The world’s most positive voice teacher
I love this guy. Love, love, love.
I once took about eight voice lessons before I quit in despair, and maybe if he’d been my voice teacher I would have improved rather than gotten worse over the course of my study.
Talk about accentuating the positive! This guy doesn’t seem phony about it at all, either. And his message isn’t just empty “everyone should get a medal” feel-good praise. It’s that just about anyone can learn to sing with the right instruction, and that insults don’t help.
Here’s my favorite segment of the video:
My ex-husband was a terrible singer for much of his life, and had been told as much as a small boy. He was often off-key, for example, and he knew it. He only would sing when totally fooling around, and not in his real voice. But a few years ago I caught him singing for real, just a few notes, and I noticed something I’d never noticed before: his singing voice had quite a beautiful tone and timbre. Really really pleasant, strong and resonant.
I was stunned. It occurred to me that the only thing he needed was a little training to help him stay on key—and apparently, practicing singing would have helped with that, because one of the reasons he ordinarily didn’t sing was that he could hear that he wasn’t on key and he would stop before he got far at all. It turns out that that meant he wasn’t the least bit tone-deaf, and all he needed was to keep singing with a helpful teacher.
In fact, as I reflected on it, my ex had always been a fabulous whistler, and completely on key when he whistled. So it made sense that he’d be able to learn to sing on key once he practiced enough with his real voice. But despite my encouragement, he backed off from trying to learn.
Anyway, I’d love to meet some teacher like the guy in the video and give it a go myself.
Oh my…. revel in the fact that the dulcet tones of your prose are always music to our ears…. “Only the lull I like, the hum of your valved voice.”
I recently saw an old film, “The Bad and Beautiful,” with an Oscar winning small part played by Gloria Grahame; and I remembered Neo’s post of her performing a song from Oklahoma, “I cain’t say no!” or some such title. Viewing that clip I thought it was odd in a sort of mysterious way. Was she doing a good job of portraying a bad singer, or was she really that bad, or was there something else too?
I was reading about Grahame’s Hollywood history and the topic of her Oklahoma performances was mentioned.
“Tone-deaf, she sang without dubbing in only one film, Oklahoma! (1955), where her songs were edited together from recordings made almost literally note by note.”
Yes, she was really that bad, and there was something else; numerous splices in the audio. I still liked the performance though and it fit the role. I imagine they didn’t dub her signing because her speaking voice is so unique they couldn’t match it. Why they didn’t replace her entirely is another question.
That guy, Sam Johnson, is great, for all the reasons you list.
I attended Catholic school through the eighth grade. Every day we had a chorus or singing period. The nuns all had a pitch pipe and we all had to sing along. Sometimes it was hymns, other times it was carols (at Christmas), and frequently it was pop songs (this was in the Sixties) including Motown. We all participated (45 kids or so per classroom) and I’ve always loved music and love to sing. I don’t know if I’m any good, and don’t really care, but my lovely wife of 38 years never asks me to stop. I suppose there could be reasons other than the quality of my singing that explains that …
Love this guy Johnson, for his positive and encouraging approach.
I have read that people speaking languages that are tonal, like Cantonese, do not lose their perfect pitch that most babies are born with. Is that why there are so many Asian classical musicians ?
For example,
I am also a fan of Gloria Graham and that movie. I have her biography.
Yes, strive. A problem occurs when people are encouraged to accept themselves as they are, as the lowest common denominator. It’s a kind of stigma that promotes diabetes, diversity, Choice, liberalism, stagnation, and other self-destructive orientations and behaviors.
I am short and stocky, built like an oil drum. With my gray hair, I look like a badger. Alas, I also sing like one. No matter how much I like singing.
I’ve been singing since age 3, starting in church choir, and have noticed an odd thing about our cultural matrix.
Why is it that people readily accept the need for continuous practice and drill in sports, but feel that one can only be a good singer if it “comes naturally” and you don’t really need instruction and training?
