Taylor Made Music

The running joke that everyone secretly wishes to be a rock
star may not be off track. So many people long for the ability
to sing, to sing more, to sing better.

And many of them feel that they can’t do it.

Whether you are actually working on a professional singing
career or just want to have a better time in the shower, there
are very specific things you CAN do in order to develop your
sound, style and overall vocal production.

The first thing to remember is this:
Madonna, Pavarotti, Bob Dylan, Wynonna Judd, Bernadette
Peters, Jay-Z, Eric Clapton, Alicia Keyes, and Prince all can
write SINGER on their passport. There are so many singers,
so many sounds, and so many voices. Why can’t you be one
of them, too?

Well, you can. You just need the passport to your voice.

First and foremost, you need to listen to music. To singers.
To anyone and anything you can lay your hands on. CDs,
concerts, television specials, movies, old recordings, the
latest radio releases, whatever band, show or musical event
is happening in your town. You may do this already. But now
you get to do it with an eye (and an ear) towards your own
musicality.

Start listening not just for your pleasure, but also for your
abilities. When you notice someone doing something you
like, try it yourself! Did someone just wail on the National
Anthem? Go into your room and see how it feels to do the
same thing. You may be terrible! But at least you have tried
on some new notes for size. That’s awesome! Think of it as
a shopping spree. You have a free pass to every mall in the
country, and you get to decide what fits and what you are
taking home with you. And whatever feels too tight or just
doesn’t look as good as it did on the hangerleave it in the
dressing room without a second thought. You may surprise
yourself and discover something you never knew you could
do before! But most importantly, you are trying on everything.

Make sure you also experiment with music you think you
hate. We tend to get into listening ruts and need to shake
things up a little.

The great thing about expanding your musical horizons is
that you will begin to notice more details. You will become
able to break down the mechanics in a much more
enlightened way. Including discovering aspects of singing
that are universal whether you are Billie Holiday or Billy Joel.
Then you can notice the fascinating ways they apply these
abilities in such vastly different songs.

What’s playing in your hometown? And have you checked
out music from your local library lately? Make sure to hit a
section you normally would never look. This way you can
hear new music but not have to invest in it if it ends up not
being your cup of tea.

So, once you have narrowed down the huge possibilities of
musical genres into the “I love this stuff ” or to the “never
again will this pass my lips”, now it’s time to figure out what
you are good at.

Why?

Because you need to decide something else as well

What do you sing for pleasure? And what do you sing for
profit?

You may love to sing standards, but your gritty sound is
more suited to the blues. That’s cool. Sing standards for
fun. Learn the blues for the public. This kind of
self-awareness will save you from heartache later. You see
it all the time on the initial “American Idol” preliminaries.
People who have not listened with a discerning ear to their
own voice. So instead of letting themselves shine, they
simply sing what they like and are not brilliant at it. At all.

Again, you may have no desire to be a professional. But just
imagine going to the next family gathering and shocking
everyone with your beautiful rendition of “Happy Birthday”
instead of the ‘too high for you, cracking on the final notes’
version everyone has come to expect. Just by knowing what
sounds you make best, will have an amazing effect on you
and the reception to your singing.

Michelle Cohen, is a professional actress and singer and a
highly sought after producer/director/coach (she produced
the Off-Broadway musical hit Schoolhouse Rock Live!)Her
book Of Course You Can Sing! is devoted to helping undo
years of unsupportive thoughts focusing on the fact that, no
matter what anyone has ever told you, you can sing.
Of course you can order at http://www.michellecohenonline.com

[tags]rock star, singing, singing lessons, American Idol, self-improvement, creativity, karaoke[/tags]

As a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and professional jingle singer and founder of ReelMusician.com, I have written numerous articles on entering the jingle singing and session singing world. Most of my articles have zeroed in on the ground floor stages of creating an incredible jingle demo reel far exceeding your competition. In this article I would like to expand on the secondary phase of jumpstarting your singing career by emphasizing your approach and marketing to producers, jingle houses and ancillary production staff after you have a fully mastered jingle demo that you are sure will make your potential listeners say Wow! With that in mind, let’s look at some key areas where you can capitalize and start promoting your singing career in an effective way!

