Ever wondered how weather can impact your vocal cords or what qualifies and makes a successful choir director? Don't miss out this episode as Catherine Hall continues to discuss the benefits of hydration to the effects of temperature changes on your voice, and much more. If you're a choir director or a singer, you’ll glean a lot from our conversation on the critical qualities and the need for education among choir directors.
Then we're joined by Tara Simon, the phenomenal vocal coach, and YouTube sensation, who unravels some important aspects about maintaining vocal strength and longevity. Tara also explains her unique approach to finding and honing your voice, and why imitation is not the best flattery in singing. Along with a fun segment where brave audience members have a go at live singing, we also dive into the technicalities of a glissando and Tara demonstrates her stunning vocal range.
On a deeper note, the episode takes a spiritual turn as we revisit the Garden of Eden to reflect on the promise of Christmas and the fulfilled promise of Christ. This thoughtful discourse on sin, salvation, and grace provides a meaningful context to our musical exploration. So, tune in for a blend of practical tips, expert advice, and profound insights that are sure to rekindle your passion for singing and choir.
Part 1:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-choir-room/id1681950053?i=1000631762932
tarasimonstudios.com
metromusic-arts.com
#hydration
#vocaltraining
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#thechoirroom
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Season 1, episode 27 of the Choir Room podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Greg Tomas, your host, and I'll soon be joined by
my co-host, dorian Johnson.
Welcome to the choir room, beit a Stanso Pharrar and who we
like to call the fourth wheel,coleman Smart.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage to longtime
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
(00:32):
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir related.
So if you love singing and youlove choir, we encourage you to
subscribe to this podcastanywhere you get your podcast
downloads.
You can also subscribe bysending the word subscribe in
(00:55):
the subject field of an email tothe choir room at metro music
dash arts dot com.
And when you subscribe, be sureto give us a five star review,
as your review helps us keepthis podcast alive and share it
with a friend.
And now you can also engagewith us on the choir room
podcast Facebook page.
Today's episode, part two, withvocal coach and YouTube
(01:16):
sensation Tara Simon of TaraSimon Studios.
This time around we'll get intosome of the questions that came
through from our virtualaudience, and then we will have
some practical application, assome of our brave audience
members dare to sing live forTara right here on the podcast
and win prizes as a result ofthat bravery.
But before we do that, dorianis going to have our hymn of the
(01:38):
week and then Catherine Hall isgoing to come back and give us
a little bit more on hydration.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Sure.
Thanks, greg.
This week's hymn of the week isa not so well known hymn
entitled Not what my Hands haveDone.
It's by Horatius Bonner and waswritten in 1861, and Titus
three versus four through sevensays this.
But when the goodness andloving kindness of God, our
savior, appeared, he saved us,not because of works done by us
(02:06):
in righteousness, but accordingto his own mercy, by the washing
of regeneration and renewal ofthe Holy Spirit whom we poured
out on us richly through JesusChrist, our savior, so that,
being justified by his grace, wemight become heirs according to
the hope of eternal life.
Listen to the words of thisfirst verse Not what my hands
(02:27):
have done can save my guiltysoul, not what my toiling flesh
has borne can make my spiritwhole, not what I feel or do can
give me peace with God.
Not all my prayers and sighsand tears can bear my awful load
.
This first verse reminds us ofthe hopeless state that each
(02:50):
person finds themselves in.
There is no way that we canbear the awful load of sin, the
awful load that requires God'sjudgment, for he is a just and a
righteous God.
He is a just and a righteousjudge, but we also know of the
mercy of God.
Ephesians one, seven says inhim we have redemption through
(03:12):
his blood, the forgiveness ofour sins according to the riches
of his grace.
Through the blood of Christ,ephesians two, eight, nine says
for by grace you have been savedthrough faith.
This is not your own doing, itis the gift of God, not a result
of works, so that no one mayboast.
Verse two says thy work alone,o Christ, can ease this weight
of sin.
Thy blood alone, o Lamb of God,can give me peace within.
(03:35):
Thy love to me, o God, not mine, o Lord to thee, can rid me of
this dark unrest and set myspirit free.
First, john four ten says inthis is love, not that we have
loved God, but that he loved usand sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
That word propitiations meansto act to satisfy the wrath of a
(03:58):
deity.
To satisfy God's wrath, christwas sent for us.
And verse three says thy gracealone, o God, to me can part and
speak.
Thy power alone, o Son of God,can this sore bondage break.
No other work save thine, noother blood will do, no strength
save that which is divine canbear me safely.
(04:20):
Through and after these threeverses have declared the work of
Christ and the grace of God.
The final two verses are ourresponse to this incredible work
of God, this incredible graceof God.
Verse four says I bless theChrist of God.
I rest on love divine, and withunfaltering lip and heart I
(04:42):
call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt.
I bury in his tomb my unbeliefand all my fear.
Each lingering shade of gloom,I praise the God of grace.
I trust his truth and might.
He calls me his.
I call him mine, my God, my joy, my light Tis he who saveth me
(05:04):
and, freely parting, gives Ilove because he loveth me.
I live because he lives.
These two verses declare theglorious truth that we read in
Galatians 2, 20 through 21.
The apostle Paul says and eachone who is a Christian can say
I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist who lives in me, in the
(05:27):
life I now live, in the flesh.
I live by faith in the Son ofGod, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
I do not nullify the grace ofGod For a righteousness were
through the law and Christ diedfor no purpose.
We don't seek to justifyourselves before God because we
cannot.
But instead, as this hymn says,we we rest on the divine love
(05:49):
of God.
We call the Savior ours, we seehis death as our death and his
resurrection as our resurrection, and we truly know that there
is no work except the work ofChrist that will make us
acceptable before our great andmighty God.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Welcome to the world.
These questions may seem alittle out of context to our
listening audience, but they'llmake sense in the end.
So, catherine, your personalpreference Pasta or chicken,
chicken, chicken okay.
Running or weightlifting.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Weightlifting Summer or winter?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Winter Soup or salad Soup, coffee or milk Coffee,
coffee, juice or soda Juice Okay, last one.
Sparkling or flat, flat, okaywhy coffee over milk?
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I'm not a big drinker of milk.
A lot of people are actuallyallergic to dairy and I know
that lots of people do betterwithout it.
So and I happen to drink themost alkaline organic coffee
there is on the planet, so Ihave I treat myself to a cup of
(07:08):
coffee in the morning.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I imagine it treats your body different and
better than milk.
Yes, it does.
No question about it.
No question, all right, yousaid juice over soda.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yes, why?
Because soda, if you put abobby pin in it or you know a
pear pin, it actually rusts thehairpin.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Bunch of other stuff in there.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Yes, it has high fructose corn syrup.
It's addictive.
Even if people are drinkingdiet sodas, you notice that
they're really overweightBecause the chemicals make the
liver work hard and they're notdetoxifying.
So if you're, I don't.
I'm not a firm believer of evendrinking juice.
I don't think you should eatyour calories, drink your
(07:49):
calories, but I think that juiceis much better option without
sugar, but the soda is a hundredpercent no, we're hearing you.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, sparkling over flat.
I think you said sparkling.
Well, no, I actually said flat.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
I love sparkling, but I'll tell you why I say flat.
Because as time goes on, peoplewho drink too much sparkling
water actually start to get moreacidic blood and what happens
is the blood is a very specificpH and it needs to maintain that
pH.
So it takes, sometimes it eatsaway at the bone a little bit
(08:30):
and buffers the blood and makesit more alkaline.
So people, especially womenover their 40s, you know, more
osteoporosis is created.
So that's my school of thought.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Interesting we're hearing from a professional.
You know the average singerdoesn't always equate the intake
of all of these things intotheir bodies as having an effect
on their ability to breatheproperly, digest the effect that
it may have on their vocalcords and their ability to sing.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Yes, yes, even with water, the elasticity of the
vessels in the lungs therepeople get emphysema which is
the very end of the bronchials,at very end of the vessels in
the lungs, get very, veryhardened.
So we want to keep elasticity.
And when you think aboutelasticity, that means being
(09:22):
able to bend and lift and do allthese things through the years
and joints and knee pains andthings like that.
So the more hydrated you are,the less you get of that.
I'm not saying that it's 100%,that it's a miracle thing that
no one gets sick if they drinkenough water, but I'm saying
(09:43):
it's a major contributor tobeing a more elastic body.
Therefore more fluid lungs,more easily breathing and better
singing.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And when you consider the fact that choir requires
you to stand, sing sometimesstand, sing, sway, lift your
hands and all of that good stuff, love that All of this can be
hindered if we don't monitor ourintake and make sure that we're
hydrated.
You may get through a few ofthe songs and blow through some
(10:20):
of the notes, but in the longrun, as you said earlier, the
ability to stand, sing, sway andjust lift our hands can all be
negatively impacted if we don'tmonitor what we're taking?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Yeah, absolutely, people don't.
Always it's so logical.
But people sometimes want toreally separate those thoughts
of how your body functions andwhat you actually do.
And there was an interesting Iwas in Denmark in year 2000 on a
pig farm.
Believe it or not, this is agoing concern.
Pig farm, 1,000 pigs.
(10:58):
And I always say to my patientsthese are pigs that are sold for
slaughter to big companies thatmake big money from this.
This is big business.
And they don't go to the fridgeand say, hmm, what are they
going to eat today?
You know they have ascientifically worked out diet,
so these pigs will be not toobig, not too small, not too
(11:19):
marbled, marbled enough andtherefore they know exactly what
health that pig will have,mostly because the diet is very
scientific.
And yet we're supposed to be sobright as humans but we just
eat whatever we want and notthinking that it has any
(11:40):
implication to the body at all.
I find that you know it's verycommon, most educated and the
most uneducated.
I mean it's a very commonmisconception to not link
together what you do and how youperform there.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
you have it there it is.
It's always good to have youhere with us in the choir room,
catherine.
Thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 8 (12:05):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 7 (12:07):
So the CRQ tonight would be this what qualifies one
to be a choir director?
What qualifies one to be achoir director?
Pretty simple for me, and thenI will throw it right to you,
gentlemen.
I got three things that thatwould qualify a pretty decent I
(12:28):
would say choir director.
Well, you know, I think we needto get it right.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Well, you know, I think we need to be asking
ourselves what qualifies us toanswer this.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
It's a better question, right?
I don't know how qualified I ambut I'm a friend, let's go for
it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
We have an opinion, yeah we have an opinion Right.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Well, our opinion is well, well, you should have a
really strong prayer life.
Let's start with that.
Yeah, start there.
A really really strong prayerlife.
Than the other qualificationswould be the ability to teach
parts and harmonies that that'sone.
The ability to command a choir,be able to get the most optimum
(13:09):
sound out of that choir, ableto direct them into excellence,
because there are some choirdirectors who kind of leave the
choir out there to just kind offend for themselves.
I promise you it's a scarysight.
Yeah, I can.
You can only imagine what itwould sound like, but it's even
frightening to see the face, thefear the choir members faces
(13:30):
when the when the choir directorjust pretty much abandons them
in the middle of a song, andthat's.
That's scary.
My last point would be shouldhave a strong interest in music.
Probably should have been thenumber one.
There are some choir directorsthat I have run into recently
who like the fact of being infront of people.
They love that part but don'treally have the commitment to
(13:54):
the music.
You know, they just want to beout front and get the glory of
it all, but don't really have aninterest in sitting down and
going through a process oflearning music, getting the best
music for the congregation inwhich you serve, the house in
which you serve.
They don't really have a wholelot of.
They take from the top 40 andwe'll learn those songs and
(14:16):
that'll keep the crowd going,that'll bring the height, but
don't really commit to.
The work entails to be a choirdirector.
There are some sleepless nightswhen it comes to a choir
director.
There's some work involved thatI don't know if the
generation's coming really seeit that way.
(14:38):
They just like the fanfare, ifyou will, of all.
So I'm hoping that yougentlemen will shed a little
more light on this.
What's?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
at you.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
Daria.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
This was an interesting question and it was
interesting to me because Iwould say, outside of a church
context, I would not bequalified to be a choir director
because, I don't play aninstrument.
I mean I can teach parts, but ittakes me a long time, and so I
(15:09):
began to think about some of thethings even before you get to
the choir.
And I would say one you have tobe able to love people.
That's one qualification,because you are leading people,
yes, you're leading them in song, but they are sometimes going
(15:33):
to do their own thing.
Sometimes they're not going tofollow your direction, sometimes
they're going to sing the wrongnotes, sometimes they're going
to give you attitude, and youhave to be able to work through
all of that and still pulleveryone together to produce one
sound.
So loving people.
(15:55):
What comes with all of that?
It comes with patience.
Patience comes with that, longsuffering comes with that, I
would say.
Another quality of a choirdirector is that they are able
to follow.
I find that I'm learning thatif I'm going to be effective
(16:15):
leading other people in singing,I have to learn how to follow
others as well, and in followingothers, I then learn those
things that I could be doingbetter, but also those things I
should not be doing as well, andso I think, first, it really
does focus on the people thatyou're leading.
(16:37):
The music is.
We can talk about all themusical portions of it.
No, having rhythm.
Yes, you have to have rhythm.
As a choir director, you have tobe able to know the music
inside and out in some ways tobe able to lead people to where
the song is going.
(16:58):
All of those other thingsfollow.
But I really started withthinking about the people
aspects of it, because they'relooking at you and sometimes
they're, sometimes you're not inthe right place and they're
(17:22):
just going to follow you there,and sometimes you are in the
right place and they aren'tgoing to follow you there.
But ultimately you got to lovethem and continue to lead them
and ultimately to pour into them, pour your life into them from
the word of God, and pray forthem, as you said already, and
pray for those that you'reministering to as well and pray
(17:45):
that it not become just about ashow, but it truly is a ministry
unto the Lord and unto thosewho will hear the choir that
you're directing.
Speaker 9 (17:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
That's good.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
My take was pretty practical.
My first thoughts are you knowa lot of people when they ask
this question.
I imagine that someone askingthis question was thinking like
do I need to have a degree to bea choir director or something
like that?
And if you've been listening tothe choir room podcast for long
(18:26):
, it's not going to surprise youto hear me say it depends on
your context.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, because I was going to say it.
But I was going to say it too,but I love it.
I beat you too.
Speaker 9 (18:44):
So it's.
In some places it's, yeah, itwould be necessary because
that's what people are askingfor.
For instance, a lot of ourfriends in the bigger Baptist
world or bigger Methodist andPresbyterian world.
