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Monday, December 28, 2009
Choose To … Not Have To…..
Because the New Year is almost here, I thought I’d give you something to think about perhaps as a new years resolution…. I think this can really be applied to life in general, but lets look at it as it relates to singing and fitness. (You may think singing and fitness are an odd combination to keep talking about. … I happen to look at singers as an athlete not just a singer, performing is it’s own kind of sport!)
To be a great singer or to be in top shape it requires what… your time… right. Well, the number one thing I hear from both types of clients is that they don’t have enough time to practice everyday or to workout “like they should.”
I would suggest to you that this is all about choice. Unless you are a minor and someone is making you practice or workout, go to dance class etc… YOU have the authority to make those decisions and YOU will be held accountable for your choices. You will be held accountable by how well you sing and perform and by how you look and feel. Do you have the stamina or endurance for your task… whether it’s a show or just playing with your kids? YOU are the one responsible for making the choice. Being responsible means that YOU have the choice. YOU are deciding what’s really important to you and what isn’t.
If you aren’t practicing like you should to get wherever it is you want to go, then it would seem like something else is really more important wouldn’t you say? Free time, friends, video games… something. Otherwise your practice would come first. If you can’t find the time to workout then again, something else is more important… your job, your spouse or significant other, your charity work…. Again, whatever it is, and I’m not saying those other things aren’t important, I’m sure they are, but are they really are more important than your health or practicing for your career … maybe, maybe not… it depends on your priorities…
So the question is where do these things, taking time for your health and practicing for your career, fall in line of priority for you. What may help you decide is to look at what the consequences of your choices will be if you don’t practice and take care of your body.
First I think you have to be honest with yourself and get really clear and focused on what you want out of your life… Then, as you think about where these things fall on your priority list, ask yourself what will be the consequences in a year, five years, and even 10 years and beyond if I say these things are important and don’t follow thru. Get some leverage on yourself… really FEEL what it will feel like…What will it cost me professionally, in my health, for my family, for my career, and for my life? Will I keep getting more jobs or lose them, will I learn new things, will I expand my talent and grow as an artist and be able to do new and different things or will I just get by and eventually just have to stop singing or have to continue singing as I am now forever … will I be able to physically stay strong as I age or will healthy problems take over my life and stop me from being there for family and friends, will I miss out on great vacations or events because I am too tired or can’t physically do what’s required…. I would suggest to you that your health, preventing or reversing disease in your body and giving yourself a better quality of life should be at the top of your list no matter what you do… if you aren’t around…. Or aren’t healthy enough to do anything… what have you accomplished… what do you gain….
Remember YOU are responsible because YOU have the choice to do what you need to do or not…. YOU have the authority and YOU are the one accountable for those choices. Being able to do all you want to do, whatever it is, all boils down to choice… remember it’s all about you and the choices you make. No one does anything to you that you don’t allow. So take some time, get clear about what you want… (write it down), get your priorities in line and then make the choices that support them. Keep doing what you know you should, stay with it… staying with something is not always the easy thing to do… but if you do, watch and see how the quality of your life and career will grow and improve.
You have the choice and deserve the very best life has to offer!
It’s all about you… Your time is NOW!
To be a great singer or to be in top shape it requires what… your time… right. Well, the number one thing I hear from both types of clients is that they don’t have enough time to practice everyday or to workout “like they should.”
I would suggest to you that this is all about choice. Unless you are a minor and someone is making you practice or workout, go to dance class etc… YOU have the authority to make those decisions and YOU will be held accountable for your choices. You will be held accountable by how well you sing and perform and by how you look and feel. Do you have the stamina or endurance for your task… whether it’s a show or just playing with your kids? YOU are the one responsible for making the choice. Being responsible means that YOU have the choice. YOU are deciding what’s really important to you and what isn’t.
If you aren’t practicing like you should to get wherever it is you want to go, then it would seem like something else is really more important wouldn’t you say? Free time, friends, video games… something. Otherwise your practice would come first. If you can’t find the time to workout then again, something else is more important… your job, your spouse or significant other, your charity work…. Again, whatever it is, and I’m not saying those other things aren’t important, I’m sure they are, but are they really are more important than your health or practicing for your career … maybe, maybe not… it depends on your priorities…
So the question is where do these things, taking time for your health and practicing for your career, fall in line of priority for you. What may help you decide is to look at what the consequences of your choices will be if you don’t practice and take care of your body.
First I think you have to be honest with yourself and get really clear and focused on what you want out of your life… Then, as you think about where these things fall on your priority list, ask yourself what will be the consequences in a year, five years, and even 10 years and beyond if I say these things are important and don’t follow thru. Get some leverage on yourself… really FEEL what it will feel like…What will it cost me professionally, in my health, for my family, for my career, and for my life? Will I keep getting more jobs or lose them, will I learn new things, will I expand my talent and grow as an artist and be able to do new and different things or will I just get by and eventually just have to stop singing or have to continue singing as I am now forever … will I be able to physically stay strong as I age or will healthy problems take over my life and stop me from being there for family and friends, will I miss out on great vacations or events because I am too tired or can’t physically do what’s required…. I would suggest to you that your health, preventing or reversing disease in your body and giving yourself a better quality of life should be at the top of your list no matter what you do… if you aren’t around…. Or aren’t healthy enough to do anything… what have you accomplished… what do you gain….
Remember YOU are responsible because YOU have the choice to do what you need to do or not…. YOU have the authority and YOU are the one accountable for those choices. Being able to do all you want to do, whatever it is, all boils down to choice… remember it’s all about you and the choices you make. No one does anything to you that you don’t allow. So take some time, get clear about what you want… (write it down), get your priorities in line and then make the choices that support them. Keep doing what you know you should, stay with it… staying with something is not always the easy thing to do… but if you do, watch and see how the quality of your life and career will grow and improve.
You have the choice and deserve the very best life has to offer!
It’s all about you… Your time is NOW!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Truth and Lies about singing...
Recently I read something that said Truth and Lies about singing… I found several things that I will probably respond to, but this is one I get asked about quite often. There are definitely two schools of thinking regarding breathing for singers. They posted that:
Lie - You will need special instruction to learn how to breathe correctly for singing.
Truth - You were born breathing correctly. You’ve continued to breathe. You breathe in, and speak easily on a regular basis. YOU KNOW HOW TO BREATHE ALREADY!
I believe:
How we should breathe…
Well, I do agree that we are all born breathing correctly. However, we do not all continue to breathe correctly or naturally. The movement of a good natural breath should come from the diaphragm, abdomen rib cage, back and lungs. And although the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle, which does initiate the breath, in most people, the secondary muscles take over and the natural breath is inhibited by a lack of focus or training or just habitual learned behavior. During inhalation, the diaphragm moves downward and should open the abdomen, chest, rib cage, back, and lungs. During exhalation, the diaphragm moves upward pressing up on the lungs and expelling the air. In addition, natural breathing should begin through the nose. Breathing in thru the nose not only naturally filters environmental allergens, warms, and moisturizes the air, but it also helps to prevent the release of carbon dioxide too quickly. When we inhale through the mouth we almost always inhale and exhale air too quickly and in too large of volumes. I have read that some researchers believe mouth breathing and the associated hyperventilation it can cause may result in asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other medical problems. I can also tell you that in my years of teaching since 1991, I have never run into a student was already breathing thru their nose while singing unless they had already studied or were practicing yoga or something like it. This just isn’t the way most people breathe as they age.
So, then why don’t we keep breathing this way…
The diaphragmatic breath is not the normal breath in our society. As we grow up in this fast paced, competitive culture we do not continue to breathe naturally. In part because of constant pressures, the stress placed on us, (some from external sources and a lot we place on ourselves) we learn to breathe incorrectly, shallow and from the chest. It not only affects your singing but it affects your health and you life. This shallow breath I believe is also a way that people cut themselves off from uncomfortable feelings and sensations. By breathing less, I think we feel less. And just an aside, when you’re really singing, you need to tap into real emotions that hopefully you can still tap into and aren’t blocking by too much stress in the body, it’s important that you actually have them available.
We are for the most part a culture of upper chest breathers. Have you ever felt like you’ve taken a big breath… can you feel it in your chest… well if you can you are a chest breather and you are using the muscles in your upper body to lift the ribs off of the lungs so you can take in a breath. Unfortunately, breathing like this not only creates tension in the body (especially the upper body, neck and shoulders which is terrible for singers) it also causes us to breathe faster than we should. Breathing too fast may bring about what some call a chronic state of hyperventilation. That’s when we inhale by taking quick, shallow breaths from the top of our chest.
These quick, shallow breaths dramatically reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the blood. What’s wrong with that you may ask…. Well, those reduced levels of carbon dioxide in you blood cause your arteries to constrict and that reduces the blood flow throughout your body. When this happens, no matter how much air you are trying to get in, you brain and body will experience a lack of oxygen. When breathing like this, some may even experience themselves holding their breath. Any prolonged breathing in this way will trigger your nervous system into the “fight or flight response” and will make you tense, and anxious. It will also reduce your ability to handle any complicating stressful situations so you will become irritable and you will stop thinking clearly.
Another contributing factor that I mention quite frequently is the growing lack of daily exercise in our society. With so many people sitting at desks for many hours each day or in front of video games instead of actually moving by actually playing a game or sport, this has gradually conditioned our breathing to a very shallow range of movement. We don’t even get a chance to exercise the lungs during vigorous exercise because many of us live very sedentary lives.
Like I said not only will this affect you singing and your performance, it will affect how well you sleep, how much energy or lack of energy you have, how well you handle stress, danger and fear. If you’re not breathing well and you are compromised because of it… you won’t perform as well, practice as well or sing as well for as long… and I don’t know about you but I love singing and want to be at my absolute best all the time and for a long, long time…
So in my opinion breathing is not something that most of us continue to do naturally and as we get older, we may need to unlearn those bad habits life has taught us and re-learn the natural breath. The natural breath we were born breathing.
I believe as a vocal teacher and fitness coach that we all need to get up, get moving and get breathing…. Deeply...
Lie - You will need special instruction to learn how to breathe correctly for singing.
Truth - You were born breathing correctly. You’ve continued to breathe. You breathe in, and speak easily on a regular basis. YOU KNOW HOW TO BREATHE ALREADY!
I believe:
How we should breathe…
Well, I do agree that we are all born breathing correctly. However, we do not all continue to breathe correctly or naturally. The movement of a good natural breath should come from the diaphragm, abdomen rib cage, back and lungs. And although the diaphragm is an involuntary muscle, which does initiate the breath, in most people, the secondary muscles take over and the natural breath is inhibited by a lack of focus or training or just habitual learned behavior. During inhalation, the diaphragm moves downward and should open the abdomen, chest, rib cage, back, and lungs. During exhalation, the diaphragm moves upward pressing up on the lungs and expelling the air. In addition, natural breathing should begin through the nose. Breathing in thru the nose not only naturally filters environmental allergens, warms, and moisturizes the air, but it also helps to prevent the release of carbon dioxide too quickly. When we inhale through the mouth we almost always inhale and exhale air too quickly and in too large of volumes. I have read that some researchers believe mouth breathing and the associated hyperventilation it can cause may result in asthma, high blood pressure, heart disease, and many other medical problems. I can also tell you that in my years of teaching since 1991, I have never run into a student was already breathing thru their nose while singing unless they had already studied or were practicing yoga or something like it. This just isn’t the way most people breathe as they age.
So, then why don’t we keep breathing this way…
The diaphragmatic breath is not the normal breath in our society. As we grow up in this fast paced, competitive culture we do not continue to breathe naturally. In part because of constant pressures, the stress placed on us, (some from external sources and a lot we place on ourselves) we learn to breathe incorrectly, shallow and from the chest. It not only affects your singing but it affects your health and you life. This shallow breath I believe is also a way that people cut themselves off from uncomfortable feelings and sensations. By breathing less, I think we feel less. And just an aside, when you’re really singing, you need to tap into real emotions that hopefully you can still tap into and aren’t blocking by too much stress in the body, it’s important that you actually have them available.
We are for the most part a culture of upper chest breathers. Have you ever felt like you’ve taken a big breath… can you feel it in your chest… well if you can you are a chest breather and you are using the muscles in your upper body to lift the ribs off of the lungs so you can take in a breath. Unfortunately, breathing like this not only creates tension in the body (especially the upper body, neck and shoulders which is terrible for singers) it also causes us to breathe faster than we should. Breathing too fast may bring about what some call a chronic state of hyperventilation. That’s when we inhale by taking quick, shallow breaths from the top of our chest.
These quick, shallow breaths dramatically reduce the level of carbon dioxide in the blood. What’s wrong with that you may ask…. Well, those reduced levels of carbon dioxide in you blood cause your arteries to constrict and that reduces the blood flow throughout your body. When this happens, no matter how much air you are trying to get in, you brain and body will experience a lack of oxygen. When breathing like this, some may even experience themselves holding their breath. Any prolonged breathing in this way will trigger your nervous system into the “fight or flight response” and will make you tense, and anxious. It will also reduce your ability to handle any complicating stressful situations so you will become irritable and you will stop thinking clearly.
Another contributing factor that I mention quite frequently is the growing lack of daily exercise in our society. With so many people sitting at desks for many hours each day or in front of video games instead of actually moving by actually playing a game or sport, this has gradually conditioned our breathing to a very shallow range of movement. We don’t even get a chance to exercise the lungs during vigorous exercise because many of us live very sedentary lives.
Like I said not only will this affect you singing and your performance, it will affect how well you sleep, how much energy or lack of energy you have, how well you handle stress, danger and fear. If you’re not breathing well and you are compromised because of it… you won’t perform as well, practice as well or sing as well for as long… and I don’t know about you but I love singing and want to be at my absolute best all the time and for a long, long time…
So in my opinion breathing is not something that most of us continue to do naturally and as we get older, we may need to unlearn those bad habits life has taught us and re-learn the natural breath. The natural breath we were born breathing.
I believe as a vocal teacher and fitness coach that we all need to get up, get moving and get breathing…. Deeply...
Saturday, December 5, 2009
The Art of Relaxation
It is surprising how little people know or practice the art of relaxation. Relaxation is more than taking a vacation, or getting out of work… it’s really the absence of stress and it’s a basic need that we shouldn’t shrug off as irrelevant or ignore. Given the pressures of everyday life, stress places a heavy toll on your physical and mental well-being.
Medical research into the origins of common diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, and headaches shows a connection between these diseases and stress. It is also very detrimental to singers. Stress can take away your voice; stop notes from coming out, decrease your range, decrease your breath capacity and control and in some extended cases even cause vocal damage.
In our fast paced society many people feel guilty, or anxious when they aren’t doing something. Even vacations become fast paced, over scheduled time that usually leaves people exhausted and needing a vacation from the vacation. Doing this only undermines the value of vacation time as an opportunity for diversion and rest.
Far too few people know how to turn off the world. Not being plugged in is now a bad thing. Cell phones, computers, ipods, video games have all replaced sitting and enjoying your surroundings. People no longer know how to get satisfaction out of just being instead of always striving. The secret in getting the best results from attempts at relaxation is simple: Find activities that are fun for you. However, please remember that relaxation is not an achievement; relaxation is your main reason for doing your relaxing activity.
Here are two breathing exercise that I enjoy and I find to be very helpful… I hope you take some time and give this a try. If you can make this a part of your daily living… you will notice the benefits…. Enjoy!
1.) Everyone breathes all the time, but few people take the time to notice their breathing. When stressed, a person’s breath is faster and shallower.
Focusing on the breath and slowing it down can be a simple way to relax in any setting. The following meditation encourages deep breaths to fight stress any time and anywhere.
Preparing for the Catch Breath Meditation
This meditation can occur when one feels stressed and is conscious of it – in commuter traffic, during a difficult conversation, or before a medical exam. One may practice the meditation for three breaths or for several minutes, until the desired sense of calm or perspective is reached.
1. Pause in the midst of a stressful situation and decide to control it, rather than letting the stress remain in control. If desired, close the eyes.
2. Focus on the breath. Listen to the self breathe for at least three breaths. Is the breath fast, slow, shallow, or raspy? What does the pace say about one’s immediate state?
3. Stand or sit up straight and focus on slowing the breath. See how deeply one can breathe. Imagine drawing a breath from the very base of the spine and slowly bringing it upwards. When the breath can go no further, visualize it bouncing down from the top of the head and back into the body. Slowly exhale the breath down to the base of the spine.
