Forthcoming courses

NEW Singing and the Actor Training

In addition to the two courses described above, the next Integrated Voice^TM Module One begins in October. We still have one place available on the programme - you can email us for an interview if you are interested in joining.

The excellent Practical Phonetics course runs in November. Heather Keens will be taking you through the theory and practicalities of phonetics. The course is suitable for both beginners and improvers: if you have never used phonetics before, this is an excellent introduction. Heather is a highly experienced singer and a graduate of the MA Voice Studies course at CSSD. She works with phonetics for sung and spoken voice, and teaches classical, jazz and popular music styles. November 18, in London.

January 20 2007 sees the next Computer Voice Training course. Jeremy's hands-on, intuitive approach to voice work and computers is enlightening and fun. You may be surprised to discover what a useful tool the computer can be both for yourself and for your teaching. There is plenty of time for practise on this course as we have 3 computers available. Jeremy also provides software if you want to bring your own lap-top (PC only).

Belting Explained arrives in February. We are already taking bookings for this popular course. If you need to belt and don't know how, if you need to teach belting and even if you disagree with belting, you will find this course practical and highly informative. This course is essential for those performing or teaching in Musical Theatre, Rock and Pop. February 10 2007, London

Successful Singing Auditions runs on March 03 2007, London This is a day of intensive training with Jeremy and Gillyanne on the work described in their book. Auditioning is psychologically challenging and we work on this course to support and guide you in finding your best for the next audition. 12 performers places and up to 20 places for observers if teachers and coaches want to pick our brains on this subject!

Jenevora Williams joins Vocal Process again for her The Developing Voice course. We had great feedback about Jenevora's day last year, with participants commenting particularly on the quality of sound files, the extensive course notes and the usefulness of the masterclass with young singers. If you work with young singers either as a coach or teacher, this course is a must. March 17 2007, London.
 

In August Gillyanne was invited to Belfast to train a group of 9 therapists and two managers in a workshop on healthy voice use.

Gillyanne writes:
"Vocal health is a major topic of the day. Mirroring and matching client vocal patterns is an important part of the work, and these patterns might include aggressive sounds, pitches out of an individual therapists' vocal comfort zone and a range of constrictive vocal behaviours.

We start off with the recoil breath and voiced fricatives to create those essential 'good vibrations'. I have brought with me a copy of the Looking at a Voice video ebook. The group are fascinated by footage of Jeremy's larynx, showing the true and false vocal folds. Hoarseness and 'frog in the throat' syndrome are on their request list for the day and everyone feels the benefit from working the silent laugh and silent breathing exercises. It is too easy when mirroring client vocal patterns to forget to release the effects of the 'grunt mechanism' at the end of the day.

A practical approach to vocal warm-ups is discussed. All of the therapists are peripatetic, so travelling to different venues and often working with different types of client with differing needs. Re-setting their voices to a healthy 'neutral' and preparing for the day's work with a five minute warm-up makes for happier voices and less illness. The five minute warm-up and reset can easily be done in the car on the way to work and between venues. If you want to monitor your abdominal wall, you need one hand off the wheel, so some exercises (like the recoil breath) requires a stop at the traffic lights!  Others, such as chuckling and giggling can be done on the road.

During the afternoon I decide to go 'off the page'. I feel that the group needs to do something really practical that reflects the way they might work with their own clients. It is important that participants can apply what they were learning in a real-life setting, rather than an idealised one.

Improvisation is a key tool in group work and we end up sitting on the floor, working through different voiced and invoice fricatives, making noises like machinery. We then do an improvisation based on laughter - father Xmas 'Ho-Ho's, silly girl giggles, snide laughs, sniggers and 'dirty laughs' exploring laughter on different vowels, pitches and voiced consonants. This is enormously energising!

We follow on with different types of onset - aspirate and glottal. In the onset work, sound ranges from very breathy to short sharp, highly energise attacks using sounds such as 'ouch', 'Oh' and 'Ahhhhhh'. I remind the group to prepare for the more aggressive sounds by thinking of the silent laugh and engaging the muscles of the torso for voice-body connection. The physical mode of 'tantrum' (banging fists on the floor, on your knees (if sitting cross legged) or stamping feet and whirling your fists up and down, is very helpful when making extended screaming or shouting sounds. Frustration and anger can be issues for clients and an exercises like these might be helpful in 'letting it out'.

The group then ask about quiet sounds - how to mirror those without inducing tension in their own voices. I introduce them to what I am coming to call 'the mobile phone' exercise, where you imagine a friend talking to you on the phone (volubly!) and make quiet intermittent noises of agreement or affirmation 'unh-h'hn'. This is an excellent way to practice quiet vocalising on a comfortable vocal pitch. The noises can then be extended into small pitch glides and eventually into soft moaning and words of complaint - oh dear - please mum - ohhh.

This has been a fascinating day for me, as I have not come into contact with this client base before. I learned that a Music Therapist must be an eclectic being - finding ways of vocal and non-vocal communication to work with a range of emotional, physical and psychological disorders.

Whether vocally trained or not, the demands of a Music Therapist's job places them in the category of 'professional voice user'."

If you are interested in receiving INSET or training workshops from Gillyanne or Jeremy, email Gunvor to discuss your requirements.
 

JF Article Have You Tried?

A few months ago Jeremy was asked to create an article for Classroom Music magazine on favourite musicals for secondary schools. Using a combination of extensive research and his own knowledge in the field, Jeremy came up with five musicals for music and drama teachers to consider. Covering more than 250 years and in five different musical styles, the list included three large ensemble pieces.