They tend to prefer someonethat has a high level degree or
(19:08):
a master's degree in music for alot of not all, but some
Whereas in some smaller churchesthat's not necessarily a
requirement.
They're not looking for that,but they're looking for more of
the qualities like Dorian andMi'eta were just talking about
(19:30):
leadership and love for musicand willingness.
Some people are just looking forsomeone's whose willing, but
I'm not saying that's good.
But but again, it's all aboutthe context.
For instance, you've got one ofthe biggest choir programs in
modern history, you know, nottoo far away from you guys, in
(19:54):
Brooklyn, at Brooklyn Tab, andCarol Simbola is famous for not
having a lot of musical trainingbehind her, but she has an
incredible music program.
So there's a lot to be saidabout all the qualities that do
make her a great choir directorand all of that.
So again, it just depends onyour context.
(20:15):
But I echo, dorian, thatleadership skills and and a good
understanding of the music thatyou are, that you are working
with and all of that.
It doesn't necessarily alwaysrequire an intense knowledge of
theory and that kind of thing,but you got to know your music
(20:38):
and know how to teach it topeople.
Yeah, know your music, know howto teach it to people and then
be a good leader.
Those are the things that Ithink are most important.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Very good, because context is everything.
I'm going to piggyback onsomething Coleman said earlier,
and that is I strongly suggestthat if you are a choir director
, you should get the education,all of the education, that you
can get.
You may not need it in yourcontext, but in some other ones
(21:10):
you may need it, and so get itwhen you can get it, wherever
you can get it.
Speaker 9 (21:16):
And Greg, while you're.
While you're talking about that, I need to make a clarification
of something I said.
I was talking about a degreeand how some people prefer that.
So my preference is, if you cango on to get some education, do
it Absolutely.
I did.
I mean, a lot of my colleagueshave done that.
(21:37):
So if you can do it.
But I just needed to make thatclarification.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I understood you.
You just beat me to it.
Okay, sorry, but I think wehave access to more information
than we've ever had with the,you know, with the internet.
So get all of the educationthat you can get.
And again, your context may notrequire you to have a music
degree, but it may require youto at least be able to.
Well, it will require you to beable to hear and play a little
(22:06):
bit and certainly teach music ifyou're directing, and sometimes
choir directors don't alwaysteach the music.
That's one of the other thingsI think we have to point out
here is that not all choirdirectors teach.
Some actually just direct.
They learn the music from theperson who's teaching it to the
choir and they do the directing.
Perhaps the person who does theteaching is also one of the
(22:29):
musicians and therefore, is weprefer to have a choir director
out front.
Now, having said that, I'll addmy quarter note to the rest of
this measure.
I think a good choir directoris going to surround him or
herself with good people, peoplethat can assist him or her.
They may help teaching parts,they may help with finding music
(22:53):
, they may help as anaccompanist in rehearsal, but a
good choir director is going tohave a good team of people
around him or her so that theydon't have the sole
responsibility of finding newmusic, learning new music,
teaching new music, playing newmusic.
I mean it's all of the above Ifthey can get good people around
(23:16):
them good section leaders, goodadministrative help, a good
librarian who can help maintainthe catalog of music.
I mean that all helps tomaximizing the time and the
energy and the strength, thepotential, if you will, of your
choir director.
But I think anotherqualification of a good choir
director is that he or she hasto have the ability, the courage
(23:38):
, the strength to acknowledgewhen they need help, because
it's never all about the choirdirector.
And then my last point wouldspeak to something Mietta
mentioned earlier, and that'sabout putting in the work the
choir director.
Putting in the work the choirdirector should never come to
rehearsal learning the music.
They should have put that workin long before rehearsal,
(24:02):
because you can lose a choircoming to rehearsal unprepared,
having not learned the entiresong, but yet you want to try to
finagle your way through it andpretend your interest, trying
to get it into their heads.
That doesn't work.
They'll catch on to the factthat you don't know what you're
doing and you might want to gosit down somewhere.
(24:22):
No, but in all seriousness, youdefinitely want to come prepared
, and a good choir director isgoing to be prepared.
That helps qualify one, becausethe people will see that and
they'll respect your leadership,they'll respect your authority
and they'll acknowledge the factthat you have a command in that
choir.
They'll trust you for an entirerehearsal and they'll trust you
(24:42):
live when they're out singingor performing somewhere.
So I think those are twoadditional qualifications that
qualify one to be a choirdirector.
That's my two cents on thematter, and they were great
cents too.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Let's continue with our guest contributor, Tara
Simon.
Now here's another questionfrom our audience how does hot
temperature versus coldtemperature affect Tara's voice
and how does she think itaffects the voice in general?
Now, my thought even thoughthey didn't ask is that it
affects everybody's voicedifferently and everybody's body
is different, so how does itaffect you?
Speaker 10 (25:21):
I personally have just made myself push through
and have chords of steel underany circumstance.
But that's the nature.
I'm a Broadway singer and whenI did Broadway I didn't do eight
shows a week, I did nine,because they added a show,
because we were so sold out.
So I can't even tell you howmany hours a week and how many
(25:43):
hours a day, on top of dancingand being winded.
So I'm not really a faircomparison because I was just.
I essentially went to warvocally for a while.
And so I'm not a sensitiveperson and I know that some
people they got it down thehoney or squeezed the lemon or
whatever before singing.
I finally kind of came to theend of myself when I saw my
(26:04):
castmates doing that and I waslike I want to do that because
it looks cool, like I need allthese things.
But I'm just not that way and Iactually think that that's a
placebo effect for you.
But whatever works for you.
So I think that, in regards tohot and cold water, look, when
you're coming into a lesson, I'mnot trying to get you to drink
ice water, because it's the samething as going into a gym and
(26:25):
trying to warm up and thenplunging yourself into an ice
bath.
That's completelycounterproductive.
Do that after you're done,right, it just makes sense Like
hot, warm up, ice, cool down.
That's like a life thing, it'snot just a singer thing.
So I think it's kind of acommon sense, like yeah, maybe
don't drink ice water while I'mwarming up my voice and maybe,
when I'm done singing, maybedrink cool water when I cool
(26:48):
down my voice.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think when you think about
what cold water does to the bodyit stiffens, it constricts it's
going to do the same thing tothe vocal cords when you drink
cold water.
So it's common sense, but it'snot so common.
So to each his own, but I thinkit's an honest question,
probably coming from someone whowants to improve their vocal
(27:11):
skills, and they've probablytried hot and cold and are
wondering if there's a pro orcon with either.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
And I would say I wouldn't go to any extreme.
Like you know, I am an extremepersonality and person and so I
would do that, and so I'm justputting that out there, like, if
you're the person asking thatquestion, don't do either, like
do room temperature, unless youreally feel like, no matter what
I'm doing I'm not warming up myvoice because there I have news
for you when you drink,anything is not touching your
(27:40):
larynx anyway.
Right, it's not it's not goingin there.
Yeah, the only thing touchesyour larynx is actual steam,
like particles from steam.
So when people are like, oh,I'm like drinking this, this, um
, this special elixir from myvoice, well, and until it
absorbs in your cells and itgoes through your whole body, it
ain't touching your larynx,unless it's in steam form, you
(28:03):
know.
So I would say room temperature, anything is good.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You know, catherine Hall shared the same thing about
it getting into your bloodsystem and attaching itself to
those cells before it canactually do that, before it can
actually do anything to yourvocal cords.
So good point.
Dorian has a question.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
As you were sharing how often you sang in the past.
I mean, I don't think there'sanyone on this call that did
that, but what would be your onepiece of advice for how to be a
choir singer, a worship leader,over a long period of time, so
(28:41):
that you so when you're in your50s and your 60s, you're still
able to keep all of thoseelements of being a good singer
that you talked about?
What's sort of your one singlepiece of advice to do that?
Speaker 10 (28:58):
I love that question , and so I have a couple of
terrorisms in my vocalmethodology and one of them is
vocal dollars, the concept ofvocal dollars and how you know,
just like a kid is given anallowance each day, we, by the
Lord, are given a certain amountof vocal dollars a day before
we just don't have any more left, and that's when we lose our
(29:20):
voices.
So I've got some really bigpower singers, like some singers
who are doing some amazingthings and in front of a lot of
people, and one of them, hername's Lauren Lott and she's
been in movies, she's doneBroadway, she's been on American
Idol, she's doing all of thethings right.
Amazing power singer.
Grew up in church singingclassically, trained and then
(29:44):
it's been with me for over adecade now, and when I trained,
started training Lauren, I saidI'm gonna make sure you can sing
till you're 70.
And because she was singinggreat, but some of the ways that
she was producing that greatsound and it was great it was
costing her a lot of vocaldollars.
And so there are some specificways to be stingy, and I'm
(30:08):
talking about like clippingcoupons and saving nickels and
dime tier that add up to a lotof money at the end of the day,
in the long run.
We like to be frugal, so one ofthe ways I do that is by taking
someone's song, how they sing it, and I will.
I'll listen to them, I'll seehow they sing, I'll listen to
how they're singing and I knowintrinsically this is what's
(30:31):
costing you a lot in this song,and it's most of the time the
high notes or notes that are onclosed mouth vowels or that have
a lot of consonants, and so allI do is I say, all right, based
on what I know about the singer, like Lauren's a big belter, so
I'll use her voice for anexample.
I'm like I'm not gonna try toget you to change registers here
.
We're not gonna save the vocaldollars that way, but what I am
(30:51):
gonna do is I'm gonna manipulatethe integrity of that vowel
that's on an IH or an E and I'mgonna have you think that vowel,
but I'm gonna have you singsomething totally different with
your mouth because you needmore space, because another
terrorism is that any extremenote, high or low, needs more
space and support.
Space and support are the twoS's in which all sound stands
upon Space for your mouth,support for your abs.
(31:13):
So if we have one without theother, it's like a kink in a
hose a lot of pressure on oneside, limp on the other, strain,
and this is where the kink is.
So in order to alleviate that,you have to create equal amounts
of both of the S's, and usuallyon those notes it's a lack of
one, and if, for instance, it'son a bad vowel, it's a lack of
(31:34):
space, because in order to saythe word, you think you have to
close your mouth, but you don't.
So changing the integrity ofvowels.
Saving those vocal dollars buynickels and dimes and pennies.
Sometimes you get a good dollarin there, but over time, just
like a savings account, you haveput away so much money for
vocal dollars and that isliterally your savings bank for
(31:55):
longevity.
When you sing, you're usingthose dollars that you never
used in your younger years tocarry you through to the end,
because you're singing smarter,not harder.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Smarter, not harder.
That is so key, and the more youknow your body, the more you
know what you can and cannot do.
I was reminded, as you guyswere speaking, of a choir that
I've worked with in the past,many years ago, and then later
was called back to do a reunionchoir and to meet some of those
people and to hear them say, heywell, we're not what we used to
(32:24):
be, or I'm not the vocalist Iused to be.
What I discovered is, as theysat between other people, muscle
memory began to kick in andthey start tuning into the
people around them who werevocally depositing, if you will,
vocal dollars, and they werelearning new methods which to
sing some of the same notes thatthey used to sing and thought
(32:47):
they were just too old to sing.
Now, confidence was beginningto build up as they sang more.
So confidence is anothersignificant piece in all of your
singing ability, especially forlongevity or doing things
perhaps that you once used to dowhen you were younger and you
feel like you can't do any more.
Confidence is everything 100%,100%.
Speaker 10 (33:08):
It's conditioning.
You don't use it the right way.
You do see the where, but it'sjust like a body.
I mean, our voice is a muscle,so you think about it, you don't
work out, you get what you get.
You know what I mean, and theway you take care of yourself is
a direct correlation with howyou look, how you feel later.
And the voice is a muscle notdifferent than any other muscle
(33:28):
in our bodies.
And it in relation to its carewill also show it's where.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yes, yes, All right, our next question is gonna
require a little demonstrationfrom you.
Yeah, this person is asking canyou demonstrate?
Speaker 10 (33:44):
a glissando, A glissando well, yeah, yeah, I
mean Piana would do it better.
I can't go all the way up butyeah, I mean okay, Well, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
My guess is that they're asking because they're
not sure what it is, or they'renot sure how to do it
effectively.
Speaker 10 (34:02):
Well, okay, I mean that's yeah.
I mean it's not like theprettiest question to answer
Vocally.
A glissando is simply like if Itook my finger on the keys and
I went like all the way up andthen went all the way down,
that's a glissando, I think.
I mean I can do that, but Ithink like something better
would be probably a little moreimpressive.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
But a glissando well please.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
Did you hear that?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yep, we got it.
The microphone does this littlething at the top.
Speaker 10 (34:32):
It compresses it, but it does that on Zoom and I
don't do Zoom anymore because ofthat.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, it compresses the audio, but we got the gliss
of it.
Now demonstrate for ourlisteners a Z-Zall Z practice in
a glissando.
Can you do that?
Yes, because she did mentionone, five one.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
So yeah, for sure.
Speaker 10 (34:56):
Just like what the gentleman was asking.
Like I would probably slide upand down to it.
That is exact.
Like it's a layman'sterminology, for I would
glissando up and down to it.
It's just a slide and thecontext of the slide starts and
ends with parameters of one,five and one.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Great, there you go.
Now for our listeners who don'tknow what we mean by one, five,
one, we're referring to themajor scale.
There are eight notes in amajor scale.
Do we mean Falsa Latido, or one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight?
And she just did the Z-Zallpractice, singing the one
through the five in a glissando.
Okay, so that's a one, that's afive.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
Or if it's solfege, then it's do so do.
If you know solfege it would bedo so, do Right right.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
All right, let's get to the next question.
Tara, you have a pretty widerange.
What is the highest note youcan sing and the lowest note you
can sing?
Speaker 10 (35:44):
If I demonstrate, I most certainly will blip out
Zoom, but I might have to standoutside my highest these days.
So I have a whistle registerwhich is an extension of head
voice.
For those of you who don't know, I'm a classically trained
coloratura, which is the chickwho sings the.
(36:04):
She sings that in Queen of theNight and that's like my
favorite song to sing.
Did I clip out there or did youhear it so annoying Anyway.
So if I demonstrate, youcertainly won't hear it because
it's higher than that.
But I'd say I've gotten up to aC above high C before, like ish,
(36:26):
it's not cute, but it's kind ofthere, and I'd say my sing-.
