The cool way Steven Tyler pronounces certain vowels; the feeling of Stevie Wonder's riffing, the way Christina Aguilera fuses the blues with pop, the ballsy attitude of Reba - and on and on. Cover material is your teacher. Don't ignore it. Just don't try too hard to sound exactly like the original singer. We've got them, we need a you!

For more information on Al Koehn and his SINGERS BIBLE, go to www.vocalvision.com

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