It is a puzzlement.
TommyJay on September 15, 2018 at 3:38 pm at 3:38 pm said:
Was she doing a good job of portraying a bad singer, or was she really that bad, or was there something else too?
* *
There is one “famous singer” who really was that bad, but she supported and funded really good musicians, and her friends indulged her eccentricity. There is even a play (and movie) about her.
One of my friends, who is an excellent vocalist, played the title role in a community theater production, and observed that it is harder to sing badly than to sing well, when you actually know how.
http://hatrack.com/osc/reviews/everything/2016-09-01.shtml
“Florence Foster Jenkins is the most unlikely film I can think of. The subject of the film is a rich woman who used her money to benefit the music community in New York — but what made her memorable was that she decided to resume singing for audiences when she was quite old.
Born soon after the Civil War, Florence was well into her 70s when in 1944 she booked Carnegie Hall, gave free tickets to a thousand soldiers, and offered the remaining tickets for sale.
The soldiers came, because a record Florence recorded for private use — she gave copies as Christmas gifts to her friends — had gone out to the public and, through radio airplay, became a novelty hit.
It became a hit because her singing was so astonishingly bad. It wasn’t bad the way people without any sense of pitch are bad. She did have an understanding of music; she knew where the notes were, and mostly she reached them, with a voice that had the tone quality of creaking doors.
But sometimes she threw her voice toward a high note, fell a few steps short, and held it anyway, at top volume, forever. Breath support? Oh, she had it!”
The rest of the review captures the story admirably, and I recommend it, but in the context of Neo’s post, this is important:
“Florence Foster Jenkins does study. She applies herself and tries to do everything her voice teacher suggests.
And since her voice teacher is the finest vocal coach in New York City, and he never tells her that she’s doing anything very wrong, it is understandable that she makes little improvement. But it’s not for lack of trying.”
The teacher has reasons (too complex to detail here), but I have always wondered what would have happened if he had been a little less sympathetic and a little more demanding.
Maybe she would actually have learned how to sing properly, and been applauded for doing well instead of just meaning well.
There are lots of voice coaches and mentors on fiverr and other freelance ish sites.
You need a lot of Mercury energy in your 1st, 3rd house, to get the most benefits out of it though.
Being off key is normal, but hearing it is not normal at all. That signifies a high Mercury type ability. Mercury is what is known in rpgs as Dexterity and or INtelligence.
I’ve been singing since age 3, starting in church choir, and have noticed an odd thing about our cultural matrix.
Why is it that people readily accept the need for continuous practice and drill in sports, but feel that one can only be a good singer if it “comes naturally” and you don’t really need instruction and training?
It is a puzzlement.
Not so smart scientific data that fudged the results to make the public think that musical talent had to be started at a very young age or you were trash/no good.
With epigenetics, all that stuff was wrong of course but they don’t lose out in cash profits after the research data was out.
Your ex’s voice sounds a lot like my (not ex-) husband’s voice. He can hear the notes, and when he sings, he has a nice voice. He just doesn’t want to sing, and so doesn’t sing well. It may have been a childhood rebellion.
“With epigenetics, all that stuff was wrong of course but they don’t lose out in cash profits after the research data was out.”
I’d be interested in a link since that contradicts what I have read about all babies having perfect pitch.
“I’d be interested in a link since that contradicts what I have read about all babies having perfect pitch.”
I would also be interested. In any case, it’s not “all babies.” I know people who are tone-deaf, and apparently always have been.
“I know people who are tone-deaf, and apparently always have been.”
I think the theory is related to language acquisition and is very early. The argument is that tonal languages keep the child’s tone recognition working and is an argument for early music training. I’m not arguing. I’d just like to see some evidence one way or the other.
