Moe Loughran- Vocal Coaching

Sarah Harralson speaks with Moe Loughran, a singer, songwriter, and now vocal coach and owner of Nashville Creative House providing guidance to the next generation of music makers.

https://www.nashvillecreativehouse.com/ 

To inquire about Private Guitar Lessons, Private Piano Lessons, Beginning Songwriting Classes, Intermediate Songwriting Classes, Private Songwriting and private voice instruction, please contact the email below:

[e-mail]

Episode Transcript

(00:07):
Hi everyone. Thank you so muchfor tuning into the third season of Mind
Your Music Business. Today, Ihave with me Moe Lochren. Moe is
a singer, songwriter and a vocalcoach, providing guidance to the next generation
of music makers. She's a graduatea graduate of Belmont University, fellow Belmont

(00:29):
alum. She played at Woodstock ninetynine hopefully before things got out of control
there, and she's also an AMwinner and performer that has had top ten
songs on contemporary hit radio along withmany sink and jingle placements. She established
Nashville Creative House as a learning labfor those who wish to pursue music,

(00:53):
and she's here today to speak withme about being a vocal coach and a
music coach. So, Mo,thank you so much for being here with
me today. How are you?I am so happy to be with you
and inside because it's starry, butother than that, it's been one I'm
great. Yeah, A good nightfor a podcast interviewer to stay indoors,
Yes very much. So yeah.So I want to start off today by

(01:19):
just kind of talking about your transitioninto your career becoming a vocal and a
music coach. You've had a lotof success as a songwriter and an artist,
but at what point did you decidein your career that you wanted to
use your talent to become a vocalcoach and coach others and music. So

(01:42):
I did music right up till Ihave my kids. And I had my
daughter in two thousand and three whenI was pregnant with her, when I
was on the American Music Awards,and when she was born, she was
sick, and we had a longstay at Vanderbilt and tried to get things
together, and my husband was deployedat that point in Iraq, who was

(02:07):
active duty Army, and it wasjust a struggle to do it one handed
basically through that time. And thenwe got restationed in Tampa, Florida,
and it was like high school again, if you can imagine as an adult
moving, which a lot of peopledo, but it was just difficult at

(02:29):
that point. And so when welanded in Tampa, I started working with
a friend who had a couple ofdevelopmental artists that were on Universal Latino,
and I started just coaching them.I would come back to Nashville and I
did like nest Ty for Germany andI would sing, I was the talent
on a couple of different other pieces. But I really started to work with

(02:52):
these artists that were in Florida thatdidn't have access to some of the things
that I had access to. Andso that went really well. And I
came back home and I had differentpeople asking me, Hey, can you
talk to me through or talk methrough how to like approach this song and
I'm not hitting these notes and thisisn't working, and what do you do

(03:13):
because we have similar voices or differentthings like that. And so in the
community, just because you know Belmont, of course it helps you enable to
have this huge community's that a lotof us stay here and the people I
graduated with are in positions that areyou know, elevated in different labels and

(03:34):
different publishing houses. And so whenI came back, I started doing that.
I didn't look at it as abusiness. I just was doing it
kind of like off cuff. Andthen I had a couple people that were
in bigger positions at the labels askedme to come in and work with a
couple of new artists that maybe theyhad a huge following, but they weren't
really connecting on the performance side,and it wasn't. It wasn't the delivery

(03:58):
wasn't all the way there. Andso I used what I had from my
artist experience and from different things thatI had done in the studio, because
a lot of times it would pullme into studio sessions to come and coach
to help them get the best performance. And then I started really connecting with
the artists because sometimes you're put ina position where they want you to sound

(04:20):
like somebody, and you really willalways come back to who you are as
a singer and as a vocalist,you will always lean into what you love
and that's kind of your sound.And like if you are a more fluty
sound or a smaller sound versus abig Carrie Underwould sound or a big Adele

(04:42):
sound, or maybe you're a ChristinaAguile or where you have lots of fluidity
in your in your tone and inyour and your vocal ability, you lean
into that and make it marketable.That's going to be what sells because it's
really who you are versus what you'repretending to be. So that's kind of