When I say singable notes,though, I mean a note that I
would be comfortable singing infront of people, not an exercise
.
So there's one thing toexercise up to a note, and what
I do is I take that note thatI'm like screeching and making
sound at, and I back it down byat least a semitone, which is
one half step or two, whichwould be a whole step.
(36:46):
So let's say that you know,today my singable note is an A.
That means that I'm up to, youknow, a B above high C that day.
So that's kind of how I alwaysgauge it, Like what's one kind
of one half step or one wholestep below the highest exercise
note that I'm doing.
Sometimes it changes Likesometimes they get up to see
(37:10):
them again, Awesome day.
And then sometimes I'm like,yeah, that A is about what we
got today.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Let's listen to this demonstration from your YouTube
page.
Speaker 10 (37:19):
Oh, let me show you right now, without warming up
this morning.
Oh, I would say B3 is my low,I'm just tongue and note, except
for that one.
And now let's see, um, that isC7.
(37:41):
Wait, let's see C7.
So I got one, two, four octaves.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Well, the video gives you a pretty good idea of her
range.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Vocal range is about four octaves.
Next question is from someonehere in our virtual audience.
Speaker 8 (38:03):
I have a quick question.
Winter is coming, the air isgetting drier.
Yes, suggestions Taking care ofour voice.
Speaker 10 (38:12):
Yes, well, the water thing is a big deal, especially
in the winter, because when weturn on the heat in our homes
it's extremely dehydrated.
I mean you can feel it in yourskin, even like your lips when
you wake up, you know.
So I would add 50% to yourwater and take during the
wintertime For sure.
And I also really likehumidifiers in the house.
If you like, um, if you're likean essential oil girl like me,
(38:32):
you can also do those indifferent rooms.
But humidifiers are really likemy go to in the winter for
adding moisture, because it it'slike the silent killer.
No one really.
They're like oh, I'm so dryLike my voice.
Is this not what it used to be?
Or I'm sick and it's just thewinter?
But really it has so much to dowith dehydration that you don't
even know, Cause it's a slowgrowth.
(38:53):
It's a slow, slow, slow, slow,slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
It's a slow growth.
It's a slow growth into howmuch heat you have in your house
, for how long and how muchdryness comes.
So that would be one Um, I, ifI'm in like cold, like when I
lived in New York city, youwould not catch me in the winter
without a scarf around my neck.
There's something about keepingyour neck warm.
(39:15):
I swear it must be scientific.
If it's not, it should be,because when I wear a scarf
around, is it okay?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
When I wear a scarf around my neck.
Speaker 10 (39:24):
Um, it keeps.
It keeps me from really gettingsick, like I think it's because
there's just so much bloodpassing through your neck and
your carotid arteries are not,you know.
It's just such a big epicenterof flow that when you keep that
warm I really feel like it'sliterally protecting my larynx
when I wear a scarf.
So those two things that likethe easiest things you can do.
(39:48):
But I would say the mostimportant is increasing your
water and take by 50%.
And if you still feel dry outof humidifier because the voice
needs moisture, think about it.
You're rubbing two tiny littlefolds together at the speed of a
hummingbird's wings and that'sfriction, and if it's dry it's
like sandpaper.
There's no lubrication therewhatsoever.
(40:09):
So the more lubricated you cankeep your folds, the healthier
they'll be during the winter.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So once again, you're hearing the importance and the
value of proper hydration,particularly during the winter
months when the heat is up.
You heard that also from DrCatherine Hall previously on
this podcast and in previousepisodes as well, so take heed
to that information.
All right, here's anotherquestion from our virtual
(40:35):
audience.
I think this is David.
Speaker 6 (40:37):
Can I ask one question?
Yes, sir, I feel like we're ina real age of imitation, where
people, especially young singers, teenagers even.
You know they're idolizing aparticular sound and they tried
to reproduce that rather thanyou know learn what their own
(40:59):
voice sounds like and they'rekind of afraid, maybe even of
what their own voice sounds like.
I just wondered about yourthoughts on that.
Speaker 10 (41:06):
You're a good question asker.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
I'm married to a choir director and a singer.
I love that.
Speaker 10 (41:15):
No, I'm so here for it.
So actually, that is the topicthat I'm extremely passionate
about, so much so that I createda four week course called Voice
On.
That is.
Its only purpose in the fourweeks is to help you find your
own unique sound, and Ideveloped this mechanism within
the course, called a uniquesound blueprint, and it's
(41:38):
basically a series of questionsand answers that forces you to
categorize how you feel yourvoice sounds, how you would like
it to sound, in tangible waysthat are written on paper, and
the reason why people imitate isbecause they cannot put their
finger on what theircapabilities of sounding like
(42:00):
are and what they want them tobecome.
So they end up saying, well, Ijust want to sound like Mariah
Kerry.
No, you don't.
What you really want to be ableto do is riff and run.
You want to be able to do vocalcries and you want to be able
to belt and growl.
Those are the four things thatyou really want to do.
So when you stop saying I wantto sound like this person, which
is an overall, generalizedclassification, and when you go
(42:22):
through this vocal blueprintthat forces you to characterize,
in specific ways and attributes, the way you want your voice to
be capable of producing sound,then I can work with that.
You want to be able to riff andrun Okay, sure, let's do that.
You want to be able to learnvocal cries and vocal growls.
You want to be able to belt.
Now, you are not Mariah Kerryand God did not make you Mariah
(42:44):
Kerry.
There's only one of you.
So you're going to do thosethings that you love hearing her
do in the context of your voiceand that, my friend, is your
unique sound, and you're notthen following or chasing after
a name or an image or a soundthat you think is awesome
because it's been made famous.
You're chasing after the vocalattributes that you respect,
(43:05):
admire and want to emulate outof that singer and you're
putting those into your voice.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Such a good question and answer, and a pivotal one
when you consider the music timein which we live.
The history of music is just sodifferent.
I think we need to also pointout the fact that we're all
originals.
We're all born originals, butso many die copycats and they
spend a lot of time emulating,like you said, tara, sounds that
(43:30):
they've heard, and I don'tthink we're all guilty of it to
some extent.
But when it's an intentionalact and you're not trying to
find your own voice, then youare just a carbon Copy of
something else, and I don'tthink we have a lot of room for
carbon copies today.
I don't either.
All right, now we're going toget into some live demonstration
and you're going to give sometips to some brave singers who
(43:53):
are on the call Now.
I say this often that I don'tbelieve you have to have the
greatest voice in order to makea joyful noise.
Scripture says to make a joyfulnoise unto the Lord, all ye
lands to serve them withgladness, and the primary way
that we do that is through ourvoices.
So we're going to transitionnow and we've got some brave
people in our virtual audiencewho are going to sing for you
(44:13):
and allow you to give them sometips, some pointers and critique
.
Now, I didn't mention thisearlier, but we've got some cool
prizes to those who participate.
Motivation, ha ha, motivation.
But before I give it to Tara,let me point out one thing, and
that is that the platform thatwe're using may not be conducive
to singing live or singing loud.
So if you hear some dropoutsdoing the singing, just know
(44:35):
that it's because the platformis not necessarily conducive to
singing live or singing loud.
For that matter, we're going tobe switching platforms in a few
weeks and that's going to makeplaying and singing live here in
the choir room a lot morepleasant.
All right, so let's go to.
Actually, I'm going to give itto you, tara, okay.
Speaker 10 (44:54):
Well, okay, so I kind of had it.
Because this is noon, right,and everybody is staying muted,
I figured we would.
We would do a little, a little,a little bit of a singing.
What would be your opinion onthat?
And if I had a chance to dothat, I would do a little
amazing grace thing off, becauseI figured everybody knows that
(45:15):
song and it would be an easy wayfor me to help, like, fix any
problems that anybody comes onand wants to work on.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
So I really literally just need the first line In any
key.
You want it to be Amazing grace, all right, like me.
Speaker 10 (45:39):
So hopefully you heard that If you could just do
that much, anybody who wants tocome on you can.
I'm going to call this the SingBetter In Second.
So I have this little episode,this original series, on my
YouTube channel called SingBetter In Seconds, and I've
literally gone all over theworld and I go to random places
and talk to random people on thestreets who usually turn me
down at first and I say, hey,I'm going to teach you how to
(46:01):
sing better in seconds.
I know you can, I'm going toprove it.
And they sing a line.
I give them a few tips andtricks and then they sing it
again and the audience onYouTube decides that they sing
it better in seconds.
They always sing better inseconds.
So I can do the same thing foryou guys here and anybody that
wants to start.
Just put your hand up or unmuteyourself.
You sing it first.
You sing the one phrase as youare, give you a few tips and
(46:22):
tricks, and then you sing itagain.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 10 (46:27):
I'm going to call Alan.
I'm calling you out.
I see that face.
Look at your face.
I see I'm calling you out, Alan.
Unmute yourself, sir.
Show yourself OK.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
All right, so let me take another sip of water.
We're talking about hydration.
Speaker 10 (46:43):
There you go.
We've been talking about it alot.
Any key you want.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that singsOrange like me, yes.
Speaker 10 (47:11):
Give him a hand, everybody.
Good job, alan.
Very good, first of all, supercourageous, and I know I'm super
scary, so I know you're nervousand you did a really good job.
So, alan, you've got a reallynice vibrato.
By the way, really love thesound and the speed of your
vibrato.
It's really beautiful, veryrelaxing, and I like this.
I like the tone of your voicetoo.
(47:31):
You've got really good pitch.
You didn't go off pitch oranything like that.
I want to work with you on yourspace, because your sound is
being a little bit inhibited andgoing back into yourself,
because you're not capitalizingon your moments that you could
be opening up.
For example, if you're sayingI'm going to go on off to fire
because I'm a girl, amazinggrace, how sweet.
(47:55):
The sound.
Very close Also, by the way.
So I know if you have an accent, that's something else to get
through.
If you've got a southern accentand you kind of go wide instead
of go long high, coleman, yeah,that's something you've got to
keep off when you're singing,because that's not the move.
You've got an Emmy country.
(48:16):
That's a different story, butwe're not doing that right now.
So, alan, can I make a blanketstatement to you that if you
sing the song and you're lookingin your mind's eye at the
lyrics, like you're doingkaraoke across the screen, can
you see those lyrics in yourmind's eye?
I want you to see this.
Ok, as you sing it this time, Iwant you to see the lyrics and
(48:36):
I want you to either change thecolor or make capitalized the
vowels as the lyrics scroll, so,like amazing grace, any vowel
that you see.
I want you to drop your jaw,like at least 50% more for me,
and maybe even 100% more.
(48:56):
If you're that person who sortof dips their toe in the water
and is apprehensive to do bigthings, and go for it, because I
want the sound T-H-A-H, thesound that saved S-A-H-V-E-D, ah
, wretch, not wretch, wretchlike me.
Yeah, OK, so it's the vowelopenness for me.
(49:19):
And then there's one otherthing At the top, at the last
note, remember an extreme nohigher loonies, more space, and
this is what I was talking about.
By the way, you're singing E.
I hate E On the closed mouth,so we need to think E in our
mind, but I really want you tosay E.
So if I can give you an analogyof an egg, this is my favorite
(49:42):
analogy for E think of the eggas the yolk and the white right.
The E is the yolk right, it'sthe yellow part, but there is a
U that's wrapping around as theegg white of that E and instead
of it's me, it's me.
So watch what happens with mymouth when I change from
straight E to E with a U wrappedaround it.
(50:04):
Be yes, ok, there's that U init and it allows more space, it
allows more forward of a sound,it takes away that nasality and
that tinny brightness and itgives it more character, it
gives it more depth.
So I'd like you to two things.
You're not even needing threetips.
All right, two tips Big mouth,long on the vowels, and you're
(50:27):
changing that E for E when yousing the me.
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Ok, OK, more pressure , all right.
Speaker 10 (50:35):
No pressure.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
OK.
Speaker 10 (50:37):
Just do your best.
Think of those vowels, drop thejaw any chance you get for
space.
That's your goal.
And then A at the end.
Speaker 3 (50:50):
Amazing grace Got that jaw.
How sweet the sound.
Speaker 10 (51:01):
Stop right there, Alan.
First of all, I love that youhave more vibrato, but I'm not
letting you get away with thethe again.
Speaker 7 (51:07):
The sound.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
The, the, the sound, the sound.
Give me the sound.
Speaker 10 (51:23):
Yes, that one.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Start from the top, stop from the top.
Don't forget my the.
You're going to stop again.
Amazing grace, how sweet thesound.
Better, that's it.
(51:49):
Oh, rich, we got you Like me.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Speaker 10 (52:05):
That's it.
Yes, that E was beautiful,beautiful.
Good job, alan Guys.
Did he sing better in seconds?
He did Good job, alan, thankyou.
Speaker 8 (52:23):
Oh Carol, hi Carol, I'm nervous, let's go.
Carol, you got this Amazinggrace.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
How sweet the sound that's it oh rich Love.
Speaker 10 (52:48):
Oh, good job.
So I lost you on that last notebecause of zoom, but that just
tells me that your placement wasreally beautiful.
I heard every other note.
Carol is the perfect example ofsomeone who knows exactly how
to sing.
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 8 (53:06):
It was beautiful, it was intentional.
You have great vibrato.
Carol Huh.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, who's ElizabethYou're?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
my vocal teacher.
I don't see her there she is.
Hi, hello, carol didn't knowshe could sing and we were in
her living room one day and shewas doing day care for our and
this voice came out of her,seeing how great they are.
And ever since then that was 30something years ago and we saw
(53:37):
that she had this annoying thingon her voice.
It was amazing.
Speaker 10 (53:40):
I love that story, thank you for sharing.
Speaker 8 (53:44):
Oh, it's nice to see you.
I love that.
What a great moment.
Okay, let's stop from scratchnow.
Speaker 10 (53:51):
Okay, Carol, we're going to, we're going to take a
really big risk with you, andit's only because I know now
that you've been coached.
So he just made your life a lotharder, but it's going to be
good.
So you're a head voice singer.
That's where you want to go,that's where you want to be,
it's where you're comfortable,right?
Do you sing in your chest voiceat all?
Speaker 8 (54:12):
Um, I try, because I am in the choir and we sing a
lot of those beltie songs whichI'm careful on.
So I don't go horse Sure.
So I yeah, I don't want tostrain my voice, but I'm more
comfortable in the upper totally.
Speaker 10 (54:31):
And I'm not.
I'm not saying that that's bad.
I love singing in my head voice.
