Singing From Scratch By cover art

Singing From Scratch

By: Michael Graves
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  • Summary

  • Learn How To Sing Like A Pro!
    2019
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Episodes
  • Why Singing Lessons Don’t Work

    Why Singing Lessons Don’t Work
    Aug 27 2019
    Instead of giving you a synopsis of this episode on Why Singing Lessons Don’t Work, I’m including a transcript.  It’s that important.  So here it goes! Introduction I’m going to get a little controversial with you and probably step on some toes, and feelings in the process. But hey, maybe I’ll help some people at the same time. And that’s the important part. To me it’s worth a few hurt feelings and squashed toes. Today, I’m going to tell you why most singing lessons don’t work. I’m going to start off with a little mental demonstration. Image if you will. You’ve just boarded a small plane in Miami or somewhere on your way to Barbados for a vacation. You’re about halfway there when the pilot and copilot come walking through the cabin and then jump with the last two parachutes. Well, obviously somebody’s gotta land the plane. And that somebody is you. But all you have to rely on for training is a video game flight simulator you once played, or movies you’ve watched where a passenger ‘magically’ lands the plane saving everyone on board. You think ‘Ok. I’ve seen snakes on a plane, how hard can it be right?’ So, without any understanding about taking off, landing, how the controls work, the navigation, gauges, wind speed, surface speed, approach speed, angle of approach, how to put on the brakes etc., basically all the necessary fundamentals on flying, you’re supposed to land this plane safely. Right… That’d be terrifying. Well, for some it’s just as terrifying to sing on stage in front of a live audience. And that is simply due to poor singing fundamentals or no fundamentals at all. The Why A LOT of vocal coaches skip the fundamentals. Most of your most popular online singing courses do as well. They go straight to the sexy shiny tips and tricks.  Or they skim the top of the important stuff giving you just enough information to be dangerous so to speak, using the airplane example from before. Or even more disastrous, you take these lessons, think you have it all under control, go out and sing, fail a little bit, if not miserably, and then give up singing for good.  For the rest of your life.  You decide that you just can’t sing.  That you don’t have “it”. And it’s over before it even starts. They use catch phrases like “Better Vocal Control”, “More Accurate Pitch”, “Improving Tone”, “Improved Power”, “Vocal Agility”. Ok fine. Let’s take a look at a few of those. Marketing Catch Phrases Better Vocal Control – How about vocal control at all?  How about knowing exactly what vocal control is? What IS actually doing the ‘controlling’? More Accurate Pitch – Of course they’re assuming the student can even sing in tune to get more accurate from. Better yet, what IS singing in tune and why is it important to understand what pitch even is? Improving Tone – How can you improve tone when you don’t even have a knowledge of tone to improve.  What is tone? What are the mechanics behind it? How about we learn how to create tone before we try to improve it? Huh? Vocal Agility – This one is a funny one to me. Ever have a spouse, partner, parent, friend, teacher, anybody chew you out for something?  In the middle you usually hear a phrase like ‘and another thing…’ or something like that. Context aside, think about what their voice was doing throughout it all. Goes something like this. “I can’t even BELIEVE you would even think about doing something like that!  Seriously? What in the world were you thinking? Obviously you weren’t or you wouldn’t have done it in the first place!” Going up and down, and loud then soft, then jumping high then low. That’s some serious vocal agility there. But it certainly isn’t singing. So how about we teach the student how to sing notes first before bunching them all up and attacking vocal agility? Tips and Tricks Now as you know it’s true.  I do give several tips and tricks so to speak in my free YouTube videos, FB Posts, and my podcast.  But everything I do is to help you start down the road to REALLY learning how to sing and learning the basics.  I don’t stop with just tips and tricks.  My courses are not about tips and tricks. Those are shortcuts. Shortcuts to helping you sing one thing in one specific way. You leave all happy with your progress and your new trick. But then what? Are you actually ready for the stage?  Are you actually ready to walk into the vocal booth and nail it? There are no shortcuts that work.  You have to know the basics. So, before you take any lessons from a vocal coach, check THEIR understanding of the basics. Otherwise you are learning how to fly from someone who doesn’t have a pilots license. I’m not saying this because I want you to take vocal lessons from me instead of them.  I don’t even give new students vocal lessons. Period. And I will explain in a minute. I will explain why I think it would be ripping them off if I did....
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    14 mins
  • How To Sing Harmonies – Part 3

    How To Sing Harmonies – Part 3
    Aug 21 2019

    Welcome back to final part in a 3 part series on How To Sing Harmonies.  As I go over in the intro, this episode is released late due to A/C leaking problems here at the studio.  Had to vacate for a bit.  But we’re back and rockin’ away.  In this episode I’m actually borrowing the audio from a YouTube video I did on How To Sing Simple Harmonies. Not really borrowing, as the entire purpose of recording the video was to ALSO create the audio for this podcast.  I did it this way simply because I was able to get good stereo separation from the video sound in order to separate the different parts for you in your ears, as you will soon hear.

    Here’s what I go over in this podcast:

    Answer a listener’s question about where I got the podcast intro song I use Sing On Yeah!  You might be surprised at the answer lol!!

    • How the exercises are laid out and how to practice them.
    • 3 parts demonstrated.
    • Melody Primary Notes Exercise
    • 3rd Part Harmony Primary Notes Exercise
    • 5th Part Harmony Primary Notes Exercise
    • Melody, 3rd, and 5th full notes with transition notes Exercise.
    • Singing each part with me with stereo separation Exercise.
    • Conclusion

    Let me know if you have any questions.  Until then..

    Sing On!

    Michael

    The post How To Sing Harmonies – Part 3 appeared first on Singing From Scratch.
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    26 mins
  • How To Sing Harmonies Part 2

    How To Sing Harmonies Part 2
    Aug 7 2019

    Oddly enough, even some professional singers have a problem learning how to sing harmonies. It’s not just a beginner problem.  Essentially it is an ability to hold your own, be an individual voice, and sing with others at the same time.  This part 2 version of how to sing harmonies introduces you and helps you train yourself to hold your own note and sing with other.  In this instance the other singers are me! I will use editing magic again to bring in me singing both notes. This is what we will cover:

    • What harmonies are recap.
    • What the 1st, 3rd and 5th harmonies are.
    • SINGING EXERCISE with you holding the main (tonic) note with me and then my voice coming in again with the 3rd.
    • SINGING EXERCISE with you holding the 3rd with me and then me bringing in the tonic.
    • SINGING EXERCISE with you holding the tonic by yourself and then me bringing in the 3rd.
    • SINGING EXERCISE with you holding the 3rd by yourself and then me bringing in the tonic.
    • REPEAT OF THE ABOVE BUT WITH THE 5TH.

    And then as usual the wrap-up!

    Let me know if you have any questions, and as always Happy Singing!

    Michael

    The post How To Sing Harmonies Part 2 appeared first on Singing From Scratch.
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    20 mins
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