Holding workshops at voice conference in Prague!

Hello Singers!

We still haven't told you about the exciting trip to Prague we made recently, but here it comes! The Pan-European Voice Conference (PEVOC) is a big conference for voice professionals from all over the world and is arranged every other year. This year it was held in beautiful Prague and the two of us attended as both participants and presenting workshops.

The subject of Annika's workshop was Complete Vocal Technique - Effective and healthy practice methods for singers - and combined the learning and training methods from CVT as well as from the field of Psychology (especially Sports Psychology). Ville presented on Artistry (- What is it and how to teach it?) and his workshop also included a group assignment and a collective discussion of the subject.

We were delighted that our workshops and themes attracted such interest and audience and inspired many interesting discussions and new acquaintances.

Annika's workshop at PEVOC about CVT and Sports Psychology

The program of the conference was full of interesting subjects and presentations. Apart from keynote lectures there were about six different subjects overlapping all the time so it was often hard to decide where to go and what to listen to. Some highlights for us were Ingo Titze's keynote, Cathrine Sadolin and Julian McGlashan's CVT related presentations and research on high soprano flageolet made in the Freiburg Musicians Institute medicine lab.

The wonderful thing about these conferences is that it brings together people who share the same passion for human voice even if they come from very different backgrounds. So singing teachers, voice doctors, and all different kind of scientists gather and share their ideas. We believe that it is essential to alter yourself to new thoughts and points of view, especially those contradicting with your own thinking. These collisions will produce new, improved thinking.

Ville's workshop about Artistry - what is it and how to teach it

The schedule was tight but thankfully there were also evening activities arranged (like dinners :) )so we got the chance to get acquainted with other participants.

Next Pevoc will be arranged in Florence, Italy in 2015. We're already looking forward to it!

Ville & Annika

Finish participants gather for a group photo.
(Ville in the top row!)

Annika holding a CVT workshop at Pevoc.
People gather along the walls as the seats are full. 

Voice Researcher Johan Sundberg with Annika & Ville. 

Ville with Camilla and Cathrine from CVI

Annika with Cathrine and Kristoffer from CVI

Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 4

Hello singers!

This time I write what ways I have found for using a software called Sing & See. This software is available for Mac and Windows. For the pitch tracking part of Sing & See there is also a similar software for iOS called Sing-inTuna.

Sing & See gives visual feedback on pitch and also has a spectrogram. I wrote about using a spectrogram last time and to be honest I find SpectrumView on my iPad better and easier to use than Sing & See's. But what kind of help can we get from the pitch tracking?

Support

One thing I use it for is visual feedback when doing support exercises. If you do a simple exercise with 5 notes up and down and see the pitch jumping a bit when going higher in pitch you might want to check that you're not locking your support. The support might be working otherwise but in order to "secure" a note it's often tempting to put a bit too much energy when changing the note. So, try to make  changing the note look like a fast slide. And check that your abdomen around the navel is moving in slowly, not in jumps. If it's difficult you might want to try sliding slower first and then make it faster. This method can help in songs too. You can put extra attention in consonants and how they affect the pitch and support.

Vibrato

Sing & See gives a very clear picture what vibrato is about, modulation of pitch. The pitch goes up and down. The more regular the pattern is the more stable the vibrato sounds. You can use pitch tracking to train vibrato even if you don't know how to do it. You can start by alternating between two notes and then trying to make it faster. Some singers might also find it just by trying to achieve the right visual representation of vibrato.

Some more advice

It's wise not to look at the picture too much. After all, the most important thing is how it sounds. I think Sing & See is a valuable tool in analysing why something sounds good to you. If you do a long powerful note does it sound better if there is slide down in the end? Or do you see vibrato in certain places but not others?

Sing & See can be an useful tool for singers who can't sing at all. You can practise your ear by playing the note on piano and then trying to sing that yourself. Also, you can slide up and down and try to find the right note. However, I've noticed that it's most often more useful to concentrate on working with the support than the visual feedback. The emphasis should be in physical sensations and sound, not in the visual feedback.

What ways do you use Sing & See?

-Ville

More dynamics ≠ more volume

Hello!

I want to share a song that really moved me. Obviously I listen to a lot of music and really enjoy it but it doesn't happen so often that I get this captivated by something. But James Blake's new single Retrograde does it for me. 

Some people don't like to discuss or analyse music that's important for them, maybe in fear of losing some of the mystery or magic of it. But I don't mind and I thought there's something in James Blake's vocal performance we can learn from.

