November 12, 2024 • 36 mins
Have you ever felt like your voice just doesn't measure up? Lauren Lucille, a gifted singer, songwriter, and vocal coach, knows that feeling all too well. Growing up surrounded by musicians, Lauren battled self-doubt and criticism, convinced that her voice lacked emotional depth. Join us as she shares her journey of overcoming these barriers, discovering her true vocal power, and the profound impact audience feedback has had on her confidence and performance.
This episode uncovers her shift from a technical approach to one steeped in emotion, driving her to deliver more impactful performances. Hear about the pivotal ENT consultation that set her on the path to vocal recovery and the lessons learned from embracing vulnerability and authenticity.
Lauren’s story doesn’t stop at overcoming challenges; she’s now channeling her renewed confidence into exciting future ventures. From expanding her coaching business and penning an e-book on singing techniques to recording a more intimate new album, Lauren is on a mission to share her passion. Tune in for insights on the value of making mistakes, the importance of curiosity, and the exhilarating promise of new projects on the horizon.
Connect with Lauren
Website: laurenlucillemusic.com
Instagram: @iamlaurenlucille
Albums: Lauren Lucille Albums
Spotify: Lauren Lucille in Spotify
Thanks for listening! To book a free consultation with Aideen visit https://www.confidenceinsinging.com/contact/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Aideen Ni Riada (00:02):
Welcome to the Resonate podcast with Aideen.
I'm Aideen N, and my guesttoday is Lauren Lucille, based
in the UK but originally fromAustralia.
Hi, Lauren, how are you today?
Hi, I'm very well.
Thanks, how are you?
I'm so excited to have you onthe show.
We've had a conversation beforeand it was so much fun, so I'm
(00:23):
really excited to share you withmy audience.
Let me tell everyone a littleabout you before we start.
Lauren is a singer, songwriterand vocal coach.
She grew up surrounded by jazzand classically trained
musicians.
Lauren loves and sings jazz,soul, pop, folk and R&B.
(00:43):
She's developed a holistic andintuitive vocal coaching method
using tools from over 20 yearsof performing, teaching,
traveling and studying.
She has recorded albums of jazzand pop originals and also has
a Christmas album.
Thank you for joining me,Lauren.
Lauren Lucille (01:01):
You're welcome.
Thanks for having me.
It's really cool to be here.
Aideen Ni Riada (01:05):
Yeah, tell me um your journey a little bit.
How did you start to discoverthe value of your own voice?
Lauren Lucille (01:13):
Well, it's an interesting question, because I
grew up in a family full ofmusicians.
We were always playing music.
I was singing with my siblings,and so I didn't have a problem
with like singing.
I could sing anywhere, but Ialways thought there was
something missing.
So I just didn't think I reallyhad much to bring to the table
(01:36):
and I thought my voice wasreally bland and very boring.
And that went on for quite awhile, actually, and I was, so I
started gigging when I was 18and when I was about 28, I
recorded my first full-lengthalbum.
I had.
I had a few um like EPs beforethen.
Um, and I recorded myfull-length album and listening
(01:59):
back to that album and the EPsthat I recorded was very
interesting, because I was justso critical.
I was like this is this couldbe better.
I don't put enough emotion inhere, or I just sound really
bland there.
Um, the album itself hidden here, the one I recorded in 2012,
was, um, it was so difficult torecord because the music was
(02:23):
quite hard.
I'd written it all, but it wasreally hard to sing, and there
was times I'd go into the studioand my producer would just be
like what's wrong with you today?
And I said I don't know, I justI don't have any energy.
He's like just go home, becauseI tried, we turned off the
lights, you know, and it was.
I really pushed myself and Ireally recorded a beautiful
album.
(02:43):
I'm so proud of that now, butit took me a few years to listen
and hear what everyone else washearing.
Like Lauren, it's such abeautiful album and I was like I
thought I was singing out oftune here and then I realized it
was just the kind of theorganic feature of the strings
and my voice playing togetherand I really it's, you know,
(03:08):
it's so, it's, it's.
It's been like.
I think listening back toyourself is nice when you can.
Aideen Ni Riada (03:11):
Oh, I don't know where I'm going with that
thought the value of my voice um, yeah, but you're right, when
we hear ourselves back, that's alayer of like the acceptance of
your voice, like Like you canaccept your own voice.
When you hear it in a room, youmight like it sometimes, you
might dislike it sometimes, butwhen you hear it recorded, it's
(03:33):
like okay, this is like thetruth of my voice which it may
or may not be, because sometimeswe record our voice onto really
shitty microphones and thingslike that but it is an external
view into your voice as well.
Lauren Lucille (03:51):
Absolutely.
People started telling me howmuch they loved my voice and it
was like really, and they'relike, it's just so, this and
that.
And I remember doing a gig itwas on an outside stage and this
(04:11):
woman came up to me at the endyoung woman and she was you
could tell she'd been crying.
And I was like, are you okay?
And she said you just moved meso much.
And that song you sang aboutblah blah blah, it was just so,
I just needed that so much.
And that song you sang aboutblah blah blah, it was just so,
I just needed that so much rightnow.
And I thought, oh, okay, I'mactually touching people here
with what I do because I justlove singing and I love
(04:32):
songwriting and I just I loveputting all kinds of groups
together and I just enjoy it.
So it wasn't really about if Iliked it or not, if when I was
listening back, I just lovebeing on stage singing for an
audience.
But but to get that kind offeedback, it's like, okay, maybe
I am on the right track afterall.
Excuse me, just some allergiesto some plants I bought today.
(04:52):
Unfortunately, as a singer,it's not a good thing.
Aideen Ni Riada (04:59):
But but this is an interesting point that our
our voice is so different, likeour voice changes from day to
day, you know.
So we might get the qualitythat we're thinking of on a
particular day and then two dayslater, because we haven't had
enough sleep or because we'vehad an argument with somebody,
like it, it really affects ourvoice.
There's so many things thataffect your voice from moment to
(05:22):
moment that affect your voicefrom moment to moment.
Lauren Lucille (05:27):
Yeah, even like, of course, the atmosphere and
the house you live in and thefumes you're breathing in, or
the emotions you experiencedthat day, or the phone call you
got, or the lack of sleep, orthe lack of hydration, or the
eating badly, or for a womangetting your period or going
through menopause.
You know there's so manyfactors and um, including well,
(05:49):
I just lost my train of thoughtum, the songs you sing and the
repertoire you choose, and it'snot just, it's a bit out of my
range and I have to push a bithere.
But even if it seems like aneasy song to sing, it might not
be the right song for you andI've I kind of learned that the
hard way.
I sang for elderly in mentalhealth for quite a while, on and
(06:11):
off.
The last time I did it I justquit in August last year because
I just thought, just, I don'tenjoy singing half these songs,
but I have to sing them becauseI'm getting paid to sing, you
know, and I enjoyed doing it forthem.
But my voice was like thisdoesn't really work for you and
I thought, oh, maybe I'm justnot very good.
I went into that whole thing ofI should be able to sing
(06:32):
anything.
And I was talking to this vocalcoach actually today who
trained like big stars in the UKfor like 25 years.
He said, and we didn't weren'teven talking about it, he just
said you can't sing every song.
Some songs just don't suit youand it has nothing to do with
the range, it's just the style,the mood and it was.
(06:53):
It was just really nice to hearto some somebody to say to me
it's okay that you can't singthat song.
That was amazing.
Aideen Ni Riada (07:02):
Yeah, yeah, completely, because we think
things should stay the same, butwe are evolving and we're
changing.
And I remember being asked tosing this guy's songs.
He said he needed a singer andI listened to them and they were
quite sad.
They were all from his and Isometimes wonder if I should
(07:28):
have done it anyway.
But, like, what we're sayingright now is, if it's not
drawing you in, if it's notfeeling like you want to do it,
then why would you do it Unlesslike it's purely you know, ok,
I'm just going to do this joband get it over with.
But even when we're doing itfor work, we want to enjoy our
work.
So I agree with that Like it's.
(07:52):
It's almost like you know, butthe interesting thing was you
felt that your voice was tellingyou that you didn't want to
sing it anymore.
