|
|
|
|
|
Chuck Stewart <meta name="google-site-verification" content="3zP7a0UXzNXf6B83i7nG4dpTIF6p11IkbrDw-zZpy_Q"
/>
HAVE YOU EVER
SAID: - "My voice
cracks when I sing."
- "I wish I could sing higher."
- "I get hoarse or lose my voice after I sing."
- "High notes
won't come out unless I scream or yell."
- "My throat hurts after I sing."
- "I don't breathe correctly when I sing."
- "I don't have a lot of confidence."
Some vocal coaches can help with issues
like the ones above. Some vocal coaches cannot. Some vocal coaches have studied music, the voice, and vocal anatomy extensively.
Some vocal coaches have not. Singing lessons are not all the same. Some singing teachers sing so badly that
you would only hope that you never end up sounding like they do. Why would a person giving singing lessons not be an
example of his/her knowledge, expertise, and experience? For centuries people learned through apprenticeship from a
master, regardless of the craft or the art. A bad singer cannot teach you to sing well. A bad singer who teaches
is an example of what you might sound like if you follow that person's advice. If the voice teacher cannot sing well,
he/she obviously has not been able to solve his/her own vocal problems. All singing lessons are not alike. I have
had many lessons from many people and can attest that the differences from one to another are astounding.
|
|
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.
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.
 |
|
|
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.
|
|
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
|
|
|
|
