In this special March series, I asked music industry professionals to share their advice on what DIY artists need to know before we go knocking on their door. I’ve got no-frills, straightforward insight on various aspects of the music industry from the people that have spent years in it.
Today we hear from JULIET RUSSELL, a singer, composer and vocal coach including on BBC 1′s The Voice. She has coached Grammy award winners, Brit nominees and X-Factor finalists and is passionate about working with individuals and communities to develop their voices and creativity. As a singer she has performed with Damon Albarn, Paloma Faith, Imogen Heap, Brian Eno, Ringo Starr and Patrick Wolf, and at venues from the Royal Opera House to Glastonbury. Read Juliet’s tips on being your own vocal coach.
EVERYTHING ARTISTS WANT TO KNOW… from JULIET RUSSELL, professional vocal coach
1.Warm Up / Cool Down. Always warm up before you sing. Just as an athlete needs to stretch and prepare, so does a singer. Sirens (vocal slides, moving smoothly through the registers) on hums, ng, ooh or ee sounds, lip bubbles (brrrrr) and tongue trills (rrrrrr) are all great for warming up the voice. You can use similar exercises for your cool down. Good habits help to maintain vocal health.
2. Get in line. Focussing on posture and alignment is often neglected by singers, but it can improve your vocal sound, engage your support muscles more effectively and make you look more confident and relaxed. Think about 4 key points of alignment as ESHA – ears, shoulders, hips and ankles. Soften the knees. They don’t need to be bent, just not locked. Gently lengthen through the back of the neck so that the chin and jaw drop slightly. Do gentle hip rotations to soften the hips and relax the lumbar region. Try to make sure the hips are “neutral” e.g not pushed forward so that your abs have to engage and not pushed back so that your bottom sticks out and the lumbar area is compressed.
3. Vocal agility. Improve your runs, riffs and ability to move through your range seamlessly by varying the scales you practise. Chromatic scales (moving in semitones between all 12 notes from root to octave) are great, pentatonic, harmonic and melodic minor scales and modes add variety and provide a great basis for improvisation. Start slowly, ensuring accuracy and then build up speed. Never compromise accuracy for speed! Excerpts from songs that challenge you are also good.
4. Video and record yourself. Become your own best critic by watching yourself and listening to yourself regularly. Video your rehearsals and performances. Note what you do well and build on this. The areas where you can improve should inform what you practise. Evaluate emotional connection, expression and interpretation, performance and stage techniques (including eye contact, movement and gesture), communication with your band and audience, as well as vocal technique.
5. Get out there and gig. There is no substitute for experience. No vocal coach can give you the confidence and training that performing in front of a live audience gives you. As soon as you can perform even one song well, you need to put yourself out there. There are karaoke nights and open mic nights nationally so you have no excuse for being a bedroom singer only. You will gauge how well you did by audience reaction and you will gain insights and feedback from a wider variety of sources. Be brave. Consider gigs your apprenticeship. You will improve more quickly and learn how to apply your craft.
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Wow, thanks Juliet! Have you ever taken voice lessons? I have attended two of Juliet’s workshops through London Song Company. They have been so valuable. It is one thing to write a great song but another thing to communicate it to your listeners. It’s also so important to maintain your instrument when you are touring in order to sustain your voice and keep it healthy. Connect with Juliet on Twitter to catch one of her workshops.