Was it something you could hear?
It was just difficult.
And I was like okay, I'm a vocalcoach, it was like your voice
didn't want to do it at all.
Lauren Lucille (08:05):
You start questioning yourself and you
think I'm a vocal coach, Ishould, I should be able to do
this, I should, you know, andthat's a very dangerous,
dangerous word and my voice wasdefinitely telling me.
It just kind of went downhill.
I ended up losing my voiceactually, which I'd never done
in that sense, in this terribleway ever.
(08:27):
I mean, I lost a month's worthof work.
That's another story.
I don't know if you want tohear about that at some point,
but it might be inspiring tosome people to see how I got
through it, because it'sinspiring to me, yeah, yeah.
Aideen Ni Riada (08:40):
I'd love to hear it.
Lauren Lucille (08:41):
I had an experience.
Sorry, I'm interrupting you,it's okay, I think the Wi-Fi
went a bit funny for a second.
Aideen Ni Riada (08:48):
Yeah, I had an experience where I was working
in recruitment and I didn'trealize it was affecting my
voice.
I wasn't singing at the time,but I wanted to start studying
music again.
So I went to the LeinsterSchool of Music in Dublin to a
woman called Evelyn Dowling andI literally could only sing like
five notes.
I wasn't able to sing any morethan that and I think it was
(09:10):
because I, because of the work Iwas doing and being on a
headset and not being able to umand I didn't like what I was
doing as well.
But what was your story?
I'd be really interestedbecause you know when, when that
happens, you think, oh well, Ican't sing.
And a lot of people do feelthat they're like, well, I can't
(09:35):
because at this exact moment intime I can't reach that note.
But there's, there's ways tomove forward.
Lauren Lucille (09:37):
I'd love to hear how you you got through it
yourself yeah, well, it'sdifferent for everybody, of
course, um, but what happened?
It happened twice actually inthe last few years, and maybe I
obviously there are so manyfactors, you know, as I said
(09:58):
before emotions and things thatare happening in your life and
your atmosphere, and everything.
But the first time it happenedI sprained my ankle.
This was two years ago andobviously I was on crutches for
like six weeks and I could putweight on it but I couldn't move
it.
So I was on crutches to help memove and I went to my osteopath
(10:18):
when it was almost unhealingand I said something about my
voice and he said yeah, well, ifyou're limping, it's put your
whole structure out of alignment, so the voice that you're used
to using it's not the sameanymore, because there's a
slight shift.
And it makes sense.
You know, if we shift ourtongue in a certain position,
our voice sounds different, orthe soft palate or something to
do with our body.
(10:39):
So, knowing that my alignmentwas all out you know my hips
were out it just it changed myvoice and actually I could still
sing.
It's just that I had adifferent voice.
I didn't lose my voice, I justhad somebody else's voice.
It was so, so incredible andbizarre and a fascinating
experience.
But I thought to myself, okay,if this is, it was for a couple
(11:03):
of weeks and I thought, if thisis going to keep happening, I'm
going to have to change myrepertoire, I'm going to have to
change all the keys, I'm goingto have to sing different things
, because the stuff I was doingmostly at the time was singing
(11:23):
jazz, excuse me.
And so it's like um, I've neverbeen in love before and this is
why and I would do these likehigh little scat solos and
whatever.
And I had I have a low voice, Idon't go very high all the time
, but I had these capabilitiesof moving up there and at this
time I just I kind of lost thatand there was a bit more like
crunchiness in my voice.
So I thought I'm going to, so Istarted moving all the keys
(11:45):
down just for that period oftime and then my voice just came
back completely fine.
Okay, so I didn't lose any work, I could still do all my gigs
and all of that.
Last year um had a more of atough year like, uh, emotionally
, just a few things.
You know, as life does, I wasfine, but it was just, it was
kind of affecting me at a, at alevel that I didn't realize and
(12:07):
I had like four signs of stressand I thought I don't even feel
stressed I know I'm a bit sad,but I don't feel stressed and my
body was like you're stressed.
So I had acid reflux, weightgain, two other things that I
can't remember right now voiceloss and one other thing,
trouble sleeping.
So and I didn't kind of put itall together and I didn't catch
(12:31):
it in time and so and I didn'tkind of put it all together and
I didn't catch it in time and Ijust started having these voice
problems and it was so bad thatI basically lost a month of work
.
Probably within a month I lostabout half of my income.
That's hard and I was reallyhard and I was, I was calm
through it it.
(12:51):
But obviously after about threeor four weeks I was like, okay,
the things I usually do aren'tworking.
Now I can't actually use myvoice, like last time.
Of course I went to see the ENT.
They said that you know,definite acid reflux and there's
no actual permanent damage toyour vocal folds, but I had this
little tiny red line just fromcoughing and um.
So of course you know, as avoice user and you've been using
(13:15):
your voice for so long, youkind of know some of the things
to do rest, hydration, propervocal warm-ups, sovt you know
where you're blowing through thestraw and things like that.
But it just wasn't working, nomatter what I did.
Because last year I was twoyears ago I was meditating and I
really felt like the meditationbrought me to a really calm
place and brought my help, bringmy voice back.
(13:36):
This time nothing was working.
And and then it I don't knowwhat shifted, maybe just the
awareness of what was wrong withmy voice after going to the
doctor, just being told thatyou're actually fine, it's just
acid reflux damage, because I'vehad acid reflux since I was 18
for a very long time now, on andoff.
Of course, I manage it as bestas I can through diet, not
(13:58):
through pills, because they'renot good for you.
I don't think they're good foryou.
And, um, I kind of got my voiceback.
But same thing happened.
It was like somebody else'svoice.
I couldn't sing the high notesanymore.
I basically had no head, voiceor falsetto and I had this real
edge to my voice and my gigsinstead of doing jazz gigs.
(14:20):
I just started singing moresoul and of course you can put
soul into jazz but I mean, likethe feeling of the song, the
groove of the song, I just Icouldn't, I didn't want to swing
anymore with this jazz and Istarted feeling songs in a way
that I have never felt musicbefore, from an emotional level
(14:45):
yeah, an emotional level.
I've always been very technicalso I've just wanted to sound
perfect and get it right and bethis and get the notes, you know
um, whereas, for example, mysister she's never been trained
to sing but I absolutely lovehearing her sing because it's so
raw, authentic, she just goesfor it, she puts all of her
emotion in and it works reallywell.
There's a few recordings whereshe sings with my brother's band
(15:07):
, but I was always very like Ihave to be, have to be right, I
have to be right.
And I just didn't find room forthat emotion and I and so you
know I'm 40 years old now thisis when I was 39 that I felt
like I could feel songs properlyfor the first time and you know
(15:28):
I've taught it and I've come inand out of feeling things, but
it was more like, it was justharder to access that and so,
having this voice, where I hadto really be on my game
physically, technically, I hadto really make sure I was
breathing properly, had thevoice in the right place.
So I was thinking about thetechnique, but that was just so
(15:49):
I could actually sing a note.
But I had to pull it from anemotional place, which sounds
really weird saying it out loud.
But the only way that it wasworking was like, yes, lauren,
use all the technique you'velearned over the last 20 years,
but you can't do this withoutfeeling.
It's just not going to happen.
And I just thought, if I'mdoing a three hour gig, it's I
(16:13):
can't feel every song, becauseyou're doing a three-hour gig,
you're singing 20, 25 songs.
But these gigs I started doing,I started having more
compliments than I usually have,more deep compliments, more
people kind of like oh, there'ssomething special happening here
, like people do say that aboutmy voice.
That's why I started teaching,because people just wanted to
(16:35):
sing, like me a lot, you know,15 years ago.
But there's just this extradeeper level that I went to and
every song I felt and it wasabsolutely incredible.
Aideen Ni Riada (16:47):
Was it worth losing your voice to find that?
Was it worth losing your voice?
Lauren Lucille (16:51):
to find that it's a really good question.
Yes, absolutely.
I wouldn't recommend it.
I wouldn't recommend somebodygo to town on the alcohol and
the drugs and the smoking justto get this kind of huskiness or
this different vibe, becauseyou can really do some lasting
damage.
