You all know I’m an opera singer and voice teacher of 38 years. So I know a few thousand things about voice.

But I’m always impressed and thrilled when a new student enters the studio and has such a nice natural voice and some knowledge about how to use it. I have a new student who is like that. Two whole lessons and auditioning for her school musical. Nice voice originally. I usually start a lesson by explaining how voices work. Then start tackling the “breathing from the gut” issue. Always interesting to see how each student realizes that.

Starting a student on vocal exercises is always a trip. You very often discover that they have more voice and can hit higher notes than you imagined. And when you start opening them up, it can be purely amazing! The student I’m referring to has a nice natural voice. But as we explored more through some exercises, it opened up into something that was quite nice! We went pretty high up and then explored some pretty nice low notes as well. My diagnosis is that she has a very very nice natural instrument!

She brought her audition song which was handed out to those auditioning so everyone sings the same thing. We went through it. Since she had it almost memorized it was easier to move along and center more on her vocal production. And with a little more coaching to drop her jaw and enunciate the words more clearly, it not only improved her presentation and pitch but brought out more of her voice, making the entire song so nice to hear. I felt that she has a very real shot at getting the role she wants.

So welcome to the world of training a voice. You assess the natural talent. You start exercises etc. You guide that voice during weekly lessons and impress upon the student the need for regular practice. I don’t say daily with voice because voices need rest too. I would encourage one day off per week and a couple of days of light vocalizing. It’s also good to incorporate songs that are not too heavy on the vocal mechanism on the “lighter days.”

As time goes by you start hearing not only a more solid sound and ability to hit higher notes but the voice starts becoming refined as well. More of a sparkling resonance. That refinement is not to be taken lightly! The voice is molding…solidifying. It’s moving forward. It’s like exercising at the gym. After a period of time you start to see your body molding into something more refined. More solid.

The key to developing the voice is to keep going. Yes, that’s it! Just keep doing what you’re doing. It takes some years to make a voice into an opera singing voice but the process is just to keep doing what you’re doing vocally if it works! As you move along the teacher works in more aggressive exercises and singing material. Challenges. Embrace them. You start building stamina. And the voice becomes more brilliant as you move along. It’s called growth.

Of course everything isn’t going to go smoothly. But your training should go somewhat smoothly with a teacher who can hear what is going on in your voice, and one who can guide you to the next step in vocal development. When I started teaching I was told a voice teacher has to develop “functional hearing.” And you do that by paying attention to your own lessons plus listening like crazy to all the famous singers out in the world. You learn in a hurry! And you start hearing “things” in voices that aren’t quite right. I would always say “that singer needs a couple of more years in the lab.” This means a bit more time working some of these issues out for a smoother production.

No not all voices out there performing are perfect. But a good voice teacher (and I think I’m pretty good at this) can hear the issues and strive to help the student through these things. Professional singers usually have a voice teacher to fall back on. One really does need to “check in” somewhat regularly to keep the voice at its best.

Getting back to my new student, I can’t wait to hear how she sounds this week. She really does listen well and will probably be singing her audition song much better than last week! This is exciting for the teacher. The student is taking control of their singing right away. I like that! They have somewhat of a plan you might say, about how they want to pursue and present their voice. And that’s a great recipe for moving forward productively in any walk of life. It’s all in the preparation. And having a good teacher. Yup!

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