How to Sing Authentically

Greetings singers! Happy July!

For Fun

What do you think of being called free-birds? Do you like song-birds better?

I need a community name for you that reflects the vision of my studio and the purpose of my youtube channel. This is the Free Your Voice studio, so I would like the group name to reflect the idea of our objective of singing with freedom. Let me know which name you like best and why in the comments section of my first July tutorial video!

New Focus Topic

For this month, I am discussing the concept of authenticity in singing. For the 2020 vocal journey, I have been steering all you singers and worship leaders down the path of vocal growth for the sake of vocal health. In doing so, I have been ultimately pushing for those healthy habits that get you there. Thus, we want our voices to stay healthy when we start to become expressive in our singing.

Sometimes when we start with authenticity from the beginning a particular song that means something to you, you can end up having better vocal techniques. The reason for that case is the fact that you are not over-thinking, or focusing on the singing technique. On the flip side, a song may be so significant to you that you might be manufacturing the sound you want to create, innately using poor voice technique. That could be a result of mimicking the original version of the song that you heard, or musicality simply not being properly expressed in a healthy way. The latter would require a little more practice of technique.

Pep-Talk

As you can see, I am moving into more freedom of expression, but we always have to come back to technical practice so we can stay on course. We are not finished with our journey to vocal growth. We are only halfway through the year. This is a climactic point in our pursuit, the point which we start to let go more and realize how far we have come already. I have introduced most of the basic concepts I have wanted to teach you through my Youtube videos so far for 2020. Now I will refer back frequently as we begin using more musicality and expression. The point is to reach authenticity of expression while hanging onto the healthy techniques of your musical choices in singing.

Key Points in Technique

Some key points I want to draw your attention to in healthy expressive singing are your facial expressions, anchoring down with your core muscles, and stylistic choices. Your facial expressions not only make you more interesting to watch but to listen to as well because your facial expressions naturally affect the sound of your tone and nuances (tenutos, slides, inflecting on pitches). Your core muscles need to be engaged properly so you don't physically "reach" for certain notes or other consequences. Instead, proper core muscle engagement gives a fuller sound to the moments of your music whether soft or loud, rich or insecure expressions. Stylistic options for adding ornamentation to notes themselves such as embellishing tones like riffs and runs, slides, glissandos, and more, all of which should sound and feel authentic to the singer. That means honesty. Whether you chose stylistic ornamentation on your own or you did what you were told by the composer or your instructor, it should always be honest.

The singer is the vessel for the song and the message. One professor of voice, W. Stephen Smith in his book, The Naked Voice, wrote that after all of the instruction and academic achievement in singing one must return to the "original source of utterance". That is, the innate necessity to express a thought. That is what we are talking about this month. We need honesty in our singing, which will help you and me use our voices more authentically. I plan by the end of the month to take you on a journey to some level of mastery in the authentic expression you can relay especially using your voice.

As always, to view my weekly tutorial videos you can visit Free Your Voice channel on YouTube and follow my IG account @letmefreeyourvoice for daily singing tips and music sharing, and you can like my Facebook page Hannah Fabean @letmefreeyourvoice to help promote me as a voice teacher. Like, subscribe and share the blogs and videos that help you!