Aideen Ni Riada (17:10):
Mine was more psychological um but I think our
bodies are trying tocommunicate with us.
You know, and a lot of peoplehave a health issue that makes
them change how they think aboutlife or redirects them in their
career or makes them look afterthemselves, and for you to have
(17:33):
a deeper connection with yourown emotions while singing can't
be a bad thing ever, and I'mjust glad that you know it was
only a month or so that youweren't able to to sing, so
that's not too bad.
Lauren Lucille (17:48):
I I was very lucky.
I mean, that was tough, but, um, I learned a lot about myself.
I'm always looking intoself-development and being a
better person, really just amore peaceful and happy person,
so that I feel good to be aroundme and then that goes out into
the world.
So I just thought, well, youknow, I really learned about the
(18:12):
silver lining during this form.
It was four months four months.
And I just thought I've got tofind the silver lining.
And it was it.
It went over into other areasof my life not just singing, of
course, because it was so toughthat I was like I can't just be
in this toughness, I have to.
Okay, the silver lining is theemotion is there.
(18:33):
Silver lining is I'm findingways to sing that I didn't have
before.
Aideen Ni Riada (18:39):
The other thing was that you had to surrender
to the voice that you was comingthrough and accept who and what
you were and how your voice was, and just work with that,
because a lot of the time for meeven it's like we feel we're
the agent in our lives, likethat we're creating what happens
(19:00):
next, and it gives you a falsesense of of uh kind of power.
In the end, there's many thingsin our lives we have no power
over whatsoever.
Lauren Lucille (19:15):
Yeah, you said the perfect word is surrender,
and it's really difficult whenyou've been in control of
something for so long and justto give over to a completely new
way of doing things.
And I'll just say this whileit's on my mind you said before,
(19:35):
like, was it worth it?
And I said, yes, definitely,but I wouldn't go searching for
that because it's as I said, itcould have lasting effects
physically.
And you know people are likehow do you?
The recovery is different foreveryone, I think.
I think obviously the obviousthings like looking after
yourself, getting rest,hydration, getting therapy if
you need it, whether it's liketalking therapy or physical
(19:56):
therapy from an osteopath oryou're going, you know, throat
specialist.
It's really important to lookafter ourselves that way.
Aideen Ni Riada (20:04):
Um, but yes, yeah, I've never heard story the
same.
Lauren Lucille (20:09):
We crossed over there again.
Can you repeat what you justsaid?
Aideen Ni Riada (20:10):
I've never heard a story the same.
We crossed over there again.
Can you repeat what you justsaid?
Lauren Lucille (20:15):
I've never heard a story like mine.
Yeah, I've heard a voice loss,but the fact that I lost it for
a month and then I just had itand it was I have not damaged my
voice in those three months ofsinging on that voice and I find
it fascinating yeah, that'sreally, really good.
Aideen Ni Riada (20:38):
I um, I'm glad that you also do get help.
Like your ENT, you have anosteopath.
Um, I've been seeing a guylocally here where I am in
northern Michigan and he wasworking with my neck and my
postural kind of element and I'mfamiliar with some of the
physiology of the voice.
But I could actually tilt mythyroid cartilage for the first
(21:02):
time consciously when I starteddoing this kind of therapy which
is, like you know, healing formy posture, and I was so
surprised because sometimeswe're going through our lives
with an issue that we don't evenrealize is there, like when you
were limping.
So I actually had a problemwith my foot when I was born.
(21:24):
So I've had a posturalimbalance my whole life that
created imbalances.
You could see my, my, mypictures of me doing ballet are
very cute.
One arm is always higher thanthe other, one shoulder higher
than the other very cute.
But, um, I think people dounderestimate minding your
physical body.
Like if you want to sing well,if you want to do anything well,
(21:46):
you want to have, you know towork well, we need to look after
ourselves, and you're aprofessional singer, so you do,
you look after yourself, and Ithink that's a good you know
kind of message to our listenersas well.
Like, are there ways thatyou're not looking after
yourself?
And like that we don't wantanybody to go through vocal
(22:06):
trauma.
But if you are going throughsomething, or if you have gone
through something, something,what was that teaching you?
What was the silver lining, asyou put it so beautifully?
What kind of silver lining canyou take from that?
Because we don't stay stagnantin life.
We can't be the person we werea year ago.
(22:26):
We've got to keep movingforward.
So that's something beautifuland it shows your resilience, um
, your adaptability, and it's ait's.
It's a.
It's a great thing to sharethat story, I think, because
you're not the only one, forsure, that's gone through a
(22:48):
difficult time, that, or aquestioning time around
something that they love to dowise words from a wise woman,
you, I mean and you too, yeah,so I know that you've.
You have multiple interests.
Is there anything that you'replanning to be doing next that
(23:08):
you'd like to share with us?
Is it going to be more albums,are you?
What are you enjoying theteaching?
Tell us a little more aboutwhat's on the horizon for lauren
lucille so I have a few thingsI want to do.
Lauren Lucille (23:23):
I'm not pressuring myself to do them um,
all at the same time or veryquickly.
I'd rather do them properly andwell.
Um, I realize I have a lot of Ihave time.
Um, I want to.
I'm building my coachingbusiness this year.
I have incredible students at akind of beginner to
(23:50):
intermediate creeping up toadvanced stages at the moment
and I would like some moreadvanced students.
So, building on that, I alsowould like to write a book on
how to sing, which is justsomething I've wanted to do for
so long.
(24:11):
Partly, I want to just share ina very layman's terms this is
how I think to sing.
This is what my students haveenjoyed and learned from.
So I just want to put reallyeasy just try this, think about
this.
I think a lot of it is in theirhead.
For me, a lot of it is thatjust the way you think your
(24:32):
thoughts I mean, it's nothingnew, it's not.
You know, if you want to learnhow to become rich, they don't
say, okay, do this job, do thisjob, do this job.
It's like, think this way,think this way, think this way
and then do this job.
I've just realized that a lot ofany kind of learning is about
your thoughts first, and so Ijust I kind of want to put this
(24:53):
is what you might be able tothink about when you're going
for this note, think about this,or think about when you're
going for this note, think aboutthis, or think about that, or
so I kind of want to write thatbook.
It's going to be a very simple,probably just an e-book or
something, um, and it's yeah, Ithink for me it's a big venture,
but I think it would be reallygreat just to share what I know,
what I've learned from teachingfor 15 years.
(25:14):
Um, I do have enough materialto record at least one long
album, full-length album, um,but I'm not going to do that
this year.
I want.
Aideen Ni Riada (25:29):
I want to do that project yeah, it, yeah, it
can be.
Lauren Lucille (25:33):
It's.
Yeah, there's a lot to prepare.
I've got the songs, but I wantto, I want to fill them out a
little bit more and figure outyou know what I want to do with
them.
Um, and I don't want to rushthat.
So I mean, if it ends uphappening this year, great.
I mean, I was thinking of doingit solo, because I get a lot of
feedback that people prefer mejust with me and my guitar
(25:54):
rather than with a band, bandwhich I find fascinating.
Um, so, yeah, who knows, I'mopen to, I'm open to doing more
and I'm open to doing a fewthings as well were your other
albums with full bands, or wasone of them just you and the
guitar?
yeah, the the first two albums,uh, full-length albums.
(26:17):
They're my original albums,they're with full bands.
So the first album is with alive band, so the band recorded
the quartet and then the stringsrecorded separately, the string
trio, and then I did the vocals.
And the second album, um, withTroy Miller here in London, very
top producer.
Um was done bit by bit but it'salso with a full band.
Aideen Ni Riada (26:41):
Also has strings on it.
Well, if you don't have it yet,like a paired back raw Lauren,
with just your guitar, thenyou've got to do that.
Lauren Lucille (26:51):
I do have to do that, but I do have a Christmas
album where it's just vocals andguitar.
Nice and it's four originaltracks and five uh covers.
I play all of them, except forthree of them which I recorded
in Germany with the guitaristthere, um, but one of my
students.
She said I hate Christmas musicand this was in, I think,
october or November.
