Back to Blog

Two Tips to Level Up Your Singing

Oct 19, 2022

Simply put, separate the subjective from the objective in your practice and performances.

The unspoken third tip is to be very specific.

What does this mean?

Subjective elements are matters of opinion. Some folks will love Bob Dylan's voice. Some will not. Both are correct, as far as their own tastes are concerned.

Objective elements are aspects of music that we can quantify, such as, that vocalist sang the third note in the second bar of the chorus flat. If it's a recording, we can listen to it, put it on a tuner and check it to be certain that we've heard correctly, and conclude that the pitch that they created at that moment is out of tune.

Both are important, both level our singing up in their own ways.

Objective elements often show us what we need to work on. If we sing a phrase, maybe the lyrics are 'Tell me now,' where the vowel in the word 'now' is held longer than the other vowels, and it comes out airy, when the other ones do not, shows us that our vowels are not in alignment. If that was unintended, practicing our vowel alignment on the vowels from that phrase will help us perform it with a more consistent sound throughout.

Subjective, is when we hear that consistent sound quality and say to ourselves, that's good vowel alignment, but artistically I need something different.

That, I would posit, is why we learn the techniques of vowel alignment and registration events among the other techniques we work on. Having a solid foundation facilitates our artistry. It creates choices and opens doors for our singing.

RVC Members remember to check your Podcast feed for more on this!

Not a member yet? If you're interested, you can become a member by going to RVC Membership Sign Up