4. Place the hand on the belly just over the belly button for the next breath. Notice when one breathes deeply, how the belly fills with air like a balloon.
5. On the exhale, focus on the belly and blowing it full of air. Notice how the breath feels going up and down the body.
6. Monitor breathing in this manner as long as desired, or until feelings of relaxation take over.
Suggestions for Catching the Breath in Meditation
Catching the breath in the midst of a busy life is much harder than it seems. One may desire to practice this exercise at home without interruptions before trying it in a stressful situation. Creating a routine of slowing the breath will make it easier to remember the exercise when feelings of stress emerge.
Journaling after practicing the catch breath meditation may also be helpful. After meditating, some find it helpful to write about what worked, what didn't, along with writing about any insights gained about the self and stress reduction during the exercise.
2.) Beginner's Breathing Meditation: Free Relaxation Script
This breathing meditation script will guide you to relax by focusing on your breathing.
When learning to meditate, it is helpful to keep sessions brief so you can maintain concentration. As you become more comfortable and skilled in meditation, you can increase the duration of your meditation sessions.
During this breathing meditation, you will focus on your breath. This will calm your mind and relax your body.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate. Whatever you experience during this breathing meditation is right for you. Don’t try to make anything happen, just observe.
Begin by finding a comfortable position, but one in which you will not fall asleep. Sitting on the floor with your legs crossed is a good position to try.
Close your eyes or focus on one spot in the room.
Roll your shoulders slowly forward and then slowly back.
Lean your head from side to side, lowering your left ear toward your left shoulder, and then your right ear toward your right shoulder.
Relax your muscles.
Your body will continue to relax as you meditate.
Observe your breathing. Notice how your breath flows in and out. Make no effort to change your breathing in any way, simply notice how your body breathes. Your body knows how much air it needs.
Sit quietly, seeing in your mind’s eye your breath flowing gently in and out of your body.
When your attention wanders, as it will, just focus back again on your breathing.
Notice any stray thoughts, but don’t dwell on them. Simply let the thoughts pass.
See how your breath continues to flow...deeply... calmly.
Notice the stages of a complete breath... from the in breath... to the pause that follows... the exhale... and the pause before taking another breath...
See the slight breaks between each breath.
Feel the air entering through your nose...picture the breath flowing through the cavities in your sinuses and then down to your lungs...
As thoughts intrude, allow them to pass, and return your attention to your breathing.
(Pause)
See the air inside your body after you inhale, filling your body gently.
Notice how the space inside your lungs becomes smaller after you exhale and the air leaves your body.
Feel your chest and stomach gently rise and fall with each breath.
Now as you inhale, count silently... one
As you exhale, count...one
Wait for the next breath, and count again... one
Exhale...one
Inhale...one
Exhale...one
Continue to count each inhalation and exhalation as "one."
(Pause)
Notice now how your body feels.
See how calm and gentle your breathing is, and how relaxed your body feels.
Now it is time to gently reawaken your body and mind.
Keeping your eyes closed, notice the sounds around you. Feel the floor beneath you. Feel your clothes against your body.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Shrug your shoulders.
Open your eyes, and remain sitting for a few moments longer.
Straighten out your legs, and stretch your arms and legs gently.
Sit for a few moments more, enjoying how relaxed you feel, and experiencing your body reawaken and your mind returning to its usual level of alertness.
Slowly return to a standing position, and continue with the rest of your day, feeling re-energized.
Medical research into the origins of common diseases such as high blood pressure, heart disease, ulcers, and headaches shows a connection between these diseases and stress. It is also very detrimental to singers. Stress can take away your voice; stop notes from coming out, decrease your range, decrease your breath capacity and control and in some extended cases even cause vocal damage.
In our fast paced society many people feel guilty, or anxious when they aren’t doing something. Even vacations become fast paced, over scheduled time that usually leaves people exhausted and needing a vacation from the vacation. Doing this only undermines the value of vacation time as an opportunity for diversion and rest.
Far too few people know how to turn off the world. Not being plugged in is now a bad thing. Cell phones, computers, ipods, video games have all replaced sitting and enjoying your surroundings. People no longer know how to get satisfaction out of just being instead of always striving. The secret in getting the best results from attempts at relaxation is simple: Find activities that are fun for you. However, please remember that relaxation is not an achievement; relaxation is your main reason for doing your relaxing activity.
Here are two breathing exercise that I enjoy and I find to be very helpful… I hope you take some time and give this a try. If you can make this a part of your daily living… you will notice the benefits…. Enjoy!
1.) Everyone breathes all the time, but few people take the time to notice their breathing. When stressed, a person’s breath is faster and shallower.
Focusing on the breath and slowing it down can be a simple way to relax in any setting. The following meditation encourages deep breaths to fight stress any time and anywhere.
Preparing for the Catch Breath Meditation
This meditation can occur when one feels stressed and is conscious of it – in commuter traffic, during a difficult conversation, or before a medical exam. One may practice the meditation for three breaths or for several minutes, until the desired sense of calm or perspective is reached.
1. Pause in the midst of a stressful situation and decide to control it, rather than letting the stress remain in control. If desired, close the eyes.
2. Focus on the breath. Listen to the self breathe for at least three breaths. Is the breath fast, slow, shallow, or raspy? What does the pace say about one’s immediate state?
3. Stand or sit up straight and focus on slowing the breath. See how deeply one can breathe. Imagine drawing a breath from the very base of the spine and slowly bringing it upwards. When the breath can go no further, visualize it bouncing down from the top of the head and back into the body. Slowly exhale the breath down to the base of the spine.
4. Place the hand on the belly just over the belly button for the next breath. Notice when one breathes deeply, how the belly fills with air like a balloon.
5. On the exhale, focus on the belly and blowing it full of air. Notice how the breath feels going up and down the body.
6. Monitor breathing in this manner as long as desired, or until feelings of relaxation take over.
Suggestions for Catching the Breath in Meditation
Catching the breath in the midst of a busy life is much harder than it seems. One may desire to practice this exercise at home without interruptions before trying it in a stressful situation. Creating a routine of slowing the breath will make it easier to remember the exercise when feelings of stress emerge.
Journaling after practicing the catch breath meditation may also be helpful. After meditating, some find it helpful to write about what worked, what didn't, along with writing about any insights gained about the self and stress reduction during the exercise.
2.) Beginner's Breathing Meditation: Free Relaxation Script
This breathing meditation script will guide you to relax by focusing on your breathing.
When learning to meditate, it is helpful to keep sessions brief so you can maintain concentration. As you become more comfortable and skilled in meditation, you can increase the duration of your meditation sessions.
During this breathing meditation, you will focus on your breath. This will calm your mind and relax your body.
There is no right or wrong way to meditate. Whatever you experience during this breathing meditation is right for you. Don’t try to make anything happen, just observe.
Begin by finding a comfortable position, but one in which you will not fall asleep. Sitting on the floor with your legs crossed is a good position to try.
Close your eyes or focus on one spot in the room.
Roll your shoulders slowly forward and then slowly back.
Lean your head from side to side, lowering your left ear toward your left shoulder, and then your right ear toward your right shoulder.
Relax your muscles.
Your body will continue to relax as you meditate.
Observe your breathing. Notice how your breath flows in and out. Make no effort to change your breathing in any way, simply notice how your body breathes. Your body knows how much air it needs.
Sit quietly, seeing in your mind’s eye your breath flowing gently in and out of your body.
When your attention wanders, as it will, just focus back again on your breathing.
Notice any stray thoughts, but don’t dwell on them. Simply let the thoughts pass.
See how your breath continues to flow...deeply... calmly.
Notice the stages of a complete breath... from the in breath... to the pause that follows... the exhale... and the pause before taking another breath...
See the slight breaks between each breath.
Feel the air entering through your nose...picture the breath flowing through the cavities in your sinuses and then down to your lungs...
As thoughts intrude, allow them to pass, and return your attention to your breathing.
(Pause)
See the air inside your body after you inhale, filling your body gently.
Notice how the space inside your lungs becomes smaller after you exhale and the air leaves your body.
Feel your chest and stomach gently rise and fall with each breath.
Now as you inhale, count silently... one
As you exhale, count...one
Wait for the next breath, and count again... one
Exhale...one
Inhale...one
Exhale...one
Continue to count each inhalation and exhalation as "one."
(Pause)
Notice now how your body feels.
See how calm and gentle your breathing is, and how relaxed your body feels.
Now it is time to gently reawaken your body and mind.
Keeping your eyes closed, notice the sounds around you. Feel the floor beneath you. Feel your clothes against your body.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Shrug your shoulders.
Open your eyes, and remain sitting for a few moments longer.
Straighten out your legs, and stretch your arms and legs gently.
Sit for a few moments more, enjoying how relaxed you feel, and experiencing your body reawaken and your mind returning to its usual level of alertness.
Slowly return to a standing position, and continue with the rest of your day, feeling re-energized.
Friday, December 4, 2009
6 Small Meals!
Here's something I read this morning and thought it might help you all on your way to healthy eating!
For more information on what a healthy diet consists of... you can visit... http://www.mypyramid.gov/
Six-Meal Diversity Deal
By RealAge
Are you still stuck in the three-meals-a-day mindset? You’re not alone. Many people get hung up on the misconception that eating anything beyond their allotted three meals per day constitutes a failure of dietary willpower. But while it's true that eating empty-calorie snack foods between meals is no recipe for health, limiting yourself to the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner feeding format may not be doing you any favors, either.
So try this: Forget between-meal snacking. Forget three squares a day. Your new recipe for healthy eating: Six is better than three.
It sounds like a contradiction, but with a focus on diversity and proper portion size, eating six mini meals instead of three large meals each day will add variety to your diet and can help you feel fuller and be healthier overall.
Ditch the Word "Snack"
Your first step in eating six diverse meals is to kick the word "snack" out of your vocabulary. It often conjures up images of low-nutrition or high-fat items such as chips, pretzels, or ice cream. These types of snacks won't help you lose weight or make your diet any more diverse.
Your second step is to focus on size. Doubling your number of meals shouldn't double the food you eat each day. Instead, your three big meals become six mini meals. You should continue to take in roughly the same number of calories each day, assuming you are not currently overeating.
Finally, make each mini meal an opportunity to vary and balance your diet to include the proper amount of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats as well as important vitamins and minerals.
More Is Less
The health bonuses of eating more meals are varied. Studies show that people who eat more meals tend to eat a greater variety of foods and are more likely to meet their daily nutritional needs.
Eating frequently may also help control your appetite, which in turn could help you control your weight. And by breaking up your three big meals into six smaller meals spaced evenly throughout the day, you may also lower your blood cholesterol and your risk of heart disease.
Don't Space Out
With three squares a day, meals tend to be too far apart, which allows blood sugar levels to drop down low. When this happens, the urge to reach for unhealthful snacks in order to satisfy cravings can get you into trouble.
Grabbing a quick high-carbohydrate snack may bring your blood sugar level up quickly, but most likely too quickly, after which it could simply crash once again, leaving you searching for your next food fix.
Eating many small meals throughout the day -- as long as the meals are balanced -- can help stabilize your blood sugar, so you don't get energy highs and lows.
The key to the mini-meal approach is to pack your meals with enough nutritional punch and fiber to sustain yourself without adding a lot of unnecessary saturated fat and calories.
Choose Foods Your Body Can Use
To keep your blood glucose levels steady throughout the day, focus on foods that will increase blood sugar levels slowly and stably. Try to include a fiber-rich item, a protein-rich item, or a bit of healthy unsaturated fat in every mini meal in order to sustain your energy over a longer period of time. These kinds of food items digest more slowly and raise blood sugar levels more steadily.
Also, keep your focus on diversity with each mini meal. While you balance your intake of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats throughout the day, your goal should be to enjoy a number of different items from each food group.
If your morning meal contained protein-rich dairy, get your protein from another source in the afternoon. Try lean meats such as canned tuna, or vegetable sources such as soymilk, almonds, or red beans. If the fiber-rich carbohydrate in your midday meal was whole-wheat bread, get your next fiber fix from a piece of fruit. Fruits high in fiber include figs, dates, raspberries, raisins, and kiwifruit.
Dynamic Dietary Duos
Your mini meals will be more diverse if you try to include items from at least two food groups in every meal. Serving at least one fruit or a vegetable in each mini meal not only ensures variety but also helps you meet your RealAge Optimum of four fruit and five vegetable servings a day. Avoid mini meals that contain only a single kind of food.
Pairing certain foods can help maximize the benefits of the six-meal lifestyle. Here are a few examples of great pairings:
* Couple your vegetables with a bit of healthy fat to help your body better absorb the vitamins and minerals. For example, a drizzle of olive oil on a salad of mixed greens and sliced tomatoes makes it easier for your body to absorb the lutein in the greens and the lycopene in the tomatoes.
* Pair complex carbohydrates with a protein or healthful fat. The addition of a protein or healthy fat slows down the rate of digestion even more than a complex carbohydrate alone. Try whole-grain bagels with natural peanut butter, or dip your whole-grain crackers into spicy hummus. Or add walnuts to a fruit salad, which will help your body use any carotenoids in the fruit.
Healthy Eating Redefined
Eating smaller, more frequent meals is a great way to increase your opportunities to meet nutritional gaps in your daily diet. Mini meals that incorporate whole-grain foods, colorful vegetables and fruit, lean fish or poultry, low-fat dairy, and unsaturated fats not only will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels but also could help reduce your risk of several diseases, from heart disease and hypertension to diabetes and certain cancers. Saying goodbye to snacks and three squares a day never sounded sweeter.
For more information on what a healthy diet consists of... you can visit... http://www.mypyramid.gov/
Six-Meal Diversity Deal
By RealAge
Are you still stuck in the three-meals-a-day mindset? You’re not alone. Many people get hung up on the misconception that eating anything beyond their allotted three meals per day constitutes a failure of dietary willpower. But while it's true that eating empty-calorie snack foods between meals is no recipe for health, limiting yourself to the traditional breakfast-lunch-dinner feeding format may not be doing you any favors, either.
So try this: Forget between-meal snacking. Forget three squares a day. Your new recipe for healthy eating: Six is better than three.
It sounds like a contradiction, but with a focus on diversity and proper portion size, eating six mini meals instead of three large meals each day will add variety to your diet and can help you feel fuller and be healthier overall.
Ditch the Word "Snack"
Your first step in eating six diverse meals is to kick the word "snack" out of your vocabulary. It often conjures up images of low-nutrition or high-fat items such as chips, pretzels, or ice cream. These types of snacks won't help you lose weight or make your diet any more diverse.
Your second step is to focus on size. Doubling your number of meals shouldn't double the food you eat each day. Instead, your three big meals become six mini meals. You should continue to take in roughly the same number of calories each day, assuming you are not currently overeating.
Finally, make each mini meal an opportunity to vary and balance your diet to include the proper amount of protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats as well as important vitamins and minerals.
More Is Less
The health bonuses of eating more meals are varied. Studies show that people who eat more meals tend to eat a greater variety of foods and are more likely to meet their daily nutritional needs.
Eating frequently may also help control your appetite, which in turn could help you control your weight. And by breaking up your three big meals into six smaller meals spaced evenly throughout the day, you may also lower your blood cholesterol and your risk of heart disease.
Don't Space Out
With three squares a day, meals tend to be too far apart, which allows blood sugar levels to drop down low. When this happens, the urge to reach for unhealthful snacks in order to satisfy cravings can get you into trouble.
Grabbing a quick high-carbohydrate snack may bring your blood sugar level up quickly, but most likely too quickly, after which it could simply crash once again, leaving you searching for your next food fix.
Eating many small meals throughout the day -- as long as the meals are balanced -- can help stabilize your blood sugar, so you don't get energy highs and lows.
The key to the mini-meal approach is to pack your meals with enough nutritional punch and fiber to sustain yourself without adding a lot of unnecessary saturated fat and calories.
Choose Foods Your Body Can Use
To keep your blood glucose levels steady throughout the day, focus on foods that will increase blood sugar levels slowly and stably. Try to include a fiber-rich item, a protein-rich item, or a bit of healthy unsaturated fat in every mini meal in order to sustain your energy over a longer period of time. These kinds of food items digest more slowly and raise blood sugar levels more steadily.
Also, keep your focus on diversity with each mini meal. While you balance your intake of lean protein, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats throughout the day, your goal should be to enjoy a number of different items from each food group.