(27:12):
And she said I hate Christmasmusic, but I'm listening to your
album because it's just solovely.
So that was that.
So that was a huge complimentto listen to Christmas music in
October when you hate Christmasmusic.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:25):
That is a huge compliment, yeah.
Lauren Lucille (27:28):
Yeah, does it sink in for?
Aideen Ni Riada (27:30):
you, though I recorded that myself.
Lauren Lucille (27:34):
Just at home, yeah, at home, on just my setup
here.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:39):
Beautiful.
It's possible.
Guys, everybody listening.
If Lauren can do it, you cantoo, oh my God, I keep saying
that to everybody If little old.
Lauren Lucille (27:48):
Lauren can do it .
You can do it.
You really don't need that much.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:52):
To be honest, yeah, I mean, there's so much
more potential out there foreach of us than we realize is
possible.
But I was about to ask youthere does.
Has it?
Does it sink in with you whenpeople give you those
compliments Like do you feel, doyou think you understand or
feel your own value?
(28:12):
Like that you know thequalities that you have, do you?
Or do you still brush off someof those compliments and
criticize yourself?
Lauren Lucille (28:22):
no, that that's, that's old Lauren, long ago, I
think.
Yeah, I've definitely gained alot of my confidence through
people complimenting in a veryauthentic way, not just like
that was nice, you're reallygood.
It's when they say that reallymoved me.
And I listened to yourChristmas album in October and
(28:45):
and oh, why aren't you comingback for lessons?
You know, could you give mefeedback?
Is it about me?
Anything about my teaching?
Oh, my god, lauren, it pains me.
It pains me to think that youwould think that, no, you're an
incredible teacher, amazingperson, but I just am going away
or I'm just, you know, I lostmy job or you know something
totally external.
And that definitely makes mefeel like, okay, I'm doing
(29:08):
something right.
You know, with my students,when I'm teaching, I just make
sure and it's not just to makethem like me, it's like find
something that's great abouttheir voice, find something
that's great about the way theymove or don't move, or the way
they sing, something.
You know there's alwayssomething positive and I think,
for the listeners, if you'resinging, like record yourself
(29:29):
and listen to it like you'relistening to somebody else's
voice, and what would you tellthat person?
Like, what do you like aboutthis voice, there's going to be
something, even if it's not thetone or the pitch.
It might be.
I just love your expression andI love the energy you put into
it and I love that it sounds soauthentic.
Aideen Ni Riada (29:47):
Yeah, so to me that, authentic piece is the top
thing that I'd look for.
Lauren Lucille (29:56):
I went on a bit of a tangent, but yeah.
Aideen Ni Riada (29:58):
No not at all.
Lauren Lucille (30:00):
I think it helps to have positive feedback.
I really do.
I think it's nice to be therefor each other in a positive way
, encouraging each other,basically.
Aideen Ni Riada (30:10):
I agree 100%.
I think too many of us try toachieve something without
support and it is a much slowerprocess that way, and we all
need people on our cheerleadingteam.
Well, we're going to be windingthings up in a few minutes.
I was wondering is thereanything that you'd like to say?
(30:31):
Any resources that you'd liketo give anybody?
Lauren Lucille (30:39):
So one of the questions you'd asked me when we
were chatting, like what wouldyou say to someone who was just
starting or feeling stuck onthis journey?
And then the resources.
So I can kind of answer that inone very briefly um, if you're
just starting and you're stuckof where to start, um, be
curious, inquisitive, tryeverything out for yourself
before just blindly believinginformation you know that you're
(31:01):
reading or listening to.
So there's loads of resourceson YouTube.
You can do so much on YouTube.
I do loads of things on YouTubeand if I'm not sure about
someone, something, I alwaysseek out somebody to ask.
Like I saw all these things onYouTube.
I'm just wondering what youthink about them.
Or I'm doing all these thingsthat YouTube tells me, but I'm
(31:22):
not getting where I want to go.
You have to be careful withphysical stuff because you might
be doing something that youdon't know.
So you know you can start withYouTube, even if you're just
listening to what people aresaying, you're just taking notes
or you know that's reallyinteresting or this point of
view is different to that pointof view.
Just start getting curious.
You know, awareness is a reallybig part of things Learning, I
(31:46):
think.
Aideen Ni Riada (31:47):
Yeah, yeah, I like that idea.
But YouTube.
I was working with a studentearlier and we were listening to
Adele and kind of listening tolike her vocal control when she
was singing.
This is more technical but thinversus uh, thick folds and you
know to to hear those nuances inin her voice and I would
(32:10):
definitely say that when we'rewhen we're listening to songs
that we like to try and listenmore deeply to, that sometimes
we learn a lot.
It's like who you rub shoulderswith.
You can learn a lot fromlistening to someone else's way
of singing.
Not that you want to sing likethem, but if you experiment with
how they do it, it can help youdevelop your own style.
Lauren Lucille (32:31):
I've been listening to some business
coaching lately and I haven'teven put into practice what
they're talking about really,but my, I feel like my attitude
is different.
So it's just it's kind of byosmosis, you know, you just put
yourself in that and listening,listening is, it's underrated.
Aideen Ni Riada (32:48):
You've got to listen yeah, and we need the
inspiration too of others.
I always say just copy thatperson as much as possible.
Lauren Lucille (32:54):
You're not.
You're probably not going tosound like them, but you're
going to learn something in theprocess.
You know, I always say justcopy that person as much as
possible.
You're probably not going tosound like them, but you're
going to learn something in theprocess.
You know, I always say the waywe learn to walk is just by
watching everyone around us.
The way we learn to talk Likewe learn a whole language.
People look at us and spitItalian at us or whatever.
I was watching my little nephewearlier and to begin with he has
(33:17):
no idea.
But when they just repeat itand repeat it, repeat it, he
just starts repeating it backand starting to make sense of it
all.
And you have to be youabsolutely have to be brave
enough and willing and and haveenough fun to make mistakes.
It's gonna limit, I reallythink it's to limit your
(33:38):
learning and limit your journeyof singing or anything you want
to learn, by being fearful ofmaking a mistake.
Um, I'm just thinking of reallygood examples in my life that
don't have anything, don't havespecifically something to do
with singing as such, butcontracts that I could have
signed or somebody that wantedto give me a bunch of money to
(33:58):
record a song because hebelieved in me that much that he
wanted to give me that muchmoney and I just thought you
want, because he wanted a lot ofmoney in return.
Of course it's like aninvestment and I just thought I
can't make that money, butactually if I put my mind to it
and thought about it for alittle bit longer.
So it's about taking risks inthat sense, but also just going
for it and just just not beingafraid of making a mistake or
(34:21):
sounding silly, like so manypeople expect.
I teach mostly adults and theyjust close up because I don't
want to sound bad and I'm likethat's the only way you're going
to figure this out.
I can't tell you everything, Ican't just hand it to you.
You've got to figure this outon your own, with some guidance,
right?
Aideen Ni Riada (34:38):
yeah yeah, the first time you try something,
it's like you're guessing whatto do, and that's okay.
So I think we will wind up onthat.
Yes, uh, point um of you know,don't be afraid to make mistakes
, and it's through our mistakesthat we figure things out.
And this idea of testing ideasas well, like, so, don't
(34:59):
necessarily put all your eggsinto one basket necessarily, and
I loved what you said about youknow, when you're researching,
to not necessarily believeeverything, to get feedback on
it.
So there's a lot of wisdomthere as well, and I'm really
glad that you were able to comeon today and share your journey
with your own losing of yourvoice, and I'm excited to, um,
(35:23):
to listen to more of your musicand your new album.
I hope sometimes these thingshappen faster than you realize.
One day you're just sittingthere and the next thing you're
recording, you've got everythingyou need right there in your
home studio.
So, um, and your book andeverything.
When you have you have um anyof those resources ready, I'll
definitely add them to the shownotes here.
(35:44):
So, um, let me know when you doand I will make sure that those
get added.
Thank you so much, lauren.
You're you're a gem for comingon thank you so much.
Lauren Lucille (35:53):
It means it gives me confidence that you
asked me on the show and wellwhen your next album comes out.