As a taster, see if you can recognise the musical from this plot synopsis, taken from the article: "Boy meets girl (after years at sea with ugly nurse for company) but, being born in a leap year, he won't complete his apprenticeship for more than 60 years. Currently working as a pirate, future bride hates piracy."

Classroom Music and Rhinegold Publishing have kindly agreed to let Vocal Process have a copy of the article for download on the site. Click here to download the Have You Tried Musicals pdf
 

DECAY OR TONE RELEASE
There are many kinds of release or decay, but all have to do with the way in which the singer finishes the sound. Decay suggests a finish which fades, and release is abrupt.

Vibrato fade
This is a common decay used by a great majority of singers, regardless of style. Because, as noted earlier, vibrato speeds and width can vary enormously, the sounds of vibrato fade decays can also vary. It's generally a sweet way to finish your sound; it has an artful, 'sung' quality about it - although combined with other kinds of release it can have more punch. On the whole, unless the final note is held for an unnaturally long time at a high effort-level, this release usually has the same kind of 'neutral' emotional impact as the Simultaneous onset.
[Listen to CD Example 14: I looked over Jordan and what did I see Comin' for to carry me home?]

Aspirate decay
Depending on how strongly the singer wants to produce the decay, this may include a full stiffening of the vocal folds (which means there is no vibrato to it), or it may just be a very 'airy' sounding thin-fold tone, which can include vibrato. Most people can master this finish but it takes some practice to use it artfully. The emotional effect can be varied - it can lend a kind of gentle or contemplative mood to a performance, and it often makes the singer sound as if they are turning the sound (and perhaps the thought) in on themselves.
[Listen to CD Example 15: Why should I feel discouraged? Why should the shadows come?]

Falling off the note
This release works just as it sounds: the vocalist bends the note downwards, as if 'falling off' the phrase. There may or may not be vibrato. Some singers use the 'fall' with vibrato to ease down to the next note (think of Judy Garland), so that it has a very definite place to 'fall' to, which means that it's not really a tone release in this case. Others just fall nowhere in particular. There's almost always a fade to it, but sometimes subtle. In harder Rock sounds (Bruce Springsteen or Chrissie Hynde, for example) the fall neither fades nor has vibrato. It is a deliberately 'artless' sound in singing, and its effect is always strong. It might suggest that the singer's feeling is too strong to be 'sung' about, or that the singer is more concerned with the overall musical feel of the piece than with the lead vocal. Emotionally it appeals to our sense of defiance.
[Listen to CD Example 16: I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me]

'Pushed' release
Sort of the opposite of falling off the note. It's rarer than falling off and is quite distinctive in sound. This is when the singer actually pushes the note upwards slightly, just before releasing. You can hear this commonly in singers like Kate Bush, Dinah Washington or Hank Williams, and the sound can sometimes have an almost 'flip' quality to it. It creates a high-energy sound and takes true effort to produce. This release can be both gentle (which is how you'll her it in the CD example) or extreme - see the Resources section for suggestions on where to hear the more radical versions of this release! But whether gentle or extreme, it is always a playful and sassy sound and is such an unexpected way to finish a sung phrase that it may make an audience laugh - but that is usually because it's such a joyful sound. It's a release that has usually only been used by vocalists who are brave and secure in both their power and the uniqueness of their style.
[Listen to CD example 17: Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me]

'Compressed' release
Can simply sound as if the singer has stopped the note with no attempt to soften or ease the finish. This decay is also often combined with a fast improv fill, or a short, quickened vibrato, but it still finishes fairly abruptly - in other words, it doesn't fade. Again, this decay seems to want to defy any 'sweetness' or comfort in the sung sound. It can make a singer sound angry or defiant, or (in the case of Peggy Lees' Fever) can sound sophisticated and cool. Its emotional effect is varied but usually makes the singer sound strong and in control of their emotion and their sound.
[Listen to CD Example 18: I sing because I'm happy, I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me]

Gospel release
This decay has a burst of air on the finish. The burst can be subtle (Michael Jackson, Sarah Vaughan) or quite strong (Jennifer Holliday, Stevie Wonder). In the case of singers with a very strong Gospel influence, like Holliday, you may even hear an added syllable on an 'ah' or 'hey' sound. This is often the sound of extreme ecstasy or pain - as if the song is not enough fully to convey the singer's feeling, which must overflow into an extra syllable or sound. Like the pushed release it quickly raises both the true and the perceived effort-levels and it takes great energy to produce. Not surprisingly, its emotional effect is inspiring - we feel absolutely inspired, either by the singer's conviction or by their passion. It creates a sense of excitement and energy.
[Listen to CD Example 19: If you get to heaven before I do Comin' for to carry me home]

Creak decay
This sounds exactly like the Creak onset. Many people cannot access the sound easily, and many have difficulty using it as a 'stand alone' release of sound. More often it's used to fade the sustain of one note as the singer 'glides' into the next note. It is very effective when used. because it can have a defiant, artless quality about it that suggests a kind of pain which can't be alleviated through singing - as if the sound must melt back into a kind of never-ending agony or deep thought. It's a highly vulnerable sound that creates immediate intimacy between singer and audience.
[Listen to CD Example 20: Oh freedom, oh freedom, oh freedom over me]

The chapter continues with discussions on Sustain and vibrato, Phrase weight and placement, Note attack breath and diction, and Improvisation.

The book with its free CD of voice demonstrations is published by A&C Black for £16.99  ISBN 0-7136-7266-8
For more information on the book, visit the Popular Singing website.
 

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