In fact, I find it way easier,like it's a lot less heavy
lifting for me.
Um, however, I, just just forthe fun and the sake, this
exercise I would like tochallenge you at, because your
head voice is already so lovelyand you have great vibrato, and
(54:54):
I just want to tell you I'mgoing to sing a little bit of
the song, I'm going to stand upa little bit and to stretch out
our rubber band a little bit.
Um, why don't we change the keya little lower?
And I'd like you to see what itfeels like in your chest voice,
and I'd like it.
I'm okay, um, okay, you don'thave anything with you and I
don't either.
But let's pretend that you are aball player, and when you sing
(55:20):
Every downbeat, I want you tojust pretend like you're
chucking a ball Okay, as far asyou can away from you, like a
next door neighbor across thestreet type of thing and I want
you to use your abs and yourforce forward to chuck that ball
forward, okay, especially whenyou go up to the me Big, big
Chuck, okay.
(55:40):
And and I want you to start low, like it doesn't have to be a
show off of range here, cause wealready know you can sing high
or singing in your head voice,so that's okay.
So if you're not that high, youcan hear this somewhere low
that you're comfortably in yourchest voice with like maybe,
yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 8 (55:59):
Yeah, let's try there .
Oh, oh Me Stingra, how sweet,yes, the sound that, the sound
that's here, oh, real, like me,yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:29):
Yes.
Speaker 10 (56:31):
Carol, you know what you did so beautifully that I'm
so proud of you.
And Nate Lee did what I wastalking about by changing the
integrity of those vowels.
You've been trained by a goodwoman over there to change that
E to an A when you're singing upin chest Exactly what I would
have done if you wouldn't havealready done it yourself.
So good.
Speaker 8 (56:50):
Yes, thank you for your help.
Thank you, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 10 (56:55):
Yeah, you've done that, yeah, don't be scared of
your chest, but also to not hurtyourself.
You're scared of straining andhurting yourself.
Yeah, if you engage your abslike you're doing a crunch or
like you're doing a plank on thefloor, or even like a Pilates
lead, like you're making a Vwith your body on the floor and
you hold that, or even like whenyou're lifting up something and
(57:18):
you're trying to lift somethingheavy and you lift with your
legs and not your back, it'sthat abdominal crunch that makes
it really almost 99.9%impossible for you to hurt your
voice.
When you're supporting thatmuch, I sense a little bit of
like ab fatigue in the middlepart of it, and it's because
it's a different need for absupport when you're singing in
(57:39):
head voice versus chest.
There is no forgiveness inchest voice range for that.
There is grace in head voice.
So when you practice chest,just make sure you're really
engaging your abs, becausethat's when, if you feel tired,
it will occur.
Speaker 8 (57:53):
Okay, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Good job, dude very brave.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Brave indeed.
All right, we have anotherVeronica, go for it.
Speaker 10 (58:05):
I'll try.
I'm very nervous, I know it'sthe worst.
The hardest is the first note,right, it's just like ripping
that bandaid off.
But you've got this, you're ina safe place.
We're all rooting for you.
Speaker 3 (58:19):
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that saveda wretch like me.
Speaker 10 (58:47):
Okay, give her a hand, give Veronica a hand.
Okay, veronica, you have reallynice vibrato and I can tell
you're really nervous.
I also feel like maybe, justmaybe, you picked a key or a
spot in your voice that wasmaybe on a break, because I
heard your voice trying todecide, as you were singing
through that melodic line, whereit's going to be.
I heard a little bit of chest,I heard a little bit ahead, I
(59:09):
heard a little bit of mix andthen, as you went up top, your
voice finally decided because itgot high enough for it to be
able to definitively decide.
I also see a lot of jaw tension.
Speaker 1 (59:18):
It's a little bit yeah, I have lupus and stuff.
I have a lot of lupus and stuffgoing on.
Speaker 10 (59:26):
I don't know what inflammation and whatever yes,
an inflammation with lupus.
It can really happen anywhere,right?
Yes, and it can affect indifferent places.
So when you feel like inflamedor there's a flare up, be aware
of that.
When you're singing in your jawand if you feel inflamed there,
there is actually a free videothat I made in a tutorial on my
(59:47):
channel.
It's a singing through sicknesstutorial and I do this facial
massage that you can walkthrough and it can, as you work
through massaging the sides ofyour musculature on your
mandible right here.
It can help get any of thatlactic acid that can sometimes
(01:00:08):
cause that inflammation andmassage it away and out and down
into your lymphatic drainagesystem and help you in that way,
because I don't think you havea big like large, huge case of
TMJ.
I have a slight case on myright actually, or my right,
this side, so I'm a littlesensitive to that, but I felt
like there was a little bit ofresistance on that one side.
(01:00:28):
So if you feel that clicking, Iwant you to use it as a safe
spot.
I want you to go to and past it, because what I'm seeing is a
lot of amazing great, a lot ofjaw tension here.
So if we can just take out thewords and not even do them at
all and just sing on an ah ahall the way through to the top,
(01:00:54):
and if we can start either loweror higher, I'll give you the
choice.
But I'd like to get out of thiskey and choose one that's more
definitive in one register orthe other.
Can we do those two things?
Do you want to go lower orhigher?
Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
I guess it's a low.
It'll be low, I guess it mightbe low, OK.
Speaker 10 (01:01:12):
So let's go low and let's go long with that on no
moving.
So I want you to put yourfingers right here and when you
drop your jaw they should fitinto a hole right here, and I
don't want them to get kickedout of that hole at all.
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
I'm holding my phone, so it's going to be kind of
hard.
Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
OK, one finger stop.
Speaker 10 (01:01:33):
It'll do.
One finger is good.
Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Ah you.
Speaker 10 (01:02:00):
Okay, I lost you at the top.
I lost you at the top becauseof Zoom.
So I liked the beginning ofthat.
You sounded a lot more lockedinto a register and I could hear
the pretty tone in your voice alot better because there was
more space and your voice wasable to just kind of develop as
it spun, okay.
But then you started to get alittle again and you wanted to
(01:02:23):
close off some.
So we're going to do one moretime, we're going to go a little
lower, okay, still with the awe, but I want on the sound on.
Ha, you went in the head voiceand you don't need to there.
You should be totally in chestand I know that you have a
really nice rich tone in chest.
I can hear it, just not reallyhear it again.
So, ha, can you just do thatfor me?
(01:02:45):
Ha, nice and big Ha, yeah, now.
Now squeeze your abs, supportthe sound and don't let the
vibrato be sputtery.
Make it even waves.
Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Ha Ha.
Speaker 10 (01:03:03):
That at the end, at the end.
Okay, make the start just likethe end.
Put your hands on your stomachand put one hand here and
actually you can't do both.
Put one hand here and do this.
I want you to self-conduct thevibrato waves evenly, not like
this, but just ha and watch yourfinger.
Ha, yes, good, now plug thatback into the song.
(01:03:26):
Start on that same pitch, ha.
Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
Hands, ha, ha Ha.
Speaker 10 (01:03:38):
Ha Chest voice.
Speaker 8 (01:03:41):
Ha.
Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
No zoom.
Ha, Ha, ha Ha.
Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Ha, it's starting to compress her again.
Speaker 10 (01:03:57):
I cannot hear your last note, ha.
Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Well, I can tell you this much it's there.
It's definitely there, and Ican say that because I know her
voice.
It's been a long time sinceI've heard her sing, but that's
good.
I do believe that maybe a halfstep lower would have been fine
A little bit lower.
I feel the same way.
I think she's right at thatbreak.
Speaker 10 (01:04:21):
Right.
Yeah, we certainly need to getit done, and then we make a
quick video.
We're still kind of riding abreak.
Veronica, what I usually saywhen people clip on zoom is that
they're doing it right becauseyou know it means that there's
more tone and zoom can handle it.
So you were clipping more andmore as we went on.
Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
So I want to say that was very good job, veronica,
thank you.
Thank you.
Great job and very brave of allof you to allow us to put you
on the national spotlight, as itis somebody like Tara to
critique and then give you sometips.
So big round of applause to ourguests and to Tara for being
(01:04:56):
with us.
All right, we have some giftsthat we want to give away,
courtesy of one of our sponsors,who desires to remain anonymous
at the moment.
I think they all deservesomething.
I think they do too, and we'regoing to arrange for each of
them to have one of these twooptions A Sure SM58 microphone,
(01:05:19):
one of the industry standards,or Time with Tara, and that time
will be determined by Tara at afuture date.
So to Alan, carol and Veronica,thanks so much for
participating.
Be sure to let Angel know whichof those two options you're
choosing the microphone or Timewith Tara.
You can let Angel know that inthe chat To the rest of you
(01:05:40):
who've joined us in the virtualaudience.
We trust that you've learned alot today from Catherine Hall.
And as we do each week, fromDorian Johnson, mieta
Stansel-Fararra and, of course,the fourth wheel, who'll be
closing us out shortly with thefront of the week?
Coleman Smart, and what can Isay?
Tara Simon, thanks so much forjoining us right here in the
Choir Room.
Speaker 9 (01:05:59):
Coleman.
Thanks so much, greg.
It is October and I am alreadyin the middle of Christmas.
So that's just where my mind isright now.
And if you are a Choir Directoryourself, no matter what
context that is, you're probablyalready thinking about
Christmas.
If not, you're probably alreadyover Christmas.
(01:06:20):
You've been there and you'vebeen working on it for months.
But that's where my mind isright now.
So I've been thinking about thescripture, luke 2, verse 10.
And the angel said unto themFear not, for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy,which shall be to all people.
(01:06:40):
Good tidings, great joy, allpeople.
Well, what were these angelstalking about?
What were the good tidings thatwould bring great joy to all
people?
Well, in order to fully answerthis question, you have to go
all the way back to thebeginning of the story.
(01:07:00):
So journey thousands of yearsbackwards with me to Genesis,
chapter 3, verses 1 through 7.
Say Now, the serpent was morecunning than any beast of the
field which the Lord God hadmade we're in the Garden of Eden
, by the way.
And he said to the woman hasGod indeed said, you shall not
(01:07:21):
eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said to theserpent.
We may eat fruit of the treesof the garden, but of the fruit
of the tree which is in themidst of the garden, god has
said you shall not eat it or youshall not touch it lest you die
.
Then the serpent said to thewoman you will not surely die,
for God knows that in the dayyou eat it your eyes will be
(01:07:43):
opened and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and it
was pleasant to the eyes and atree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband,who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of themwere opened and they knew that
(01:08:05):
they were naked and they sewedfig leaves together and made
themselves coverings".
So the serpent said you can belike God.
You can be independent of Him,judging good and evil for
yourself.
I heard one person say once thatthis is like the fuel source
for sin, feeling like we can begodly without God.
(01:08:29):
Well, here's some news for usyou can't.
Not only is it impossible, butit causes us the greatest pain
that we could imagine, which isseparation from God being
without His covering.
Adam and Eve communed with God.
I believe that they wereclothed in His glory and when
(01:08:50):
they sinned they lost thecovering of God, which was His
glory, and they realized theywere naked.
So they found fig leaves to tryto cover their shame.
It seems like a naturalresponse to find something to
cover yourself with, but itmakes me wonder how silly it
must have looked to heaven, orhow silly it must look to heaven
(01:09:12):
even now, when we try to clotheourselves with the things other
than the righteousness and theglory of God, things that we're
not meant to clothe ourselveswith, things that don't bear any
fruit.
But we are given a promise justa few verses later, verses 14
(01:09:32):
and 15 of Genesis.
Chapter 3 says so.
The Lord God said to theserpent Because you have done
this, you are cursed more thanall cattle and more than every
beast of the field.
On your belly you shall go andyou shall eat dust all the days
of your life and I will putenmity between you and the woman
and between your seed and herseed.
(01:09:54):
He shall bruise your head andyou shall bruise his heel.
God said that the serpent wouldbe cursed and would always
basically be in pursuit of man,be after the good of man, trying
to destroy man.
Mankind and the woman in thispassage becomes a metaphor for
(01:10:17):
Israel.
Let me read that again and Iwill put enmity between you and
the woman, the woman.
He's talking to Eve, but thewoman metaphorically becomes
Israel and Israel's seed as wego on.
And between your seed and herseed, israel's seed is Christ.
So let's read that again and Iwill put enmity between you and
(01:10:41):
the woman and between your seedand her seed.
He shall bruise your head andyou shall bruise his heel.
So if Israel's seed is Christ,he's saying you will bruise his
heel with nails upon a cross,but with the same feet that you
nailed to the cross, he willcrush your head.
(01:11:02):
So go back to that question atthe beginning Good tidings of
great joy to all people.
What are these tidings that wesing about, this great joy that
we talk about?
What is this joy to the world?
Why is that night so holy thatwe sing about?
Because of this right here,because this promise is being
(01:11:25):
fulfilled.
You will bruise his heel withnails.
God said with nails upon across, but with the same feet
that you nailed to the cross, hewill crush your head.
So, christ, the promise ofChrist, these are the good
tidings of great joy to allpeople that we're all so
diligently working toward rightnow.
(01:11:46):
Because, yeah, christmas isjust around the corner and we're
trying to create our plans andput our plans together, but
sometimes we need to be remindedof the reason that it's the
fulfillment of a promise of God,working through thousands of
years of history to fulfill apromise that, like I said, that
(01:12:07):
those heels, those feet thatwere bruised by the serpent,
that they would crush theserpent's head.
So this is my encouragement toyou this week Don't get so
caught up into the busyness ofthe season already, even though
it's October and we're justplanning that, we forget what
it's all about and it's thefulfilled promise of Christ.
(01:12:28):
Thanks, coleman.
Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
And remember, if ever we put the messenger before the
message, we have failed topresent an unblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Join us again right here nextweek in the choir room.
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
Season 1, episode 27 of the Choir Room podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Greg Tomas, your host, and I'll soon be joined by
my co-host, dorian Johnson.
Welcome to the choir room, beit a Stanso Pharrar and who we
like to call the fourth wheel,coleman Smart.
This podcast exists to promoteand encourage to longtime
traditions in our society thatseem to be dwindling away, and
(00:32):
that is choir and corporatesinging.
We hope to revive theexcitement and joy experienced
with singing in a choir, as wellas inform and educate the
listener on all things singingand all things choir related.
So if you love singing and youlove choir, we encourage you to
subscribe to this podcastanywhere you get your podcast
downloads.
You can also subscribe bysending the word subscribe in
(00:55):
the subject field of an email tothe choir room at metro music
dash arts dot com.