Aideen Ni Riada (35:59):
I would encourage you to do a lot more
interviews with people, becauseI think a lot of people
listening to music want to getto know the person behind the
music as well, and that's whyyour students are so and so love
you, because they've had theopportunity to get to know you,
and an interview is a a lovelyway to get to know an artist,
(36:19):
and you are an artist and I amreally, really excited to see
what you do next.
I'll do that.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, lauren, and to mylisteners today, I am just so
grateful that you're listening.
Please get in touch if you havea question, comment or
suggestion of a guest, and Ilook forward to hearing from you
.
Take care, bye.
Welcome to the Resonate podcast with Aideen.
I'm Aideen N, and my guesttoday is Lauren Lucille, based
in the UK but originally fromAustralia.
Hi, Lauren, how are you today?
Hi, I'm very well.
Thanks, how are you?
I'm so excited to have you onthe show.
We've had a conversation beforeand it was so much fun, so I'm
(00:23):
really excited to share you withmy audience.
Let me tell everyone a littleabout you before we start.
Lauren is a singer, songwriterand vocal coach.
She grew up surrounded by jazzand classically trained
musicians.
Lauren loves and sings jazz,soul, pop, folk and R&B.
(00:43):
She's developed a holistic andintuitive vocal coaching method
using tools from over 20 yearsof performing, teaching,
traveling and studying.
She has recorded albums of jazzand pop originals and also has
a Christmas album.
Thank you for joining me,Lauren.
Lauren Lucille (01:01):
You're welcome.
Thanks for having me.
It's really cool to be here.
Aideen Ni Riada (01:05):
Yeah, tell me um your journey a little bit.
How did you start to discoverthe value of your own voice?
Lauren Lucille (01:13):
Well, it's an interesting question, because I
grew up in a family full ofmusicians.
We were always playing music.
I was singing with my siblings,and so I didn't have a problem
with like singing.
I could sing anywhere, but Ialways thought there was
something missing.
So I just didn't think I reallyhad much to bring to the table
(01:36):
and I thought my voice wasreally bland and very boring.
And that went on for quite awhile, actually, and I was, so I
started gigging when I was 18and when I was about 28, I
recorded my first full-lengthalbum.
I had.
I had a few um like EPs beforethen.
Um, and I recorded myfull-length album and listening
(01:59):
back to that album and the EPsthat I recorded was very
interesting, because I was justso critical.
I was like this is this couldbe better.
I don't put enough emotion inhere, or I just sound really
bland there.
Um, the album itself hidden here, the one I recorded in 2012,
was, um, it was so difficult torecord because the music was
(02:23):
quite hard.
I'd written it all, but it wasreally hard to sing, and there
was times I'd go into the studioand my producer would just be
like what's wrong with you today?
And I said I don't know, I justI don't have any energy.
He's like just go home, becauseI tried, we turned off the
lights, you know, and it was.
I really pushed myself and Ireally recorded a beautiful
album.
(02:43):
I'm so proud of that now, butit took me a few years to listen
and hear what everyone else washearing.
Like Lauren, it's such abeautiful album and I was like I
thought I was singing out oftune here and then I realized it
was just the kind of theorganic feature of the strings
and my voice playing togetherand I really it's, you know,
(03:08):
it's so, it's, it's.
It's been like.
I think listening back toyourself is nice when you can.
Aideen Ni Riada (03:11):
Oh, I don't know where I'm going with that
thought the value of my voice um, yeah, but you're right, when
we hear ourselves back, that's alayer of like the acceptance of
your voice, like Like you canaccept your own voice.
When you hear it in a room, youmight like it sometimes, you
might dislike it sometimes, butwhen you hear it recorded, it's
(03:33):
like okay, this is like thetruth of my voice which it may
or may not be, because sometimeswe record our voice onto really
shitty microphones and thingslike that but it is an external
view into your voice as well.
Lauren Lucille (03:51):
Absolutely.
People started telling me howmuch they loved my voice and it
was like really, and they'relike, it's just so, this and
that.
And I remember doing a gig itwas on an outside stage and this
(04:11):
woman came up to me at the endyoung woman and she was you
could tell she'd been crying.
And I was like, are you okay?
And she said you just moved meso much.
And that song you sang aboutblah blah blah, it was just so,
I just needed that so much.
And that song you sang aboutblah blah blah, it was just so,
I just needed that so much rightnow.
And I thought, oh, okay, I'mactually touching people here
with what I do because I justlove singing and I love
(04:32):
songwriting and I just I loveputting all kinds of groups
together and I just enjoy it.
So it wasn't really about if Iliked it or not, if when I was
listening back, I just lovebeing on stage singing for an
audience.
But but to get that kind offeedback, it's like, okay, maybe
I am on the right track afterall.
Excuse me, just some allergiesto some plants I bought today.
(04:52):
Unfortunately, as a singer,it's not a good thing.
Aideen Ni Riada (04:59):
But but this is an interesting point that our
our voice is so different, likeour voice changes from day to
day, you know.
So we might get the qualitythat we're thinking of on a
particular day and then two dayslater, because we haven't had
enough sleep or because we'vehad an argument with somebody,
like it, it really affects ourvoice.
There's so many things thataffect your voice from moment to
(05:22):
moment that affect your voicefrom moment to moment.
Lauren Lucille (05:27):
Yeah, even like, of course, the atmosphere and
the house you live in and thefumes you're breathing in, or
the emotions you experiencedthat day, or the phone call you
got, or the lack of sleep, orthe lack of hydration, or the
eating badly, or for a womangetting your period or going
through menopause.
You know there's so manyfactors and um, including well,
(05:49):
I just lost my train of thoughtum, the songs you sing and the
repertoire you choose, and it'snot just, it's a bit out of my
range and I have to push a bithere.
But even if it seems like aneasy song to sing, it might not
be the right song for you andI've I kind of learned that the
hard way.
I sang for elderly in mentalhealth for quite a while, on and
(06:11):
off.
The last time I did it I justquit in August last year because
I just thought, just, I don'tenjoy singing half these songs,
but I have to sing them becauseI'm getting paid to sing, you
know, and I enjoyed doing it forthem.
But my voice was like thisdoesn't really work for you and
I thought, oh, maybe I'm justnot very good.
I went into that whole thing ofI should be able to sing
(06:32):
anything.
And I was talking to this vocalcoach actually today who
trained like big stars in the UKfor like 25 years.
He said, and we didn't weren'teven talking about it, he just
said you can't sing every song.
Some songs just don't suit youand it has nothing to do with
the range, it's just the style,the mood and it was.
(06:53):
It was just really nice to hearto some somebody to say to me
it's okay that you can't singthat song.
That was amazing.
Aideen Ni Riada (07:02):
Yeah, yeah, completely, because we think
things should stay the same, butwe are evolving and we're
changing.
And I remember being asked tosing this guy's songs.
He said he needed a singer andI listened to them and they were
quite sad.
They were all from his and Isometimes wonder if I should
(07:28):
have done it anyway.
But, like, what we're sayingright now is, if it's not
drawing you in, if it's notfeeling like you want to do it,
then why would you do it Unlesslike it's purely you know, ok,
I'm just going to do this joband get it over with.
But even when we're doing itfor work, we want to enjoy our
work.
So I agree with that Like it's.
(07:52):
It's almost like you know, butthe interesting thing was you
felt that your voice was tellingyou that you didn't want to
sing it anymore.
Was it something you could hear?
It was just difficult.
And I was like okay, I'm a vocalcoach, it was like your voice
didn't want to do it at all.
Lauren Lucille (08:05):
You start questioning yourself and you
think I'm a vocal coach, Ishould, I should be able to do
this, I should, you know, andthat's a very dangerous,
dangerous word and my voice wasdefinitely telling me.
It just kind of went downhill.
I ended up losing my voiceactually, which I'd never done
in that sense, in this terribleway ever.
(08:27):
I mean, I lost a month's worthof work.
That's another story.
I don't know if you want tohear about that at some point,
but it might be inspiring tosome people to see how I got
through it, because it'sinspiring to me, yeah, yeah.
