Why Take Voice Lessons?

One excellent reason for taking voice lessons is simply to get the vocal skills that will become second nature to you.  As you begin singing better, without thought or stress, then what happens?  You stop thinking about your voice, and start focusing on your story.

Your story is what underlies the lyric and is your means to inspire, instruct, or touch your audience.  Never forget that you are a storyteller, first and foremost.  Being a technically good singer is just icing on the cake.  The mark of great singers is not how brilliant their techniques are, but how adept they are at eliciting emotion from their listeners.

Take voice lessons to learn how to sing better and overcome your vocal challenges so that you can stop thinking about technique, and begin thinking about the character who is singing through you.

Voice lessons allow you to stop thinking about technique
 and start thinking about the story you're telling

Don't Sing Like a Trumpet Player

I recently worked with a man who had played trumpet all his life.  He had bought my book From Shower To Stage….7 Easy Steps for Singing Like A Pro!, and when he got to the breathing section he hit a snag.

When you sing, you have to have a soft belly, and essentially breathe from the diaphragm, allowing the tummy to be relaxed.  He was so used to making his stomach tight, and pushing out the sound while playing trumpet, that it was a major adjustment for him to breathe with a soft belly.

If there's any tension in your body there will be tension in your throat.  In the Lawrence Vocal System you let all that tension go, relax the tummy, relax the jaw, relax the throat, and just allow your unimpeded voice to flow out.  It's that simple!

But most of my students have to do a lot of work on letting go of past conditioning, both mental and physical.  They have to learn that the way they used to sing no longer works, and they have to be open to adopting a new way of approaching their vocal production.  Their willingness to let those old habits go will speed their ability to sing easily without strain or stress.

So if you used to play trumpet and push your sound out with a lot of force; if you used to support your tone by pushing your stomach out; if you used to make your voice louder by putting more pressure on your throat; just know that those are old destructive habits that no longer serve you. Let go of the idea that you have to sing like a trumpet player. There is a better way!