If your morning meal contained protein-rich dairy, get your protein from another source in the afternoon. Try lean meats such as canned tuna, or vegetable sources such as soymilk, almonds, or red beans. If the fiber-rich carbohydrate in your midday meal was whole-wheat bread, get your next fiber fix from a piece of fruit. Fruits high in fiber include figs, dates, raspberries, raisins, and kiwifruit.
Dynamic Dietary Duos
Your mini meals will be more diverse if you try to include items from at least two food groups in every meal. Serving at least one fruit or a vegetable in each mini meal not only ensures variety but also helps you meet your RealAge Optimum of four fruit and five vegetable servings a day. Avoid mini meals that contain only a single kind of food.
Pairing certain foods can help maximize the benefits of the six-meal lifestyle. Here are a few examples of great pairings:
* Couple your vegetables with a bit of healthy fat to help your body better absorb the vitamins and minerals. For example, a drizzle of olive oil on a salad of mixed greens and sliced tomatoes makes it easier for your body to absorb the lutein in the greens and the lycopene in the tomatoes.
* Pair complex carbohydrates with a protein or healthful fat. The addition of a protein or healthy fat slows down the rate of digestion even more than a complex carbohydrate alone. Try whole-grain bagels with natural peanut butter, or dip your whole-grain crackers into spicy hummus. Or add walnuts to a fruit salad, which will help your body use any carotenoids in the fruit.
Healthy Eating Redefined
Eating smaller, more frequent meals is a great way to increase your opportunities to meet nutritional gaps in your daily diet. Mini meals that incorporate whole-grain foods, colorful vegetables and fruit, lean fish or poultry, low-fat dairy, and unsaturated fats not only will help to stabilize your blood sugar levels but also could help reduce your risk of several diseases, from heart disease and hypertension to diabetes and certain cancers. Saying goodbye to snacks and three squares a day never sounded sweeter.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
My Practice Schedule….
I read something this morning that made me think this might be a good time to talk to you about practicing…. Again…... I was reading my friend and colleague, Judy Rodman’s, newsletter… She is a wonderful singer and teacher; you should check her out … she’s got lots of great products and advice and is an awesome lady… Anyway, I was reading her blog about singing with power and thought yes I agree whole-heartedly that many students do try to over sing and use too much power too soon. They start pushing for louder and louder sounds and it winds up damaging the voice instead of strengthening it. It also occurred to me that many of you have commented on my posts about my practice schedule… and since I have a strong voice and have power behind me if I choose to use it, I thought I’d go into a little more detail about how I practice and why. (Don’t confuse power and breath support and control. Power comes in part from good support and control, but is not the only thing. I am always supported when I sing… I just use more power now and then to accentuate passages in the song)
As many of you know I have taken a few months off recently to care for my father so I have had to work on my voice to get it back in shape for the work I have coming up. Remember the vocal cords are muscle tissue and need to be exercised just like every other muscle in your body. I thought I’d go thru my practice routine with you and clue you in to how I go about opening up that power without damaging my voice.
First I’ll tell you that I get in an hour at the minimum every practice session. Yep… let me say that again… I practice at least one hour 5 to 6 days a week.
If time permits, I have worked my stamina up to 90 minutes without strain and am working up to two hours with ease… here’s the clincher… even though my voice is … let’s just say… “seasoned”… I have been working about 4 to 6 weeks to get it to that place where I can comfortably sing what I’m working on full out and not get tired. That may be a long time for some and a short time for others but you must know your voice and you must prepare. I ask a lot of my voice and do not want to risk vocal strain or damage by pushing too hard too soon. So I schedule in the appropriate amount of time in this case about 4 to 6 WEEKS of practice so I can get things back in working order without strain or damage…
There is still one big “money note” in one of the songs that I have only recently been singing in full mix voice. I keep things light and in the right placement, with the right amount of breath support, till I am confident that the placement and muscle memory is secure, then and only then do I open up and start putting some power behind it!
Here’s my full routine… this is usually over an hour. I will leave some things out and do 30 minutes of warming up and vocalizing and 30 minutes of singing if I only have an hour.
I START BY SHUTTING OFF MY CELL PHONE!
I do some breathing exercises
I humm on long low to medium notes (always in a comfortable area, not too high or too low)
I go thru my warm up exercises anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes
I go thru my vocalise exercises (Lutgen, Seiber, Solfege, Vacci, and some Aria’s are the things I practice with)
Then I sing the songs I am working on.
The things I hope you take from this blog are the frequency of my practice - 5 to 6 days a week, the length of time not only the hour per day but the number of weeks it takes even me to tune up the voice appropriately and the fact that I do a LOT of technique work every week. Practicing doesn’t just mean turning on your favorite song and singing along.
Remember, this outline is in no way intended to be a specific guide for you. You should get with a teacher and learn exactly what is appropriate for your voice and then follow what they say…. This is only intended to show you that professionals like myself take practicing very seriously and it is a part of my every day routine. My voice is my life, my passion and I want to take care of it and still be singing when I’m 80… Being a singer is a gift.. Take care of it!
As many of you know I have taken a few months off recently to care for my father so I have had to work on my voice to get it back in shape for the work I have coming up. Remember the vocal cords are muscle tissue and need to be exercised just like every other muscle in your body. I thought I’d go thru my practice routine with you and clue you in to how I go about opening up that power without damaging my voice.
First I’ll tell you that I get in an hour at the minimum every practice session. Yep… let me say that again… I practice at least one hour 5 to 6 days a week.
If time permits, I have worked my stamina up to 90 minutes without strain and am working up to two hours with ease… here’s the clincher… even though my voice is … let’s just say… “seasoned”… I have been working about 4 to 6 weeks to get it to that place where I can comfortably sing what I’m working on full out and not get tired. That may be a long time for some and a short time for others but you must know your voice and you must prepare. I ask a lot of my voice and do not want to risk vocal strain or damage by pushing too hard too soon. So I schedule in the appropriate amount of time in this case about 4 to 6 WEEKS of practice so I can get things back in working order without strain or damage…
There is still one big “money note” in one of the songs that I have only recently been singing in full mix voice. I keep things light and in the right placement, with the right amount of breath support, till I am confident that the placement and muscle memory is secure, then and only then do I open up and start putting some power behind it!
Here’s my full routine… this is usually over an hour. I will leave some things out and do 30 minutes of warming up and vocalizing and 30 minutes of singing if I only have an hour.
I START BY SHUTTING OFF MY CELL PHONE!
I do some breathing exercises
I humm on long low to medium notes (always in a comfortable area, not too high or too low)
I go thru my warm up exercises anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes
I go thru my vocalise exercises (Lutgen, Seiber, Solfege, Vacci, and some Aria’s are the things I practice with)
Then I sing the songs I am working on.
The things I hope you take from this blog are the frequency of my practice - 5 to 6 days a week, the length of time not only the hour per day but the number of weeks it takes even me to tune up the voice appropriately and the fact that I do a LOT of technique work every week. Practicing doesn’t just mean turning on your favorite song and singing along.
Remember, this outline is in no way intended to be a specific guide for you. You should get with a teacher and learn exactly what is appropriate for your voice and then follow what they say…. This is only intended to show you that professionals like myself take practicing very seriously and it is a part of my every day routine. My voice is my life, my passion and I want to take care of it and still be singing when I’m 80… Being a singer is a gift.. Take care of it!
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Start flappin your jaw!
It seems to be the theme this week…. What’s going on with your jaw while you’re singing… I want to talk, or keep talking, about a specific thing that causes problems for every singer...
Tension in your jaw, neck and shoulders…
Sometimes you aren’t even aware that you are tensing those muscles… but if you are having trouble hitting high notes you might want to look at yourself in the mirror while you’re singing and look for tension particularly in your jaw and neck… If it’s there, I’ll almost guarantee that it’s also in your shoulders and back.
Here are a few obvious things you can do to help relieve this tension..
Deep breathing exercises
Massage
Neck and shoulder stretches
Physical exercise, and
Get enough sleep
Another exercise that we do specifically to combat this problem is to sing and let the jaw unhinge and flap while you’re singing… drop the jaw, open the mouth and don’t articulate anything.. The whole objective of this exercise is not to understand any of the words you are singing… This will sound REALLY FUNNY… trust me you will laugh at yourself while you’re doing this.. but if you learn to rehears songs this way it will help you get rid of the tension in your jaw. You can’t open your mouth as wide as you'll need to if you are holding tension in your jaw.
Another good test is to see if you are touching or clenching your back teeth together… never, never, never hold your back teeth together… the more you can keep your jaw in that unhinged position the better it will be for you singing…
I see singers all the time that miss notes largely because they are pushing to hard and tensing their jaw and neck, trying to force the note out… the part of the body you should be engaging while you’re singing is the core… ab’s, back, legs and glute’s…
Leave the neck and shoulders out of the act… and start flappin your jaw…
Tension in your jaw, neck and shoulders…
Sometimes you aren’t even aware that you are tensing those muscles… but if you are having trouble hitting high notes you might want to look at yourself in the mirror while you’re singing and look for tension particularly in your jaw and neck… If it’s there, I’ll almost guarantee that it’s also in your shoulders and back.
Here are a few obvious things you can do to help relieve this tension..
Deep breathing exercises
Massage
Neck and shoulder stretches
Physical exercise, and
Get enough sleep
Another exercise that we do specifically to combat this problem is to sing and let the jaw unhinge and flap while you’re singing… drop the jaw, open the mouth and don’t articulate anything.. The whole objective of this exercise is not to understand any of the words you are singing… This will sound REALLY FUNNY… trust me you will laugh at yourself while you’re doing this.. but if you learn to rehears songs this way it will help you get rid of the tension in your jaw. You can’t open your mouth as wide as you'll need to if you are holding tension in your jaw.
Another good test is to see if you are touching or clenching your back teeth together… never, never, never hold your back teeth together… the more you can keep your jaw in that unhinged position the better it will be for you singing…
I see singers all the time that miss notes largely because they are pushing to hard and tensing their jaw and neck, trying to force the note out… the part of the body you should be engaging while you’re singing is the core… ab’s, back, legs and glute’s…
Leave the neck and shoulders out of the act… and start flappin your jaw…
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Snack ideas around 200 calories or less!
I know eating healthy can sometimes slip into … well … boring … And because great nutrition is so important to good health and good singing.. here are some ideas that are quick and easy to keep your snacking interesting, low calorie and yummy… There are a few in here I found for a particular client … (You know who you are…) The rest of you will be glad he asked…
Eat well, live well, and sing well...
Enjoy!
EGGLESS STUFFED BREAKFAST BURRITO
Serves: 1
Ingredients
1 La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb High Fiber large tortilla
1 Slice extra-lean turkey bacon
2 Cups spinach leaves
1/3 cup diced mushrooms
¼ cup diced Roma tomatoes
¼ cup diced green bell pepper
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
Instructions
Cut bacon into small, bite-size pieces. Set aside. Spray a small pan with nonstick spray, and bring to medium-high heat. Add bacon pieces, mushrooms, pepper and onion to the pan. Stirring occasionally, cook until bacon begins to crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add spinach leaves, and cook and stir until the leaves have wilted. Add shredded cheese, and stir until just melted. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
Warm tortilla in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Lay tortilla flat and spread cheese wedge on top of it. Evenly layer spinach mixture over the cheese-topped tortilla. Place diced tomatoes on top of spinach mixture. Fold in the sides of the tortilla, and then slowly roll tortilla up from the bottom to top. Enjoy!
PIZZA
Here is a really simple suggestion to satisfy a pizza craving and it is an excellent snack size serving.
* whole wheat English muffins
* pizza sauce
* low-fat mozzarella shredded cheese
The English muffin you purchase should be whole wheat, because we are aiming for a healthy snack. Whole wheat bread has many more nutrients than white.
The pizza sauce can be any tomato based sauce, but it should NOT include cheese. Check the label - so many pasta sauces on the market now include a form of cheese. The problem, again, is the added calories, which almost none of us need.
Split the muffin, spread some sauce, and use 1/8 cup of cheese (that is one-half of 1/4 cup) and you got a 100 calorie snack. Put it in a toaster-oven or under the broiler for a few minutes and you are done. (Do not use the microwave - it will turn out yucky).
How did we get to 100 calories? 50 for the English muffin, 10 for the sauce, and 40 calories for the cheese
And now you have a chance to add some Pineapple or other fruit or vegetable to make it even more healthy!
MEXICAN SNACK PIZZAS
A low-fat, low-calorie pizza with a Mexican flavor. The beans and whole-wheat muffins give a fiber boost.
4 servings. Per pizza (1/2 English muffin) : Calories, 95; Total fat, 2 grams; Saturated fatty acids, 1 gram; Cholesterol, 4 milligrams; Sodium, 300 milligrams. 1/4 c. tomato puree 1/4 c. kidney beans (canned), drained and chopped 1 tbsp. onion, chopped 1 tbsp. green pepper, chopped 1/2 tsp. oregano leaves 1/4 c. Mozzarella cheese (part skim milk), shredded 1/4 c. lettuce, shredded
Split muffins; toast lightly. Mix puree, beans, onion, green pepper, and oregano. Spread on muffin halves. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2 minutes. Garnish with shredded lettuce.
BETTER-FOR-YOU BUFFALO WINGS
Ingredients:
* 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 2 tablespoons flour
* 2 1/2 pounds (about 28) wing drumettes (look for skinless drumettes if available)
* 1/4 cup nonalcoholic or light beer (chicken broth or wine can also be used)
* light blue cheese dressing (optional)
Preparation:
1. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the seasoned salt, chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, and flour. Remove and discard the skin from the wings (if you weren't able to find skinless drumettes). Dip each wing into the seasoning mixture, pressing the mixture onto the chicken to coat well.
2. Generously coat a large nonstick skillet with canola cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the chicken wings (cooking in batches if necessary) and cook for about 4 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned.
3. Flip with prongs and cook for about 4 minutes more.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the beer. Cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. If the wings aren't cooked through, turn them over and cook for a few minutes more.
5. Remove from the heat and serve hot with light blue cheese dressing if desired (not included in nutrition information below).
Yield:
Makes 7 servings (4 wing drumettes per serving)
Nutritional Information
per serving: 174 calories, 29 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 4.5 g fat, 1.2 g saturated fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 539 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 23 percent.
NO-BACK PEANUT BUTTER POWER BARS
Ingredients:
* Canola cooking spray
* 1 tablespoon butter or canola margarine
* 1/3 cup reduced-fat smooth peanut butter
* 2 cups miniature marshmallows, lightly packed
* 1 cup low-fat granola
* 1 cup Rice Krispies cereal (or other puffed rice cereal)
* 1/3 cup ground golden flaxseed (golden flax works better in this recipe)
Preparation:
1. Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with canola cooking spray. Put the butter, peanut butter, and marshmallows into a medium-sized microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until mixture is just melted. Stir to blend.
2. Microwave again briefly if the mixture isn't melted or smooth. Then stir in granola, puffed rice and flaxseed.
3. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan, flattening it evenly with a sheet of waxed paper. Let it cool completely before cutting into 8 equal-sized bars.
Yield:
8 bars
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 207 calories, 5.5 g protein, 31 g carbohydrate, 8 g of fat ( 2 g saturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat, 1.8 g polyunsaturated fat) , 4mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 174 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 35%. Omega 3 fatty acids = 1 g, Omega 6 fatty acids = 0.7 g.
SPICE-ROASTED ALMONDS
These almonds are given a treatment of spices and a short baking time for amazing rich flavor and intense crunch.
Ingredients:
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 cups whole almonds
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine chili powder, olive oil, kosher salt, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and pepper; add almonds and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.
2. Bake about 10 minutes or until almonds are toasted, stirring twice. Cool almonds completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Yield:
32 (1-tablespoon) servings
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 62 calories, 5 g total fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 33 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein.
SMOOTHIE
Smoothie blended with 6 ounces skim milk, 3/4 cup diced strawberries and banana, 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup and 1 cup ice
ANY WHOLE FRUIT
1 medium pear with 1 ounce Brie
2 ounces smoked salmon with 1 tablespoon nonfat cream cheese on 1/2 small whole wheat bagel
Larger than a tea sandwich, this snack is almost a mini meal in itself. It's low on calories and high on protein and whole grains, which means you're really getting the most out of those calories
TURKEY HERB CHEESE ROLL UPS
These are easy and make a slightly fancy, hit-the-spot snack.