Aideen Ni Riada (08:40):
I'd love to hear it.
Lauren Lucille (08:41):
I had an experience.
Sorry, I'm interrupting you,it's okay, I think the Wi-Fi
went a bit funny for a second.
Aideen Ni Riada (08:48):
Yeah, I had an experience where I was working
in recruitment and I didn'trealize it was affecting my
voice.
I wasn't singing at the time,but I wanted to start studying
music again.
So I went to the LeinsterSchool of Music in Dublin to a
woman called Evelyn Dowling andI literally could only sing like
five notes.
I wasn't able to sing any morethan that and I think it was
(09:10):
because I, because of the work Iwas doing and being on a
headset and not being able to umand I didn't like what I was
doing as well.
But what was your story?
I'd be really interestedbecause you know when, when that
happens, you think, oh well, Ican't sing.
And a lot of people do feelthat they're like, well, I can't
(09:35):
because at this exact moment intime I can't reach that note.
But there's, there's ways tomove forward.
Lauren Lucille (09:37):
I'd love to hear how you you got through it
yourself yeah, well, it'sdifferent for everybody, of
course, um, but what happened?
It happened twice actually inthe last few years, and maybe I
obviously there are so manyfactors, you know, as I said
(09:58):
before emotions and things thatare happening in your life and
your atmosphere, and everything.
But the first time it happenedI sprained my ankle.
This was two years ago andobviously I was on crutches for
like six weeks and I could putweight on it but I couldn't move
it.
So I was on crutches to help memove and I went to my osteopath
(10:18):
when it was almost unhealingand I said something about my
voice and he said yeah, well, ifyou're limping, it's put your
whole structure out of alignment, so the voice that you're used
to using it's not the sameanymore, because there's a
slight shift.
And it makes sense.
You know, if we shift ourtongue in a certain position,
our voice sounds different, orthe soft palate or something to
do with our body.
(10:39):
So, knowing that my alignmentwas all out you know my hips
were out it just it changed myvoice and actually I could still
sing.
It's just that I had adifferent voice.
I didn't lose my voice, I justhad somebody else's voice.
It was so, so incredible andbizarre and a fascinating
experience.
But I thought to myself, okay,if this is, it was for a couple
(11:03):
of weeks and I thought, if thisis going to keep happening, I'm
going to have to change myrepertoire, I'm going to have to
change all the keys, I'm goingto have to sing different things
, because the stuff I was doingmostly at the time was singing
(11:23):
jazz, excuse me.
And so it's like um, I've neverbeen in love before and this is
why and I would do these likehigh little scat solos and
whatever.
And I had I have a low voice, Idon't go very high all the time
, but I had these capabilitiesof moving up there and at this
time I just I kind of lost thatand there was a bit more like
crunchiness in my voice.
So I thought I'm going to, so Istarted moving all the keys
(11:45):
down just for that period oftime and then my voice just came
back completely fine.
Okay, so I didn't lose any work, I could still do all my gigs
and all of that.
Last year um had a more of atough year like, uh, emotionally
, just a few things.
You know, as life does, I wasfine, but it was just, it was
kind of affecting me at a, at alevel that I didn't realize and
(12:07):
I had like four signs of stressand I thought I don't even feel
stressed I know I'm a bit sad,but I don't feel stressed and my
body was like you're stressed.
So I had acid reflux, weightgain, two other things that I
can't remember right now voiceloss and one other thing,
trouble sleeping.
So and I didn't kind of put itall together and I didn't catch
(12:31):
it in time and so and I didn'tkind of put it all together and
I didn't catch it in time and Ijust started having these voice
problems and it was so bad thatI basically lost a month of work
.
Probably within a month I lostabout half of my income.
That's hard and I was reallyhard and I was, I was calm
through it it.
(12:51):
But obviously after about threeor four weeks I was like, okay,
the things I usually do aren'tworking.
Now I can't actually use myvoice, like last time.
Of course I went to see the ENT.
They said that you know,definite acid reflux and there's
no actual permanent damage toyour vocal folds, but I had this
little tiny red line just fromcoughing and um.
So of course you know, as avoice user and you've been using
(13:15):
your voice for so long, youkind of know some of the things
to do rest, hydration, propervocal warm-ups, sovt you know
where you're blowing through thestraw and things like that.
But it just wasn't working, nomatter what I did.
Because last year I was twoyears ago I was meditating and I
really felt like the meditationbrought me to a really calm
place and brought my help, bringmy voice back.
(13:36):
This time nothing was working.
And and then it I don't knowwhat shifted, maybe just the
awareness of what was wrong withmy voice after going to the
doctor, just being told thatyou're actually fine, it's just
acid reflux damage, because I'vehad acid reflux since I was 18
for a very long time now, on andoff.
Of course, I manage it as bestas I can through diet, not
(13:58):
through pills, because they'renot good for you.
I don't think they're good foryou.
And, um, I kind of got my voiceback.
But same thing happened.
It was like somebody else'svoice.
I couldn't sing the high notesanymore.
I basically had no head, voiceor falsetto and I had this real
edge to my voice and my gigsinstead of doing jazz gigs.
(14:20):
I just started singing moresoul and of course you can put
soul into jazz but I mean, likethe feeling of the song, the
groove of the song, I just Icouldn't, I didn't want to swing
anymore with this jazz and Istarted feeling songs in a way
that I have never felt musicbefore, from an emotional level
(14:45):
yeah, an emotional level.
I've always been very technicalso I've just wanted to sound
perfect and get it right and bethis and get the notes, you know
um, whereas, for example, mysister she's never been trained
to sing but I absolutely lovehearing her sing because it's so
raw, authentic, she just goesfor it, she puts all of her
emotion in and it works reallywell.
There's a few recordings whereshe sings with my brother's band
(15:07):
, but I was always very like Ihave to be, have to be right, I
have to be right.
And I just didn't find room forthat emotion and I and so you
know I'm 40 years old now thisis when I was 39 that I felt
like I could feel songs properlyfor the first time and you know
(15:28):
I've taught it and I've come inand out of feeling things, but
it was more like, it was justharder to access that and so,
having this voice, where I hadto really be on my game
physically, technically, I hadto really make sure I was
breathing properly, had thevoice in the right place.
So I was thinking about thetechnique, but that was just so
(15:49):
I could actually sing a note.
But I had to pull it from anemotional place, which sounds
really weird saying it out loud.
But the only way that it wasworking was like, yes, lauren,
use all the technique you'velearned over the last 20 years,
but you can't do this withoutfeeling.
It's just not going to happen.
And I just thought, if I'mdoing a three hour gig, it's I
(16:13):
can't feel every song, becauseyou're doing a three-hour gig,
you're singing 20, 25 songs.
But these gigs I started doing,I started having more
compliments than I usually have,more deep compliments, more
people kind of like oh, there'ssomething special happening here
, like people do say that aboutmy voice.
That's why I started teaching,because people just wanted to
(16:35):
sing, like me a lot, you know,15 years ago.
But there's just this extradeeper level that I went to and
every song I felt and it wasabsolutely incredible.
Aideen Ni Riada (16:47):
Was it worth losing your voice to find that?
Was it worth losing your voice?
Lauren Lucille (16:51):
to find that it's a really good question.
Yes, absolutely.
I wouldn't recommend it.
I wouldn't recommend somebodygo to town on the alcohol and
the drugs and the smoking justto get this kind of huskiness or
this different vibe, becauseyou can really do some lasting
damage.
Aideen Ni Riada (17:10):
Mine was more psychological um but I think our
bodies are trying tocommunicate with us.
You know, and a lot of peoplehave a health issue that makes
them change how they think aboutlife or redirects them in their
career or makes them look afterthemselves, and for you to have
(17:33):
a deeper connection with yourown emotions while singing can't
be a bad thing ever, and I'mjust glad that you know it was
only a month or so that youweren't able to to sing, so
that's not too bad.
Lauren Lucille (17:48):
I I was very lucky.
I mean, that was tough, but, um, I learned a lot about myself.