(05:02):
how it started, and then it'sgrown and over the years, I've officially
marked it in twenty thirteen, andI've been doing it and it's continued to
get bigger and bigger. And Icoached an artist last year in Paris that's
doing jazz vocals in French and anAmerican and English, excuse me. And

(05:28):
then the year before I was workingwith some artists that were in the UK.
And it's been such a wonderful journey. I don't even know how lucky,
how I got this lucky, butI really I just want everybody to
feel good about their voice versus tryingto fit into a mold. I want
them to celebrate their tone, theirtimbre, the way that they pronounce things,

(05:51):
the way that they their range isthere. I want them to celebrate
all those pieces. Were you surprisedthat music kind of took you in a
different direction from you performing to youhelping others. If you would have told
me I was going to do thiswhen I was at Belmont, I would

(06:11):
have laughed, because I couldn't cook, I couldn't teach, I couldn't I
was lucky to get out the doorwith my shoes on. I just wasn't
a very organized person. But Ithink coming after a certain age, you
start to lean into Okay, Ireally like this side of it. I
really like being behind the scenes,not necessarily in front of it. I've

(06:34):
been asked to do background vocals andI call sub floor singing, where I
sing under artists for different projects.I don't really want to be the face
anymore. I love celebrating their winsbecause there's so many good things that are
happening that you want to just alwayspush forward that narrative of them. And
it's hard. You guys have suchyou have so much more responsibility than we

(07:00):
did back in the day. Youhave to be your own marketer, you
have to be your own booker.You have to There's just so many layers.
And if I can be part ofyour team to help elevate you,
then awesome, that's what I wantto do. That's awesome. And so
you said you started a Nashville creativehouse in twenty thirteen. Yep, I

(07:21):
put the I put the marker onit. I actually got, you know,
all the brick and mortar put together, and I have a little studio
in Silva Park and then I traveledto different studios. But yeah, I
started in twenty thirteen. Okay,so do most people that work with you
are they based in Nashville or doyou do a lot of virtual coaching as

(07:43):
well. I do virtual coaching.Sometimes I get to travel, like when
I went to France because it madesense. I had a place to stay
and then they didn't have to payfor everything, they just it worked out.
Or in the UK that also happened, and then I have clients in
Australia, I have clients in NewZealand, and I have them all over

(08:05):
the States. I had a coupleof Mexico and it's just it's been with
zoom in the pandemic and us learninghow to navigate this world online to coach.
It's not my favorite, but itdefinitely works and I can get people
there or where they want to goif they're willing to work right. Yeah.

(08:30):
Absolutely. And so you kind ofmentioned earlier about how some newer artists
they maybe have labels or maybe they'reon a TV show and they're trying to
get them to be a certain imageor be like a certain other artist,
and maybe their tonality and their voiceisn't exactly like that person, so maybe

(08:52):
they're trying too hard with their voiceto be like someone else. So for
especially for newer artists start is tryingto break through. I think it makes
sense to have a music coach anda coach like all around to help you
be to be better on stage,to be a better performer and your mind.
Do you think all singers need avocal coach and what can this help

(09:16):
with? I don't think everybody.I don't think everybody needs a coach,
and I don't think everybody needs acoach full time. I think sometimes I
have clients that come in for whatI call maintenance. Oh, I'm out
on tour. I've got one hundreddates this year, and I'm starting to
lose my edge. My range isgetting wonky, I'm getting sick a lot.
You know, there's all different factorsbecause it's part of our body.

(09:39):
It's not like an external thing likea guitar or a bass or a drum
or a flute or you know,not that you would play a flute and
sing, but I mean you could. There's people that do. But it's
like, what are the components thatare there to help you? You know
that you can do on your own. There's lots of things that you can
do on your own. But sometimeswhen you hit a pat right, just

(10:01):
like a trainer for somebody that's tryingto lose weight or get better in better
shape. Sometimes you hit a patchwhere you need some extra assistance, and
that's what I love to do.I don't want to ever. I don't
take clients right now, I haveforty two clients, and I don't take
clients unless I think I can helpthem. And I always, I always
want us to make sure that we'reon the same page and we're having a

