How-to Videos and Exercises
Performing—What it All Comes Down To
You work on your singing in order to sing. To make music. To express yourself. To be seen and heard, and to see and hear. To tell a story. To communicate. To feel the joy of music running through your veins and pouring out of your soul. When you work on singing technique and building styles skills, you are developing the tools you need so you can sing well, so you can stay in the moment in performance and focus on making music without worrying about whether your voice will show up or not.
When you perform, focus on this expression, on your love of making music, on how it makes you feel to have music come forth from your body. After all, you're entire body is your instrument.
What is performing anyway? Sure, simply stated it means that you're singing in front of an audience. But it goes much deeper than that. Think about your favorite performing artists, for example. What do they have in common? What about one of your favorite singers moves you? It's likely some of these things:
- The sound of their voice. Their lyrics. Their confidence, their style. The rhythms of the songs. How they connect with the audience. Perhaps it's also their singing skill, their runs and riffs, their exquisite intonation.
These things would be shallow though without heart, the performer's personality, their gift of their music to you, their audience.
That's the thing. It's a performer being moved that moves their audience. The audience is there because they're excited to hear you, to have an experience.
One student told me he realized after reading the inspiring words by voice teacher Mark Baxter, who's interviewed in my book Your Singing Voice, that the audience is not a panel of judges. The audience is not there to notice every tiny little flaw in your singing. An audience is a group of people who love music. That's why they've come to your show. They want to hear you. They want to love your performing! The negative beliefs you fear come instead from inside your own thoughts. That's why a big part of building your skills as a performer is to manage negative thoughts that all human beings have, so they don't interfere with what you love to do. It's about managing your self-compassion with constructive self-criticism.
In these videos and blogs we explore many different sides to performing. Take time to ponder these ideas. Keep a journal, write down what you love, what you're less crazy about in a performer. Write down what you like about performing yourself, what is scary, what makes you feel powerful, or moved. Journaling lets you keep track of what is working, and what can still be improved upon, and most importantly, it shows you your progress.
Stage Presence
What gives someone stage presence? What gives them that sparkle on stage that keeps your eyes riveted on them? They seem confident, and present, performing their song without apology. In this video we take a look at how to find that sparkle within yourself.
Mic Technique
In this video, Jeannie shows you some essential basics about using a microphone.
Singing Review: Olivia Rodrigo, good 4 u
This is the first in a series of reviewing how popular singers are using their voices. In her song good 4 u Olivia Rodrigo belts, does close-mike singing, and the song has plenty of stacked vocals. It's really well done. Olivia Rodrigo is becoming a huge star before our eyes. This is a pop song, a huge hit!
If I Were a Boy, A Capella Cover, Demonstrating Belting, Vocal Harmony, Beat Boxing and Vocal Grooves
Jeannie sings If I Were a Boy by Beyoncé a capella in 6-parts, to demonstrate belting, whisper singing, harmony, beat boxing and vocal grooves.
If you're interested in creating a multi-picture video, here's how this video was created: Jeannie recorded the audio and video simultaneously live into Logic for audio through her mic, and Quicktime for video using her computer's camera. Then she edited it all together together in Final Cut Pro X by lining up the video and audio tracks. The first effort was using the a capella app for iPhone, but that has little editing functionality, and the quality was limited to earbuds, so that effort was scrapped. This version took quite awhile to produce, but hopefully the result is worth it!
Sing Like a Star!
What is it that makes a singer really stand out, really touch you? In this video we'll take a look at things like:
- Stage presence
- Confidence
- Being comfortable being vulnerable on stage
When you love what you do, when you share your singing unequivocally, when you move yourself singing—you're on the right track to really reaching your audience, too.
Understand and Master Rhythmic Subdivisions for Working With a Band
This short video explains and demonstrates the five standard subdivisions that your band needs to know:
- Straight 8ths
- Swing 8ths
- Straight 16ths
- Swing 16ths
- 12/8 or 6/8 triplet feels
Understanding a groove's subdivision—or rhythmic value that is faster than the downbeat—makes all the difference in how well your band is synchronized, and in how well you synchronize your own singing with them. It also helps a lot for improvising.Learn to Love Your Voice
"It's never too late to study, and it's never too late to fall in love with your voice"
Some of what you believe about your singing may be false!
Here are pointers to keep in mind as you learn to love your voice.
- Build skills for singing in tune
- Honor your process while you're discovering your voice
- It's important to practice!
- Respect the fact that your voice sounds like you. That's a beautiful thing!
Get Comfortable With Your Arms
"My arms look stupid." That's a chapter name in my book Your Singing Voice because it's such a common way to feel about moving on stage! This is especially true when you're used to playing an instrument while you sing, and how weird it feels in that moment you're singing without it. For most people, standing in front of an audience is awkward at best and terrifying at worst! Your arms don't seem to want to be noticed. They hang, they jerk, they tense. They "do the T-Rex." Turns out though, when your arms are freer, so is your singing.
In this video we take a look at ways you can help yourself to get more at ease with how you move when you perform.
Rhythm Grooves for Singers: Understanding Subdivisions
To get solid working with a band, and to lock your vocals in with a groove with a strong rhythmic feel, your first step is to understand how a groove is built upon the subdivision of the beat. This is true for all styles of popular music.
There are five basic subdivisions, which I explain to you in this video with examples:
- Straight 8ths
- Swing 8ths
- Triplet feels, such as 6/8 and 12/8
- Straight 16ths
- Swing 16ths