Ingredients:
* 2 ounces sliced turkey breast
* 4 teaspoons light herb cheese spread (like Alouette® brand) or use light cream cheese and sprinkle it lightly with a Mrs. Dash® Herb seasoning blend
* 1/2 carrot, cut into about 4 thin sticks (thin celery sticks can also be used)
Preparation:
1. Lay out your turkey breast slices (about 4).
2. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the herb cheese spread over each turkey slice (if using light cream cheese, spread it over the turkey slices then sprinkle the an herb blend lightly over the top of the cream cheese).
3. Set a carrot or celery stick on one end of the turkey slice and roll up.
Yield:
1 snack serving
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 214 calories, 21 g protein, 16 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat (3.5 g saturated fat, 2.2 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 40 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 260 mg sodium (not including the sodium from the turkey). Calories from fat: 29%.
Eat well, live well, and sing well...
Enjoy!
EGGLESS STUFFED BREAKFAST BURRITO
Serves: 1
Ingredients
1 La Tortilla Factory Smart & Delicious Low Carb High Fiber large tortilla
1 Slice extra-lean turkey bacon
2 Cups spinach leaves
1/3 cup diced mushrooms
¼ cup diced Roma tomatoes
¼ cup diced green bell pepper
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 wedge Laughing Cow Light Original Swiss cheese
2 tablespoons shredded fat-free cheddar cheese
Instructions
Cut bacon into small, bite-size pieces. Set aside. Spray a small pan with nonstick spray, and bring to medium-high heat. Add bacon pieces, mushrooms, pepper and onion to the pan. Stirring occasionally, cook until bacon begins to crisp, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add spinach leaves, and cook and stir until the leaves have wilted. Add shredded cheese, and stir until just melted. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
Warm tortilla in the microwave for about 10 seconds. Lay tortilla flat and spread cheese wedge on top of it. Evenly layer spinach mixture over the cheese-topped tortilla. Place diced tomatoes on top of spinach mixture. Fold in the sides of the tortilla, and then slowly roll tortilla up from the bottom to top. Enjoy!
PIZZA
Here is a really simple suggestion to satisfy a pizza craving and it is an excellent snack size serving.
* whole wheat English muffins
* pizza sauce
* low-fat mozzarella shredded cheese
The English muffin you purchase should be whole wheat, because we are aiming for a healthy snack. Whole wheat bread has many more nutrients than white.
The pizza sauce can be any tomato based sauce, but it should NOT include cheese. Check the label - so many pasta sauces on the market now include a form of cheese. The problem, again, is the added calories, which almost none of us need.
Split the muffin, spread some sauce, and use 1/8 cup of cheese (that is one-half of 1/4 cup) and you got a 100 calorie snack. Put it in a toaster-oven or under the broiler for a few minutes and you are done. (Do not use the microwave - it will turn out yucky).
How did we get to 100 calories? 50 for the English muffin, 10 for the sauce, and 40 calories for the cheese
And now you have a chance to add some Pineapple or other fruit or vegetable to make it even more healthy!
MEXICAN SNACK PIZZAS
A low-fat, low-calorie pizza with a Mexican flavor. The beans and whole-wheat muffins give a fiber boost.
4 servings. Per pizza (1/2 English muffin) : Calories, 95; Total fat, 2 grams; Saturated fatty acids, 1 gram; Cholesterol, 4 milligrams; Sodium, 300 milligrams. 1/4 c. tomato puree 1/4 c. kidney beans (canned), drained and chopped 1 tbsp. onion, chopped 1 tbsp. green pepper, chopped 1/2 tsp. oregano leaves 1/4 c. Mozzarella cheese (part skim milk), shredded 1/4 c. lettuce, shredded
Split muffins; toast lightly. Mix puree, beans, onion, green pepper, and oregano. Spread on muffin halves. Sprinkle with cheese. Broil until cheese is bubbly, about 2 minutes. Garnish with shredded lettuce.
BETTER-FOR-YOU BUFFALO WINGS
Ingredients:
* 2 teaspoons seasoned salt
* 2 teaspoons chili powder
* 2 teaspoons garlic powder
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 2 tablespoons flour
* 2 1/2 pounds (about 28) wing drumettes (look for skinless drumettes if available)
* 1/4 cup nonalcoholic or light beer (chicken broth or wine can also be used)
* light blue cheese dressing (optional)
Preparation:
1. In a small mixing bowl, stir together the seasoned salt, chili powder, garlic powder, pepper, and flour. Remove and discard the skin from the wings (if you weren't able to find skinless drumettes). Dip each wing into the seasoning mixture, pressing the mixture onto the chicken to coat well.
2. Generously coat a large nonstick skillet with canola cooking spray and place over medium-high heat. Add the chicken wings (cooking in batches if necessary) and cook for about 4 minutes, or until the bottoms are browned.
3. Flip with prongs and cook for about 4 minutes more.
4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the beer. Cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes. If the wings aren't cooked through, turn them over and cook for a few minutes more.
5. Remove from the heat and serve hot with light blue cheese dressing if desired (not included in nutrition information below).
Yield:
Makes 7 servings (4 wing drumettes per serving)
Nutritional Information
per serving: 174 calories, 29 g protein, 2 g carbohydrate, 4.5 g fat, 1.2 g saturated fat, 73 mg cholesterol, 539 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 23 percent.
NO-BACK PEANUT BUTTER POWER BARS
Ingredients:
* Canola cooking spray
* 1 tablespoon butter or canola margarine
* 1/3 cup reduced-fat smooth peanut butter
* 2 cups miniature marshmallows, lightly packed
* 1 cup low-fat granola
* 1 cup Rice Krispies cereal (or other puffed rice cereal)
* 1/3 cup ground golden flaxseed (golden flax works better in this recipe)
Preparation:
1. Coat an 8x8-inch baking pan with canola cooking spray. Put the butter, peanut butter, and marshmallows into a medium-sized microwave safe bowl and microwave on high for 30 seconds, or until mixture is just melted. Stir to blend.
2. Microwave again briefly if the mixture isn't melted or smooth. Then stir in granola, puffed rice and flaxseed.
3. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan, flattening it evenly with a sheet of waxed paper. Let it cool completely before cutting into 8 equal-sized bars.
Yield:
8 bars
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 207 calories, 5.5 g protein, 31 g carbohydrate, 8 g of fat ( 2 g saturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat, 1.8 g polyunsaturated fat) , 4mg cholesterol, 3 g fiber, 174 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 35%. Omega 3 fatty acids = 1 g, Omega 6 fatty acids = 0.7 g.
SPICE-ROASTED ALMONDS
These almonds are given a treatment of spices and a short baking time for amazing rich flavor and intense crunch.
Ingredients:
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 2 cups whole almonds
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine chili powder, olive oil, kosher salt, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, and pepper; add almonds and toss to coat. Transfer mixture to a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan.
2. Bake about 10 minutes or until almonds are toasted, stirring twice. Cool almonds completely before serving. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Yield:
32 (1-tablespoon) servings
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 62 calories, 5 g total fat (0 g saturated fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 33 mg sodium, 2 g carbohydrate, 1 g fiber, 2 g protein.
SMOOTHIE
Smoothie blended with 6 ounces skim milk, 3/4 cup diced strawberries and banana, 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup and 1 cup ice
ANY WHOLE FRUIT
1 medium pear with 1 ounce Brie
2 ounces smoked salmon with 1 tablespoon nonfat cream cheese on 1/2 small whole wheat bagel
Larger than a tea sandwich, this snack is almost a mini meal in itself. It's low on calories and high on protein and whole grains, which means you're really getting the most out of those calories
TURKEY HERB CHEESE ROLL UPS
These are easy and make a slightly fancy, hit-the-spot snack.
Ingredients:
* 2 ounces sliced turkey breast
* 4 teaspoons light herb cheese spread (like Alouette® brand) or use light cream cheese and sprinkle it lightly with a Mrs. Dash® Herb seasoning blend
* 1/2 carrot, cut into about 4 thin sticks (thin celery sticks can also be used)
Preparation:
1. Lay out your turkey breast slices (about 4).
2. Spread about 1 teaspoon of the herb cheese spread over each turkey slice (if using light cream cheese, spread it over the turkey slices then sprinkle the an herb blend lightly over the top of the cream cheese).
3. Set a carrot or celery stick on one end of the turkey slice and roll up.
Yield:
1 snack serving
Nutritional Information:
Per serving: 214 calories, 21 g protein, 16 g carbohydrate, 7 g fat (3.5 g saturated fat, 2.2 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 40 mg cholesterol, 2 g fiber, 260 mg sodium (not including the sodium from the turkey). Calories from fat: 29%.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Eat Healthy - Be Healthy!
Good nutrition is important for everyone... Singers if you aren't healthy you won't sing as well as you could.. Not only is eating healthier better for your body but it will make you feel better on stage.. so look at you diet... I suggest everyone keep a food diary.. you'll be surprised at what you are actually eating.. and also make note of the time you eat and how it makes you feel...Start preparing more of your own meals and cut out the fast food, and lay off of the refined sugars ... I love recipes that I can throw in the oven and forget about.... here's one that's easy to make and healthy... combine this with a grilled chicken breast and a veggie and you have a quick, easy, nutritious meal!
Enjoy...
Yields: 4 servings, 1 1/4 cups each
Total Time: 1 hour
Prep Time: 5 min
Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon(s) butter
* 1 cup(s) brown basmati or brown jasmine rice
* 4 1/4 cup(s) water
* 1 cup(s) brown lentils
* 4 clove(s) garlic, peeled
* 1 stick(s) cinnamon
* 4 slice(s) (1/8-inch-thick) peeled fresh ginger
* 1 teaspoon(s) red curry paste (see Note) or 1 tablespoon curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
* 4 scallions, trimmed and sliced
Directions
1. Place rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large ovenproof Dutch oven; add rice and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 1 1/2 minutes. (If using curry powder, add it now and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds.) Add water. Stir in lentils, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger, curry paste, if using, and salt; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the curry paste.
3. Cover the pot tightly with a lid or foil. Transfer to the oven and bake until the rice and lentils are tender and all the water is absorbed, 50 to 55 minutes. Fluff with a fork, removing the cinnamon stick and ginger slices. Serve garnished with scallions.
Tips & Techniques
Note: Red curry paste is a blend of chile peppers, garlic, lemongrass and galangal (a root with a flavor similar to ginger). Look for it in jars or cans in the Asian section of the supermarket or specialty stores.
Carb Servings: 3 1/2 starch, 1 1/2 very lean meat, 1/2 fat Carbohydrate Servings: 3 1/2 Nutrition Bonus: Folate (65% daily value), Fiber (54% dv), Iron (30% dv).
Enjoy...
Yields: 4 servings, 1 1/4 cups each
Total Time: 1 hour
Prep Time: 5 min
Ingredients
* 1 tablespoon(s) butter
* 1 cup(s) brown basmati or brown jasmine rice
* 4 1/4 cup(s) water
* 1 cup(s) brown lentils
* 4 clove(s) garlic, peeled
* 1 stick(s) cinnamon
* 4 slice(s) (1/8-inch-thick) peeled fresh ginger
* 1 teaspoon(s) red curry paste (see Note) or 1 tablespoon curry powder
* 1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
* 4 scallions, trimmed and sliced
Directions
1. Place rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 350 degrees.
2. Melt butter over medium-high heat in a large ovenproof Dutch oven; add rice and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 1 1/2 minutes. (If using curry powder, add it now and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 15 seconds.) Add water. Stir in lentils, garlic cloves, cinnamon stick, ginger, curry paste, if using, and salt; bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the curry paste.
3. Cover the pot tightly with a lid or foil. Transfer to the oven and bake until the rice and lentils are tender and all the water is absorbed, 50 to 55 minutes. Fluff with a fork, removing the cinnamon stick and ginger slices. Serve garnished with scallions.
Tips & Techniques
Note: Red curry paste is a blend of chile peppers, garlic, lemongrass and galangal (a root with a flavor similar to ginger). Look for it in jars or cans in the Asian section of the supermarket or specialty stores.
Carb Servings: 3 1/2 starch, 1 1/2 very lean meat, 1/2 fat Carbohydrate Servings: 3 1/2 Nutrition Bonus: Folate (65% daily value), Fiber (54% dv), Iron (30% dv).
Friday, November 13, 2009
What happens to your body when you quit smoking!
So I was at the VA with my Dad this morning and this flyer was on the wall… (And yes… as I’ve said before…everything turns into a lesson with me…) I deal with singers all the time who are quitting or trying to quit smoking. Of course I never think smoking is a good idea, but as a singer it’s really a bad idea. It severely diminishes your lung capacity…which you need in order breathe and then sing!
I thought you might find this interesting… I hope it helps you understand what you are going thru if you are in the process of quitting and why it’s affecting your singing… Hang in there… it will get better..
20 MINUTES
Blood pressure drops to normal
Pulse rate drops to normal
Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal
8 HOURS
Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
Energy level in the blood increases to normal
24 HOURS
Chance of heart attack decreases
48 HOURS
Nerve endings start regrowing
Ability to smell and taste is enhanced
2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS
Circulation improves
Walking becomes easier
Lung function increases up to 30 percent
1 TO 9 MONTHS
Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases
Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, reduce infection
Body’s overall energy increases
1 YEAR
Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker
5 YEARS
Lung cancer death rate for average former smoker (one pack a day) decreases by almost half
Stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5-15 years after quitting
Risk of cancer of mouth, throat and esophagus is half that of a smoker’s
10 YEARS
Lung cancer death rate similar to that of non-smokers
Pre-cancerous cells are replaced
Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases
15 YEARS
Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker
You can turn this around… please quit smoking for your quality of life and your singing!
Acknowledgements: American Cancer Society; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
I thought you might find this interesting… I hope it helps you understand what you are going thru if you are in the process of quitting and why it’s affecting your singing… Hang in there… it will get better..
20 MINUTES
Blood pressure drops to normal
Pulse rate drops to normal
Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal
8 HOURS
Carbon monoxide level in blood drops to normal
Energy level in the blood increases to normal
24 HOURS
Chance of heart attack decreases
48 HOURS
Nerve endings start regrowing
Ability to smell and taste is enhanced
2 WEEKS TO 3 MONTHS
Circulation improves
Walking becomes easier
Lung function increases up to 30 percent
1 TO 9 MONTHS
Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases
Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, reduce infection
Body’s overall energy increases
1 YEAR
Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker
5 YEARS
Lung cancer death rate for average former smoker (one pack a day) decreases by almost half
Stroke risk is reduced to that of a non-smoker 5-15 years after quitting
Risk of cancer of mouth, throat and esophagus is half that of a smoker’s
10 YEARS
Lung cancer death rate similar to that of non-smokers
Pre-cancerous cells are replaced
Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney, and pancreas decreases
15 YEARS
Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker
You can turn this around… please quit smoking for your quality of life and your singing!
Acknowledgements: American Cancer Society; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Vocal Placement Exercises...
I’m going to give you two quick exercises in this blog that will help you with vocal placement, and breath control. If you’d like a free recorded example of this lesson, please visit my myspace.com/jillawebb and listen in. Just scroll down to the bottom of my songs and you’ll see Vocal Tip 1… I’ll do this periodically with exercises when I have questions from you. Please get back to me and let me know what you think of hearing some of this and if there are other specific questions I can answer for you.
I had a question this week from a student regarding vocal placement and was also chatting with some friends about vocal placement for public speakers… how to help people whether you’re a singer or speaker find better vocal resonance, projection, clarity and vocal endurance..
In simple terms a good way to look at vocal placement is to feel or picture where the air is directed in the head, and I believe for projection, clarity, vocal endurance and resonance, it should be as far forward and in the head as possible..
So I’m going to give you two quick exercises that you can do every day to help you with this issue.
The first is just to hummm on one note as long as you can. Actually say the “H” but not so much that pushing out a lot of air at the beginning… If you do that, you’re over pushing, drying out the cords and guess what, you’ll run out of air faster…
If you’re tuning in to the session on myspace, lets try a few.
Remember when you’re warming up to always keep humming in a low to moderate range. Never take it too high until you are properly trained to do that…
Okay here we go..
The next exercise is to hummm while traveling up and down a pentatonic or five note major scale.. again, please keep this in a comfortable range.. never strain…
Again, if you tune in to the lesson on myspace you will hear examples and can then add it into your warm ups that you do now… and yes, I am assuming you all warm up…
Okay, I hope this helps…now its time for my own vocalizing.. gotta run…
See you next time.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
But I might look stupid!