And when you subscribe, be sureto give us a five star review,
as your review helps us keepthis podcast alive and share it
with a friend.
And now you can also engagewith us on the choir room
podcast Facebook page.
Today's episode, part two, withvocal coach and YouTube
(01:16):
sensation Tara Simon of TaraSimon Studios.
This time around we'll get intosome of the questions that came
through from our virtualaudience, and then we will have
some practical application, assome of our brave audience
members dare to sing live forTara right here on the podcast
and win prizes as a result ofthat bravery.
But before we do that, dorianis going to have our hymn of the
(01:38):
week and then Catherine Hall isgoing to come back and give us
a little bit more on hydration.
Speaker 4 (01:44):
Sure.
Thanks, greg.
This week's hymn of the week isa not so well known hymn
entitled Not what my Hands haveDone.
It's by Horatius Bonner and waswritten in 1861, and Titus
three versus four through sevensays this.
But when the goodness andloving kindness of God, our
savior, appeared, he saved us,not because of works done by us
(02:06):
in righteousness, but accordingto his own mercy, by the washing
of regeneration and renewal ofthe Holy Spirit whom we poured
out on us richly through JesusChrist, our savior, so that,
being justified by his grace, wemight become heirs according to
the hope of eternal life.
Listen to the words of thisfirst verse Not what my hands
(02:27):
have done can save my guiltysoul, not what my toiling flesh
has borne can make my spiritwhole, not what I feel or do can
give me peace with God.
Not all my prayers and sighsand tears can bear my awful load
.
This first verse reminds us ofthe hopeless state that each
(02:50):
person finds themselves in.
There is no way that we canbear the awful load of sin, the
awful load that requires God'sjudgment, for he is a just and a
righteous God.
He is a just and a righteousjudge, but we also know of the
mercy of God.
Ephesians one, seven says inhim we have redemption through
(03:12):
his blood, the forgiveness ofour sins according to the riches
of his grace.
Through the blood of Christ,ephesians two, eight, nine says
for by grace you have been savedthrough faith.
This is not your own doing, itis the gift of God, not a result
of works, so that no one mayboast.
Verse two says thy work alone,o Christ, can ease this weight
of sin.
Thy blood alone, o Lamb of God,can give me peace within.
(03:35):
Thy love to me, o God, not mine, o Lord to thee, can rid me of
this dark unrest and set myspirit free.
First, john four ten says inthis is love, not that we have
loved God, but that he loved usand sent his son to be the
propitiation for our sins.
That word propitiations meansto act to satisfy the wrath of a
(03:58):
deity.
To satisfy God's wrath, christwas sent for us.
And verse three says thy gracealone, o God, to me can part and
speak.
Thy power alone, o Son of God,can this sore bondage break.
No other work save thine, noother blood will do, no strength
save that which is divine canbear me safely.
(04:20):
Through and after these threeverses have declared the work of
Christ and the grace of God.
The final two verses are ourresponse to this incredible work
of God, this incredible graceof God.
Verse four says I bless theChrist of God.
I rest on love divine, and withunfaltering lip and heart I
(04:42):
call this Savior mine.
His cross dispels each doubt.
I bury in his tomb my unbeliefand all my fear.
Each lingering shade of gloom,I praise the God of grace.
I trust his truth and might.
He calls me his.
I call him mine, my God, my joy, my light Tis he who saveth me
(05:04):
and, freely parting, gives Ilove because he loveth me.
I live because he lives.
These two verses declare theglorious truth that we read in
Galatians 2, 20 through 21.
The apostle Paul says and eachone who is a Christian can say
I've been crucified with Christ.
It is no longer I who live, butChrist who lives in me, in the
(05:27):
life I now live, in the flesh.
I live by faith in the Son ofGod, who loved me and gave
himself for me.
I do not nullify the grace ofGod For a righteousness were
through the law and Christ diedfor no purpose.
We don't seek to justifyourselves before God because we
cannot.
But instead, as this hymn says,we we rest on the divine love
(05:49):
of God.
We call the Savior ours, we seehis death as our death and his
resurrection as our resurrection, and we truly know that there
is no work except the work ofChrist that will make us
acceptable before our great andmighty God.
Speaker 2 (06:09):
Welcome to the world.
These questions may seem alittle out of context to our
listening audience, but they'llmake sense in the end.
So, catherine, your personalpreference Pasta or chicken,
chicken, chicken okay.
Running or weightlifting.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Weightlifting Summer or winter?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Winter Soup or salad Soup, coffee or milk Coffee,
coffee, juice or soda Juice Okay, last one.
Sparkling or flat, flat, okaywhy coffee over milk?
Speaker 5 (06:46):
I'm not a big drinker of milk.
A lot of people are actuallyallergic to dairy and I know
that lots of people do betterwithout it.
So and I happen to drink themost alkaline organic coffee
there is on the planet, so Ihave I treat myself to a cup of
(07:08):
coffee in the morning.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I imagine it treats your body different and
better than milk.
Yes, it does.
No question about it.
No question, all right, yousaid juice over soda.
Speaker 5 (07:17):
Yes, why?
Because soda, if you put abobby pin in it or you know a
pear pin, it actually rusts thehairpin.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Bunch of other stuff in there.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
Yes, it has high fructose corn syrup.
It's addictive.
Even if people are drinkingdiet sodas, you notice that
they're really overweightBecause the chemicals make the
liver work hard and they're notdetoxifying.
So if you're, I don't.
I'm not a firm believer of evendrinking juice.
I don't think you should eatyour calories, drink your
(07:49):
calories, but I think that juiceis much better option without
sugar, but the soda is a hundredpercent no, we're hearing you.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
Okay, sparkling over flat.
I think you said sparkling.
Well, no, I actually said flat.
Speaker 5 (08:08):
I love sparkling, but I'll tell you why I say flat.
Because as time goes on, peoplewho drink too much sparkling
water actually start to get moreacidic blood and what happens
is the blood is a very specificpH and it needs to maintain that
pH.
So it takes, sometimes it eatsaway at the bone a little bit
(08:30):
and buffers the blood and makesit more alkaline.
So people, especially womenover their 40s, you know, more
osteoporosis is created.
So that's my school of thought.
Speaker 2 (08:44):
Interesting we're hearing from a professional.
You know the average singerdoesn't always equate the intake
of all of these things intotheir bodies as having an effect
on their ability to breatheproperly, digest the effect that
it may have on their vocalcords and their ability to sing.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Yes, yes, even with water, the elasticity of the
vessels in the lungs therepeople get emphysema which is
the very end of the bronchials,at very end of the vessels in
the lungs, get very, veryhardened.
So we want to keep elasticity.
And when you think aboutelasticity, that means being
(09:22):
able to bend and lift and do allthese things through the years
and joints and knee pains andthings like that.
So the more hydrated you are,the less you get of that.
I'm not saying that it's 100%,that it's a miracle thing that
no one gets sick if they drinkenough water, but I'm saying
(09:43):
it's a major contributor tobeing a more elastic body.
Therefore more fluid lungs,more easily breathing and better
singing.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
And when you consider the fact that choir requires
you to stand, sing sometimesstand, sing, sway, lift your
hands and all of that good stuff, love that All of this can be
hindered if we don't monitor ourintake and make sure that we're
hydrated.
You may get through a few ofthe songs and blow through some
(10:20):
of the notes, but in the longrun, as you said earlier, the
ability to stand, sing, sway andjust lift our hands can all be
negatively impacted if we don'tmonitor what we're taking?
Speaker 5 (10:34):
Yeah, absolutely, people don't.
Always it's so logical.
But people sometimes want toreally separate those thoughts
of how your body functions andwhat you actually do.
And there was an interesting Iwas in Denmark in year 2000 on a
pig farm.
Believe it or not, this is agoing concern.
Pig farm, 1,000 pigs.
(10:58):
And I always say to my patientsthese are pigs that are sold for
slaughter to big companies thatmake big money from this.
This is big business.
And they don't go to the fridgeand say, hmm, what are they
going to eat today?
You know they have ascientifically worked out diet,
so these pigs will be not toobig, not too small, not too
(11:19):
marbled, marbled enough andtherefore they know exactly what
health that pig will have,mostly because the diet is very
scientific.
And yet we're supposed to be sobright as humans but we just
eat whatever we want and notthinking that it has any
(11:40):
implication to the body at all.
I find that you know it's verycommon, most educated and the
most uneducated.
I mean it's a very commonmisconception to not link
together what you do and how youperform there.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
you have it there it is.
It's always good to have youhere with us in the choir room,
catherine.
Thanks again, thank you.
Speaker 8 (12:05):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 7 (12:07):
So the CRQ tonight would be this what qualifies one
to be a choir director?
What qualifies one to be achoir director?
Pretty simple for me, and thenI will throw it right to you,
gentlemen.
I got three things that thatwould qualify a pretty decent I
(12:28):
would say choir director.
Well, you know, I think we needto get it right.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
Well, you know, I think we need to be asking
ourselves what qualifies us toanswer this.
Speaker 7 (12:38):
It's a better question, right?
I don't know how qualified I ambut I'm a friend, let's go for
it.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
We have an opinion, yeah we have an opinion Right.
Speaker 7 (12:47):
Well, our opinion is well, well, you should have a
really strong prayer life.
Let's start with that.
Yeah, start there.
A really really strong prayerlife.
Than the other qualificationswould be the ability to teach
parts and harmonies that that'sone.
The ability to command a choir,be able to get the most optimum
(13:09):
sound out of that choir, ableto direct them into excellence,
because there are some choirdirectors who kind of leave the
choir out there to just kind offend for themselves.
I promise you it's a scarysight.
Yeah, I can.
You can only imagine what itwould sound like, but it's even
frightening to see the face, thefear the choir members faces
(13:30):
when the when the choir directorjust pretty much abandons them
in the middle of a song, andthat's.
That's scary.
My last point would be shouldhave a strong interest in music.
Probably should have been thenumber one.
There are some choir directorsthat I have run into recently
who like the fact of being infront of people.
They love that part but don'treally have the commitment to
(13:54):
the music.
You know, they just want to beout front and get the glory of
it all, but don't really have aninterest in sitting down and
going through a process oflearning music, getting the best
music for the congregation inwhich you serve, the house in
which you serve.
They don't really have a wholelot of.
They take from the top 40 andwe'll learn those songs and
(14:16):
that'll keep the crowd going,that'll bring the height, but
don't really commit to.
The work entails to be a choirdirector.
There are some sleepless nightswhen it comes to a choir
director.
There's some work involved thatI don't know if the
generation's coming really seeit that way.
(14:38):
They just like the fanfare, ifyou will, of all.
So I'm hoping that yougentlemen will shed a little
more light on this.
What's?
Speaker 3 (14:47):
at you.
Speaker 7 (14:47):
Daria.
Speaker 4 (14:48):
This was an interesting question and it was
interesting to me because Iwould say, outside of a church
context, I would not bequalified to be a choir director
because, I don't play aninstrument.
I mean I can teach parts, but ittakes me a long time, and so I
(15:09):
began to think about some of thethings even before you get to
the choir.
And I would say one you have tobe able to love people.
That's one qualification,because you are leading people,
yes, you're leading them in song, but they are sometimes going
(15:33):
to do their own thing.
Sometimes they're not going tofollow your direction, sometimes
they're going to sing the wrongnotes, sometimes they're going
to give you attitude, and youhave to be able to work through
all of that and still pulleveryone together to produce one
sound.
So loving people.
(15:55):
What comes with all of that?
It comes with patience.
Patience comes with that, longsuffering comes with that, I
would say.
Another quality of a choirdirector is that they are able
to follow.
I find that I'm learning thatif I'm going to be effective
(16:15):
leading other people in singing,I have to learn how to follow
others as well, and in followingothers, I then learn those
things that I could be doingbetter, but also those things I
should not be doing as well, andso I think, first, it really
does focus on the people thatyou're leading.
(16:37):
The music is.
We can talk about all themusical portions of it.
No, having rhythm.
Yes, you have to have rhythm.
As a choir director, you have tobe able to know the music
inside and out in some ways tobe able to lead people to where
the song is going.
(16:58):
All of those other thingsfollow.
But I really started withthinking about the people
aspects of it, because they'relooking at you and sometimes
they're, sometimes you're not inthe right place and they're
(17:22):
just going to follow you there,and sometimes you are in the
right place and they aren'tgoing to follow you there.
But ultimately you got to lovethem and continue to lead them
and ultimately to pour into them, pour your life into them from
the word of God, and pray forthem, as you said already, and
pray for those that you'reministering to as well and pray
(17:45):
that it not become just about ashow, but it truly is a ministry
unto the Lord and unto thosewho will hear the choir that
you're directing.
Speaker 9 (17:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 7 (18:00):
That's good.
Speaker 9 (18:02):
My take was pretty practical.
My first thoughts are you knowa lot of people when they ask
this question.
I imagine that someone askingthis question was thinking like
do I need to have a degree to bea choir director or something
like that?
And if you've been listening tothe choir room podcast for long
(18:26):
, it's not going to surprise youto hear me say it depends on
your context.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Yeah, because I was going to say it.
But I was going to say it too,but I love it.
I beat you too.
Speaker 9 (18:44):
So it's.
In some places it's, yeah, itwould be necessary because
that's what people are askingfor.
For instance, a lot of ourfriends in the bigger Baptist
world or bigger Methodist andPresbyterian world.
They tend to prefer someonethat has a high level degree or
(19:08):
a master's degree in music for alot of not all, but some
Whereas in some smaller churchesthat's not necessarily a
requirement.
They're not looking for that,but they're looking for more of
the qualities like Dorian andMi'eta were just talking about
(19:30):
leadership and love for musicand willingness.
Some people are just looking forsomeone's whose willing, but
I'm not saying that's good.
But but again, it's all aboutthe context.
For instance, you've got one ofthe biggest choir programs in
modern history, you know, nottoo far away from you guys, in
(19:54):
Brooklyn, at Brooklyn Tab, andCarol Simbola is famous for not
having a lot of musical trainingbehind her, but she has an
incredible music program.
So there's a lot to be saidabout all the qualities that do
make her a great choir directorand all of that.
So again, it just depends onyour context.
(20:15):
But I echo, dorian, thatleadership skills and and a good
understanding of the music thatyou are, that you are working
with and all of that.
It doesn't necessarily alwaysrequire an intense knowledge of
theory and that kind of thing,but you got to know your music
(20:38):
and know how to teach it topeople.
