I’m so excited to have you!
Studio Members get motivational emails every once in a while, first dibs on scholarship seats to singing workshops and master-classes and other studio member-only resources I don’t offer anywhere else.
I’m so excited to have you!
Studio Members get motivational emails every once in a while, first dibs on scholarship seats to singing workshops and master-classes and other studio member-only resources I don’t offer anywhere else.
Do you ever notice how easy it is to get caught up in the minutia of your singing technique? We spend so much time and energy perfecting and polishing every little thing, seeking out technique tips and testing out performance hacks in hopes of finding the secret to great singing. But in doing so, we can so easily loose sight of what the purpose of it all is. Above all else, we are artists. We are creators seeking to share our experience of the world with others through our voice. “To be an artist is to witness the world. Open your ears, open your eyes. Notice the gifts around you.” That’s a wonderful quote from bestselling author, Dani Shapiro on maximizing the creative process. When we become so consumed with the physical practice of our technique, it can be like walking through a landscape with blinders on. We only see the 10% of the landscape we are focused on, and we miss everything else around us that could be informing our journey. When we take in the world and witness it with an open heart, we reconnect with the creative artists that we are. In doing so, we are much more
It’s coming on summer and one of my favorite things to do here in Los Angeles in summer is go to concerts at The Hollywood Bowl. Hearing amazing music under the stars on a balmy evening with a gourmet picnic and a great glass of wine – well, there’s not much else that can beat that in my book. (If you’re not from L.A. or have never been to The Bowl before, here’s a photo:) Then I realized that The Hollywood Bowl actually plays a huge part in what I teach and how I sing, and THAT makes me love The Bowl even more! You see, so many singers suffer from a brassy or nasal resonance in their sound. How do you sing without a nasal tone? How do you fix a brassy sound? You guessed it . . . . The Hollywood Bowl! In today’s video I will explain how The Hollywood Bowl can help you sing without a nasal tone and rid your resonance of an overly brassy timbre. The ideas in this video were game changing for me when I first learned them, and I’m really excited to share them with you now. You will learn: The
Today I’m bringing you two short and sweet technical tips to help you achieve a more reliable breath support. To improve your breath support, it all begins with words. That’s right. . . . not the air, not your diaphragm, not your lungs. . . . words! The words we use to direct ourselves in our technique and around our support REALLY matter. Changing words shifts understanding. A new understanding shifts mindset. And a new mindset results in a new physical response which helps your body work for you instead of against you in accessing your most efficient singing technique. I love clever life hacks (who knew a balled up piece of tin foil makes a great substitute for steel wool??). Consider these breath support tips my version of clever singing hacks. They are achieved by merely changing a few words! Watch the video. And if you’d like a more in depth understanding of how to achieve proper breath support for singing, check out some of my earlier posts and accompanying videos on the topic: “How To Sing With Appoggio” has really good explanations and exercises for how to find and feel your support correctly in your body. Understanding and
As many of you know, I have a four year old daughter. One of the things I learned from parenting her throughout the toddler years (and now the preschool years) is the value of re-direction. Thank the lord for re-direction!!! I can not overstate how many times this tactic has saved me from being on the receiving end of a major fuss. And for singers, the value of re-direction is just as strong. Re-direction is a really powerful way to combat tension. My favorite re-direction tool is opposition. There are SO many useful applications for opposition in singing. The one I’m focusing on today is using opposition to help singers increase vocal range. In my experience, most singers have much more range then they’re currently able to access. The reason it’s so hard for many of you to make use of the upper reaches of your range is because too much tension builds up around your larynx as you rise in pitch and you get stuck. The idea of opposition can make all the difference in the world in reducing tension in singing to increase vocal range. Watch today’s Blog video to learn how to employ opposition to help you
Dispelling myths about breath support is like taking a sledgehammer to a cracked foundation. I think most architects would agree that when it comes to building a house, getting the foundation right is the most important part. Without it, the building will not stand (at least not for long!). In the very same way, our breath support is the foundation of our singing. It is from this support that our sound maintains stability. Yet it seems for SO many singers (even those who have had tons of training) a truly solid understanding of this foundation remains elusive. Unfortunately there’s a lot of misleading and contradictory information out there which only serves to confuse more. So in this blog post, I’m going to try to address what I find to be the two most common myths about breath support. Myth #1 – You should breathe into your belly. Noooooooo! When I see these words on paper this technique looks even more ridiculous. Breathe into my belly? I’m pretty sure I don’t have lungs in my belly. If you’ve heard this, it’s because someone has noticed you are taking shallow breaths which pull your chest and shoulders up. The things is,
The importance of ‘gratitude’ is often discussed this time of year, and I’ve found a way of using gratitude that can be even more powerful when linked to our singing technique. This isn’t just a “woo woo” theory. I use this idea in my studio and in my own singing technique year round and I can attest to the results. You’ll learn exactly what this is all about, and the four steps to implementing it into your singing technique in today’s blog video: Now I’d love to hear from you. After you’ve done the gratitude and awareness journaling exercise I outline in the video, in the comments below please share your discoveries to these questions: In what ways do I interfere with my body’s efficient design to make sound? (Think about your habits, tensions, ideas of control and manipulation of sound) What would happen if I stepped out of the way? (In what way can gratitude help me entrust my technique to my body’s sound making design?) What feelings come up when I think about the prospect of doing this? Remember, share as much detail as possible in your reply. So many singers come here each week
Awareness plays a huge part in learning how to improve your singing. Before you say “Oh Arden, you’re jumping on the awareness bandwagon too??” let me admit to already being a full fledged rider of that bandwagon for many reasons, not the least of which is that awareness is the number one tool I use as a singer and teacher to inspire the biggest improvements in singing technique for myself and my students. In my own life lately, this awareness has expanded in a very cool way and I’m excited to share it with you here. I find myself completely aware of how things that seem to have nothing to do with how to improve singing, actually have everything to do with how to improve singing! My latest epiphany occurred in yoga the other day. As many of you know, I’m a devoted yogi. One of the basic poses in yoga is called Tadasana, or Mountain Pose. Tadasana is the foundation for all standing poses in yoga. The basic structure of Tadasana consists of standing with your feet together and your arms by your side with your palms open facing out – nothing more then that. The other day I
Watch how the idea of “talking on pitch” in her song to helps Crystal to stabilize her support and maximize her resonance in her chest voice.
When we talk, most of us innately do many things which maximize our resonance and support our sound, but somehow these things go out the window when we sing, much to the detriment of our sound. So using the tool of “talking on pitch” can help shed some of the inefficient manipulations singers employ which are not needed for a supported and resonant sound.
I recently gave a masterclass at USC for singers in Mu Sigma Epsilon (a music fraternity within USC’s Thornton School Of Music). Here is a clip of Sloane singing a phrase from a Pink song and the “before” and “after” working with her on finding a more open, supported and less pinched resonance.