I was talking recently with a colleague about young singers and their performance skills and abilities. With the state of today’s record industry you have to be able to put on a great performance in order to keep your fan’s coming back… remember “frequency”… They have to keep coming back for you to have longevity in this career…and if you don’t know how to put on a great show, you may lose fans not keep or gain them.
A lot of time young artists tell me they are afraid of “looking stupid” or saying something silly. My thoughts on this are if you are being real, being who you are things won’t ever come out wrong. I think it’s when artists are “trying to be something” or someone they think they should be that things come out wrong and don’t look natural.
Fans want to get to know you. They want to see you being exactly who you are. If that is silly and goofy, let it show… if it’s serious and moody.. Be moody… if you’re a type A personality… take command of that stage (it will feel normal to you)…
Remember, performance involves some sort of emotional connection with the song, when you put the emotion on your face and in your body, you will sing completely authentically.
Here’s a big thing to get your head wrapped around. The perception of the audience is reality to them. But I thought what I was doing was what’s real… Nope.. Get this into you…. “The perception of the audience is their reality.” What they think of your performance is true to them, and determines if they will follow you and your career or not.
Now, there’s no way to guess and give every member of the audience what you think they want, right… I mean can you imagine looking out at a sea of people and trying to be everything you think they might want… That doesn’t work… You need to be yourself and they will enjoy your performance because it is from the heart, authentic. You will feel more confident and comfortable on the stage and you will sing better because you’re not stressing yourself out trying to do things that may not be natural to you. If you sing with confidence and handle the occasional mistake like a professional, most of your audience will be convinced that you meant to sing it that way. I heard this and thought this was a great way to think about handling mistakes… “Professionals sing creatively, amateurs make mistakes”
Please remember that wishing your voice and stage show was pro, won’t get it there. If any of you have any doubts about how much preparation it takes to put on a show, you should go and watch “This is it” MJ’s rehearsal footage… I think you’ll find it interesting! You’d be surprised what one-hour of specific vocal practice five days a week can do.
And this doesn’t mean singing your favorite songs in your car or singing the same song over and over again in your bedroom. You may make some improvement this way, but making a practice vocal schedule would be much better for you and you’d make much faster progress.
So many singers avoid doing vocal exercises they say they can warm up by singing their favorite songs. While some professionals will do this occasionally, most of them train their voice using exercises and warm up before every performance. Professional singers know that warm ups will take your cords through muscle movements that singing a song could never do. Practicing correct vocal exercises and warm ups will help you develop necessary muscle memory for difficult passages that you will run into in songs that you sing.
So be prepared and be yourself… if you do those two things you will ALWAYS have a great show!
A lot of time young artists tell me they are afraid of “looking stupid” or saying something silly. My thoughts on this are if you are being real, being who you are things won’t ever come out wrong. I think it’s when artists are “trying to be something” or someone they think they should be that things come out wrong and don’t look natural.
Fans want to get to know you. They want to see you being exactly who you are. If that is silly and goofy, let it show… if it’s serious and moody.. Be moody… if you’re a type A personality… take command of that stage (it will feel normal to you)…
Remember, performance involves some sort of emotional connection with the song, when you put the emotion on your face and in your body, you will sing completely authentically.
Here’s a big thing to get your head wrapped around. The perception of the audience is reality to them. But I thought what I was doing was what’s real… Nope.. Get this into you…. “The perception of the audience is their reality.” What they think of your performance is true to them, and determines if they will follow you and your career or not.
Now, there’s no way to guess and give every member of the audience what you think they want, right… I mean can you imagine looking out at a sea of people and trying to be everything you think they might want… That doesn’t work… You need to be yourself and they will enjoy your performance because it is from the heart, authentic. You will feel more confident and comfortable on the stage and you will sing better because you’re not stressing yourself out trying to do things that may not be natural to you. If you sing with confidence and handle the occasional mistake like a professional, most of your audience will be convinced that you meant to sing it that way. I heard this and thought this was a great way to think about handling mistakes… “Professionals sing creatively, amateurs make mistakes”
Please remember that wishing your voice and stage show was pro, won’t get it there. If any of you have any doubts about how much preparation it takes to put on a show, you should go and watch “This is it” MJ’s rehearsal footage… I think you’ll find it interesting! You’d be surprised what one-hour of specific vocal practice five days a week can do.
And this doesn’t mean singing your favorite songs in your car or singing the same song over and over again in your bedroom. You may make some improvement this way, but making a practice vocal schedule would be much better for you and you’d make much faster progress.
So many singers avoid doing vocal exercises they say they can warm up by singing their favorite songs. While some professionals will do this occasionally, most of them train their voice using exercises and warm up before every performance. Professional singers know that warm ups will take your cords through muscle movements that singing a song could never do. Practicing correct vocal exercises and warm ups will help you develop necessary muscle memory for difficult passages that you will run into in songs that you sing.
So be prepared and be yourself… if you do those two things you will ALWAYS have a great show!
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Eat Healthy - Live Healthy!
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
This is one of my favorite recipes … easy to make, healthy and quick… Remember it’s important to eat 5 to 6 small meals per day and if you can find a way to cook and eat real food… Do it! Also when you’re trying to get healthy… remember to drink enough water. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water, and if you are trying to lose weight, add 8 ounces of water for each additional 25 lbs of weight you want to lose.
Get active… it’s all about calories in vs. calories out… so get moving… and eat real food!
Enjoy..
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
2lbs sweet potatoes, peeled
2-4 T toasted sesame oil
2 t ground cumin
2 t chili powder
1 t paprika
1 t salt
Lightly oil (or spray with oil) two non-stick cookie sheets and set aside. Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into “French fries” or pieces ½ in wide and 3-4 inches long. Transfer the cut sweet potato fries to the prepared cookie sheets, dividing them ecenly between the two sheets, and spread them to a single layer. For each cookie sheet: drizzle the sweet potatoes with ½ T toasted sesame oil, then sprinkle with 1 t ground cumin, chili powder, paprika, and salt (to taste).
Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven, stir the sweet potatoes and spread to a single layer again. Switch the placement of the cookie sheets on the racks of the oven and bake the sweet potatoes and additional 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp.
This is one of my favorite recipes … easy to make, healthy and quick… Remember it’s important to eat 5 to 6 small meals per day and if you can find a way to cook and eat real food… Do it! Also when you’re trying to get healthy… remember to drink enough water. Drink half your body weight in ounces of water, and if you are trying to lose weight, add 8 ounces of water for each additional 25 lbs of weight you want to lose.
Get active… it’s all about calories in vs. calories out… so get moving… and eat real food!
Enjoy..
Baked Sweet Potato Fries
2lbs sweet potatoes, peeled
2-4 T toasted sesame oil
2 t ground cumin
2 t chili powder
1 t paprika
1 t salt
Lightly oil (or spray with oil) two non-stick cookie sheets and set aside. Cut the peeled sweet potatoes into “French fries” or pieces ½ in wide and 3-4 inches long. Transfer the cut sweet potato fries to the prepared cookie sheets, dividing them ecenly between the two sheets, and spread them to a single layer. For each cookie sheet: drizzle the sweet potatoes with ½ T toasted sesame oil, then sprinkle with 1 t ground cumin, chili powder, paprika, and salt (to taste).
Bake at 375° for 20 minutes. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven, stir the sweet potatoes and spread to a single layer again. Switch the placement of the cookie sheets on the racks of the oven and bake the sweet potatoes and additional 20-25 minutes, or until lightly browned and crisp.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Another New Recipe!
Here's another one that makes a good, healthy and quick meal. And I did put mine over brown rice instead of noodles and it was very good...
I'm going to try and get a new recipe out every Saturday... because some of you, like me have said that you cook on Sunday, and it's nice to have something new to try... Enjoy!
Chicken Stroganoff (serves 6)
1 Tbls olive oil
1 medium yellow onion chopped
(about one cup)
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium red bell peppers, chopped
(about 1 cup)
1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
Noodles (although I have gluten free noodles, I put mine over brown rice)
3 cups cooked cubed chicken (I cooked 2 skinless chicken breast and added a clove of garlic to the chicken while I cooked it.. always the good Italian…)
1 cup nonfat sour cream
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1.) in a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, bell pepper and broth. Cook stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender and liquid has evaporated, about 6 to 8 minutes.
2.) Cook noodles according to package directions, but do not add salt.
3.) Add chicken, sour cream, nutmeg, and black pepper to mixture in skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through and mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.
4.) Drain noodles in a colander and divide among bowls. Spoon chicken mixture over noodles. Serve immediately.
I'm going to try and get a new recipe out every Saturday... because some of you, like me have said that you cook on Sunday, and it's nice to have something new to try... Enjoy!
Chicken Stroganoff (serves 6)
1 Tbls olive oil
1 medium yellow onion chopped
(about one cup)
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 medium red bell peppers, chopped
(about 1 cup)
1/3 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
Noodles (although I have gluten free noodles, I put mine over brown rice)
3 cups cooked cubed chicken (I cooked 2 skinless chicken breast and added a clove of garlic to the chicken while I cooked it.. always the good Italian…)
1 cup nonfat sour cream
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground pepper
1.) in a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat until hot but not smoking. Add onion and cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, bell pepper and broth. Cook stirring occasionally until vegetables are tender and liquid has evaporated, about 6 to 8 minutes.
2.) Cook noodles according to package directions, but do not add salt.
3.) Add chicken, sour cream, nutmeg, and black pepper to mixture in skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until heated through and mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes.
4.) Drain noodles in a colander and divide among bowls. Spoon chicken mixture over noodles. Serve immediately.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
How to create the image you want!
I attended an Indie Connect Networking meeting on Monday and the guest speaker was Michael Moore. The lecture was on how to create an image or maybe even more correctly a lasting image as an artist.
I’m going to paraphrase but hit some of the points I thought were excellent and every artist should think about….
One of the main things he said is that creating an image should come from the inside out. Not create an image and worry about substance after that… He said and I think he is correct image should come secondary to talent!
The first and most important thing any artist should do when thinking about creating their image is to first know who they are. They must know what drives them and what they stand for: Personally and musically. He went on to say that the two things artists need to gain fans is reach (viewers and listeners) and frequency of reach. The best way for a new or independent artist to gain frequency and loyalty from their fans is to know who you are, what you stand for and project that thru your music, look, design, and anything else that goes out into the public eye… But outward image should all stem from or be built around who you really are and knowing yourself on the inside.
Another great thing he said was once you know who you are and have an image… stick with it… you are who you are, is who you are and who the public will always expect you to be… and you shouldn’t be talked into or swayed from what it is you do. Now everyone can use a good constructive critique and advise now and then, but can you picture your favorite artist suddenly going off in a new musical direction? It would be strange and you probably wouldn’t be as into them if they strayed from what it is you liked about them. That’s and important tool for you when you are building loyal fans… find out who you are and stick to it! Fans want something they can rely on…
Can you imagine Lynyard Skynyrd being anything but southern rock, MJ being doing say heavy metal, Aerosmith performing Hanna Montana songs, Metallica doing a concert of the Jonas Brothers music, Dianna Krall singing Rhianna songs… you get the point… these artists all know who they are and what their image should be. My guess is you wouldn’t go to see any of those shows. You’d go to see those artists because you know what to expect when you get there. All of those artists know who they are and give that to their audience every time they record, get on stage, do an interview or just hang out at an event… they aren’t acting, they are being who they are! For real….
I always am in favor of a young artist taking the time to find themselves musically before being thrown into a world where they may tell you who to be… what happens if the money people pick a direction, image, look etc that isn’t really “who you are” well, if you want to keep your fans coming to your shows and buying product, you’re pretty much stuck with that image and music… so choose carefully… take the time to sing all kinds of music… follow your own heart and passion. It was Steve Martin who said, “You’re only new once.” Play as many gigs as you can when you’re young and not really in the public eye, sing all kinds of songs and get to know what music really speaks to you. Then when you feel very confident that you know what you want to present to the world, go about marketing yourself and your product. After all, it’s your life… make it what you want because what ever you present is going to be with you a LONG TIME!
I thought this was excellent advise and wanted to share his thoughts with you... I hope you find it helpful!!!
I’m going to paraphrase but hit some of the points I thought were excellent and every artist should think about….
One of the main things he said is that creating an image should come from the inside out. Not create an image and worry about substance after that… He said and I think he is correct image should come secondary to talent!
The first and most important thing any artist should do when thinking about creating their image is to first know who they are. They must know what drives them and what they stand for: Personally and musically. He went on to say that the two things artists need to gain fans is reach (viewers and listeners) and frequency of reach. The best way for a new or independent artist to gain frequency and loyalty from their fans is to know who you are, what you stand for and project that thru your music, look, design, and anything else that goes out into the public eye… But outward image should all stem from or be built around who you really are and knowing yourself on the inside.
Another great thing he said was once you know who you are and have an image… stick with it… you are who you are, is who you are and who the public will always expect you to be… and you shouldn’t be talked into or swayed from what it is you do. Now everyone can use a good constructive critique and advise now and then, but can you picture your favorite artist suddenly going off in a new musical direction? It would be strange and you probably wouldn’t be as into them if they strayed from what it is you liked about them. That’s and important tool for you when you are building loyal fans… find out who you are and stick to it! Fans want something they can rely on…
Can you imagine Lynyard Skynyrd being anything but southern rock, MJ being doing say heavy metal, Aerosmith performing Hanna Montana songs, Metallica doing a concert of the Jonas Brothers music, Dianna Krall singing Rhianna songs… you get the point… these artists all know who they are and what their image should be. My guess is you wouldn’t go to see any of those shows. You’d go to see those artists because you know what to expect when you get there. All of those artists know who they are and give that to their audience every time they record, get on stage, do an interview or just hang out at an event… they aren’t acting, they are being who they are! For real….
I always am in favor of a young artist taking the time to find themselves musically before being thrown into a world where they may tell you who to be… what happens if the money people pick a direction, image, look etc that isn’t really “who you are” well, if you want to keep your fans coming to your shows and buying product, you’re pretty much stuck with that image and music… so choose carefully… take the time to sing all kinds of music… follow your own heart and passion. It was Steve Martin who said, “You’re only new once.” Play as many gigs as you can when you’re young and not really in the public eye, sing all kinds of songs and get to know what music really speaks to you. Then when you feel very confident that you know what you want to present to the world, go about marketing yourself and your product. After all, it’s your life… make it what you want because what ever you present is going to be with you a LONG TIME!
I thought this was excellent advise and wanted to share his thoughts with you... I hope you find it helpful!!!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Make and take healthy recipe!
Well… in the interest of great health for both my fitness clients and my vocal students, each week I’m going to give you one of my favorite healthy recipes! Sometimes when you are in training diets can become, well, stale. I try and find foods and recipes that I can take with me. Although power bars and shakes are an option…. if possible…. ALWAYS CHOOSE REAL FOOD!
So here is a meal you can make and take. It’s great as a leftover the next day or keep the salsa separate and make more pasta and have it fresh when ever you want it… Just put
this in some Tupperware and take it with you when you go to work. It’s a great lunch or dinner, just be sure and watch your portion size. Remember, even healthy food isn’t good if you eat too many calories at one sitting!
Spicy Chicken Salad (Serves 4)
Chili Salsa:
4 Large Tomatoes, chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper,
finely chopped
1 red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
Chicken Base:
2 whole chicken breasts,
skinless and boneless
3 Cups vegetable stock
1 lb good quality spaghetti
salt and pepper to taste
chopped scallions
Chili Salsa:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Correct the seasonings. Cover and refrigerate.
Chicken Salad:
In a large saucepan, place the chicken and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add water, if necessary, to cover the chicken.
Simmer the chicken until tender, about 10 minutes. Cool the chicken, dice it, and reserve.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water, drain, and set aside.
Combine the chicken, pasta, and 2 cups of the salsa in a large bowl.
Correct the seasonings and add salt and pepper.
Serve at room temperature or chilled, with chopped scallions garnish.
Enjoy!
So here is a meal you can make and take. It’s great as a leftover the next day or keep the salsa separate and make more pasta and have it fresh when ever you want it… Just put
this in some Tupperware and take it with you when you go to work. It’s a great lunch or dinner, just be sure and watch your portion size. Remember, even healthy food isn’t good if you eat too many calories at one sitting!
Spicy Chicken Salad (Serves 4)
Chili Salsa:
4 Large Tomatoes, chopped
1 large jalapeno pepper,
finely chopped
1 red onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon lime juice
1 teaspoon salt
Chicken Base:
2 whole chicken breasts,
skinless and boneless
3 Cups vegetable stock
1 lb good quality spaghetti
salt and pepper to taste
chopped scallions
Chili Salsa:
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Correct the seasonings. Cover and refrigerate.
