Post by Karen on Sept 19, 2006 16:47:01 GMT 10
In the process of discovering your voice, it’s exciting to know that you can also discover a lot about yourself as person. For example after last week’s lesson were you able to admit that your voice isn’t perfect? Because if you can acknowledge your singing mistakes you’re actually one step closer to solving them. And if you genuinely wish to triumph both on a personal level and with your singing talent you need to consider this – you must stop comparing your voice with others.
Have you ever sung in a talent contest? If you’re like most singers, you probably entered into them at one point or other in your life. So what was the outcome? Did you win the talent contest? Or did you end up feeling envious of the winner? Were you annoyed that you weren’t picked or disappointed that you let yourself down? Jealous, perhaps even downright angry?
Now don’t get me wrong, talent contests have their place. They can be an excellent learning experience when you receive constructive criticism from a helpful panel of music industry representatives. The problem however is that the majority of talent contests pit singers against each other, sometimes in the cruelest possible way. “This singer is better than this singer; this singer is worse,” and so on.
I believe you are worth way more than just being judged a winner or loser. Singing is not about competition. It’s not a sport. Singing is an art form. The purest expression of emotion.
Believe it or not, your voice is unique – just like a fingerprint. There never has been a voice like yours before and there never will be ever again. In fact we can even make the analogy of your voice to a snowflake! According to scientists, no two snowflakes have ever been found to have the same pattern. Each snowflake is a work of art, beautiful in it’s own intriguing way – just like your voice. So rather than compare your voice with other singers, focus on the undeniable fact that your voice is a one-off. Pinpoint that special something in your voice that makes you different.
Now in my inbox every week I receive hundreds of emails from singers all over the world. I’m often amazed at the requests I receive. You see, many singers email me to ask how they can develop their voices like their favorite artists. No, they don’t want to sound unique, they want to sound like Mariah Carey, Amy Lee, Chester Bennington, or Josh Groban. I even recall one singer who actually wished she was Kylie Minogue!
So let’s face facts. While we may admire celebrity singers, why should we waste our talent on merely being their shadows? Let’s think about our audience for a moment. They’re always on the lookout for something new, something different. Slightly familiar is ok, but a direct copy is always going to be a bad copy – there’s nothing as good as the original. We have thousands of Elvis impersonators out there, but there was only one Elvis!
So you may be wondering by now how to develop your own unique and original sound. This is a challenging task for any singer, as it’s easy to be influenced by our favorite artists. The first way is start listening to music and singers you wouldn’t normally listen to. Open your ears and suspend your judgment for a while.
The second method requires greater sacrifice but gives greater results. Stop listening to any singers whatsoever for a whole week. Yes, no celebrities for the next seven days! Listen only to yourself. Buy some sheet music of a song you’ve never heard and learn to sing it in your style. ‘Make’ the song your own. After a week of singing this song, listen to the version with the original singer. Are you surprised?
Your voice is unique and every path to success is different. Focus on yourself and your journey. Who knows, someday there may be thousands of young hopefuls wishing to sing just like you.
Have you ever sung in a talent contest? If you’re like most singers, you probably entered into them at one point or other in your life. So what was the outcome? Did you win the talent contest? Or did you end up feeling envious of the winner? Were you annoyed that you weren’t picked or disappointed that you let yourself down? Jealous, perhaps even downright angry?
Now don’t get me wrong, talent contests have their place. They can be an excellent learning experience when you receive constructive criticism from a helpful panel of music industry representatives. The problem however is that the majority of talent contests pit singers against each other, sometimes in the cruelest possible way. “This singer is better than this singer; this singer is worse,” and so on.
I believe you are worth way more than just being judged a winner or loser. Singing is not about competition. It’s not a sport. Singing is an art form. The purest expression of emotion.
Believe it or not, your voice is unique – just like a fingerprint. There never has been a voice like yours before and there never will be ever again. In fact we can even make the analogy of your voice to a snowflake! According to scientists, no two snowflakes have ever been found to have the same pattern. Each snowflake is a work of art, beautiful in it’s own intriguing way – just like your voice. So rather than compare your voice with other singers, focus on the undeniable fact that your voice is a one-off. Pinpoint that special something in your voice that makes you different.
Now in my inbox every week I receive hundreds of emails from singers all over the world. I’m often amazed at the requests I receive. You see, many singers email me to ask how they can develop their voices like their favorite artists. No, they don’t want to sound unique, they want to sound like Mariah Carey, Amy Lee, Chester Bennington, or Josh Groban. I even recall one singer who actually wished she was Kylie Minogue!
So let’s face facts. While we may admire celebrity singers, why should we waste our talent on merely being their shadows? Let’s think about our audience for a moment. They’re always on the lookout for something new, something different. Slightly familiar is ok, but a direct copy is always going to be a bad copy – there’s nothing as good as the original. We have thousands of Elvis impersonators out there, but there was only one Elvis!
So you may be wondering by now how to develop your own unique and original sound. This is a challenging task for any singer, as it’s easy to be influenced by our favorite artists. The first way is start listening to music and singers you wouldn’t normally listen to. Open your ears and suspend your judgment for a while.
The second method requires greater sacrifice but gives greater results. Stop listening to any singers whatsoever for a whole week. Yes, no celebrities for the next seven days! Listen only to yourself. Buy some sheet music of a song you’ve never heard and learn to sing it in your style. ‘Make’ the song your own. After a week of singing this song, listen to the version with the original singer. Are you surprised?
Your voice is unique and every path to success is different. Focus on yourself and your journey. Who knows, someday there may be thousands of young hopefuls wishing to sing just like you.