One interesting thing is that one of the hooks of this song is a part around 1:28 where James Blake sings a phrase in the lower register. Since most of the song is sung higher and softer it stands out. It's a good reminder that in order to make a dynamic vocal performance you don't always need to belt out high notes. Also, if you feel like you're lacking dynamics in your expression I feel it's often better to widen the dynamic range towards softer than louder volume. More dynamics doesn't necessary have to mean more volume.

-Ville

Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 3

Hello singers!

This post is about spectrogram and spectrum analysis. You can use whichever software. There are some differencies in how they visualise the sound. SpectrumView is an iOS app that works with both iPhone and iPad. There are others for iOS but I haven't found a one I would like to use better yet.

SpectrumView

I find myself using SpectrumView surprisingly often, especially on iPad. This is basically a combined Spectrogram and spectrum analyzer app. It shows the partials and how powerful they are. So, what can we see from the spectrum? It would be lovely to see which vocal mode or sound quality we are using but it's not possible, at least not yet. However, looking at the first partials we can usually see if we are using neutral mode because then the first partial is usually the loudest one. In metallic modes the second partial is usually the loudest.

Kids often love to use all kinds of new software. With one very talented young singer we used this software to keep the air out of the voice. First we checked how it looks when there is air and concluded that the lines should be clearer. He had the program on his own iPod so he kept on practicing with it and seemed to love it. We also worked a bit with vibrato. You can see it quite clearly in the spectrum because the pitch is modulating in laryngeal vibrato. There are better programs for that but SpectrumView is very fast to start and so easy to use.

Another quite specific use I've been working with is creaking. When there is creaking in the voice you can see quite clearly that there are two tones with their own overtones (our ears might not be able to spot it so clearly because of how our brain works in analysing the sound). So, this can help separating creaking from distortion. In distortion there shouldn't be two clear tones but a "messier" overtones because of the noise the ventricular folds create. Of course, you can use creaking together with distortion if you want to.

I also use SpectrumView to demonstrate how the acoustics of the vocal tract influence the sound. You don't really need to understand all about the science and the research and still get a very clear visual representation of why the sound changes when we alter the shape of the vocal tract.


Let me know if you have more ways of using spectrograms and spectrum analysers!

Ville

Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 2

Happy new year to all singers and voice teachers!

I'm picking up where I left last with my technology and teaching singing subject. Last time I wrote about DropVox. This time I'm gonna write about a couple of quick and easy iOS apps.


QuickVoice

QuickVoice is basically like the voice recorder app that comes with iOS. However, it's much nicer to use because all the functions are on one page. It's also free so there's no reason not to get it. I often urge my students to get this app because it's so quick to record a phrase, an exercise and then listen back to it. It helps to spot the problems and also what is already working. Also, it can help shifting the focus from listening to feeling because you know that you'll be able to listen to what you did later. Of course, we often need some time to get used to recording ourselves.

Video Camera

So how can we use the iOS camera? Recording video is often used to analyse performance and working with it. This is a great use provided that you don't get too critical towards everything you do. I use video recorder also when working with technique. Basically it works like a mirror. Even with mirror I sometimes find some singers looking elsewhere than they should. This is natural because there's so many things to focus on. So recording an exercise can help making it more simple. Video is a great tool when working with support, for instance. You see the movement of the abdomen or the lack of it.


-Ville

Technology and teaching singing | Vol. 1

Hello singers,

Nowadays we use a lot of technology when we perform as singers both on stage and studio. Microphone for example is so common that we often forget that without it we couldn't have certain kind of music. There would be no Madonna, Lara Fabian or Björk in the way we know them. In my next performance with my new band Boy With Strings I'm gonna sing everything through a voice pedal, Voicelive2, which gives me a nice sound with compressor, eq, reverb, delays and what's really cool, harmonies! Everything is also played through a computer and software, Ableton Live, in which we loop, effect and manipulate our playing in many ways. Modern technology gives us so many new possibilities, doesn't it?!

So, how much technology do we use when teaching singing? Not so much typically. Lately, I've tried using different software in my teaching. There is not many programs actually developed for voice teachers so we need to find creative ways to use those created for doing something else.  I'll share some things I've found useful. In order not to make it boring, I'll share one or two tips at a time. Also, I'd love to hear about your ways of using technology in teaching!