Chicken Salad:
In a large saucepan, place the chicken and vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Add water, if necessary, to cover the chicken.
Simmer the chicken until tender, about 10 minutes. Cool the chicken, dice it, and reserve.
Cook the spaghetti in salted water, drain, and set aside.
Combine the chicken, pasta, and 2 cups of the salsa in a large bowl.
Correct the seasonings and add salt and pepper.
Serve at room temperature or chilled, with chopped scallions garnish.
Enjoy!
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Get that Competitive Edge...
If you want to be competitive in this industry you have to be ready at all times, and that means being prepared. Vocally, physically, with your promo, keeping up on pictures, bio’s, web updates, social networks, networking and a whole lot of other things that being in this industry requires, and guess what… this all takes a time… To get that competitive edge you have to be disciplined, good at time management, always be moving forward, and always be getting things done.
How do you do that… well….. It’s called a schedule. Breaking news… sometimes we have schedule time in for ourselves. And the excuse I have to work, or I’m too busy I don’t have enough time just don't fly with me… my answer is you don’t have enough time to be waiting… Life moves fast and this industry moves even faster. You don’t have time to put things off till tomorrow.
When you think about it, the one thing that you really have control over… is YOU! Make the most of your time, that is, if you are really serious about having a successful career. If you aren’t willing to put the time in I can guarantee you that someone else is… I work with many dedicated people who are absolutely putting in the time and effort... I know that may sound a little harsh, and I’m sorry about that, but after being in this industry for over 30 years, I want to tell you the truth. I’d like you to be ready for it….. So, either be prepared to really do what it takes, or take another long look at what you want out of life. You’ll be happier in the end either way.
Having said all of that, if you love it and it’s your passion… Make the absolute most of what you have… Do what makes you happy.. just do it to the best of your abilities, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll know if you’re really doing that… on not…..
Not everyone can hire a coach or a trainer to make sure things are getting done, so here’s a way you can start taking control of your future. It’s always nice to have someone to be accountable to, but that can be a friend, spouse, family member… just make sure you are being consistent!
Pick how many hours you can devote to each activity each week and make a chart. Say you want to give four hours a week to each of these activities singing, fitness, and songwriting. That’s 12 hours … out of 168 hours in the week… if your career and your future mean that much to you, get off the phone, cut out some television, go to bed earlier and get up a little earlier.. find the time, you are the only one who can do this!
Then, if you want to actually set days and times you can, or you can just have boxes that you check off when you have done an activity. This later way is more flexible and I have found that it may fit to busy schedules a little easier.
So make it on the computer or hand draw it, put it on the refrigerator or make a logbook…
It can be something as basic as this:
Week beginning: _____________
Singing: _______ _________ __________ _________
Workouts: _________ ___________ ________ __________
Songwriting: _________ _________ ________ __________
Obviously, you can tailor this to the activities that are specific to you, but it can literally be something this simple… then as you do them, check them off. Watch how much you start getting done and improving with some consistency of practice…
The entertainment industry is a business just like Microsoft or Boeing. The difference is you are putting your time and effort into you, not someone else company… And REMEMBER....there are a lot of different ways to make a living as an entertainer. We don’t just have to be talking about becoming and artist. If you are a part of a band, a back up vocalist, part of a touring Broadway show, on Broadway, an impersonator, or on television… where ever your career takes you, believe me, your producers will appreciate your hard work and you will get called back and recommended because they know they can always count on a great performance and professionalism from you!
Care about yourself enough to give your business, YOU, the best shot you can… You deserve that!
How do you do that… well….. It’s called a schedule. Breaking news… sometimes we have schedule time in for ourselves. And the excuse I have to work, or I’m too busy I don’t have enough time just don't fly with me… my answer is you don’t have enough time to be waiting… Life moves fast and this industry moves even faster. You don’t have time to put things off till tomorrow.
When you think about it, the one thing that you really have control over… is YOU! Make the most of your time, that is, if you are really serious about having a successful career. If you aren’t willing to put the time in I can guarantee you that someone else is… I work with many dedicated people who are absolutely putting in the time and effort... I know that may sound a little harsh, and I’m sorry about that, but after being in this industry for over 30 years, I want to tell you the truth. I’d like you to be ready for it….. So, either be prepared to really do what it takes, or take another long look at what you want out of life. You’ll be happier in the end either way.
Having said all of that, if you love it and it’s your passion… Make the absolute most of what you have… Do what makes you happy.. just do it to the best of your abilities, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll know if you’re really doing that… on not…..
Not everyone can hire a coach or a trainer to make sure things are getting done, so here’s a way you can start taking control of your future. It’s always nice to have someone to be accountable to, but that can be a friend, spouse, family member… just make sure you are being consistent!
Pick how many hours you can devote to each activity each week and make a chart. Say you want to give four hours a week to each of these activities singing, fitness, and songwriting. That’s 12 hours … out of 168 hours in the week… if your career and your future mean that much to you, get off the phone, cut out some television, go to bed earlier and get up a little earlier.. find the time, you are the only one who can do this!
Then, if you want to actually set days and times you can, or you can just have boxes that you check off when you have done an activity. This later way is more flexible and I have found that it may fit to busy schedules a little easier.
So make it on the computer or hand draw it, put it on the refrigerator or make a logbook…
It can be something as basic as this:
Week beginning: _____________
Singing: _______ _________ __________ _________
Workouts: _________ ___________ ________ __________
Songwriting: _________ _________ ________ __________
Obviously, you can tailor this to the activities that are specific to you, but it can literally be something this simple… then as you do them, check them off. Watch how much you start getting done and improving with some consistency of practice…
The entertainment industry is a business just like Microsoft or Boeing. The difference is you are putting your time and effort into you, not someone else company… And REMEMBER....there are a lot of different ways to make a living as an entertainer. We don’t just have to be talking about becoming and artist. If you are a part of a band, a back up vocalist, part of a touring Broadway show, on Broadway, an impersonator, or on television… where ever your career takes you, believe me, your producers will appreciate your hard work and you will get called back and recommended because they know they can always count on a great performance and professionalism from you!
Care about yourself enough to give your business, YOU, the best shot you can… You deserve that!
Friday, October 16, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Water…. Water….. Water….
Singers it is so important to keep the body hydrated! And it’s way more efficient for the body to do this from the inside out… I know lots of people are fans of throat sprays… I’m not… It’s a band-aid for the real problem… you’re not getting enough water!
The general rule is half your body weight in oz of water. So if you weigh 120, that would be 60 oz of water per day… and if you have to, always round up. A few extra oz of water won’t hurt you. However, please remember if you are doing any kind of strenuous activity… a show or lots of working out and cardio, you need more water.
* Drink 8 oz of water 20 to 30 minutes prior to exercising.
* Drink 4-8 oz of water every 10 to 15 minutes during exercise.
* Drink an additional 8 oz of water within 30 minutes after exercising.
Also drinking water will not give you cramps when you exercise… that is a myth. The truth is that cramps can be a symptom of dehydration. If you drink enough water everyday, it will ultimately reduce your risk of getting cramps. Don’t wait till you’re thirsty to drink water… Hydrate during the day…
Here are a couple of tips for natural things that will help soothe dry thoat.
Bananas
Green Apples
Honey
Breathing Steam and,
Breathing thru your nose not your mouth
The general rule is half your body weight in oz of water. So if you weigh 120, that would be 60 oz of water per day… and if you have to, always round up. A few extra oz of water won’t hurt you. However, please remember if you are doing any kind of strenuous activity… a show or lots of working out and cardio, you need more water.
* Drink 8 oz of water 20 to 30 minutes prior to exercising.
* Drink 4-8 oz of water every 10 to 15 minutes during exercise.
* Drink an additional 8 oz of water within 30 minutes after exercising.
Also drinking water will not give you cramps when you exercise… that is a myth. The truth is that cramps can be a symptom of dehydration. If you drink enough water everyday, it will ultimately reduce your risk of getting cramps. Don’t wait till you’re thirsty to drink water… Hydrate during the day…
Here are a couple of tips for natural things that will help soothe dry thoat.
Bananas
Green Apples
Honey
Breathing Steam and,
Breathing thru your nose not your mouth
Friday, October 9, 2009
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Give Your Music Away…
Give Your Music Away…
This is something a friend sent me this morning it is the thoughts of Trent Reznor from NIN… I think he’s right on the money and thought I’d share it with you…..Enjoy…
ORIGINAL POST:
I posted a message on Twitter yesterday stating I thought The Beastie Boys and TopSpin Media "got it right" regarding how to sell music in this day and age. Here's a link to their store:
[illcommunication.beastieboys.com]
Shortly thereafter, I got some responses from people stating the usual "yeah, if you're an established artist - what if you're just trying to get heard?" argument. In an interview I did recently this topic came up and I'll reiterate what I said here.
If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:
* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) - your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.
If you're forging your own path, read on.
* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this - give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people's email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special - make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters... whatever.
Don't have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]
Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]
Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact - it sucks as the musician BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So... have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).
The Beastie Boys' site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in - available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging - they are established and you are not. Think this through.
The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform people that are interested in what you do when you have something going on - like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace - it's dying and reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND AND HEAR MUSIC (but don't autoplay). Constantly update your site with content - pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows. Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real. Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS. Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of any - Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.
If you don't know anything about new media or how people communicate these days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don't get it - find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig - good luck, you're going to be waiting a while.
Hope this helps, and I'll scour responses for intelligent comments I can respond to.
TR
This is something a friend sent me this morning it is the thoughts of Trent Reznor from NIN… I think he’s right on the money and thought I’d share it with you…..Enjoy…
ORIGINAL POST:
I posted a message on Twitter yesterday stating I thought The Beastie Boys and TopSpin Media "got it right" regarding how to sell music in this day and age. Here's a link to their store:
[illcommunication.beastieboys.com]
Shortly thereafter, I got some responses from people stating the usual "yeah, if you're an established artist - what if you're just trying to get heard?" argument. In an interview I did recently this topic came up and I'll reiterate what I said here.
If you are an unknown / lesser-known artist trying to get noticed / established:
* Establish your goals. What are you trying to do / accomplish? If you are looking for mainstream super-success (think Lady GaGa, Coldplay, U2, Justin Timberlake) - your best bet in my opinion is to look at major labels and prepare to share all revenue streams / creative control / music ownership. To reach that kind of critical mass these days your need old-school marketing muscle and that only comes from major labels. Good luck with that one.
If you're forging your own path, read on.
* Forget thinking you are going to make any real money from record sales. Make your record cheaply (but great) and GIVE IT AWAY. As an artist you want as many people as possible to hear your work. Word of mouth is the only true marketing that matters.
To clarify:
Parter with a TopSpin or similar or build your own website, but what you NEED to do is this - give your music away as high-quality DRM-free MP3s. Collect people's email info in exchange (which means having the infrastructure to do so) and start building your database of potential customers. Then, offer a variety of premium packages for sale and make them limited editions / scarce goods. Base the price and amount available on what you think you can sell. Make the packages special - make them by hand, sign them, make them unique, make them something YOU would want to have as a fan. Make a premium download available that includes high-resolution versions (for sale at a reasonable price) and include the download as something immediately available with any physical purchase. Sell T-shirts. Sell buttons, posters... whatever.
Don't have a TopSpin as a partner? Use Amazon for your transactions and fulfillment. [www.amazon.com]
Use TuneCore to get your music everywhere. [www.tunecore.com]
Have a realistic idea of what you can expect to make from these and budget your recording appropriately.
The point is this: music IS free whether you want to believe that or not. Every piece of music you can think of is available free right now a click away. This is a fact - it sucks as the musician BUT THAT'S THE WAY IT IS (for now). So... have the public get what they want FROM YOU instead of a torrent site and garner good will in the process (plus build your database).
The Beastie Boys' site offers everything you could possibly want in the formats you would want it in - available right from them, right now. The prices they are charging are more than you should be charging - they are established and you are not. Think this through.
The database you are amassing should not be abused, but used to inform people that are interested in what you do when you have something going on - like a few shows, or a tour, or a new record, or a webcast, etc.
Have your MySpace page, but get a site outside MySpace - it's dying and reads as cheap / generic. Remove all Flash from your website. Remove all stupid intros and load-times. MAKE IT SIMPLE TO NAVIGATE AND EASY TO FIND AND HEAR MUSIC (but don't autoplay). Constantly update your site with content - pictures, blogs, whatever. Give people a reason to return to your site all the time. Put up a bulletin board and start a community. Engage your fans (with caution!) Make cheap videos. Film yourself talking. Play shows. Make interesting things. Get a Twitter account. Be interesting. Be real. Submit your music to blogs that may be interested. NEVER CHASE TRENDS. Utilize the multitude of tools available to you for very little cost of any - Flickr / YouTube / Vimeo / SoundCloud / Twitter etc.
If you don't know anything about new media or how people communicate these days, none of this will work. The role of an independent musician these days requires a mastery of first hand use of these tools. If you don't get it - find someone who does to do this for you. If you are waiting around for the phone to ring or that A & R guy to show up at your gig - good luck, you're going to be waiting a while.
Hope this helps, and I'll scour responses for intelligent comments I can respond to.
TR
Monday, September 28, 2009
Eat more, not less....
Getting my certification in fitness, we did go thru some training regarding nutrition, and it seems that lately I’ve been talking a lot with clients about it. While I am not a nutritionist nor is this meant to replace medical advice, for health and weight loss, the experts say eating 5-6 small meals per day is more beneficial than eating 1-2 large meals per day. If you are experiencing problems, you should always seek the advise of your medical doctor or nutritionist. In the meantime, here are five reasons why this is a more beneficial and healthy way to eat.
1.) Think of your body as a furnace.
You want to constantly add wood to the furnace, or food to your body, to keep it running (metabolism) constantly. To achieve this, eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. When you eat, or don't eat enough for breakfast and decide to make up for this later, your body tries to hold onto every calorie it can. You are literally forcing your body into starvation mode.
5-6 smaller meals with fewer calories can also trick your body by allowing you to eat more, but in smaller portions. You may even be eating less calories in this way and lose weight.
2.) Get a fresh supply of vitamins and nutrients.
You get a "fresh" influx of vitamins and other nutrients 5 times a day--when you eat only twice, the body digests what it needs and "throws off", or throws away the extra in urine and stool. Humans are "grazers", which means we should eat several times a day. You're utilizing more nutrients when you eat this way, and throwing away less. Plus, you don't experience the overly full feeling by eating two big meals. Don't forget your fluids. On average you should drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day… If you’re trying to lose weight, add 8 more fluid ounces for each additional 25 pounds you have to lose.
3.) How big is your stomach?
If you eat large amounts at one sitting then you will stretch your stomach. When your stomach is digesting food, the food expands even more. In addition, eating small amounts helps your stomach digest food more quickly and efficiently, it basically it makes digestions easier
4.) Keep your metabolism regulated.
Eating more frequent, smaller meals keeps your metabolism at a steady level. It also helps prevent you from overeating for those fewer meals. When you only eat once a day your body thinks it’s in starvation mode and stores more of it as fat.
5.) Energize you body.
Your body needs energy. Energy comes from food. By eating several small meals, you are getting energy, then using it, getting energy, and using it, etc. If you only eat 1-2 large meals, your body gets the energy, but doesn’t need to use all of it right after the meal, so it stores it as fat in the body for later use. With the smaller meals, the energy is used, so the body doesn’t need to store any as fat, which is why "experts" say smaller meals constantly are better.
If your schedule is like mine and finding time to eat 6 time a day is difficult, carry around things like nuts, fresh or dried fruit, low-fat string cheese, or half of a peanut butter sandwich on something whole wheat to snack on, so you won’t blow it and over eat at you next meal.
Do you ever feel the need to just chew on something… what I suggest is “sugar-free gum.” It satisfies that urge to chew and even delivers a nice bonus: according to Mayo Clinic research, chewing gum for an hour actually burns 11 calories.
And I know it can be overwhelming to switch from 2-3 large meals per day to 5-6 smaller meals per day, so go slowly. In order to get to 5-6 meals per day, you may need to gradually increase the number of meals you eat each day. Start off by eating 4 meals per day. After the first week, try to increase to 5 meals per day. Give yourself a week or two to adjust and then increase to 6 meals per day.