Here’s one reference to that theory.
https://joycedidonato.com/2016/01/16/carnegie-hall-2016/
As it happens when browsing the web, I found this interesting group of videos of operatic mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato’s master classes at Carnegie Hall. It is fascinating to watch her study each music student’s performance demo and give such great encouraging yet critical advice. Reminded me of my love of singing and lifelong wish to be an opera singer. I was in one opera, a Benjamin Britten rendition of a Miracle Play, Noye’s Fludde, (Noah’s Flood) with lyrics in medieval English. I played one of Mrs. Noah’s drunken friends. I drowned.
Mike K, I wonder how the tone-deaf do in areas where they must speak tonal languages. My tone-deaf friend is very intelligent (has a PhD in chemistry), but remarked to me that she has great difficulty learning to speak other languages because she cannot hear variations in sound. English does not require that level of ability to hear tonal variations.
I like how disgusted this guy is about the way the American Idol judges play the man trying out for their show for laughs and dismiss him. (BTW, Randy calls everyone “dog” but no one thought to call him on this racial rhetoric? j/k. sort of.) I felt the same way but he’s even more disgusted because he sees that the guy could learn but just hasn’t been properly taught.
I am not a natural singer either and never learned because it was never taught. We had a music teacher and there were try-outs for chorus but if you weren’t a natural singer you got sent to orchestra which was way more fun and you could actually learn an instrument but there was no teaching involved with regards to the vocal instrument.
I watched one of this gentleman’s other videos, and he does voice instruction via Skype.
I’d be interested in a link since that contradicts what I have read about all babies having perfect pitch.
Musical prodiges aren’t dependent on perfect pitch. That’s a different subject. For example, the Deaf Beethoven must have had perfect pitch, right.
http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyDeafness.html
Even though his talent didn’t need it.
Music has its written and voice activated language. In cases where people cannot learn it from the sound, they can learn it from two other methods: reading/writing which uses linguistic specialties vs touch sensitivity (pianists).
The instrument’s frictional vibration substitutes for not hearing the tone. In fact on pitch pianists and violinists are not necessarily beautiful or good. The reason why music can transmute emotions and not just melody, is because the user imposes their own energy and timings. That is why in competitions, there is a check mark for how many notes you hit or miss, and then there is a check mark for how your style actually sounds.
American Idol generally capitalizes on the latter, and the judges criticize the lack of the former.
Orthodox methods could never activate the epigenetic markers for musical talent in children X years too old. That is because orthodox was mono.
It was a mono type teaching method. It did not rely on multisensory or round table free expression Montessori style or Linda Bell Wood style. In other words, humans learn from a number of different ways, 72 even. The classical method of teaching pianists and musicians was only one way.
This one way prioritizes certain people and used certain age groups to get the most benefit out of the cultivation. Past that prime age, the method dried up and became ineffective, thus people started thinking that it was impossible to do it.
It was only impossible for ignorant humans to consider things outside the box.
Your genes are hiding most of its potential and waiting for the right trigger. Much of your traits are inherited from all 7 generations ago. The older concept of genetics that you are born with traits and that training them young will get the most out of it, was not entirely accurate. In fact, it was mostly wrong.
Training can enhance prodigy gifts, yes, but orthodox training can also burn out and destroy prodigies as well by inflicting epigenetic activation of markers that counter act their strengths. Tribes called this a curse, or a sin, or a family that kept producing bad seed or criminals.
The number of people that can excel at musical fields is far greater than the masses were led to believe. Even if they missed out on it in their childhood, so long as they have the specific physical techniques and abilities, so long as they activate their full epigenetic DNA encoding potential, their future success is still feasible.
The idea that you can’t do something because you missed out on this class as a child is orthodox but also limiting. Most people are lazy when it comes to enhancing their hidden talents and weaknesses. They choose of their own free will to ignore their strengths and instead cater to what society and Authority tells them is good. That is not the fault of the teaching method. Humans are free to mess themselves up as much as they wish.
People can’t do something because they aren’t fated to do it.