Yeah, know your music, know howto teach it to people and then
be a good leader.
Those are the things that Ithink are most important.
Speaker 2 (20:48):
Very good, because context is everything.
I'm going to piggyback onsomething Coleman said earlier,
and that is I strongly suggestthat if you are a choir director
, you should get the education,all of the education, that you
can get.
You may not need it in yourcontext, but in some other ones
(21:10):
you may need it, and so get itwhen you can get it, wherever
you can get it.
Speaker 9 (21:16):
And Greg, while you're.
While you're talking about that, I need to make a clarification
of something I said.
I was talking about a degreeand how some people prefer that.
So my preference is, if you cango on to get some education, do
it Absolutely.
I did.
I mean, a lot of my colleagueshave done that.
(21:37):
So if you can do it.
But I just needed to make thatclarification.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
I understood you.
You just beat me to it.
Okay, sorry, but I think wehave access to more information
than we've ever had with the,you know, with the internet.
So get all of the educationthat you can get.
And again, your context may notrequire you to have a music
degree, but it may require youto at least be able to.
Well, it will require you to beable to hear and play a little
(22:06):
bit and certainly teach music ifyou're directing, and sometimes
choir directors don't alwaysteach the music.
That's one of the other thingsI think we have to point out
here is that not all choirdirectors teach.
Some actually just direct.
They learn the music from theperson who's teaching it to the
choir and they do the directing.
Perhaps the person who does theteaching is also one of the
(22:29):
musicians and therefore, is weprefer to have a choir director
out front.
Now, having said that, I'll addmy quarter note to the rest of
this measure.
I think a good choir directoris going to surround him or
herself with good people, peoplethat can assist him or her.
They may help teaching parts,they may help with finding music
(22:53):
, they may help as anaccompanist in rehearsal, but a
good choir director is going tohave a good team of people
around him or her so that theydon't have the sole
responsibility of finding newmusic, learning new music,
teaching new music, playing newmusic.
I mean it's all of the above Ifthey can get good people around
(23:16):
them good section leaders, goodadministrative help, a good
librarian who can help maintainthe catalog of music.
I mean that all helps tomaximizing the time and the
energy and the strength, thepotential, if you will, of your
choir director.
But I think anotherqualification of a good choir
director is that he or she hasto have the ability, the courage
(23:38):
, the strength to acknowledgewhen they need help, because
it's never all about the choirdirector.
And then my last point wouldspeak to something Mietta
mentioned earlier, and that'sabout putting in the work the
choir director.
Putting in the work the choirdirector should never come to
rehearsal learning the music.
They should have put that workin long before rehearsal,
(24:02):
because you can lose a choircoming to rehearsal unprepared,
having not learned the entiresong, but yet you want to try to
finagle your way through it andpretend your interest, trying
to get it into their heads.
That doesn't work.
They'll catch on to the factthat you don't know what you're
doing and you might want to gosit down somewhere.
(24:22):
No, but in all seriousness, youdefinitely want to come prepared
, and a good choir director isgoing to be prepared.
That helps qualify one, becausethe people will see that and
they'll respect your leadership,they'll respect your authority
and they'll acknowledge the factthat you have a command in that
choir.
They'll trust you for an entirerehearsal and they'll trust you
(24:42):
live when they're out singingor performing somewhere.
So I think those are twoadditional qualifications that
qualify one to be a choirdirector.
That's my two cents on thematter, and they were great
cents too.
Speaker 7 (24:55):
I tell you.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
Let's continue with our guest contributor, Tara
Simon.
Now here's another questionfrom our audience how does hot
temperature versus coldtemperature affect Tara's voice
and how does she think itaffects the voice in general?
Now, my thought even thoughthey didn't ask is that it
affects everybody's voicedifferently and everybody's body
is different, so how does itaffect you?
Speaker 10 (25:21):
I personally have just made myself push through
and have chords of steel underany circumstance.
But that's the nature.
I'm a Broadway singer and whenI did Broadway I didn't do eight
shows a week, I did nine,because they added a show,
because we were so sold out.
So I can't even tell you howmany hours a week and how many
(25:43):
hours a day, on top of dancingand being winded.
So I'm not really a faircomparison because I was just.
I essentially went to warvocally for a while.
And so I'm not a sensitiveperson and I know that some
people they got it down thehoney or squeezed the lemon or
whatever before singing.
I finally kind of came to theend of myself when I saw my
(26:04):
castmates doing that and I waslike I want to do that because
it looks cool, like I need allthese things.
But I'm just not that way and Iactually think that that's a
placebo effect for you.
But whatever works for you.
So I think that, in regards tohot and cold water, look, when
you're coming into a lesson, I'mnot trying to get you to drink
ice water, because it's the samething as going into a gym and
(26:25):
trying to warm up and thenplunging yourself into an ice
bath.
That's completelycounterproductive.
Do that after you're done,right, it just makes sense Like
hot, warm up, ice, cool down.
That's like a life thing, it'snot just a singer thing.
So I think it's kind of acommon sense, like yeah, maybe
don't drink ice water while I'mwarming up my voice and maybe,
when I'm done singing, maybedrink cool water when I cool
(26:48):
down my voice.
Speaker 2 (26:49):
Yeah, yeah, you know, I think when you think about
what cold water does to the bodyit stiffens, it constricts it's
going to do the same thing tothe vocal cords when you drink
cold water.
So it's common sense, but it'snot so common.
So to each his own, but I thinkit's an honest question,
probably coming from someone whowants to improve their vocal
(27:11):
skills, and they've probablytried hot and cold and are
wondering if there's a pro orcon with either.
Speaker 10 (27:18):
And I would say I wouldn't go to any extreme.
Like you know, I am an extremepersonality and person and so I
would do that, and so I'm justputting that out there, like, if
you're the person asking thatquestion, don't do either, like
do room temperature, unless youreally feel like, no matter what
I'm doing I'm not warming up myvoice because there I have news
for you when you drink,anything is not touching your
(27:40):
larynx anyway.
Right, it's not it's not goingin there.
Yeah, the only thing touchesyour larynx is actual steam,
like particles from steam.
So when people are like, oh,I'm like drinking this, this, um
, this special elixir from myvoice, well, and until it
absorbs in your cells and itgoes through your whole body, it
ain't touching your larynx,unless it's in steam form, you
(28:03):
know.
So I would say room temperature, anything is good.
Speaker 2 (28:06):
You know, catherine Hall shared the same thing about
it getting into your bloodsystem and attaching itself to
those cells before it canactually do that, before it can
actually do anything to yourvocal cords.
So good point.
Dorian has a question.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
As you were sharing how often you sang in the past.
I mean, I don't think there'sanyone on this call that did
that, but what would be your onepiece of advice for how to be a
choir singer, a worship leader,over a long period of time, so
(28:41):
that you so when you're in your50s and your 60s, you're still
able to keep all of thoseelements of being a good singer
that you talked about?
What's sort of your one singlepiece of advice to do that?
Speaker 10 (28:58):
I love that question , and so I have a couple of
terrorisms in my vocalmethodology and one of them is
vocal dollars, the concept ofvocal dollars and how you know,
just like a kid is given anallowance each day, we, by the
Lord, are given a certain amountof vocal dollars a day before
we just don't have any more left, and that's when we lose our
(29:20):
voices.
So I've got some really bigpower singers, like some singers
who are doing some amazingthings and in front of a lot of
people, and one of them, hername's Lauren Lott and she's
been in movies, she's doneBroadway, she's been on American
Idol, she's doing all of thethings right.
Amazing power singer.
Grew up in church singingclassically, trained and then
(29:44):
it's been with me for over adecade now, and when I trained,
started training Lauren, I saidI'm gonna make sure you can sing
till you're 70.
And because she was singinggreat, but some of the ways that
she was producing that greatsound and it was great it was
costing her a lot of vocaldollars.
And so there are some specificways to be stingy, and I'm
(30:08):
talking about like clippingcoupons and saving nickels and
dime tier that add up to a lotof money at the end of the day,
in the long run.
We like to be frugal, so one ofthe ways I do that is by taking
someone's song, how they sing it, and I will.
I'll listen to them, I'll seehow they sing, I'll listen to
how they're singing and I knowintrinsically this is what's
(30:31):
costing you a lot in this song,and it's most of the time the
high notes or notes that are onclosed mouth vowels or that have
a lot of consonants, and so allI do is I say, all right, based
on what I know about the singer, like Lauren's a big belter, so
I'll use her voice for anexample.
I'm like I'm not gonna try toget you to change registers here
.
We're not gonna save the vocaldollars that way, but what I am
(30:51):
gonna do is I'm gonna manipulatethe integrity of that vowel
that's on an IH or an E and I'mgonna have you think that vowel,
but I'm gonna have you singsomething totally different with
your mouth because you needmore space, because another
terrorism is that any extremenote, high or low, needs more
space and support.
Space and support are the twoS's in which all sound stands
upon Space for your mouth,support for your abs.
(31:13):
So if we have one without theother, it's like a kink in a
hose a lot of pressure on oneside, limp on the other, strain,
and this is where the kink is.
So in order to alleviate that,you have to create equal amounts
of both of the S's, and usuallyon those notes it's a lack of
one, and if, for instance, it'son a bad vowel, it's a lack of
(31:34):
space, because in order to saythe word, you think you have to
close your mouth, but you don't.
So changing the integrity ofvowels.
Saving those vocal dollars buynickels and dimes and pennies.
Sometimes you get a good dollarin there, but over time, just
like a savings account, you haveput away so much money for
vocal dollars and that isliterally your savings bank for
(31:55):
longevity.
When you sing, you're usingthose dollars that you never
used in your younger years tocarry you through to the end,
because you're singing smarter,not harder.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Smarter, not harder.
That is so key, and the more youknow your body, the more you
know what you can and cannot do.
I was reminded, as you guyswere speaking, of a choir that
I've worked with in the past,many years ago, and then later
was called back to do a reunionchoir and to meet some of those
people and to hear them say, heywell, we're not what we used to
(32:24):
be, or I'm not the vocalist Iused to be.
What I discovered is, as theysat between other people, muscle
memory began to kick in andthey start tuning into the
people around them who werevocally depositing, if you will,
vocal dollars, and they werelearning new methods which to
sing some of the same notes thatthey used to sing and thought
(32:47):
they were just too old to sing.
Now, confidence was beginningto build up as they sang more.
So confidence is anothersignificant piece in all of your
singing ability, especially forlongevity or doing things
perhaps that you once used to dowhen you were younger and you
feel like you can't do any more.
Confidence is everything 100%,100%.
Speaker 10 (33:08):
It's conditioning.
You don't use it the right way.
You do see the where, but it'sjust like a body.
I mean, our voice is a muscle,so you think about it, you don't
work out, you get what you get.
You know what I mean, and theway you take care of yourself is
a direct correlation with howyou look, how you feel later.
And the voice is a muscle notdifferent than any other muscle
(33:28):
in our bodies.
And it in relation to its carewill also show it's where.
Speaker 2 (33:34):
Yes, yes, All right, our next question is gonna
require a little demonstrationfrom you.
Yeah, this person is asking canyou demonstrate?
Speaker 10 (33:44):
a glissando, A glissando well, yeah, yeah, I
mean Piana would do it better.
I can't go all the way up butyeah, I mean okay, Well, you
know what?
Speaker 2 (33:55):
My guess is that they're asking because they're
not sure what it is, or they'renot sure how to do it
effectively.
Speaker 10 (34:02):
Well, okay, I mean that's yeah.
I mean it's not like theprettiest question to answer
Vocally.
A glissando is simply like if Itook my finger on the keys and
I went like all the way up andthen went all the way down,
that's a glissando, I think.
I mean I can do that, but Ithink like something better
would be probably a little moreimpressive.
Speaker 5 (34:22):
But a glissando well please.
Speaker 7 (34:27):
Did you hear that?
Speaker 2 (34:28):
Yep, we got it.
The microphone does this littlething at the top.
Speaker 10 (34:32):
It compresses it, but it does that on Zoom and I
don't do Zoom anymore because ofthat.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Yeah, it compresses the audio, but we got the gliss
of it.
Now demonstrate for ourlisteners a Z-Zall Z practice in
a glissando.
Can you do that?
Yes, because she did mentionone, five one.
Speaker 3 (34:51):
So yeah, for sure.
Speaker 10 (34:56):
Just like what the gentleman was asking.
Like I would probably slide upand down to it.
That is exact.
Like it's a layman'sterminology, for I would
glissando up and down to it.
It's just a slide and thecontext of the slide starts and
ends with parameters of one,five and one.
Speaker 2 (35:10):
Great, there you go.
Now for our listeners who don'tknow what we mean by one, five,
one, we're referring to themajor scale.
There are eight notes in amajor scale.
Do we mean Falsa Latido, or one, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight?
And she just did the Z-Zallpractice, singing the one
through the five in a glissando.
Okay, so that's a one, that's afive.
Speaker 10 (35:30):
Or if it's solfege, then it's do so do.
If you know solfege it would bedo so, do Right right.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
All right, let's get to the next question.
Tara, you have a pretty widerange.
What is the highest note youcan sing and the lowest note you
can sing?
Speaker 10 (35:44):
If I demonstrate, I most certainly will blip out
Zoom, but I might have to standoutside my highest these days.
So I have a whistle registerwhich is an extension of head
voice.
For those of you who don't know, I'm a classically trained
coloratura, which is the chickwho sings the.
(36:04):
She sings that in Queen of theNight and that's like my
favorite song to sing.
Did I clip out there or did youhear it so annoying Anyway.
So if I demonstrate, youcertainly won't hear it because
it's higher than that.
But I'd say I've gotten up to aC above high C before, like ish,
(36:26):
it's not cute, but it's kind ofthere, and I'd say my sing-.
When I say singable notes,though, I mean a note that I
would be comfortable singing infront of people, not an exercise
.
So there's one thing toexercise up to a note, and what
I do is I take that note thatI'm like screeching and making
sound at, and I back it down byat least a semitone, which is
one half step or two, whichwould be a whole step.
(36:46):
So let's say that you know,today my singable note is an A.
That means that I'm up to, youknow, a B above high C that day.
So that's kind of how I alwaysgauge it, Like what's one kind
of one half step or one wholestep below the highest exercise
note that I'm doing.
Sometimes it changes Likesometimes they get up to see
(37:10):
them again, Awesome day.