Here’s another thing that has helped some people eat more frequent meals. Split your meals up. One of the easiest ways to add smaller meals is to just split up your existing meals. For example, instead of eating a whole sandwich for lunch, cut the sandwich in half. Have half an hour earlier than you would normally eat lunch and have the other half 2-3 hours later.
Eating more snacks can help if you watch the portion on the snack. Try to reduce the size of each meal and add some snacks throughout the day. For example, continue to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just smaller meals, and add in snacks between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner.
Remember it’s really about calories in and calories out. There isn’t any magic pill, potion or formula… it’s really that simple. It just takes work, planning and discipline!
1.) Think of your body as a furnace.
You want to constantly add wood to the furnace, or food to your body, to keep it running (metabolism) constantly. To achieve this, eat 5-6 smaller meals per day. When you eat, or don't eat enough for breakfast and decide to make up for this later, your body tries to hold onto every calorie it can. You are literally forcing your body into starvation mode.
5-6 smaller meals with fewer calories can also trick your body by allowing you to eat more, but in smaller portions. You may even be eating less calories in this way and lose weight.
2.) Get a fresh supply of vitamins and nutrients.
You get a "fresh" influx of vitamins and other nutrients 5 times a day--when you eat only twice, the body digests what it needs and "throws off", or throws away the extra in urine and stool. Humans are "grazers", which means we should eat several times a day. You're utilizing more nutrients when you eat this way, and throwing away less. Plus, you don't experience the overly full feeling by eating two big meals. Don't forget your fluids. On average you should drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day… If you’re trying to lose weight, add 8 more fluid ounces for each additional 25 pounds you have to lose.
3.) How big is your stomach?
If you eat large amounts at one sitting then you will stretch your stomach. When your stomach is digesting food, the food expands even more. In addition, eating small amounts helps your stomach digest food more quickly and efficiently, it basically it makes digestions easier
4.) Keep your metabolism regulated.
Eating more frequent, smaller meals keeps your metabolism at a steady level. It also helps prevent you from overeating for those fewer meals. When you only eat once a day your body thinks it’s in starvation mode and stores more of it as fat.
5.) Energize you body.
Your body needs energy. Energy comes from food. By eating several small meals, you are getting energy, then using it, getting energy, and using it, etc. If you only eat 1-2 large meals, your body gets the energy, but doesn’t need to use all of it right after the meal, so it stores it as fat in the body for later use. With the smaller meals, the energy is used, so the body doesn’t need to store any as fat, which is why "experts" say smaller meals constantly are better.
If your schedule is like mine and finding time to eat 6 time a day is difficult, carry around things like nuts, fresh or dried fruit, low-fat string cheese, or half of a peanut butter sandwich on something whole wheat to snack on, so you won’t blow it and over eat at you next meal.
Do you ever feel the need to just chew on something… what I suggest is “sugar-free gum.” It satisfies that urge to chew and even delivers a nice bonus: according to Mayo Clinic research, chewing gum for an hour actually burns 11 calories.
And I know it can be overwhelming to switch from 2-3 large meals per day to 5-6 smaller meals per day, so go slowly. In order to get to 5-6 meals per day, you may need to gradually increase the number of meals you eat each day. Start off by eating 4 meals per day. After the first week, try to increase to 5 meals per day. Give yourself a week or two to adjust and then increase to 6 meals per day.
Here’s another thing that has helped some people eat more frequent meals. Split your meals up. One of the easiest ways to add smaller meals is to just split up your existing meals. For example, instead of eating a whole sandwich for lunch, cut the sandwich in half. Have half an hour earlier than you would normally eat lunch and have the other half 2-3 hours later.
Eating more snacks can help if you watch the portion on the snack. Try to reduce the size of each meal and add some snacks throughout the day. For example, continue to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, just smaller meals, and add in snacks between breakfast and lunch and between lunch and dinner.
Remember it’s really about calories in and calories out. There isn’t any magic pill, potion or formula… it’s really that simple. It just takes work, planning and discipline!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Speaking of talking… What do I do on stage????
Let’s talk about what to say and do on stage… It’s always difficult as a new artist to know what to do on stage. Getting the singing part down is hard enough and now you have to move around and be entertaining too…. Sheesh!
Here are a few tips that will make your show look and feel like a professional show and it will make it a little easier for you to plan how your show should be paced.
1.) Move the mic stand…
When you take the mic out of the stand, which I always think is a good idea, please move it behind you. Somewhere in front of the drummer would be fine. Otherwise you have to constantly work around it and can never take the hot edge or downstage center. And when you are in the power position on the stage… guess what…. There’s a mic stand in front of you… people are bothered by looking at something in front of you… they want to be able to see you without looking around something.
2.) Stories
Stories about your songs are a great idea. If you are comfortable with telling personal things about your life, I say the more personal, the better. Your fans want to get to know you and this is a great opportunity to let them know something about your life and who you are. I saw a show recently and the artist did a great job telling stories. They were truthful, some were funny… always a good idea, they weren’t too long, they were relevant to the songs, and they were very personal. It gave her audience a chance to get to know something about her life. It was endearing and the audience responded to her more personally because she was open and let them in… very nice job!
Try to come up with different ways to start the stories so that the beginnings are all different, and make sure you are not over doing the stories. Try a few stories, maybe some different musical elements, maybe a costume change, maybe a dance breakdown. Keep the show interesting. Remember even too much of a good thing can make a show slow down…
And speaking of slow…. slow your speaking down but make sure to keep your voice energized so that people can understand you. If you talk too low or too high in pitch it makes it equally as difficult for your audience to understand what you’re saying. And since you want them to get to know you… that would defeat your purpose.
3.) Gestures…
This is a big one for me. If you are going to move on stage, ONLY MAKE MOVEMENTS THAT ARE ON PURPOSE. If you want to move your arm, intend on getting it somewhere. If you don’t move with purpose, you just wind up looking not confident and uncomfortable. Not all gestures need to be grand gestures, some can be small, but make sure you are moving with a purpose in mind. However, if you are making grand gestures, and these are also sometimes difficult for new artists to do, make them big. My mom used to say get some space in your armpit… get your arm away from your body, if you don’t, she used to say that you wind up looking like you have a chicken wing at your side… use your stage, take your space. It’s your stage; don’t be afraid to claim it. I had a producer tell me once that he told his talent that if they were going to put their arm up in the air to pretend they were throwing a 10 lb weight… I agree! It gives your arm a definite place to go… it’s purpose to make a strong movement. Remember the Bon Jovi video… if you’re old enough you know the one I’m talking about…
4.) Your show opener…
It is my opinion that you should always open your show with an up-tempo, energetic two or three songs, that roll back to back with no talking. Then take your first opportunity to speak to your audience… Please….please… please…. Don’t start your show with a slow song. Unless you are in a coffee house, doing an acoustic set (and even then I probably wouldn’t) grab the attention of your audience. This is your opportunity to say hey, this is something your gonna wanna stay for…
Can you imagine if a James Bond movie opened with James just having morning coffee, reading his next case file for five minutes… NO… You’d turn the channel or leave. You want to be entertained and that opening sequence is always exciting… right… well, why not follow a successful model… Grab their attention right away… Don’t give the audience a reason to leave before you’ve had a chance to win them over. You may be fantastic, but if your first impression isn’t powerful, you run the risk of them walking out before they get to know you.
On the reverse side of that, please don’t make every song over the top. You want to show depth and range as a singer and performer. All of your songs don’t need to be over the top. Use dynamics during each song and through out your set…. It keeps it interesting….
Have fun designing your show. Put some thought into it, don’t just go up and wing it… trust me… the professionals are not winging it!
Here are a few tips that will make your show look and feel like a professional show and it will make it a little easier for you to plan how your show should be paced.
1.) Move the mic stand…
When you take the mic out of the stand, which I always think is a good idea, please move it behind you. Somewhere in front of the drummer would be fine. Otherwise you have to constantly work around it and can never take the hot edge or downstage center. And when you are in the power position on the stage… guess what…. There’s a mic stand in front of you… people are bothered by looking at something in front of you… they want to be able to see you without looking around something.
2.) Stories
Stories about your songs are a great idea. If you are comfortable with telling personal things about your life, I say the more personal, the better. Your fans want to get to know you and this is a great opportunity to let them know something about your life and who you are. I saw a show recently and the artist did a great job telling stories. They were truthful, some were funny… always a good idea, they weren’t too long, they were relevant to the songs, and they were very personal. It gave her audience a chance to get to know something about her life. It was endearing and the audience responded to her more personally because she was open and let them in… very nice job!
Try to come up with different ways to start the stories so that the beginnings are all different, and make sure you are not over doing the stories. Try a few stories, maybe some different musical elements, maybe a costume change, maybe a dance breakdown. Keep the show interesting. Remember even too much of a good thing can make a show slow down…
And speaking of slow…. slow your speaking down but make sure to keep your voice energized so that people can understand you. If you talk too low or too high in pitch it makes it equally as difficult for your audience to understand what you’re saying. And since you want them to get to know you… that would defeat your purpose.
3.) Gestures…
This is a big one for me. If you are going to move on stage, ONLY MAKE MOVEMENTS THAT ARE ON PURPOSE. If you want to move your arm, intend on getting it somewhere. If you don’t move with purpose, you just wind up looking not confident and uncomfortable. Not all gestures need to be grand gestures, some can be small, but make sure you are moving with a purpose in mind. However, if you are making grand gestures, and these are also sometimes difficult for new artists to do, make them big. My mom used to say get some space in your armpit… get your arm away from your body, if you don’t, she used to say that you wind up looking like you have a chicken wing at your side… use your stage, take your space. It’s your stage; don’t be afraid to claim it. I had a producer tell me once that he told his talent that if they were going to put their arm up in the air to pretend they were throwing a 10 lb weight… I agree! It gives your arm a definite place to go… it’s purpose to make a strong movement. Remember the Bon Jovi video… if you’re old enough you know the one I’m talking about…
4.) Your show opener…
It is my opinion that you should always open your show with an up-tempo, energetic two or three songs, that roll back to back with no talking. Then take your first opportunity to speak to your audience… Please….please… please…. Don’t start your show with a slow song. Unless you are in a coffee house, doing an acoustic set (and even then I probably wouldn’t) grab the attention of your audience. This is your opportunity to say hey, this is something your gonna wanna stay for…
Can you imagine if a James Bond movie opened with James just having morning coffee, reading his next case file for five minutes… NO… You’d turn the channel or leave. You want to be entertained and that opening sequence is always exciting… right… well, why not follow a successful model… Grab their attention right away… Don’t give the audience a reason to leave before you’ve had a chance to win them over. You may be fantastic, but if your first impression isn’t powerful, you run the risk of them walking out before they get to know you.
On the reverse side of that, please don’t make every song over the top. You want to show depth and range as a singer and performer. All of your songs don’t need to be over the top. Use dynamics during each song and through out your set…. It keeps it interesting….
Have fun designing your show. Put some thought into it, don’t just go up and wing it… trust me… the professionals are not winging it!
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Am I talking too much?
Have you ever noticed that sometimes people sound completely different when they sing and speak? It’s because people get used to used-to a certain pitch level when they talk. This pitch and placement becomes routine or habitual and if the pitch is too high or too low can mean the voice is being misused. As in my classes we talk about voice quality and how it is affected by pitch and tone focus or placement. A voice that is being used improperly may have one or more of these qualities: nasal, thin, weak, breathy, hoarse or scratchy, or squeaky. I have had a few questions lately regarding talking and how and
why it can be so damaging to the voice. In reality how you talk, how much and how loud you talk can definitely affect your singing voice. So lets take a look at some techniques and exercises you can do to help your speaking and singing voice.
Take heart, if you have some of these challenges going on in your voice, by learning good breath support techniques and correct tone focus or placement of the voice, these problems can be successfully avoided and in many cases, reversed. If you are experiencing severe vocal abnormalities, you should visit an ENT to get an accurate understanding of exactly what damage has potentially been done, and what your vocal teacher needs to know in order to help you and your doctor rehabilitate your voice properly.
I like thinking of the voice in thirds: the bottom, middle, and top thirds of the voice.
The Upper third resonates in the head. Imagine your head just from the nose up. The middle third is around the philtrum, that vertical groove right under your nose above your upper lip, and the front top teeth. This is also where the center of the pitch is located. And the bottom third is around the larynx and even vibrates into the chest cavity.
Good voices should have balanced upper and middle resonance with a natural bottom resonance. Too much top is nasally, too much bottom is guttural or swallowed, and too much mid can be harsh.
Watch also that you are using correct volume. Volume when speaking should be produced at a moderate level, one that is comfortable and doesn’t produce strain.
So how do you find your correct pitch and placement for your voice… everyone is built differently and will have slightly different center pitch… would you like to know… close your lips and say ummm hummm.. as sincerely as you can… feel the vibrations up around the lips and nose… close your lips and say “ummm hummm” one more time… feel it? This should be right in your natural pitch…. Try saying this in response to people through out the day when they ask you questions and feel this placement or tone focus up front in the top two thirds of the voice.
Here’s another technique you can use to help you find your natural voice. While standing, place your finger just under your sternum about where your ribs come together. Now press gently with a quick, short staccato movement and while making a sound with your lips closed. The sound you are producing is your natural voice. Now say “ummm hummm” in that same voice. Keep the pitch and tone focus in the same place.
Now say “ummmm hummm hello” and keep everything in the same place. Do this a few times… now raise your arms over your head and say … “ummmm hummm right” and “ummm hummm hello” then let your arms down for a short rest and repeat this exercise a few more times.
Next say “ummmm hummm one” then “ummm hummm two” and so on till at least 10. Remember to feel the tingling or vibrations on your lips when you say the “ummm humm.”
You may feel as if the pitch is higher than you normally speak, and it may be slightly higher. However, don’t worry… no one will think you are talking like you’ve just inhaled helium….
Creating a pleasant speaking voice is a must for any singer who is going to be doing any talking when they’re on stage… and lets face it… that’s all of us… just some talk more than others… You need to have a vocal tone that projects with out staining the voice or being annoying or inaudible. And you need to find the proper rate of speech for your circumstance. If you talk to fast on stage you run the risk of making your audience nervous or uneasy and if you talk to slowly… you might… run the risk of being a tad bit boring…. Neither is good…
You want to be captivating and engaging while on stage, so develop your natural speaking voice and be both a singer and a speaker that everyone wants to listen to!
why it can be so damaging to the voice. In reality how you talk, how much and how loud you talk can definitely affect your singing voice. So lets take a look at some techniques and exercises you can do to help your speaking and singing voice.
Take heart, if you have some of these challenges going on in your voice, by learning good breath support techniques and correct tone focus or placement of the voice, these problems can be successfully avoided and in many cases, reversed. If you are experiencing severe vocal abnormalities, you should visit an ENT to get an accurate understanding of exactly what damage has potentially been done, and what your vocal teacher needs to know in order to help you and your doctor rehabilitate your voice properly.
I like thinking of the voice in thirds: the bottom, middle, and top thirds of the voice.
The Upper third resonates in the head. Imagine your head just from the nose up. The middle third is around the philtrum, that vertical groove right under your nose above your upper lip, and the front top teeth. This is also where the center of the pitch is located. And the bottom third is around the larynx and even vibrates into the chest cavity.
Good voices should have balanced upper and middle resonance with a natural bottom resonance. Too much top is nasally, too much bottom is guttural or swallowed, and too much mid can be harsh.
Watch also that you are using correct volume. Volume when speaking should be produced at a moderate level, one that is comfortable and doesn’t produce strain.
So how do you find your correct pitch and placement for your voice… everyone is built differently and will have slightly different center pitch… would you like to know… close your lips and say ummm hummm.. as sincerely as you can… feel the vibrations up around the lips and nose… close your lips and say “ummm hummm” one more time… feel it? This should be right in your natural pitch…. Try saying this in response to people through out the day when they ask you questions and feel this placement or tone focus up front in the top two thirds of the voice.
Here’s another technique you can use to help you find your natural voice. While standing, place your finger just under your sternum about where your ribs come together. Now press gently with a quick, short staccato movement and while making a sound with your lips closed. The sound you are producing is your natural voice. Now say “ummm hummm” in that same voice. Keep the pitch and tone focus in the same place.
Now say “ummmm hummm hello” and keep everything in the same place. Do this a few times… now raise your arms over your head and say … “ummmm hummm right” and “ummm hummm hello” then let your arms down for a short rest and repeat this exercise a few more times.