To start with, there is no way that I can hit every question with our limited time together, and neither can I gauge your abilities, ambition and go get it nature. With that in mind, I will start as if everyone reading this article has an incredible sounding jingle demo reel, not the I can do it at my friend’s house demo reel, but a demo reel that screams “I gotta hear that again,” along with incredible drive and ambition. Any questions you might have with your jingle reel go to ReelMusician.com. So where do you go with your jingle demo and how do you approach these individuals? - Great questions, let’s start with where you will go.

You will pitch your jingle demo reel starting in your immediate local market. Some of you will have to broaden your local area as you may live out in the country or more remotely, but you get the idea. You will be sending out your reel, with your name, telephone number and year on the front sleeve along with again your name, contact numbers, email address, order of jingles in sequence and year on the inside sleeve. An extremely short bio along with a picture is not a bad idea. You will send out this package to everyone you might think can help you - This includes other jingle singers that you’re not directly in competition with, jingle houses, industrial music houses, and key studios.

Once you have made your initial mailing, you will follow up with a phone call or email, phone call of course being the better option, and asking for their feedback. You will want to come across as confident, friendly, professional, with a great attitude and willingness to be extremely flexible. Now keep in mind that 10 different jingle houses will undoubtedly give you ten different responses much like everyone is an “expert” and has “recommendations” with your resume. Look for common denominators in your conversations and make sure that you are a great record keeper.

Keep track of who, when, the date, any follow up material needed and any and all misc information in your conversations that you need to keep a record of. Don’t be lazy here. This is a business and you need to treat it as such. Computers make one’s life infinitely easier with keeping track of information like this, but you can do it manually. As a side note, emailing is significantly easier and less costly, but it is not quite as effective as actually mailing out your jingle reel. Once you make a connection with a jingle house, they may request it or you might inquire if it’s ok to submit via email and mp3.

You will begin to expand your jingle singing campaign to secondary and major markets like Chicago, LA, New York, Atlanta, Dallas, etc. You will want to get familiar with the different jingle houses by either researching jingle houses online or visiting ReelMusician.com clicking on jingle singing and then on music production links. You will again contact these various production facilities sending out your jingle reel and again following up with these potential clients.

As I’ve stated in previous articles, you might want to consider having a second jingle reel or additional session singing tape to cross over the desks of those producers on the verge of using your singing talents. Sometimes all it takes is a little reminder and you get the next call. Singing commercials can be extremely lucrative and your ability to push a little bit on the front end could really pay off well. Even if your passion is to become a major record label artist, there’s no crime in pursuing a money making venture on the front end to help facilitate living expenses, and who knows, you could very easily sing commercials and make a considerable living the rest of your life. That wouldn’t be all bad now would it.

Let’s spend a few minutes looking at different conversations as you send out your reel. Producer number one likes your reel, but is asking what experience you have. Your answer will sound something like - “As you can tell by my reel, I am a seasoned singer and can deliver the singing goods and I’ll be consistent with everything you throw my way.” Notice I didn’t say, “We’ll I haven’t sung on any commercials yet” - Emphasize the reality that you will deliver on every singing project thrown your way. If you have a real smooth voice and the question is whether or not you can get more of an edge on your voice you can respond, “One of my greatest singing strengths is my ability to blend and with the right tracks and backing, I can deliver an upbeat jingle.” Now don’t over do it and by all means be honest. Don’t tell them that you will sound like a heavy rock and roller when in fact you won’t even come close. Just be honest and at the same time put your best foot forward. You will have a number of questions that come up, but be prepared to always give an honest answer, but putting your best foot forward at the same time. Perhaps in another article I will expand on what we’re talking about here. As always, good luck and we look forward to hearing about all of your singing successes!