DropVox

Recording voice lessons is nothing new anymore. But not everyone has their own recorder, or they forget to bring it, and I myself find it a bit too complicated to record, compress and then send sound files to every individual singer. My solution is DropBox and an iPhone app DropVox. In DropBox I make a folder for every individual singer which I then share with only them. In DropVox I can simply choose that folder in the beginning of a lesson, press record and stop it when the lesson's done. What I found great is that the sound file is compressed automatically to m4a format so it saves space. Also, you can start recording the next lesson when it's still uploading the previous one. I love the simplicity of DropVox and how it takes no time to set up so it doesn't waste any time on the lesson.

Let me know if you have other software you love to use for recording.

Ville

Gender roles and boundaries in singing

Hello singers!

I got inspired to think and write shortly about this subject after I played some of my new songs to a colleague and friend of mine. She pointed out that the songs had a kind of musical feel to them, maybe because of how I sang. It was an interesting point and also got me to think why does it jump out when a guy sings like that. I think that many female pop singers sing in a musical-like way. Especially many of those who are often held the best like Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lara Fabian, Beyonce, Christina Aguilera and so on. But if a guy sings like that it's often described as too soft and sweet or sugary, isn't it? Of course there are exceptions like Michael Jackson, Darren Hayes of Savage Garden, Freddie Mercury and more recently Adam Lambert. Maybe it's always so that if you jump out a bit more you also need to prove yourself more.

Do you agree and do you think that there are similar boundaries for female singers?


-Ville

Mind maps, teaching artistry and Björk

Hi everyone, it's Ville this time. As me and Annika wrote before we were recently in Copenhagen discussing technique, singing and working on our future plans. Often when we meet we end up talking so much that we forget to write anything down. This time we tried to avoid some of that by making a mind map of all the things we were discussing. It worked surprisingly well. I was forced to do a lot of mind maps at school when I was around 10 years old and then I didn't like it all. Now it seemed to work out much better. I decided to try using it also for something else.

This autumn I returned to my master's studies at the Sibelius Academy. I'm doing it part time, almost like a hobby, to keep it fun. Anyway, I made a mind map to help me structuring  the theme of my thesis. I don't know if I found out what I wanted but realised something else. I wrote down all kinds of possible things that could be part of singer's artistry or being a singer. Then I looked at the mind map and noticed how very little part is actually being taught at the singing lessons in different institutions!

Many singing teachers teach style - what is right phrasing and sound for certain genres and styles - and/or technique - how to produce wanted sounds in a healthy way. It's easy to notice that a lot of things are missing already within these subjects. Only certain styles and techniques are usually taught as a part of the curriculum. Rock has inspired so many interesting singing styles and techniques that it doesn't seem right to concentrate only on few genres within it, usually the ones with not so "rough" singing. To me, it seems that the curriculum even on a university level is based on a quite narrow image of what singer can be as an artist. This image is largely defined by classical tradition and music business.

So what other subjects could be covered? One quite obvious and easy is technology, all kinds of learning aids like recording audio and video, DAWs, microphones and their differences, voice pedals and effects etc. Also, if singer would like to concentrate more on recording there are many areas to cover like studio technology, recording techniques and auditive analysis. Many teachers teach these subjects but they are not all part of the curriculum, at least in Finland. There's also a lot of things in the area of performance that could help singer to grow as an artist, like movement and dance, communication with audience, trying out different stages and stagings.

I had some more subjects on my list but in my opinion one of the most important things for singing and voice teachers is to encourage critical thinking towards prevalent concepts of being a singer. I believe that this together with more equality of all genres and styles would make it easier for singers to find their place as vocal artists. Now there is so much competition for so few different ways of being a singer that many get frustrated in trying to fit into a certain mold. It is a challenge for all singers, also those already working professionally to redefine singer's artistry - or at least making it more diverse.

I'll end with what I think is a great example of truly innovative artist, both vocally and musically. She has constantly moved on but never lost her integrity as an artist. I saw her concert in Helsinki this summer and her music and performance really moved me, in all ways.


-Ville

Hello world!

This is the CVT Teachers Team. That means Authorized CVT Teachers Annika Holmberg and Ville Laaksonen. Right now, we are sitting in our hotel room in Copenhagen. We have been here since Friday and have enjoyed long talks and decided to start sharing our thoughts to singers, teachers and everyone interested in voice and singing. We hope that you will participate in the discussions by writing comments. Actually, you can start already and suggest subjects you would like us to tackle.

- Annika & Villle