Next say “ummmm hummm one” then “ummm hummm two” and so on till at least 10. Remember to feel the tingling or vibrations on your lips when you say the “ummm humm.”
You may feel as if the pitch is higher than you normally speak, and it may be slightly higher. However, don’t worry… no one will think you are talking like you’ve just inhaled helium….
Creating a pleasant speaking voice is a must for any singer who is going to be doing any talking when they’re on stage… and lets face it… that’s all of us… just some talk more than others… You need to have a vocal tone that projects with out staining the voice or being annoying or inaudible. And you need to find the proper rate of speech for your circumstance. If you talk to fast on stage you run the risk of making your audience nervous or uneasy and if you talk to slowly… you might… run the risk of being a tad bit boring…. Neither is good…
You want to be captivating and engaging while on stage, so develop your natural speaking voice and be both a singer and a speaker that everyone wants to listen to!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Help my student, Shelby Downing, out by voting for her song... "Rebel Child".... lets get her the top spot! Thanks....
http://ping.fm/7hthG
http://ping.fm/7hthG
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Vocal Coach or Vocal Teacher – What’s the Difference?
I know that finding the right vocal instruction can be a daunting task. I thought I’d try and help you differentiate between vocal coaches and vocal teachers or technique instructors and help you take some of the mystery out of why coaches and teacher can be so different. And depending on your skill level and what you are looking for, you should be able to ask specific questions to teachers so you can quickly find the one that will help you in you’re the most with what you’re trying to accomplish. So as briefly as I can, I’m going to summarize the basic roles, as I see them, of vocal coaches and vocal teachers or technique instructors.
Vocal Coaching
A vocal coach helps a student through his or her songs and gives feedback on how to improve those songs. They focus on helping the student improve arrangements, phrasing, pitch, diction and articulation, pronunciation, lyrics, volume, breathing (when to breathe and when not to breathe), rhythms and how they approach the song. A vocal coach many times even assists the student in picking the right songs.
They should, at the very least, have a working knowledge in different genres and eras and their respective styles. And since repertoire comes in a variety of languages, the vocal coach should help students with diction, pronunciations, and translations of whatever language they are required to sing in.
Vocal coaches can also work with the singer on how to interpret the meaning of lyrics and how best to convey those emotions to the audience. Not only is this done thru the actual singing, but thru the effective use of body language or good stage presence. The coach may work with the student on making eye contact, gesturing, and microphone technique, how to move with the music, basic choreography, blocking and posture.
Keep in mind that a good vocal coach should be able to address errors in technique and be able to work thru basic technical solutions even though technique is not his or her primary focus.
Vocal Teacher or Vocal Technique Instruction
A vocal teacher or someone who focuses on technique instructor works with students mainly on singing fundamentals. They will spend much of the lessons working on breathing techniques, building and developing the support supporting muscular systems required for good vocal control and endurance, posture, placement, tone, range and flexibility, blending, A technique instructor doesn’t usually spend much of the lesson working on the intricacies of a particular song with his or her students. Again, they should be able to do so if asked. Again, a good vocal teacher or technique instructor should be working on such skills as correct breathing techniques, pure and altered vowel sounds, correcting nasal tones, correcting breathy or throaty tones, correct sliding between notes, blending and transitioning between registers, and increasing vocal range, flexibility, power, endurance and control.
Because of my 30 plus years of live performance experience and working both in front and behind the scenes on many different shows, I am often asked to wear both hats so-to-speak; and although I am very competent at both, I would always prefer my first focus to be that of voice teacher or technique instructor and then vocal coach. It is next to impossible (not impossible but it sure makes it more difficult; and who needs that added pressure) to build a strong and lasting career on a shaky foundation. I also believe it is important to train the whole body because the muscles of the whole body are involved when you sing.
I hear time and time again as many singers age they aren’t capable of doing what they used to do. As a general rule, the more instable, weak, or feeble your foundation is the faster your house will fall down. If your technique is solid, you will be able to sing and sing well as long as you want to do it. I like to first focus on empowering the singer. I want to give you the choice of how to run your career, not be at the mercy of a faltering body and technique.
All that being said, I believe that coaching and teaching can and should go hand in hand. A serious, professional or aspiring professional singer might want to have both a vocal teacher and a coach. If you are not a strong technical singer and don’t have a solid grasp of technique and use improper technique when you sing, you are most likely going to face frustration and quite possibly injure your voice.
Be over prepared… I think if you have good solid technique under your belt, your abilities should exceed whatever technical magic is required in the songs you’re singing. If you’re on top of your game and in top vocal and physical shape, singing should be effortless…. Not thoughtless… remember… THINK – BREATHE – SING!
Vocal Coaching
A vocal coach helps a student through his or her songs and gives feedback on how to improve those songs. They focus on helping the student improve arrangements, phrasing, pitch, diction and articulation, pronunciation, lyrics, volume, breathing (when to breathe and when not to breathe), rhythms and how they approach the song. A vocal coach many times even assists the student in picking the right songs.
They should, at the very least, have a working knowledge in different genres and eras and their respective styles. And since repertoire comes in a variety of languages, the vocal coach should help students with diction, pronunciations, and translations of whatever language they are required to sing in.
Vocal coaches can also work with the singer on how to interpret the meaning of lyrics and how best to convey those emotions to the audience. Not only is this done thru the actual singing, but thru the effective use of body language or good stage presence. The coach may work with the student on making eye contact, gesturing, and microphone technique, how to move with the music, basic choreography, blocking and posture.
Keep in mind that a good vocal coach should be able to address errors in technique and be able to work thru basic technical solutions even though technique is not his or her primary focus.
Vocal Teacher or Vocal Technique Instruction
A vocal teacher or someone who focuses on technique instructor works with students mainly on singing fundamentals. They will spend much of the lessons working on breathing techniques, building and developing the support supporting muscular systems required for good vocal control and endurance, posture, placement, tone, range and flexibility, blending, A technique instructor doesn’t usually spend much of the lesson working on the intricacies of a particular song with his or her students. Again, they should be able to do so if asked. Again, a good vocal teacher or technique instructor should be working on such skills as correct breathing techniques, pure and altered vowel sounds, correcting nasal tones, correcting breathy or throaty tones, correct sliding between notes, blending and transitioning between registers, and increasing vocal range, flexibility, power, endurance and control.
Because of my 30 plus years of live performance experience and working both in front and behind the scenes on many different shows, I am often asked to wear both hats so-to-speak; and although I am very competent at both, I would always prefer my first focus to be that of voice teacher or technique instructor and then vocal coach. It is next to impossible (not impossible but it sure makes it more difficult; and who needs that added pressure) to build a strong and lasting career on a shaky foundation. I also believe it is important to train the whole body because the muscles of the whole body are involved when you sing.
I hear time and time again as many singers age they aren’t capable of doing what they used to do. As a general rule, the more instable, weak, or feeble your foundation is the faster your house will fall down. If your technique is solid, you will be able to sing and sing well as long as you want to do it. I like to first focus on empowering the singer. I want to give you the choice of how to run your career, not be at the mercy of a faltering body and technique.
All that being said, I believe that coaching and teaching can and should go hand in hand. A serious, professional or aspiring professional singer might want to have both a vocal teacher and a coach. If you are not a strong technical singer and don’t have a solid grasp of technique and use improper technique when you sing, you are most likely going to face frustration and quite possibly injure your voice.
Be over prepared… I think if you have good solid technique under your belt, your abilities should exceed whatever technical magic is required in the songs you’re singing. If you’re on top of your game and in top vocal and physical shape, singing should be effortless…. Not thoughtless… remember… THINK – BREATHE – SING!
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Working out: Can it cause vocal damage?
As some of you know with my background in dance and Pilates, I have always wanted to get my personal trainer certification, which I just completed. I am now a certified trainer with NASM, National Academy of Sports Medicine. I have been working for many years now studying how working out effects singers. In particular how it affects breathing, support muscles and strain on the larynx. I’m going to start incorporating workout and training tips into my blog for singers because I think it is imperative that you understand how to train and how not to train, what exercises will help you in singing and which ones will actually make singing more difficult.
Weight training if done incorrectly can over-strengthen small muscles surrounding the vocal apparatus, causing a lack of flexibility around and in the larynx. As you may imagine, this is not good for your voice. Incorrect physical training can also tighten the throat, neck and shoulders, which need to remain free of tension while singing.
If a trainer is not used to training singers and doesn’t watch specifically for things like holding your breath, the trainer may not notice that you are tightening the glottis, which can cause vocal damage! My best advise is to find a personal trainer who is training singers, understands their special requirements, and knows how to protect them.
In the meantime, here are some tips I have for you whether you are working out by yourself, or with a trainer. And if you are working with a trainer make sure they are aware of what you do and have a good working knowledge of which muscles a singer needs to use when singing. And as always…
CONSULT A PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM.
Avoid any exercises that cause too much tension or strain in your neck, shoulders, upper back and chest.
Do stretching exercises before and after you exercise. Do plenty of stretching exercises that stretch the chest and neck. Stretch gently and hold all stretches for 20 to 30 seconds and release slowly. Repeat this 2 to 3 times per stretch.
Do exercises that strengthen the core. And no…. I don’t mean a whole bunch of crunches. That actually shortens and tightens the muscles you need for correct breathing. All this does is make it more difficult for you to perform the in and out action required for diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing. There are MANY more support muscles you need to strengthen besides and in addition to the rectus abdominus muscle.
Make sure you are not holding your breath. There are actually breathing patterns that your trainer can teach you that support the breathing you should be doing while you are singing.
If you are lifting weights, make sure you are not gripping the bar too tightly. Keep your hands relaxed.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. HYDRATE YOURSELF BEFORE DURING AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT!
And finally, avoid lifting weights right before you sing. You need to give your muscles time to relax. Allow at least 12 hours for your muscles to relax after lifting before you sing as a guideline. It is fine to do aerobics on performance days, but remember to breathe correctly… in through the nose and out through the mouth. And remember it’s just as important to get proper rest between your aerobic workout and your performance. You don’t want you body to be tired and over trained before you hit the stage, studio or rehearsal. Become a fan of the “nap,” your body and voice will thank you!
Weight training if done incorrectly can over-strengthen small muscles surrounding the vocal apparatus, causing a lack of flexibility around and in the larynx. As you may imagine, this is not good for your voice. Incorrect physical training can also tighten the throat, neck and shoulders, which need to remain free of tension while singing.
If a trainer is not used to training singers and doesn’t watch specifically for things like holding your breath, the trainer may not notice that you are tightening the glottis, which can cause vocal damage! My best advise is to find a personal trainer who is training singers, understands their special requirements, and knows how to protect them.
In the meantime, here are some tips I have for you whether you are working out by yourself, or with a trainer. And if you are working with a trainer make sure they are aware of what you do and have a good working knowledge of which muscles a singer needs to use when singing. And as always…
CONSULT A PHYSICIAN BEFORE BEGINNING ANY EXERCISE PROGRAM.
Avoid any exercises that cause too much tension or strain in your neck, shoulders, upper back and chest.
Do stretching exercises before and after you exercise. Do plenty of stretching exercises that stretch the chest and neck. Stretch gently and hold all stretches for 20 to 30 seconds and release slowly. Repeat this 2 to 3 times per stretch.
Do exercises that strengthen the core. And no…. I don’t mean a whole bunch of crunches. That actually shortens and tightens the muscles you need for correct breathing. All this does is make it more difficult for you to perform the in and out action required for diaphragmatic and abdominal breathing. There are MANY more support muscles you need to strengthen besides and in addition to the rectus abdominus muscle.
Make sure you are not holding your breath. There are actually breathing patterns that your trainer can teach you that support the breathing you should be doing while you are singing.
If you are lifting weights, make sure you are not gripping the bar too tightly. Keep your hands relaxed.
DRINK PLENTY OF WATER. HYDRATE YOURSELF BEFORE DURING AND AFTER YOUR WORKOUT!
And finally, avoid lifting weights right before you sing. You need to give your muscles time to relax. Allow at least 12 hours for your muscles to relax after lifting before you sing as a guideline. It is fine to do aerobics on performance days, but remember to breathe correctly… in through the nose and out through the mouth. And remember it’s just as important to get proper rest between your aerobic workout and your performance. You don’t want you body to be tired and over trained before you hit the stage, studio or rehearsal. Become a fan of the “nap,” your body and voice will thank you!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Vibrato... how do I get it....
Vibrato happens when the voice alternates quickly and precisely between two pitches that are close together. This variation in pitch shouldn’t go beyond a semitone either way from the intended note. The effect of vibrato is often perceived to add warmth and character to the voice.
Most agree that vibrato is a way for our body to induce muscle relaxation. Because the body needs muscular relaxation, during intense vocal use such as sustained notes at high pitches, vibrato is the body’s natural way of trying to relax. It’s the same as other muscles in our body. Muscles in our arms or legs begin to shake when lifting or holding heavy objects for prolonged periods of time. In other words, the muscles of the larynx begin to pulse or shake in response to tension placed on them for prolonged periods of time, and that produces what we hear and experience as vibrato.
Vibrato should occur naturally and happens in order to protect and maintain the healthy function of the vocal folds. A lack of understanding about what vibrato is and how it is works has many singers to trying to reproduce incorrect and sometimes unhealthy imitations of it.
Many singers who may be untrained or poorly trained, expect to hear something that actually may not have anything to do with natural vibrato. They get these ideas because of the contemporary singers they hear that try to reproduce the phenomenon unnaturally. They mistake bad technique for true vibrato. Not only are these over-prominent vibratos not appealing, they are also generally not healthy. Forcing the pitch variance can place too much stress on the untrained or undeveloped voice
I don’t focus a lot of time working on vibrato with students because I’ve found through the years of teaching and singing that developing good technique allows the vibrato to develop naturally. However, in this fast paced world of “gotta have it right now,” many students are trading solid vocal technique for vocal tricks and stunts.
This disposable or revolving talent door doesn’t allow enough time for proper training. If it can’t be changed in an hour then we can fix it with “studio magic,” and when this voice wears out, well, there will be another one ready to take over… and so on and so on...
When your voice is free, relaxed and correctly supported vibrato will happen spontaneously. If you take your time and train properly, vibrato is not something you need to force. Remember, it’s something our bodies do naturally. You don’t need to push in and out with your hands on your the upper abdomen to make vibrato happen. And if you do this before the voice is ready you are risking injury to the voice. It will happen naturally when good singing techniques have been properly developed. This may not be the popular teaching philosophy of the day, but I believe it is the responsible one.
Most agree that vibrato is a way for our body to induce muscle relaxation. Because the body needs muscular relaxation, during intense vocal use such as sustained notes at high pitches, vibrato is the body’s natural way of trying to relax. It’s the same as other muscles in our body. Muscles in our arms or legs begin to shake when lifting or holding heavy objects for prolonged periods of time. In other words, the muscles of the larynx begin to pulse or shake in response to tension placed on them for prolonged periods of time, and that produces what we hear and experience as vibrato.
Vibrato should occur naturally and happens in order to protect and maintain the healthy function of the vocal folds. A lack of understanding about what vibrato is and how it is works has many singers to trying to reproduce incorrect and sometimes unhealthy imitations of it.
Many singers who may be untrained or poorly trained, expect to hear something that actually may not have anything to do with natural vibrato. They get these ideas because of the contemporary singers they hear that try to reproduce the phenomenon unnaturally. They mistake bad technique for true vibrato. Not only are these over-prominent vibratos not appealing, they are also generally not healthy. Forcing the pitch variance can place too much stress on the untrained or undeveloped voice
I don’t focus a lot of time working on vibrato with students because I’ve found through the years of teaching and singing that developing good technique allows the vibrato to develop naturally. However, in this fast paced world of “gotta have it right now,” many students are trading solid vocal technique for vocal tricks and stunts.
This disposable or revolving talent door doesn’t allow enough time for proper training. If it can’t be changed in an hour then we can fix it with “studio magic,” and when this voice wears out, well, there will be another one ready to take over… and so on and so on...
When your voice is free, relaxed and correctly supported vibrato will happen spontaneously. If you take your time and train properly, vibrato is not something you need to force. Remember, it’s something our bodies do naturally. You don’t need to push in and out with your hands on your the upper abdomen to make vibrato happen. And if you do this before the voice is ready you are risking injury to the voice. It will happen naturally when good singing techniques have been properly developed. This may not be the popular teaching philosophy of the day, but I believe it is the responsible one.
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