I'm always looking intoself-development and being a
better person, really just amore peaceful and happy person,
so that I feel good to be aroundme and then that goes out into
the world.
So I just thought, well, youknow, I really learned about the
(18:12):
silver lining during this form.
It was four months four months.
And I just thought I've got tofind the silver lining.
And it was it.
It went over into other areasof my life not just singing, of
course, because it was so toughthat I was like I can't just be
in this toughness, I have to.
Okay, the silver lining is theemotion is there.
(18:33):
Silver lining is I'm findingways to sing that I didn't have
before.
Aideen Ni Riada (18:39):
The other thing was that you had to surrender
to the voice that you was comingthrough and accept who and what
you were and how your voice was, and just work with that,
because a lot of the time for meeven it's like we feel we're
the agent in our lives, likethat we're creating what happens
(19:00):
next, and it gives you a falsesense of of uh kind of power.
In the end, there's many thingsin our lives we have no power
over whatsoever.
Lauren Lucille (19:15):
Yeah, you said the perfect word is surrender,
and it's really difficult whenyou've been in control of
something for so long and justto give over to a completely new
way of doing things.
And I'll just say this whileit's on my mind you said before,
(19:35):
like, was it worth it?
And I said, yes, definitely,but I wouldn't go searching for
that because it's as I said, itcould have lasting effects
physically.
And you know people are likehow do you?
The recovery is different foreveryone, I think.
I think obviously the obviousthings like looking after
yourself, getting rest,hydration, getting therapy if
you need it, whether it's liketalking therapy or physical
(19:56):
therapy from an osteopath oryou're going, you know, throat
specialist.
It's really important to lookafter ourselves that way.
Aideen Ni Riada (20:04):
Um, but yes, yeah, I've never heard story the
same.
Lauren Lucille (20:09):
We crossed over there again.
Can you repeat what you justsaid?
Aideen Ni Riada (20:10):
I've never heard a story the same.
We crossed over there again.
Can you repeat what you justsaid?
Lauren Lucille (20:15):
I've never heard a story like mine.
Yeah, I've heard a voice loss,but the fact that I lost it for
a month and then I just had itand it was I have not damaged my
voice in those three months ofsinging on that voice and I find
it fascinating yeah, that'sreally, really good.
Aideen Ni Riada (20:38):
I um, I'm glad that you also do get help.
Like your ENT, you have anosteopath.
Um, I've been seeing a guylocally here where I am in
northern Michigan and he wasworking with my neck and my
postural kind of element and I'mfamiliar with some of the
physiology of the voice.
But I could actually tilt mythyroid cartilage for the first
(21:02):
time consciously when I starteddoing this kind of therapy which
is, like you know, healing formy posture, and I was so
surprised because sometimeswe're going through our lives
with an issue that we don't evenrealize is there, like when you
were limping.
So I actually had a problemwith my foot when I was born.
(21:24):
So I've had a posturalimbalance my whole life that
created imbalances.
You could see my, my, mypictures of me doing ballet are
very cute.
One arm is always higher thanthe other, one shoulder higher
than the other very cute.
But, um, I think people dounderestimate minding your
physical body.
Like if you want to sing well,if you want to do anything well,
(21:46):
you want to have, you know towork well, we need to look after
ourselves, and you're aprofessional singer, so you do,
you look after yourself, and Ithink that's a good you know
kind of message to our listenersas well.
Like, are there ways thatyou're not looking after
yourself?
And like that we don't wantanybody to go through vocal
(22:06):
trauma.
But if you are going throughsomething, or if you have gone
through something, something,what was that teaching you?
What was the silver lining, asyou put it so beautifully?
What kind of silver lining canyou take from that?
Because we don't stay stagnantin life.
We can't be the person we werea year ago.
(22:26):
We've got to keep movingforward.
So that's something beautifuland it shows your resilience, um
, your adaptability, and it's ait's.
It's a.
It's a great thing to sharethat story, I think, because
you're not the only one, forsure, that's gone through a
(22:48):
difficult time, that, or aquestioning time around
something that they love to dowise words from a wise woman,
you, I mean and you too, yeah,so I know that you've.
You have multiple interests.
Is there anything that you'replanning to be doing next that
(23:08):
you'd like to share with us?
Is it going to be more albums,are you?
What are you enjoying theteaching?
Tell us a little more aboutwhat's on the horizon for lauren
lucille so I have a few thingsI want to do.
Lauren Lucille (23:23):
I'm not pressuring myself to do them um,
all at the same time or veryquickly.
I'd rather do them properly andwell.
Um, I realize I have a lot of Ihave time.
Um, I want to.
I'm building my coachingbusiness this year.
I have incredible students at akind of beginner to
(23:50):
intermediate creeping up toadvanced stages at the moment
and I would like some moreadvanced students.
So, building on that, I alsowould like to write a book on
how to sing, which is justsomething I've wanted to do for
so long.
(24:11):
Partly, I want to just share ina very layman's terms this is
how I think to sing.
This is what my students haveenjoyed and learned from.
So I just want to put reallyeasy just try this, think about
this.
I think a lot of it is in theirhead.
For me, a lot of it is thatjust the way you think your
(24:32):
thoughts I mean, it's nothingnew, it's not.
You know, if you want to learnhow to become rich, they don't
say, okay, do this job, do thisjob, do this job.
It's like, think this way,think this way, think this way
and then do this job.
I've just realized that a lot ofany kind of learning is about
your thoughts first, and so Ijust I kind of want to put this
(24:53):
is what you might be able tothink about when you're going
for this note, think about this,or think about when you're
going for this note, think aboutthis, or think about that, or
so I kind of want to write thatbook.
It's going to be a very simple,probably just an e-book or
something, um, and it's yeah, Ithink for me it's a big venture,
but I think it would be reallygreat just to share what I know,
what I've learned from teachingfor 15 years.
(25:14):
Um, I do have enough materialto record at least one long
album, full-length album, um,but I'm not going to do that
this year.
I want.
Aideen Ni Riada (25:29):
I want to do that project yeah, it, yeah, it
can be.
Lauren Lucille (25:33):
It's.
Yeah, there's a lot to prepare.
I've got the songs, but I wantto, I want to fill them out a
little bit more and figure outyou know what I want to do with
them.
Um, and I don't want to rushthat.
So I mean, if it ends uphappening this year, great.
I mean, I was thinking of doingit solo, because I get a lot of
feedback that people prefer mejust with me and my guitar
(25:54):
rather than with a band, bandwhich I find fascinating.
Um, so, yeah, who knows, I'mopen to, I'm open to doing more
and I'm open to doing a fewthings as well were your other
albums with full bands, or wasone of them just you and the
guitar?
yeah, the the first two albums,uh, full-length albums.
(26:17):
They're my original albums,they're with full bands.
So the first album is with alive band, so the band recorded
the quartet and then the stringsrecorded separately, the string
trio, and then I did the vocals.
And the second album, um, withTroy Miller here in London, very
top producer.
Um was done bit by bit but it'salso with a full band.
Aideen Ni Riada (26:41):
Also has strings on it.
Well, if you don't have it yet,like a paired back raw Lauren,
with just your guitar, thenyou've got to do that.
Lauren Lucille (26:51):
I do have to do that, but I do have a Christmas
album where it's just vocals andguitar.
Nice and it's four originaltracks and five uh covers.
I play all of them, except forthree of them which I recorded
in Germany with the guitaristthere, um, but one of my
students.
She said I hate Christmas musicand this was in, I think,
october or November.
(27:12):
And she said I hate Christmasmusic, but I'm listening to your
album because it's just solovely.
So that was that.
So that was a huge complimentto listen to Christmas music in
October when you hate Christmasmusic.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:25):
That is a huge compliment, yeah.
Lauren Lucille (27:28):
Yeah, does it sink in for?
Aideen Ni Riada (27:30):
you, though I recorded that myself.
Lauren Lucille (27:34):
Just at home, yeah, at home, on just my setup
here.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:39):
Beautiful.
It's possible.
Guys, everybody listening.
If Lauren can do it, you cantoo, oh my God, I keep saying
that to everybody If little old.
Lauren Lucille (27:48):
Lauren can do it .
