Stubborn Voice!

I have a stubborn voice. I thank Jesse Nemitz for coining this phrase in reference to my voice because it sums up the battle I've had over the past few years. "Why won't you do what I want you to do!!" I used to think.

Before going to Nashville my voice was either very heavy or very light - there was nothing in between. Oh and there was always tension. I refused to believe that this was all I could do. I expected that when I came to Nashville that all this would be remedied in a short space of time. I was wrong. What I learned on my first trip was how to identify problem areas in the voice and how to fix these.

This was only the beginning of the journey for me. I wasn't one of those people (of which there are many) who came in to Brett's studio for one lesson and got in to a balanced mix after a few exercises with little or no direction. I had a stubborn voice. I had so many bad habits to overcome. I had big intellectual and physical breakthroughs of course, but as a student with a stubborn voice and a teacher I had to go far more in depth to overcome my problems.

We with stubborn voices can't just do: "Goo, check! Nay, check! Mum, check! Buh, check!" and slip into a balanced mix. No, we need to think and act more strategically than that:

For example a "nay" can be done many different ways. "Nay" has this stigma attached to it that it creates a high larynx position. Not necessarily. There are many ways to say "nay" eg. high larynx, low larynx or the way we speak it. If you feel like you're sound is pinched or cuts off on the high notes, try doing "nay" with a lower larynx position. Say "nay" as in "neighbor" and keep it the same all the way up the scale. The "n" consonant will engage your pharyngeal and assist cord closure, the lower larynx will give you more release and boom in to an easy mix.

Now that may sound easy. Well sometimes it isn't but my point is that you should try the exercises different ways. Explore your own voice. Get to know it. The biggest breakthroughs I have had did not come in any lesson with an instructor, they happened when i was alone in a room using trial and error - doing a lot of different exercises a lot of different ways and singing a lot of different songs of different styles and genres. As a coach I want to give you the tools that i have learned crossing the hurdles I have had to in my own voice, to explore your own voice and not need to come for a lesson every day to keep you in check. As time goes by you need fewer and fewer lessons and before you know it you are only coming back for a tune up or if you hit a specific problem. We all need that. Even Brett!!

The greatest and most frustrating thing about singing is that you can never stop learning. This opens up a million possibilities and also creates a million problems to solve. My best piece of advice is to be happy with where you are in the present but know that by following this method, you WILL progress and find those doors which you will, with dedication, open one by one.