(10:24):
good fit because my technique may notwork for everybody. I use a couple
different techniques that I've learned over theyears, and I'm actually going back for
more certifications in July. Just forthe people that I serve. I want
it to be usable, accessible,stuff that they can take with them and

(10:46):
continue to grow. And our voicechanges, just like our body changes.
Because it's a muscle. We forgetthat it's a muscle. And so if
I was a marathon runner at seventeen, it's going to be a different run.
At twenty it's going to be differentrun at twenty six, it's going
to be different run at thirty two, it's going to be you know what
I'm saying, It's like it's different. They're different ways that you can still

(11:07):
accomplish your goals, but you justhave to try different methodology, right,
And like you said, with maintenance, that's important when you have a lot
of shows going on. Or maybeyou think you're maintaining your voice well and
you know you're an expert, you'vebeen doing this for years. But maybe
this person who's an expert, theyhave an upcoming collaboration with a type of

(11:31):
song they're not comfortable with at all, that's out of their range and they
need to prepare for how they cantackle that, right exactly. I mean
I think everybody you have pieces ofyour voice that you love or hopefully that
you love, but there are othercomponents too. I have a lot of
people that always believe the belt,the high belt is like the money note,

(11:54):
right, But your money note canbe in the low, in the
smoke, in the way that youapproach it emotionally. That's that can be
your that can be your superpower.It just it's like finding those pieces out
and those pieces can interchange, youknow. It's a I always think of
a voice. Every voice is likea dress, and we want to show

(12:18):
off the best bits. If yougot a big bum, you don't want
to. You don't want a tightdress that's showing off your bum, right
you want to show You want somethingthat shows off your shoulders or whatever piece
of you that you you feel reallyconfident about. And then working around different
pieces that maybe you know your falsettoor your head voice isn't that strong,
we can make it stronger, andlearning how to make like the bridge smoother.

(12:43):
There's all these things that can happen. But like knowing where your chocolate
is in your voice and really makingsure that's in in your key and in
your range, and and and whatyou're showing off when you deliver that performance.
Yeah, yeah, I love thattoo, because so many of us
are caught comparing ourselves to others inNashville as artists, trying to look like

(13:09):
others, but also maybe trying tosing like others. So I think it's
so important to know that everyone needsto find their individual strength. Strength about
them and the uniqueness about them appealsto others. And maybe it's not having

(13:31):
a Carrie Underwood voice. Maybe itis something else in their range or in
their tonality that makes them unique andthey need to focus on that. There's
so many I was coaching I wascoaching a girl that was on a show
that's about as much as I cangive, and she was so worried because
her her runs weren't as tight oras deep, and I was like,

(13:56):
this is and she kept comparing herselfto her other person, and I was
like, your voice is amazing,your tone is amazing. You are Adele
and this girl is Christina Aguilera.Are they both amazing voices? Yes?
Are they very different voices? Yes? Right. It doesn't take away from
what you deliver. You lean intowhat you deliver. You don't try to

(14:20):
match. You try to lean intowhat you're best at, because when you
do that, you're being authentic toyourself. And when you get that performance,
people will lean into you. Right, It's not it's not okay,
I can do this triple axel amI in my final chorus. That's another
analogy. It's like, it's whatyou give them from you that makes it

(14:43):
special. Yeah. Yeah. Andthere's so many vocalists on these performance shows
that are trying to do all theruns that they can to stay for the
next week. But everyone's trying todo that, and so there's a certain
point where trying to do all theruns in a song doesn't make you unique.
I think what makes you unique isusing your control and tonality to evoke

(15:07):
a certain message or emotion in asong to the audience, rather than trying
to show that you're so trained inyour vocals and you know the perfect singer.
The gymnastics, I mean, they'reimpressive, right. It takes a
lot to be able to have thatkind of fluidity, and it takes perseverance

(15:28):
and patience, and you can achieveall of those things, there is no
doubt in it. But at theend of the day, is that like,
is that going to be the piecethat makes your voice unique? No,
your tone, the way you deliverit, your cadences, is it
like kind of like a straight lineor does it have little emotional blips?