You can do it.
You really don't need that much.
Aideen Ni Riada (27:52):
To be honest, yeah, I mean, there's so much
more potential out there foreach of us than we realize is
possible.
But I was about to ask youthere does.
Has it?
Does it sink in with you whenpeople give you those
compliments Like do you feel, doyou think you understand or
feel your own value?
(28:12):
Like that you know thequalities that you have, do you?
Or do you still brush off someof those compliments and
criticize yourself?
Lauren Lucille (28:22):
no, that that's, that's old Lauren, long ago, I
think.
Yeah, I've definitely gained alot of my confidence through
people complimenting in a veryauthentic way, not just like
that was nice, you're reallygood.
It's when they say that reallymoved me.
And I listened to yourChristmas album in October and
(28:45):
and oh, why aren't you comingback for lessons?
You know, could you give mefeedback?
Is it about me?
Anything about my teaching?
Oh, my god, lauren, it pains me.
It pains me to think that youwould think that, no, you're an
incredible teacher, amazingperson, but I just am going away
or I'm just, you know, I lostmy job or you know something
totally external.
And that definitely makes mefeel like, okay, I'm doing
(29:08):
something right.
You know, with my students,when I'm teaching, I just make
sure and it's not just to makethem like me, it's like find
something that's great abouttheir voice, find something
that's great about the way theymove or don't move, or the way
they sing, something.
You know there's alwayssomething positive and I think,
for the listeners, if you'resinging, like record yourself
(29:29):
and listen to it like you'relistening to somebody else's
voice, and what would you tellthat person?
Like, what do you like aboutthis voice, there's going to be
something, even if it's not thetone or the pitch.
It might be.
I just love your expression andI love the energy you put into
it and I love that it sounds soauthentic.
Aideen Ni Riada (29:47):
Yeah, so to me that, authentic piece is the top
thing that I'd look for.
Lauren Lucille (29:56):
I went on a bit of a tangent, but yeah.
Aideen Ni Riada (29:58):
No not at all.
Lauren Lucille (30:00):
I think it helps to have positive feedback.
I really do.
I think it's nice to be therefor each other in a positive way
, encouraging each other,basically.
Aideen Ni Riada (30:10):
I agree 100%.
I think too many of us try toachieve something without
support and it is a much slowerprocess that way, and we all
need people on our cheerleadingteam.
Well, we're going to be windingthings up in a few minutes.
I was wondering is thereanything that you'd like to say?
(30:31):
Any resources that you'd liketo give anybody?
Lauren Lucille (30:39):
So one of the questions you'd asked me when we
were chatting, like what wouldyou say to someone who was just
starting or feeling stuck onthis journey?
And then the resources.
So I can kind of answer that inone very briefly um, if you're
just starting and you're stuckof where to start, um, be
curious, inquisitive, tryeverything out for yourself
before just blindly believinginformation you know that you're
(31:01):
reading or listening to.
So there's loads of resourceson YouTube.
You can do so much on YouTube.
I do loads of things on YouTubeand if I'm not sure about
someone, something, I alwaysseek out somebody to ask.
Like I saw all these things onYouTube.
I'm just wondering what youthink about them.
Or I'm doing all these thingsthat YouTube tells me, but I'm
(31:22):
not getting where I want to go.
You have to be careful withphysical stuff because you might
be doing something that youdon't know.
So you know you can start withYouTube, even if you're just
listening to what people aresaying, you're just taking notes
or you know that's reallyinteresting or this point of
view is different to that pointof view.
Just start getting curious.
You know, awareness is a reallybig part of things Learning, I
(31:46):
think.
Aideen Ni Riada (31:47):
Yeah, yeah, I like that idea.
But YouTube.
I was working with a studentearlier and we were listening to
Adele and kind of listening tolike her vocal control when she
was singing.
This is more technical but thinversus uh, thick folds and you
know to to hear those nuances inin her voice and I would
(32:10):
definitely say that when we'rewhen we're listening to songs
that we like to try and listenmore deeply to, that sometimes
we learn a lot.
It's like who you rub shoulderswith.
You can learn a lot fromlistening to someone else's way
of singing.
Not that you want to sing likethem, but if you experiment with
how they do it, it can help youdevelop your own style.
Lauren Lucille (32:31):
I've been listening to some business
coaching lately and I haven'teven put into practice what
they're talking about really,but my, I feel like my attitude
is different.
So it's just it's kind of byosmosis, you know, you just put
yourself in that and listening,listening is, it's underrated.
Aideen Ni Riada (32:48):
You've got to listen yeah, and we need the
inspiration too of others.
I always say just copy thatperson as much as possible.
Lauren Lucille (32:54):
You're not.
You're probably not going tosound like them, but you're
going to learn something in theprocess.
You know, I always say justcopy that person as much as
possible.
You're probably not going tosound like them, but you're
going to learn something in theprocess.
You know, I always say the waywe learn to walk is just by
watching everyone around us.
The way we learn to talk Likewe learn a whole language.
People look at us and spitItalian at us or whatever.
I was watching my little nephewearlier and to begin with he has
(33:17):
no idea.
But when they just repeat itand repeat it, repeat it, he
just starts repeating it backand starting to make sense of it
all.
And you have to be youabsolutely have to be brave
enough and willing and and haveenough fun to make mistakes.
It's gonna limit, I reallythink it's to limit your
(33:38):
learning and limit your journeyof singing or anything you want
to learn, by being fearful ofmaking a mistake.
Um, I'm just thinking of reallygood examples in my life that
don't have anything, don't havespecifically something to do
with singing as such, butcontracts that I could have
signed or somebody that wantedto give me a bunch of money to
(33:58):
record a song because hebelieved in me that much that he
wanted to give me that muchmoney and I just thought you
want, because he wanted a lot ofmoney in return.
Of course it's like aninvestment and I just thought I
can't make that money, butactually if I put my mind to it
and thought about it for alittle bit longer.
So it's about taking risks inthat sense, but also just going
for it and just just not beingafraid of making a mistake or
(34:21):
sounding silly, like so manypeople expect.
I teach mostly adults and theyjust close up because I don't
want to sound bad and I'm likethat's the only way you're going
to figure this out.
I can't tell you everything, Ican't just hand it to you.
You've got to figure this outon your own, with some guidance,
right?
Aideen Ni Riada (34:38):
yeah yeah, the first time you try something,
it's like you're guessing whatto do, and that's okay.
So I think we will wind up onthat.
Yes, uh, point um of you know,don't be afraid to make mistakes
, and it's through our mistakesthat we figure things out.
And this idea of testing ideasas well, like, so, don't
(34:59):
necessarily put all your eggsinto one basket necessarily, and
I loved what you said about youknow, when you're researching,
to not necessarily believeeverything, to get feedback on
it.
So there's a lot of wisdomthere as well, and I'm really
glad that you were able to comeon today and share your journey
with your own losing of yourvoice, and I'm excited to, um,
(35:23):
to listen to more of your musicand your new album.
I hope sometimes these thingshappen faster than you realize.
One day you're just sittingthere and the next thing you're
recording, you've got everythingyou need right there in your
home studio.
So, um, and your book andeverything.
When you have you have um anyof those resources ready, I'll
definitely add them to the shownotes here.
(35:44):
So, um, let me know when you doand I will make sure that those
get added.
Thank you so much, lauren.
You're you're a gem for comingon thank you so much.
Lauren Lucille (35:53):
It means it gives me confidence that you
asked me on the show and wellwhen your next album comes out.
Aideen Ni Riada (35:59):
I would encourage you to do a lot more
interviews with people, becauseI think a lot of people
listening to music want to getto know the person behind the
music as well, and that's whyyour students are so and so love
you, because they've had theopportunity to get to know you,
and an interview is a a lovelyway to get to know an artist,
(36:19):
and you are an artist and I amreally, really excited to see
what you do next.
I'll do that.
Thank you so much.
Thank you, lauren, and to mylisteners today, I am just so
grateful that you're listening.
Please get in touch if you havea question, comment or
suggestion of a guest, and Ilook forward to hearing from you
.
Take care, bye.
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