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Chuck Stewart
CLICK
HERE FOR MY BLOG FOR SINGERS. IT HAS TIPS FOR SINGERS, INSPIRATION, AND GOAL ACHIEVING IDEAS.
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I was able to almost double my singing range in six months with the vocal technique I teach! I
give private singing lessons (voice lessons) six days a week. If you live in or visit the Orlando, Florida area, call to see
if I have any openings at (407) 696-6300. Ask for Sheree for more information and to schedule your first singing lesson with
me. If you do not live near Orlando, we can schedule a lesson online. Call or email me to schedule.
A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
I am a professional singer. I have worked in bands touring the midwest and southeast U.S.
I was the leader of my own 7 piece band, after which I moved to Las Vegas, NV where I worked, not only as a singer but also
as a professional musician for 18 years.
I am a member of NATS (The National Association of Teachers of Singing).
I'm also a songwriter, arranger, and a writer member of ASCAP. A "writer member" is one whose music has had
radio airplay and has been voted in to ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). I have written
and produced jingles for radio in Las Vegas and in Orlando. I also have done voiceovers professionally
and have 3 years experience in acting, writing, directing, and creating sound effects in radio plays. In addition to singing
in Las Vegas shows, I even worked lounges there. One gig was 6 hours a night, 6 days a week. That was a test of endurance
which is a tribute and success story to the vocal techniques that I teach.
So, what is a vocal coach? I
have studio experience as a singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, musician and vocal coach. As a vocal coach, I have helped
singers in the studio who were having problems with tone, pitch, vowels, articulation and other issues. I helped them to sound
their best. Some recording engineers are great at what they do but most are NOT anything resembling a vocal coach. It simply
is not what they are trained to do.
SINGING DUO:
Currently my wife and I work, singing, as a duo in the Orlando,
Florida area. She is also a student of mine. I work with both amateur and professional singers and in all styles of music.
Singing teachers who do not sing or cannot sing professionally may not know what to teach, if they are not themselves a product
of their instruction.
ALSO:
I can help singers to accompany themselves on piano and many students also enjoy
the experience of writing or co-writing original songs. Pianists you hear on CDs of pop, R&B, Jazz, and other styles
are usually not reading music. They are playing chords in specific stylistic patterns and these things are NOT usually taught
by "traditional" piano teachers. Piano lessons can cover reading, technique, accompaniment and even improvisation
and arranging.
One of my students is a producer for Warner Brothers. Another went from being a NYC Rockette to
landing a part in 'The Producers' (a Broadway Play). Some have recording contracts and others perform in local theater.
ABOUT YOU:
If your goal is to sing better and to learn how your voice and your breathing really work, get in
touch with me. I also have extensive studio experience, doing vocal coaching for recording sessions.
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SOME SERIOUS THINGS TO CONSIDER: 1.
If you can do this one thing, your voice will NOT crack! What is it? 2. Do you ever get hoarse or have endurance problems?
Do you know why this is? 3. Do you sometimes lose your voice? There are at least 45 things that can cause laryngitis.
Do you know what they are? 4. These and other problems can lead to severe injury to your voice. Do you know how to prevent
them? 5. Do you know which medications adversely affect your singing voice? 6. There is one thing that many voice teachers
stress that has almost nothing to do with the problem that they are trying to help you with. 7. The problem that all the
"bad" singers in the American Idol auditions have in common is... but most of them could be better singers if they
knew it and it is NOT a lack of talent! Surprise. Surprise. 8. Singing, like music (it IS music), is a "hearing art"
but if you don't know what you should listen for, you'll never progress beyond a certain point. 9. Which are back vowels
and which are front (or forward) vowels and what should a singer know about these? This greatly affects performance and recording
results. 10. You should know the difference between aspirated and phonated consonants and if you do not, your articulation
will always suffer. Click here to Email Chuck Stewart.
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READY? Gonna spill the beans here. When singers sing higher than the pitches at which they speak,
most have a problem with laryngeal elevation and concomitant hyper-adduction. Things CAN be simple, But...
Your
larynx should remain stable, neither moving up nor down, regardless of whether you are singing high or low. It should be
in about the same position as it is when it is at rest as it is when you are not speaking or singing. Getting it to do that
may indeed be quite a challenge. It is easier for some people to do this than it is for others. Almost all people require
training to accomplish laryngeal stability.
The reason for having the larynx as stable as possible is that if it
moves up for high notes, there are muscles which push the vocal folds (cords) together too hard. This is called “hyper-adduction”.
It can cause irritation to the vocal fold tissues, it can cause high notes to sound harsh, and it can severely limit vocal
endurance. The sound one makes with an elevated larynx is aptly called “constricted phonation”. Add enough volume,
range, and muscular tension over a long enough period of time and the stage is set for blisters on the vocal folds, the precursor
of vocal nodules. Vocal nodules are calluses and they greatly hinder the tone quality of the voice.
If your larynx
is down below resting position when you sing, you will have a sound not unlike that of the voice of the cartoon character,
Yogi Bear. When the larynx is down, the “tube” above it to the pharynx is elongated, which changes the acoustics
and thus the tone quality, or timbre, of the voice. There are other cartoon characters with the same vocal characteristic
and also a few singers who use this for effect or even habitually. Other than the sound being peculiar, the additional effect
is that of making articulation much more of an effort. Some singers who do this “lowered larynx tone production”
are unintelligible when they sing.
The vocal folds terminate behind the “Adam’s apple” cartilage,
called the thyroid cartilage. Females have this too, although it does not usually protrude to the extent that the male’s
does. The vocal folds each (there are two) have in the vibrating edge a ligament which runs from the backside of the thyroid
cartilage to two cartilages which “swivel”. The swiveling causes the vocal folds to elongate as a person ascends
in pitch. It also allows for the pitch to descend and to be controlled by the singer on whatever note the singer chooses
to sing.
There are two muscles, which operate each vocal fold: the thyroarytenoid and the vocalis muscles. So, each
vocal fold has two muscles, which control the swivel of the arytenoid cartilage for each vocal fold. These muscles have plenty
of strength to work the folds without the necessity of “help” from other muscles. Take a look at the diagram below,
which I "drew" on a cad program, because we refer to this in lessons to understand larynx function as regards singing. 
COPYRIGHT 2009 Charles L. Stewart
THE ART OF SINGING--What are we all after with the art of singing--our
singing? In the final analysis, aren't we living as singers to share our art and in doing so to uplift the spirits of others
or to take people on a journey through emotions, thoughts, feelings, and ideas which we want to share? We want to do this
without it being impeded by our own musical or technical shortcomings. We want to be up to the task. We actually want to have
more skill ability, endurance, range, artistic expression, and artistic imagination than what is required to make an impact,
to change lives, to bring happiness, or to have others experience or know us to the core of our very souls.
We
want to have overcome the impediments and barriers and just be able to thrive as artists and make the world a better place.
Isn't that what art is about? This group is what that is all about. What are our tools? Which ones are we missing? How do
we use the ones we have and gain the others so that we can achieve our goals? Let us explore the possibilities and the potentialities
which may lie beyond our present awareness. Let's find the things in ourselves to turn dreams into realities.
TESTIMONIALS
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