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.
Friday, November 13, 2009
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.
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