Re: [Harp-L] Learning to Sing

[Beth Kohnen <bbbkohnen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Bill -
I fell in love with the old Chicago style blues when I started playing
harmonica about 15 years ago but soon realized that very few people play the
stuff I like.  If I ever wanted to gig I was going to have to front the
band. It was totally daunting.  I'm a shy person and had a voice like a
frog.  They say  "If you can tell a story, then you can sing the blues."
 Well, not entirely true.  Trust me, more was needed.

Voice teachers were too expensive so I took some classical choral and
chamber-music classes at the local junior college to learn the basics of
voice support and breathing.  It was similar to what we do when developing
tone for the harmonica - but different as well.  Everybody in the class was
nineteen years old but me.   We sang bent over touching fingers to the
ground to relax and isolate the right singing muscles.  We sang lying on the
floor  with someone pressing a book down on our diaphragms to learn to push
the book up.  We sang with books on our heads.  My favorite was singing an
Italian Aria solo wearing a horned helmet on my head and waving my arms.
 Slowly I relaxed,  my voice stopped cracking,  and  I found that the
stronger my 'opera' type singing got  the stronger my blues vocals got.

At the same time I was taking a Jazz solo vocal class at night. Everyone had
to perform solo with a live three piece backing.  I performed my old blues
songs -  vocals and harmonica - and got painful errr excellent criticism on
the vocals. You just gotta put the tender ego to one side.  We also learned
mic technique which was totally invaluable.  The final 'exam'  was a
performance one at a time in a packed restaurant.  I did "Don't You Know"
 from Otis Spann's recording of "The Blues Never Die".   They gave me a
standing ovation because the frog had learned to sound half decent.

Bottom line - don't be afraid to learn classical singing technique. Don't be
afraid to sound like a dork. Don't be afraid to clown around with a bunch of
nineteen year olds.  Don't be afraid!!!!!

Beth
www.myspace.com/bethkohnen


On Sat, Jan 9, 2010 at 11:11 AM, Bill Hines <billhines4@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hopefully this is on-topic because I really think it has a lot to do with
> harp players. It's pretty clear that a harp player would get more
> opportunities to be in bands if one could front or at least contribute
> vocals, and perhaps even play percussion on numbers that don't work for
> harp.
>
> I used to think people were either born good singers or they weren't. If
> you watch the shows like American Idol (yeah, I know, let's not go there and
> dilute what I hope will be a good thread) they seem to dismiss those that
> "don't have it" and encourage them to take up something else, as if they can
> never learn to sing. I know that's on a whole different level and they are
> looking for extremely talented vocalists, but still it gives the impression
> that you "got it or you don't."
>
> However, I've been attending jams enough, and even seen many concerts by
> superstars like Neil Young, Dylan, Tom Petty to think "if I didn't know who
> these guys were and heard them sing, I'd say they weren't good singers or at
> best don't have good voices" but of course to see them live, and hear their
> music even recorded, you know it "works" because of their passion and the
> music surrounding their voices being so keyed in. (Ok Kris Kristofferson
> really does have a bad singing voice no matter how you look at it, haha).
> I'm a fan of Young, not so much Dylan and Petty.
>
> So I guess no matter what kind of chops you are born with, you can "learn
> to sing" at least as far as the key things like projection, holding a note,
> being on key as best possible for the songs, and most importantly picking
> only songs that "work for your voice", etc.
>
> Any tips on how one goes about that? Are there any good self-training
> materials out there? I know folks will say "get lessons" but that can be
> problematic if you travel or depending on where you live. And how would one
> identify a good teacher anyway? I'm sure it's like the harp world, there are
> good teachers and bad ones.
>
> Anyway, I'm curious and I thought the thread would be helpful to others now
> and in the future. I'm sure many on the list have dealt with it, what was
> your path and how would you get there differently now?
>
> I'm curious about the percussion aspect too, if anyone wants to throw stuff
> out there for that too. I'd like to get a set of some common percussion
> instruments that aren't too crappy if anyone has recommendations, same with
> learning DVDs, etc. I'm learning some acoustic guitar to help me with the
> music theory part and maybe someday to do some racked accompaniment.
>
> I'm not looking to form the next Cream, just want to maybe supplement my
> income in retirement and have a little fun. Maybe even before that.
>
> Bill Hines
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