Singing and Instrumental LESSONS! :)

How do you practice singing?

Learned singing while a kid with my father (a classical singer, Gerard Lesne). Then at the conservatory, in a choir once a week (super boring).

Trained for six months with my father later on, around my 20s, because we felt there was a path, but I don't really like classical music, and we got into an argument, so we gave up.

Right now just singing from time to time, usually try to see if I can reach The Weeknd's high register or Jack White's.

But when & if I train, I do the very basic exercices I did with my father, to get all the pitches in their right places, octave by octave, from top to bottom, bottom to top (rinse and repeat).

A, E, I, O, U.
BA, SA, TA, KA, RA, VA, JA, XA.
etc etc etc

It's pretty basic stuff really, and if I do that everyday I usually get in full possession of my voice in a week or so. "Les vocalises" in french. Heard my father do them almost everyday for years.

When I sing I try to relax all the body, don't force a certain timber (darken it brighten it or whatever), and get to my "true" voice. Which is quite complicated really because of internal & external influences.

"Never work too hard on it, or you can damage it", is what I've been told. And not too loud, that can be dangerous too.

And don't fucking smoke of course. This I did for six years, and it's a bad idea if you want to keep the voice pure.

xxxxx

Oops! Another instructor I like a lot is... Jeffrey Allen.
He's probably still teaching at USC.

His "Secrets of Singing" Book/CD's are quite good IMHO.

Also have E. Herbert Caesari's book about Singing Technique.
(Best Gollum/LOTR voice)
It's my "Precious"!
Chris

True.
Interesting though that Tamplin is SO "anti-Gug" exercises.

Overall was super influenced by Pelayo.
Who was an actual Bel Canto artist.
But who specialized in heavier Italian repertoire.
Kind of voice for Wagner!

Some Speech Level stuff I like.
But IMHO not fully sufficient for Opera or (night after night) heavy Popera Broadway.

Even Linda Rondstat had to study with Marge Remington to do "Pirates of Penzance".

Manuel Garcia (Baritone)was against humming!
But younger Dramatic Mezzo sister Pauline, was "for it".
Both great.

Their sister Maria, was also fantastic.

Chris
P.S. I haven't found any Roger Love singing yet.
He'd be interesting to hear.
Sounds great demonstrating his exercises though.

I understand.
Tamplin comes on pretty strong in general.
Got that Rock as Theatre thang going on.
But...

I think he's sincere in his path.
And cares about his students.
(As the other "Big Dogs" already mentioned)

Just following the 30 minute workout teaching, has been helpful.

Whereas Freya's personality is very sweet.
Chris

I have been doing his daily warm ups (about 30min worth) on my way to work in the mornings religiously for almost three years.  While very helpful, I also began working with a local vocal coach about a year ago and that’s what really started my rapid improvement.   She likes coming out and see me play (she did that tonight) and when I told her I wanted to work on harmony singing, she wrote out some harmony parts for me and then  we went and sang the songs at an open mic.  She is all about performing.  


Oh, and about the guitar..  I was a little kid when the Glen Campbell Good Time Hour used to come on and he’s why I wanted to  start playing.  A few years later I had bought a fender bronco guitar and champ amp.   I palyed along with Kiss and the Allman Brothers mostly.  My playing is a cross betweem Ace Frehley and Dicky Betts. 😂

Any recommended online drumming programs? I’d like to learn.

My condensed musical biography.

First, I just turned 67. All of my vocal training has been on-the-job. I consider myself more of a background singer who can do the occasional lead vocal. I'm a guitar player who sings. Not a singer who plays guitar.

I was figuring out songs from the radio on piano when I was 6 or 7 so my mom thought it would be good for me to learn how to do it properly. I took classical piano for 3 years. Starting when I was 8. Then I got a guitar and piano was no longer my thing. Now I wish I had stuck with piano as well. Classical piano had no appeal to me at the time. I wanted to rock. I still play some keys but not as well as I would like to.

I started playing guitar full-time in 1967 when I was 10 and never looked back. I was extremely driven. Lucky to have been born with a good set of musical ears, I would learn songs and solos from records. My dad had a reel-to-reel tape deck so I would record the songs onto tape. I figured out that if I slowed the tape to half speed it lowered the pitch exactly and octave and I could figure out fast guitar solos and parts. I would play for hours every single school day and all day and night on the weekends. I did that until I was 15 when I started jamming with friends. Started playing in bands when I was 16 and did that until my 40's. Did countless recording sessions as a guitarist and as an engineer.

I had taken music theory and harmony classes all through high school as well as played in the stage-jazz band every day as one of my classes starting my 11th grade year and did that for 2 years. Took my first jazz guitar lesson when I was 22 and when it was over the teacher wanted me to give him a rock lesson. So I did. Other than that one lesson I didn't take any more guitar instruction until 2004 when I was 47. I had developed severe carpal tunnel in both wrists and had all but stopped playing for about 5 years. AFter I had the surgery to correct that I took steady lessons from a shredder guitarist who was absolutely amazing. I did that for about 2 years to get my playing back up to speed after being on "guitar player health leave" for so long. During the time I couldn't really play I had my own live sound company for a number of years and did FOH sound. Still had my home studio.

As a kid I had done some sound-on-sound stuff with my dad's deck and had also bought another reel-to-reel machine and would record 2 tracks and play that back and add another part while dubbing it to the other machine. I would do that over and over until the fidelity was completely gone. Did my first recording session in a commercial studio when I was 19 and was totally hooked. Me and a friend combined all our recording gear and made our first home studio. Bought a TEAC 3440 and went nuts. Then bought an Otari MX5050HSD 1/2" tape machine and went more nuts. Then a Mac with a sequencer and multiple synths and drum machines. Went nuts even harder.

I am mostly a self taught but trained musician. I don't gig anymore and haven't for about 15 years but I still practice almost every day and still work on my musical knowledge as well as technique. By now I have a pretty good technical working knowledge of music but still play mostly by ear. Still have a home studio and can't get enough of it. Thus, my reason for being here. I can still play guitar, but since I haven't gigged for so long my live chops are rusty but I can still get it done. It just takes me longer than it used to.

If you want to hear my golden speaker-singing voice you can go here. That's all me from the ground up.

realgearonline.com/thread/17533/new-buuuuuut

realgearonline.com/thread/17581/basically-finished-real-drums

Just play like you wanted to kill the guy who stole your high school sweetheart. That worked for me.


Kidding. I'm just insane in the brain.

It's said that singing to kids at a young age is a very important for developing an ear. My father used it sing to me at bed time, my grand mother loved singing. It's very depressing that I could not have done that more often. 

Yes, I want kids very much but I turned 38 on August 15th (free day in many countries ). Too much shit for one man to handle. Anyway, I'm not giving up. My uncle created a second family after he was over 40. Life's life, na na nana na.
I live in Lithuania, same shit started happening after we broke free from USSR. Geographically we are in the center of European continent but we are called Eastern Europeans, sometimes - Nordic. Who cares, really. We are the cross road Country. 

Postscript...
Am also liking Justin Stoney's Video explanations.

BTW am warming up and practicing mostly "easy" songs (90%+).
To first secure Breath Management/Proper Support...

And often use the (sometimes) resulting Vibrato, as a Litmus test.
On how well things are balanced.
Chris