(15:48):
That's the part I think the reasonwhy we lean into certain voices and always
celebrating like the if it's not.I have one singer that I'm specifically thinking
of that I coach and she wastold for a long time, your voices
to this, your voices to that, and I just said, lean into

(16:10):
that, and she did. Andthen when she surrounded herself with her production
and her musical arrangement, it's setso perfectly. We don't all want it.
If we all sounded to like,I mean, where would we be?
We would be It's like vanilla icecream, you want some chocolate.
You maybe want some posastio and yourchocolate. You know, it's all the

(16:30):
different pieces, right, And it'sokay to say that your voice does not
fit every song. It's totally fineto do that. Or maybe you have
to reconfigure it so it becomes yoursong. Yeah, make it your own.
Yeah. So I want to talkabout warm ups before performing because I
know so many of us in Nashvillewe have busy schedules, go set to

(16:55):
set, and some of us don'thave time to warm up before performing.
So do you think warm ups arealways needed even before a shorter set.
So we are athletes because this isa muscle. So if you were going
to go out and you were goingto do a mile run even or a
two mile run or a marathon,you would still stretch. You wouldn't if

(17:18):
you don't hit the pavement without Ifyou hit the pavement, excuse me,
without stretching, are you going tohave the same type of run as if
you properly stretched out? If youproperly got your body prepared to do that
run right. So if you thinkof it in that way, it makes
so much sense to do warm ups, and you can do them in the

(17:40):
car. It doesn't take you don'thave to do like a half hour of
warm ups. You can do tenminutes to start to stretch the voice.
Because I bet most people by thesecond or third song when they're singing and
they're said, it feels like it'sgot a rhythm, it's got to flow
to it, and that's because thevoice is warmed up. Right. Wouldn't
it be great to have that fromthe get go, from the top of

(18:03):
the set versus waiting to the secondor third song, right, to have
that feeling, because that enhances yourperformance because you feel confident, you're like,
yeah, I got this. Andwould you say, like practicing the
songs before your set, would thatsuffice as a warm up or do you
think vocal exercises are very important?I think if you lay into a song

(18:27):
and you haven't properly warmed up,when you're getting into your chest and we
take we carry the chest range intoour head range or into our falsetto range.
Right, we're literally pushing it up. The larynux is going up to
get into that space. And Ithink, again, it's like I can
go when I can run, Ican go run without warming up. Am

(18:49):
I going to have as good arun? Am I going to feel good?
Is like a half mile in?Is my knee in a jerk?
So I think that it just dependson what you you and it's going to
change, right. It's also youknow what you adapt to one warm up
my work for a short set,and then when it for a long set,
it's like you're still struggling. SoI think I think just doing a

(19:12):
little bit of the arpeggios doing alot of people do mouth trills. I
don't personally like mouth trills, butI do straw work sometimes, or I'll
do different methods that get up intospecifically when you're taking the chest into the
head range, so that your chestmix is loose, it's not tight.

(19:36):
It's not like a muscle that hasto has to be manipulated in order to
get to those notes. And alsobecause you're not worried about those notes,
not worrying and be able to floatright while you're singing, being able just
to love and to give that vocalperformance that you have wanted to give,

(19:57):
that's where the sauce is. Yeah, absolutely, that's very important. So
this has been a popular topic lately. So in a world in the studio
and on the stage where auto tuneand stage effects for your voice are so
popular right now and even lip syncingis vocal coaching still as prominent when there's

(20:23):
some artists now relying on technology justto better their voice. Unnaturally, I
think that the more that you cantap into what you have, whether you
use a coach or not, justtapping into because you're going to have a
live performance where you don't have thatunless you are think about the top echelon

(20:48):
the one percent. The majority ofmusicians are not in that right. The
majority of musicians are probably in thefifty or below percent. Some people are
making enough money to just perform andeat. Some people are making they have
to do kind of like a sidea side hustle and then and then being

(21:10):
able to perform it and that helpsthem have it all together. But I'll
tell you this, going into thestudio as a singer, as a session
singer for yourself or anything else,the more prepared you are, the better
your pitches the better your intonation is, the better your cadence signs are,
the more prepared that you are inanything in life period. When you don't

