by Cari Cole

Lady Gaga’s performance of the Sound of Music on the Oscar’s was definitely impressive. But what was impressive to me wasn’t really just the vocal performance, because as a vocal coach and arranger, to me it wasn’t an earth shattering vocal, but it was for her. It was a slam dunk victory, a great achievement for her and totally unexpected. What was impressive to me was the professionalism she showed in the months prior. She didn’t just practice every day, she went way beyond what most (even stars) would do to get there. She hired a vocal coach to work with her every single day for 6 months. That’s impressive. And it worked 😉

As a result, TIME magazine says this Oscar performance could completely redefine her career and set her up for a long standing career after all.

“An artist whose shtick had begun to wear thin has reinvented herself in the most surprising way of all: by leaning heavily on songcraft and artistry.” Daniel D’Addario, TIME Magazine.

So how does that apply to you? Work ethic. Craft. Professionalism. Taking it beyond seriously. Developing a daily practice and making it non-negotiable. Period.

If you want to sound really good, beyond good you have to practice your scales every day. No one gets away with not. It’s just that no one talks about it. It’s a behind-the-curtain thing. No one wants to share their secret weapons, but don’t let that fool you.

Your voice is a physical instrument housed inside your body. Singing is an athletic event that coordinates the small muscles of the voice and breathing. The average untrained singer burns out their voice 10x faster than the trained singer. Using the instrument efficiently is where power and precision come in. Training shows the singer how to master their voice as a skill improving performance and execution.

The singing voice responds to exercise much like your body does, with repetition and the right exercises. But vocal technique is quite a bit more complex and involved than regular exercise. You can’t just do a bunch of squats and get a result. The muscles of the human voice are small and require a very small amount of pressure to function best. Learning how to sing is generally not “intuitive” because by the time we’re 6 or 7 we’ve started breathing backwards and accumulating tension in our bodies and holding our voices back emotionally. Add to that, emotional or physical trauma which makes matters worse. Often the process is a stripping away first.

A good vocal technique is the process of:

a. Stripping away the wrong muscles that are putting the voice under too much tension to perform well and aligning the body to be tension free and restoring or developing belly and diaphragmatic rib breathing.

b. The next step is strengthening the “core” vocal muscles with the right exercises to build the foundation, not break it down (the focus of my technique but not every technique – more about this in my upcoming book).

c. Then we go to work fixing any issues like nasality, breathiness or building the bridge between registers, stuff that the singer doesn’t like. But in pop music we don’t fix everything because sometimes the imperfections are great for style.

d. Then we start building up the real strength and power of the voice by building the overtone series, range, true laryngeal resistance and creating an agile, flexible, resilient instrument that can hold up under the demands of a professional career and won’t break down.

So you can see that vocal technique is really like going to the gym for your voice. But you need a REALLY good trainer. I’ve spent 30 years teaching technique and have earned bragging rights to say that as a teacher I have arrived. I can get you there in half the time of other coaches. I’ve done it with my voice and thousands of others. It’s still a wondrous miracle every time to watch a singer come into their own as their power and vocal strength unfolds. Voices are like flowers, they need constant nurturing from the soil, rain and sun. Except they last longer and sound better ;).

But waffling about your practice, putting it off, or being inconsistent will not bring any real results. The average pop singer trains for 2- 5 years. The exceptional singer trains for 8-15 years. The professional trains regularly with a top notch professional vocal coach.

To build a strong and resilient voice with a great vocal technique follow this prescription:

Singers Gift Digital Warmups: How to Warm Up Not Wear Out, 17 warmups including cool downs to improve your voice, performances and lay a good foundation. Comes with Instructional Guide and Ultimate Performer Tools + Techniques Guidebook.

Sign up for my 6 week Step Up to the Spotlight Artist Development Program (comes with Singers Gift + A 52 Week Artist Development Plan). Kick your daily practice into hyper gear with me and over 500+ artists who already have!

2015 Step Up to the Spotlight starts March 10th (offered only once a year)! Look “Inside the Program” here. Sign up here.

Start with Step Up to the Spotlight and you get Singers Gift for free! Join us, we start March 10th, 2015. For more information about our program calendar click here.