And then sometimes I'm like,yeah, that A is about what we
got today.
Speaker 2 (37:15):
Let's listen to this demonstration from your YouTube
page.
Speaker 10 (37:19):
Oh, let me show you right now, without warming up
this morning.
Oh, I would say B3 is my low,I'm just tongue and note, except
for that one.
And now let's see, um, that isC7.
(37:41):
Wait, let's see C7.
So I got one, two, four octaves.
Speaker 3 (37:50):
Well, the video gives you a pretty good idea of her
range.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Vocal range is about four octaves.
Next question is from someonehere in our virtual audience.
Speaker 8 (38:03):
I have a quick question.
Winter is coming, the air isgetting drier.
Yes, suggestions Taking care ofour voice.
Speaker 10 (38:12):
Yes, well, the water thing is a big deal, especially
in the winter, because when weturn on the heat in our homes
it's extremely dehydrated.
I mean you can feel it in yourskin, even like your lips when
you wake up, you know.
So I would add 50% to yourwater and take during the
wintertime For sure.
And I also really likehumidifiers in the house.
If you like, um, if you're likean essential oil girl like me,
(38:32):
you can also do those indifferent rooms.
But humidifiers are really likemy go to in the winter for
adding moisture, because it it'slike the silent killer.
No one really.
They're like oh, I'm so dryLike my voice.
Is this not what it used to be?
Or I'm sick and it's just thewinter?
But really it has so much to dowith dehydration that you don't
even know, Cause it's a slowgrowth.
(38:53):
It's a slow, slow, slow, slow,slow, slow, slow, slow, slow.
It's a slow growth.
It's a slow growth into howmuch heat you have in your house
, for how long and how muchdryness comes.
So that would be one Um, I, ifI'm in like cold, like when I
lived in New York city, youwould not catch me in the winter
without a scarf around my neck.
There's something about keepingyour neck warm.
(39:15):
I swear it must be scientific.
If it's not, it should be,because when I wear a scarf
around, is it okay?
Speaker 3 (39:22):
When I wear a scarf around my neck.
Speaker 10 (39:24):
Um, it keeps.
It keeps me from really gettingsick, like I think it's because
there's just so much bloodpassing through your neck and
your carotid arteries are not,you know.
It's just such a big epicenterof flow that when you keep that
warm I really feel like it'sliterally protecting my larynx
when I wear a scarf.
So those two things that likethe easiest things you can do.
(39:48):
But I would say the mostimportant is increasing your
water and take by 50%.
And if you still feel dry outof humidifier because the voice
needs moisture, think about it.
You're rubbing two tiny littlefolds together at the speed of a
hummingbird's wings and that'sfriction, and if it's dry it's
like sandpaper.
There's no lubrication therewhatsoever.
(40:09):
So the more lubricated you cankeep your folds, the healthier
they'll be during the winter.
Speaker 2 (40:15):
So once again, you're hearing the importance and the
value of proper hydration,particularly during the winter
months when the heat is up.
You heard that also from DrCatherine Hall previously on
this podcast and in previousepisodes as well, so take heed
to that information.
All right, here's anotherquestion from our virtual
(40:35):
audience.
I think this is David.
Speaker 6 (40:37):
Can I ask one question?
Yes, sir, I feel like we're ina real age of imitation, where
people, especially young singers, teenagers even.
You know they're idolizing aparticular sound and they tried
to reproduce that rather thanyou know learn what their own
(40:59):
voice sounds like and they'rekind of afraid, maybe even of
what their own voice sounds like.
I just wondered about yourthoughts on that.
Speaker 10 (41:06):
You're a good question asker.
Speaker 6 (41:10):
I'm married to a choir director and a singer.
I love that.
Speaker 10 (41:15):
No, I'm so here for it.
So actually, that is the topicthat I'm extremely passionate
about, so much so that I createda four week course called Voice
On.
That is.
Its only purpose in the fourweeks is to help you find your
own unique sound, and Ideveloped this mechanism within
the course, called a uniquesound blueprint, and it's
(41:38):
basically a series of questionsand answers that forces you to
categorize how you feel yourvoice sounds, how you would like
it to sound, in tangible waysthat are written on paper, and
the reason why people imitate isbecause they cannot put their
finger on what theircapabilities of sounding like
(42:00):
are and what they want them tobecome.
So they end up saying, well, Ijust want to sound like Mariah
Kerry.
No, you don't.
What you really want to be ableto do is riff and run.
You want to be able to do vocalcries and you want to be able
to belt and growl.
Those are the four things thatyou really want to do.
So when you stop saying I wantto sound like this person, which
is an overall, generalizedclassification, and when you go
(42:22):
through this vocal blueprintthat forces you to characterize,
in specific ways and attributes, the way you want your voice to
be capable of producing sound,then I can work with that.
You want to be able to riff andrun Okay, sure, let's do that.
You want to be able to learnvocal cries and vocal growls.
You want to be able to belt.
Now, you are not Mariah Kerryand God did not make you Mariah
(42:44):
Kerry.
There's only one of you.
So you're going to do thosethings that you love hearing her
do in the context of your voiceand that, my friend, is your
unique sound, and you're notthen following or chasing after
a name or an image or a soundthat you think is awesome
because it's been made famous.
You're chasing after the vocalattributes that you respect,
(43:05):
admire and want to emulate outof that singer and you're
putting those into your voice.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Such a good question and answer, and a pivotal one
when you consider the music timein which we live.
The history of music is just sodifferent.
I think we need to also pointout the fact that we're all
originals.
We're all born originals, butso many die copycats and they
spend a lot of time emulating,like you said, tara, sounds that
(43:30):
they've heard, and I don'tthink we're all guilty of it to
some extent.
But when it's an intentionalact and you're not trying to
find your own voice, then youare just a carbon Copy of
something else, and I don'tthink we have a lot of room for
carbon copies today.
I don't either.
All right, now we're going toget into some live demonstration
and you're going to give sometips to some brave singers who
(43:53):
are on the call Now.
I say this often that I don'tbelieve you have to have the
greatest voice in order to makea joyful noise.
Scripture says to make a joyfulnoise unto the Lord, all ye
lands to serve them withgladness, and the primary way
that we do that is through ourvoices.
So we're going to transitionnow and we've got some brave
people in our virtual audiencewho are going to sing for you
(44:13):
and allow you to give them sometips, some pointers and critique
.
Now, I didn't mention thisearlier, but we've got some cool
prizes to those who participate.
Motivation, ha ha, motivation.
But before I give it to Tara,let me point out one thing, and
that is that the platform thatwe're using may not be conducive
to singing live or singing loud.
So if you hear some dropoutsdoing the singing, just know
(44:35):
that it's because the platformis not necessarily conducive to
singing live or singing loud.
For that matter, we're going tobe switching platforms in a few
weeks and that's going to makeplaying and singing live here in
the choir room a lot morepleasant.
All right, so let's go to.
Actually, I'm going to give itto you, tara, okay.
Speaker 10 (44:54):
Well, okay, so I kind of had it.
Because this is noon, right,and everybody is staying muted,
I figured we would.
We would do a little, a little,a little bit of a singing.
What would be your opinion onthat?
And if I had a chance to dothat, I would do a little
amazing grace thing off, becauseI figured everybody knows that
(45:15):
song and it would be an easy wayfor me to help, like, fix any
problems that anybody comes onand wants to work on.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
So I really literally just need the first line In any
key.
You want it to be Amazing grace, all right, like me.
Speaker 10 (45:39):
So hopefully you heard that If you could just do
that much, anybody who wants tocome on you can.
I'm going to call this the SingBetter In Second.
So I have this little episode,this original series, on my
YouTube channel called SingBetter In Seconds, and I've
literally gone all over theworld and I go to random places
and talk to random people on thestreets who usually turn me
down at first and I say, hey,I'm going to teach you how to
(46:01):
sing better in seconds.
I know you can, I'm going toprove it.
And they sing a line.
I give them a few tips andtricks and then they sing it
again and the audience onYouTube decides that they sing
it better in seconds.
They always sing better inseconds.
So I can do the same thing foryou guys here and anybody that
wants to start.
Just put your hand up or unmuteyourself.
You sing it first.
You sing the one phrase as youare, give you a few tips and
(46:22):
tricks, and then you sing itagain.
Speaker 3 (46:25):
Welcome to the choir room.
Speaker 10 (46:27):
I'm going to call Alan.
I'm calling you out.
I see that face.
Look at your face.
I see I'm calling you out, Alan.
Unmute yourself, sir.
Show yourself OK.
Speaker 3 (46:37):
All right, so let me take another sip of water.
We're talking about hydration.
Speaker 10 (46:43):
There you go.
We've been talking about it alot.
Any key you want.
Speaker 3 (46:52):
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that singsOrange like me, yes.
Speaker 10 (47:11):
Give him a hand, everybody.
Good job, alan.
Very good, first of all, supercourageous, and I know I'm super
scary, so I know you're nervousand you did a really good job.
So, alan, you've got a reallynice vibrato.
By the way, really love thesound and the speed of your
vibrato.
It's really beautiful, veryrelaxing, and I like this.
I like the tone of your voicetoo.
(47:31):
You've got really good pitch.
You didn't go off pitch oranything like that.
I want to work with you on yourspace, because your sound is
being a little bit inhibited andgoing back into yourself,
because you're not capitalizingon your moments that you could
be opening up.
For example, if you're sayingI'm going to go on off to fire
because I'm a girl, amazinggrace, how sweet.
(47:55):
The sound.
Very close Also, by the way.
So I know if you have an accent, that's something else to get
through.
If you've got a southern accentand you kind of go wide instead
of go long high, coleman, yeah,that's something you've got to
keep off when you're singing,because that's not the move.
You've got an Emmy country.
(48:16):
That's a different story, butwe're not doing that right now.
So, alan, can I make a blanketstatement to you that if you
sing the song and you're lookingin your mind's eye at the
lyrics, like you're doingkaraoke across the screen, can
you see those lyrics in yourmind's eye?
I want you to see this.
Ok, as you sing it this time, Iwant you to see the lyrics and
(48:36):
I want you to either change thecolor or make capitalized the
vowels as the lyrics scroll, so,like amazing grace, any vowel
that you see.
I want you to drop your jaw,like at least 50% more for me,
and maybe even 100% more.
(48:56):
If you're that person who sortof dips their toe in the water
and is apprehensive to do bigthings, and go for it, because I
want the sound T-H-A-H, thesound that saved S-A-H-V-E-D, ah
, wretch, not wretch, wretchlike me.
Yeah, OK, so it's the vowelopenness for me.
(49:19):
And then there's one otherthing At the top, at the last
note, remember an extreme nohigher loonies, more space, and
this is what I was talking about.
By the way, you're singing E.
I hate E On the closed mouth,so we need to think E in our
mind, but I really want you tosay E.
So if I can give you an analogyof an egg, this is my favorite
(49:42):
analogy for E think of the eggas the yolk and the white right.
The E is the yolk right, it'sthe yellow part, but there is a
U that's wrapping around as theegg white of that E and instead
of it's me, it's me.
So watch what happens with mymouth when I change from
straight E to E with a U wrappedaround it.
(50:04):
Be yes, ok, there's that U init and it allows more space, it
allows more forward of a sound,it takes away that nasality and
that tinny brightness and itgives it more character, it
gives it more depth.
So I'd like you to two things.
You're not even needing threetips.
All right, two tips Big mouth,long on the vowels, and you're
(50:27):
changing that E for E when yousing the me.
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Ok, OK, more pressure , all right.
Speaker 10 (50:35):
No pressure.
Speaker 3 (50:37):
OK.
Speaker 10 (50:37):
Just do your best.
Think of those vowels, drop thejaw any chance you get for
space.
That's your goal.
And then A at the end.
Speaker 3 (50:50):
Amazing grace Got that jaw.
How sweet the sound.
Speaker 10 (51:01):
Stop right there, Alan.
First of all, I love that youhave more vibrato, but I'm not
letting you get away with thethe again.
Speaker 7 (51:07):
The sound.
Speaker 3 (51:11):
The, the, the sound, the sound.
Give me the sound.
Speaker 10 (51:23):
Yes, that one.
Speaker 3 (51:26):
Start from the top, stop from the top.
Don't forget my the.
You're going to stop again.
Amazing grace, how sweet thesound.
Better, that's it.
(51:49):
Oh, rich, we got you Like me.
Oh yeah.
Yes.
Speaker 10 (52:05):
That's it.
Yes, that E was beautiful,beautiful.
Good job, alan Guys.
Did he sing better in seconds?
He did Good job, alan, thankyou.
Speaker 8 (52:23):
Oh Carol, hi Carol, I'm nervous, let's go.
Carol, you got this Amazinggrace.
Speaker 3 (52:32):
How sweet the sound that's it oh rich Love.
Speaker 10 (52:48):
Oh, good job.
So I lost you on that last notebecause of zoom, but that just
tells me that your placement wasreally beautiful.
I heard every other note.
Carol is the perfect example ofsomeone who knows exactly how
to sing.
I love that.
I love that.
Speaker 8 (53:06):
It was beautiful, it was intentional.
You have great vibrato.
Carol Huh.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth, who's ElizabethYou're?
Speaker 1 (53:16):
my vocal teacher.
I don't see her there she is.
Hi, hello, carol didn't knowshe could sing and we were in
her living room one day and shewas doing day care for our and
this voice came out of her,seeing how great they are.
And ever since then that was 30something years ago and we saw
(53:37):
that she had this annoying thingon her voice.
It was amazing.
Speaker 10 (53:40):
I love that story, thank you for sharing.
Speaker 8 (53:44):
Oh, it's nice to see you.
I love that.
What a great moment.
Okay, let's stop from scratchnow.
Speaker 10 (53:51):
Okay, Carol, we're going to, we're going to take a
really big risk with you, andit's only because I know now
that you've been coached.
So he just made your life a lotharder, but it's going to be
good.
So you're a head voice singer.
That's where you want to go,that's where you want to be,
it's where you're comfortable,right?
Do you sing in your chest voiceat all?
Speaker 8 (54:12):
Um, I try, because I am in the choir and we sing a
lot of those beltie songs whichI'm careful on.
So I don't go horse Sure.
So I yeah, I don't want tostrain my voice, but I'm more
comfortable in the upper totally.
Speaker 10 (54:31):
And I'm not.
I'm not saying that that's bad.
I love singing in my head voice.