(21:34):
waste anybody's time, when you don'twaste other people's money or your own money,
and you show up present, readyto work, that says something about
you as an artist. It elevatesyou. If you think that you can
wait and have a producer fix youor have a live engineer. I don't
know, like on the lower tiersof performing, like and not that the

(22:00):
are any less powerful or magnetic,because I went to a writer's night the
other night and it was fantastic.It was absolutely I was in tears.
It was amazing. But those placesdon't have that. Most of the time.
When you're touring, you're luck andyou don't have your own personal sound
person. You don't know what you'regonna get. It's a box of chocolates.

(22:22):
You just don't know what you're gonnaget. And so if you're not
prepared, then your performance is gonnasuffer. And if your performance suffers,
then your audience is not getting thevery best of you. So I don't
think that that's a wise thing,right, And then you won't be booked
again if you don't play warm wellat those venues and people are saying turn
down the volume, but yeah,I've played in many bars and you're lucky

(22:48):
when you get a little bit ofreverse anything, you're lucky if they even
are back there turning the nod.That's right, and that's to enhance your
performance, not you support it.But same with the studio. There's producers
want to do as little vocal editingas they can, and there's so many

(23:11):
amazing auto tune plugins now that doa great job of making voices sound very
natural. But to that point,you can still tell when there's you know,
a lot of autotune on someone's voice. So yeah, it's so important
to make sure your first of all, your mix is good when you're in
the studio, so you hear yourvoice, so you are on pitch,

(23:36):
don't drown yourself and reverb when you'rerecording. I feel I feel like that
apprehends your voice as well. Inthis I totally agree that everybody should have
one can off, which is oneof the ears off, and you should
do it dry because if it soundsamazing dry, it's going to sound amazing
wet. Right, Yeah, AndI know for some pop singers who incorporate

(24:00):
a lot of dancing while they're onstage, they're more comfortable lip syncing because
they're doing a lot of dancing anda lot of cardio and they're out of
breath. But I think personally,I think it's more impressive when an artist
is able to dance and sing atthe same time. I mean, that's
what they do on Broadway, that'strue, But I also think that those

(24:21):
performances, again, you're getting intothe one percent, you're getting into the
j los, you're getting in LadyGaga. I think that they do this
toggle thing or they're live till theycan't hold it, and then they go
to tape, and then they golive tape live tape because you can hear
the difference if you pay, ifyou close, if we're not watching,
closing your eyes, you can actuallyhear that. But at the same time,

(24:45):
it's like that's been going on sinceI don't know, the nineteen nineties,
Yeah, where they where they woulddo one feed to the audience that
is on that is listening from theirtelevisions and d feed live. But it's
like why not, why not dependon your instrument and make it as polished

(25:10):
and as authentic as you because it'sstill inflection. Can't be autotuned. It
can't it can't be. You can'tmanufacture it right. You can't manufacture emotion
in your sound. And that's partof pitch, resonance, intonation, the
whole bit. Yeah, And tome, that's if you're if you're gonna,

(25:33):
if you're gonna do this, don'tcoast, Go in it as authentically
you as possible and lay the vocaldown with every ounce of your heart and
your gut. And going back tothat, I'll give an example really quick.
I went to see Pink and alot of people know who Brandy Carlisle

(25:53):
is and she has sang this songcalled The Story at least three kazillion times,
and I was there and she sangit like it was the first time
she had ever sang it, andit felt it. Everybody felt it.
It was so absolutely palatable, itwas emotional. She was only using monitors

(26:15):
and she talks about how that's allshe uses. She wasn't using in her
ear monitors. She was using thebig box ones and it was just such
a powerful performance and it was amazing. I love that you brought that up,
because even as a independent artist,a lot of us have you know,
one song that we play out allthe time and eventually you know it

(26:38):
could be a great song, butyou get kind of tired or really used
to playing it all the time.It's like it gets tired, so right,
So I think it's important to stillshow emotion with that one song every
performance, with every song, butespecially one that you've played over and over

