Why Voice - The Case Study Series

I wanted to share some case studies - most of them success stories on how singing lessons has helped a variety of people over the last few years. 

I teach voice to all levels of and in a variety of forms. From the professional singer/actor/musician to business men and woman, house wifes, school children and college students. Every shape of human that comes through my door gets treated like an individual with a unique set of challenges, but still you can probably find you have something in common with most of them.

Here comes case study #1 - Turning the lights back on.

A lot of people have fears around the use of their voice. Why those fears have arisen I tend not to focus on, that seems to me to be a therapists job. However, the "how to change" the fear, the voice, the attitude, the emotional toll, is my job. If you grew up singing, was considered a good singer with "talent", but somehow screwed it up, the "how to" becomes about turning the lights back on. Whats the most important tool: patience and trust...

In this first case study I am talking about a young man who has aspirations to be a contemporary counter tenor (sings in what is normally considered a female range). A voice type that is considered rare and extraordinary and definitely requires a mindset of a certain splendor, because when you open your mounth you are not going to sound the way people necessarily expect - but if you are good you blow us ALL away. 

He came to me in pretty bad shape mentally, physically and emotionally. I started out approaching the physical part first - talking singing technique and getting in good breathing shape. Singing, especially like a counter tenor is an athletic event, and his body was not ready for what he potentially can and want to do. When that happens and especially when you have tried being in shape for it, you expect to be able to do it - like riding a bike. Only this should be compared with riding a bike up a steep steep hill  for a couple of miles; it requires endurance, strength, stamina and a functioning bike.

Once the three dimensional breathing had started to be automatic, his mental state seemed to be nexts point of order. Getting behind the motivation to keep practicing when you don't want to 'cause it all seems so up-hill ....This was a very difficult stage for this particular student and he took a few weeks break from classes to work on it, I recommend a few books on the subject and we talked intermittently and he eventually came back with a different mindset. 

We started a fresh and I modified my approach, took some of the more technical exercises out and did more joyful stuff and more song singing to help even out the tough parts. Emotionally we have had many discussions about why being a singer is so important to him, and I think he is slowly coming around to singing without trying to prove to me he can do it, projecting on to me his need for his own approval. Everyone who studies with me wants my approval and I gladly give it, sometimes they are however not willing to take the approval I give, for their own reasons.

We have recently turned a corner. He has let go of some of his own expectations of himself, his perfectionism, and now allows me to witness his voice as it is changing into its new form with healthier habits.

Sometimes my knowledge of the voice and how it behaves is less important than my knowledge of human behavior. My own struggles with the voice, life in general and I suppose a general empathy for others and their struggles, are and will probably always be as important as my ability to play the piano, match pitch and explain three dimensional breath support:-)