In fact, I find it way easier,like it's a lot less heavy
lifting for me.
Um, however, I, just just forthe fun and the sake, this
exercise I would like tochallenge you at, because your
head voice is already so lovelyand you have great vibrato, and
(54:54):
I just want to tell you I'mgoing to sing a little bit of
the song, I'm going to stand upa little bit and to stretch out
our rubber band a little bit.
Um, why don't we change the keya little lower?
And I'd like you to see what itfeels like in your chest voice,
and I'd like it.
I'm okay, um, okay, you don'thave anything with you and I
don't either.
But let's pretend that you are aball player, and when you sing
(55:20):
Every downbeat, I want you tojust pretend like you're
chucking a ball Okay, as far asyou can away from you, like a
next door neighbor across thestreet type of thing and I want
you to use your abs and yourforce forward to chuck that ball
forward, okay, especially whenyou go up to the me Big, big
Chuck, okay.
(55:40):
And and I want you to start low, like it doesn't have to be a
show off of range here, cause wealready know you can sing high
or singing in your head voice,so that's okay.
So if you're not that high, youcan hear this somewhere low
that you're comfortably in yourchest voice with like maybe,
yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 8 (55:59):
Yeah, let's try there .
Oh, oh Me Stingra, how sweet,yes, the sound that, the sound
that's here, oh, real, like me,yeah.
Speaker 3 (56:29):
Yes.
Speaker 10 (56:31):
Carol, you know what you did so beautifully that I'm
so proud of you.
And Nate Lee did what I wastalking about by changing the
integrity of those vowels.
You've been trained by a goodwoman over there to change that
E to an A when you're singing upin chest Exactly what I would
have done if you wouldn't havealready done it yourself.
So good.
Speaker 8 (56:50):
Yes, thank you for your help.
Thank you, I'm so proud of you.
Speaker 10 (56:55):
Yeah, you've done that, yeah, don't be scared of
your chest, but also to not hurtyourself.
You're scared of straining andhurting yourself.
Yeah, if you engage your abslike you're doing a crunch or
like you're doing a plank on thefloor, or even like a Pilates
lead, like you're making a Vwith your body on the floor and
you hold that, or even like whenyou're lifting up something and
(57:18):
you're trying to lift somethingheavy and you lift with your
legs and not your back, it'sthat abdominal crunch that makes
it really almost 99.9%impossible for you to hurt your
voice.
When you're supporting thatmuch, I sense a little bit of
like ab fatigue in the middlepart of it, and it's because
it's a different need for absupport when you're singing in
(57:39):
head voice versus chest.
There is no forgiveness inchest voice range for that.
There is grace in head voice.
So when you practice chest,just make sure you're really
engaging your abs, becausethat's when, if you feel tired,
it will occur.
Speaker 8 (57:53):
Okay, thank you so much.
You're welcome.
Good job, dude very brave.
Speaker 2 (58:00):
Brave indeed.
All right, we have anotherVeronica, go for it.
Speaker 10 (58:05):
I'll try.
I'm very nervous, I know it'sthe worst.
The hardest is the first note,right, it's just like ripping
that bandaid off.
But you've got this, you're ina safe place.
We're all rooting for you.
Speaker 3 (58:19):
Amazing grace.
How sweet the sound that saveda wretch like me.
Speaker 10 (58:47):
Okay, give her a hand, give Veronica a hand.
Okay, veronica, you have reallynice vibrato and I can tell
you're really nervous.
I also feel like maybe, justmaybe, you picked a key or a
spot in your voice that wasmaybe on a break, because I
heard your voice trying todecide, as you were singing
through that melodic line, whereit's going to be.
I heard a little bit of chest,I heard a little bit ahead, I
(59:09):
heard a little bit of mix andthen, as you went up top, your
voice finally decided because itgot high enough for it to be
able to definitively decide.
I also see a lot of jaw tension.
Speaker 1 (59:18):
It's a little bit yeah, I have lupus and stuff.
I have a lot of lupus and stuffgoing on.
Speaker 10 (59:26):
I don't know what inflammation and whatever yes,
an inflammation with lupus.
It can really happen anywhere,right?
Yes, and it can affect indifferent places.
So when you feel like inflamedor there's a flare up, be aware
of that.
When you're singing in your jawand if you feel inflamed there,
there is actually a free videothat I made in a tutorial on my
(59:47):
channel.
It's a singing through sicknesstutorial and I do this facial
massage that you can walkthrough and it can, as you work
through massaging the sides ofyour musculature on your
mandible right here.
It can help get any of thatlactic acid that can sometimes
(01:00:08):
cause that inflammation andmassage it away and out and down
into your lymphatic drainagesystem and help you in that way,
because I don't think you havea big like large, huge case of
TMJ.
I have a slight case on myright actually, or my right,
this side, so I'm a littlesensitive to that, but I felt
like there was a little bit ofresistance on that one side.
(01:00:28):
So if you feel that clicking, Iwant you to use it as a safe
spot.
I want you to go to and past it, because what I'm seeing is a
lot of amazing great, a lot ofjaw tension here.
So if we can just take out thewords and not even do them at
all and just sing on an ah ahall the way through to the top,
(01:00:54):
and if we can start either loweror higher, I'll give you the
choice.
But I'd like to get out of thiskey and choose one that's more
definitive in one register orthe other.
Can we do those two things?
Do you want to go lower orhigher?
Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
I guess it's a low.
It'll be low, I guess it mightbe low, OK.
Speaker 10 (01:01:12):
So let's go low and let's go long with that on no
moving.
So I want you to put yourfingers right here and when you
drop your jaw they should fitinto a hole right here, and I
don't want them to get kickedout of that hole at all.
Hold on.
Speaker 1 (01:01:28):
I'm holding my phone, so it's going to be kind of
hard.
Speaker 3 (01:01:32):
OK, one finger stop.
Speaker 10 (01:01:33):
It'll do.
One finger is good.
Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Ah you.
Speaker 10 (01:02:00):
Okay, I lost you at the top.
I lost you at the top becauseof Zoom.
So I liked the beginning ofthat.
You sounded a lot more lockedinto a register and I could hear
the pretty tone in your voice alot better because there was
more space and your voice wasable to just kind of develop as
it spun, okay.
But then you started to get alittle again and you wanted to
(01:02:23):
close off some.
So we're going to do one moretime, we're going to go a little
lower, okay, still with the awe, but I want on the sound on.
Ha, you went in the head voiceand you don't need to there.
You should be totally in chestand I know that you have a
really nice rich tone in chest.
I can hear it, just not reallyhear it again.
So, ha, can you just do thatfor me?
(01:02:45):
Ha, nice and big Ha, yeah, now.
Now squeeze your abs, supportthe sound and don't let the
vibrato be sputtery.
Make it even waves.
Speaker 3 (01:02:58):
Ha Ha.
Speaker 10 (01:03:03):
That at the end, at the end.
Okay, make the start just likethe end.
Put your hands on your stomachand put one hand here and
actually you can't do both.
Put one hand here and do this.
I want you to self-conduct thevibrato waves evenly, not like
this, but just ha and watch yourfinger.
Ha, yes, good, now plug thatback into the song.
(01:03:26):
Start on that same pitch, ha.
Speaker 3 (01:03:30):
Hands, ha, ha Ha.
Speaker 10 (01:03:38):
Ha Chest voice.
Speaker 8 (01:03:41):
Ha.
Speaker 3 (01:03:43):
No zoom.
Ha, Ha, ha Ha.
Speaker 2 (01:03:53):
Ha, it's starting to compress her again.
Speaker 10 (01:03:57):
I cannot hear your last note, ha.
Speaker 2 (01:04:01):
Well, I can tell you this much it's there.
It's definitely there, and Ican say that because I know her
voice.
It's been a long time sinceI've heard her sing, but that's
good.
I do believe that maybe a halfstep lower would have been fine
A little bit lower.
I feel the same way.
I think she's right at thatbreak.
Speaker 10 (01:04:21):
Right.
Yeah, we certainly need to getit done, and then we make a
quick video.
We're still kind of riding abreak.
Veronica, what I usually saywhen people clip on zoom is that
they're doing it right becauseyou know it means that there's
more tone and zoom can handle it.
So you were clipping more andmore as we went on.
Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
So I want to say that was very good job, veronica,
thank you.
Thank you.
Great job and very brave of allof you to allow us to put you
on the national spotlight, as itis somebody like Tara to
critique and then give you sometips.
So big round of applause to ourguests and to Tara for being
(01:04:56):
with us.
All right, we have some giftsthat we want to give away,
courtesy of one of our sponsors,who desires to remain anonymous
at the moment.
I think they all deservesomething.
I think they do too, and we'regoing to arrange for each of
them to have one of these twooptions A Sure SM58 microphone,
(01:05:19):
one of the industry standards,or Time with Tara, and that time
will be determined by Tara at afuture date.
So to Alan, carol and Veronica,thanks so much for
participating.
Be sure to let Angel know whichof those two options you're
choosing the microphone or Timewith Tara.
You can let Angel know that inthe chat To the rest of you
(01:05:40):
who've joined us in the virtualaudience.
We trust that you've learned alot today from Catherine Hall.
And as we do each week, fromDorian Johnson, mieta
Stansel-Fararra and, of course,the fourth wheel, who'll be
closing us out shortly with thefront of the week?
Coleman Smart, and what can Isay?
Tara Simon, thanks so much forjoining us right here in the
Choir Room.
Speaker 9 (01:05:59):
Coleman.
Thanks so much, greg.
It is October and I am alreadyin the middle of Christmas.
So that's just where my mind isright now.
And if you are a Choir Directoryourself, no matter what
context that is, you're probablyalready thinking about
Christmas.
If not, you're probably alreadyover Christmas.
(01:06:20):
You've been there and you'vebeen working on it for months.
But that's where my mind isright now.
So I've been thinking about thescripture, luke 2, verse 10.
And the angel said unto themFear not, for behold, I bring
you good tidings of great joy,which shall be to all people.
(01:06:40):
Good tidings, great joy, allpeople.
Well, what were these angelstalking about?
What were the good tidings thatwould bring great joy to all
people?
Well, in order to fully answerthis question, you have to go
all the way back to thebeginning of the story.
(01:07:00):
So journey thousands of yearsbackwards with me to Genesis,
chapter 3, verses 1 through 7.
Say Now, the serpent was morecunning than any beast of the
field which the Lord God hadmade we're in the Garden of Eden
, by the way.
And he said to the woman hasGod indeed said, you shall not
(01:07:21):
eat of every tree of the garden?
And the woman said to theserpent.
We may eat fruit of the treesof the garden, but of the fruit
of the tree which is in themidst of the garden, god has
said you shall not eat it or youshall not touch it lest you die
.
Then the serpent said to thewoman you will not surely die,
for God knows that in the dayyou eat it your eyes will be
(01:07:43):
opened and you will be like God,knowing good and evil.
So when the woman saw that thetree was good for food and it
was pleasant to the eyes and atree desirable to make one wise,
she took of its fruit and ate.
She also gave to her husband,who was with her, and he ate.
Then the eyes of both of themwere opened and they knew that
(01:08:05):
they were naked and they sewedfig leaves together and made
themselves coverings".
So the serpent said you can belike God.
You can be independent of Him,judging good and evil for
yourself.
I heard one person say once thatthis is like the fuel source
for sin, feeling like we can begodly without God.
(01:08:29):
Well, here's some news for usyou can't.
Not only is it impossible, butit causes us the greatest pain
that we could imagine, which isseparation from God being
without His covering.
Adam and Eve communed with God.
I believe that they wereclothed in His glory and when
(01:08:50):
they sinned they lost thecovering of God, which was His
glory, and they realized theywere naked.
So they found fig leaves to tryto cover their shame.
It seems like a naturalresponse to find something to
cover yourself with, but itmakes me wonder how silly it
must have looked to heaven, orhow silly it must look to heaven
(01:09:12):
even now, when we try to clotheourselves with the things other
than the righteousness and theglory of God, things that we're
not meant to clothe ourselveswith, things that don't bear any
fruit.
But we are given a promise justa few verses later, verses 14
(01:09:32):
and 15 of Genesis.
Chapter 3 says so.
The Lord God said to theserpent Because you have done
this, you are cursed more thanall cattle and more than every
beast of the field.
On your belly you shall go andyou shall eat dust all the days
of your life and I will putenmity between you and the woman
and between your seed and herseed.
(01:09:54):
He shall bruise your head andyou shall bruise his heel.
God said that the serpent wouldbe cursed and would always
basically be in pursuit of man,be after the good of man, trying
to destroy man.
Mankind and the woman in thispassage becomes a metaphor for
(01:10:17):
Israel.
Let me read that again and Iwill put enmity between you and
the woman, the woman.
He's talking to Eve, but thewoman metaphorically becomes
Israel and Israel's seed as wego on.
And between your seed and herseed, israel's seed is Christ.
So let's read that again and Iwill put enmity between you and
(01:10:41):
the woman and between your seedand her seed.
He shall bruise your head andyou shall bruise his heel.
So if Israel's seed is Christ,he's saying you will bruise his
heel with nails upon a cross,but with the same feet that you
nailed to the cross, he willcrush your head.
(01:11:02):
So go back to that question atthe beginning Good tidings of
great joy to all people.
What are these tidings that wesing about, this great joy that
we talk about?
What is this joy to the world?
Why is that night so holy thatwe sing about?
Because of this right here,because this promise is being
(01:11:25):
fulfilled.
You will bruise his heel withnails.
God said with nails upon across, but with the same feet
that you nailed to the cross, hewill crush your head.
So, christ, the promise ofChrist, these are the good
tidings of great joy to allpeople that we're all so
diligently working toward rightnow.
(01:11:46):
Because, yeah, christmas isjust around the corner and we're
trying to create our plans andput our plans together, but
sometimes we need to be remindedof the reason that it's the
fulfillment of a promise of God,working through thousands of
years of history to fulfill apromise that, like I said, that
(01:12:07):
those heels, those feet thatwere bruised by the serpent,
that they would crush theserpent's head.
So this is my encouragement toyou this week Don't get so
caught up into the busyness ofthe season already, even though
it's October and we're justplanning that, we forget what
it's all about and it's thefulfilled promise of Christ.
(01:12:28):
Thanks, coleman.
Speaker 2 (01:12:30):
And remember, if ever we put the messenger before the
message, we have failed topresent an unblemished gospel.
I'm Greg Thomas.
Join us again right here nextweek in the choir room.
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