(26:59):
again, because the audience can tellwhen you're into a song, when you're
feeling a song, and they verytrue on your face of your bored or
not. But the thing is too, it's like people I went to also
see Billy Joel and he's like,I'm just going to play my hits and
when he played them, it's becausethat's what broke you. That was like
that was the first kiss. Itwas it was the moment that you fell

(27:23):
in love with that song or thatartist or the performance. And it's like
when you deliver it, when yougo back, some part of you has
to go back to that spot whereit was fresh to recreate, recreate that
freshness again, and that's an art. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, So

(27:44):
one of my last questions for you, what would you say are some of
your best tips for singers as faras maybe maintaining training, whatever you think
for tips. So the biggest tipI can say is try to find a
ten minute workout. It's just likethe gem. It's just like running or
any cardio. Because it's a muscle. Remember that it's a muscle. Find

(28:07):
one, then find another one,then find another one. Have three,
Always have three, because that's goingto keep changing it up and keep the
voice activated. It's going to keepit working and not getting used to because
like any other muscle, it canadapt and then that's out the that's out
the window. It doesn't it's notas effective, right, So that's number

(28:29):
one. Number two, really payattention to your water intake, the folds,
your vocal folds, not cords,but the vocal folds, which is
what they're properly called. I'm tryingto get more proper as time goes on.
Have to be at sixty percent hydratedbecause if they're not, they're they're
not working at maximum capacity. Soif they're dry, your glottles can stick

(28:53):
together. It can cause and cancause a lot of excess irritation and your
throat. You just don't have asgood a performance as if you're hydrated.
A lot of people are like,I can, I can do a whole
set without taking a drink. I'mlike, that's ridiculous. Yeah, seeing
you can even do this experiment athome. You can sing three songs without

(29:14):
taking a sip and then go backand sing the same three songs and taking
water in between, and hear howmuch clearer your tone is the way that
it's delivered. Your highs are easierbecause it's hydrated. It's the fuel to
get to those places. Yeah.So, and then the third thing that
is kind of like a secret weaponis, especially if you're touring or you've

(29:38):
had a long day in the studio, is a cool down warm up.
It's not a warm up, it'sa cool down. Sorry, so you
doing like where you're going oooh andreally relaxing. It's like a yawn and
relaxing that muscle. Because if youwatch Runners again, I'll use that analogy,

(30:03):
they do a cool down post run, So post show doing that cold
it doesn't have to be long orextensive, and you can still go meet
people. It just is cooling thevoice down. It's like letting it gently
fall back into its natural space,and then that way when you go forward,
especially over time, you will havea sustainable voice. Those are great

(30:26):
tips, especially the last one.I know. I do some three or
four hour sets sometimes and by theend of it, I feel like I
have a smoker's voice and a ticklein my throat the next day. So
yeah, people want to be donewith singing by the end of a long
set, but I think that cooldown is so important. And also you
could use the straw there's a tonof videos on there about straw work.

(30:48):
But again, if you use somethingevery day, you need to vary it
up because it's a muscle and itwill adjust to it and then your impact
will not be successful. And ifit's not successful, then you're not going
to do anything, and then it'sgoing to leave you right back into a
space that's not helping your voice besustainable. Yeah, yeah, this is

(31:11):
this is very good to know.Thank you, so girl, you can
singer. Took us off, sobut it's still you still got to go
back to the basics and do thework. Yeah, you have to do
the work. Yeah. So mo, where can people find you if they
want to get in touch with youfor any sort of vocal coaching or music

(31:33):
coaching lessons in general. I knowyou have a lot of clients. Oh
yeah, but I'd love to talkto anybody. I always will talk to
I will literally talk to anybody andsee if I'm even the right fit for
you. If I'm the right footfit you, they can contact me at
Nashville Creative House. I'm on Instagram, we have a Facebook page. I'm

(31:56):
not really on TikTok because I justI can't keep up with everything. So
those are the two places, andI have a website, but Instagram at
Nashville Creative House is probably the easiestand you can message me perfect amazing.
Thank you so much and thanks fortaking your time to be here today. Ma