[tags]sing, singers, sing jingles, commercial singing, session work, siession singers, gigs, artists, band[/tags]

As a singer, one of the biggest allies in your singing career will be your ability to perform well and do it with consistency in the studio. As a professional singer myself singing on FOX TV, UPN Station ID’s, O’Charley’s and many others, as well as a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency, I can tell you that one of the biggest downfalls to most singers is their inability to be consistent with a broad range of singing styles while singing in the studio. It’s one thing to sit behind the piano with friends, and an entirely different thing to sing behind the mic in the studio where every nuance and tonal inflection is heard.

So how do studio singers who’ve been doing this professionally for years, get to that point of consistency, and how do they get the paying gigs and get called on in the first place? Those are great questions, and I will take the remaining time in this article to capitalize on concepts that most singers would likely embrace as the truth and realistic in answering them.

To begin with, singing in the studio and singing live in front of a crowd are two totally separate singing techniques and usually unequaled levels of singing expertise. It’s one thing to sing in front of a crowd where audibility of your vocals is not the main concern, but the overall groove and image is. Understanding the words on stage may or may not be a concern, but to the studio and session singer, it’s everything. You see there are marked differences in the ways that each of these singers takes their singing ability to the stage. You will find that many if not most singers don’t do both well. The singer who is great on stage in front of a large audience is usually not that convincing or lyrics that easily understood in the studio. That’s why jingle singers are paid such good money. It’s not easy to sing a commercial full throttle and not sound “ricky ticky” doing it with words that are easily understood. And as a side note, if you are interested in singing commercials, you might consider visiting ReelMusician.com for more information and download a free e-book on jingle singing.

So how do session singers get that consistency in the studio? Well, years of experience are one answer, but the other part of the answer is in how they practice. How serious are you in your dream of becoming a studio singer? In your desires to becoming a studio singer, you must commit to consistency, be easy to work with, and available. You might already have availability and easy to work with in the bag, but you’re still having problems with the consistency part. Let’s look at a few ideas that might help.

Finding a good vocal coach, that truly understands studio and jingle singing, is hard to find. Most, have preconceived notions and teaching ideas and attribute everything to a breathing technique of some kind. I’ll tell you the truth. I’ve met fantastic singers who breathe in a number of different styles, yet they are consistent as the day is long. Now I’m not suggesting that there aren’t better or proper breathing techniques out there, I am suggesting that many if not most vocal teachers, teach from a textbook style and not from a “I’m going to figure out your strengths and abilities and zero in on a workable and credible game plan that outlines a singing technique career pathway for longevity,” style. There’s a big difference. The teacher who teaches out of a textbook and the teacher who is already been out there with success under their belt, no matter what business or job, has my attention and certainly should have yours. Find a credible and reputable singing coach.

You will want to practice your singing in the shower, the car and even in a closet or close up to a wall where you can hear what you’re singing. Ultimately, being able to record your voice, even onto a cheap cassette or into the computer to hear your progress or areas that you immediately recognize needing improvement, is the best way to go. This alone, if you take time out on a regular basis, will improve your singing far beyond what most vocal coaches can or claim they can do. Because of your vested interest and now your ability to hear and figure out what needs to be changed and corrected, will be the igniting factor in your singing career and goals of consistency. Certainly don’t ignore or reject the notion of finding a qualified vocal coach, but understand that America was founded on entreprenualism and not the textbook way of doing things and this includes your singing career as well. A good vocal coach will recognize and ultimately push you in the right direction as well by hearing and giving you exercises to correct singing deficiencies.

Get connected with session singers, and perhaps even try to take vocal coaching lessons from one of them. You will have to flexible as their session work will not always be easy to predict, but well worth any inconvenience. This will increase your odds of obtaining session work, and now you will be working with an individual, like we just mentioned, who is actively in the business and so pure textbook teaching will most likely not be in their philosophy and thinking.

Lastly, and I apologize and wish we had more time in this article, maintain a good attitude and an easy to deal with personality. Singers and producers like individuals who are not only fun, but they’re easy to deal with and who always come to the session with an uplifting spirit. You may visit ReelMusician.com for more articles and advice on this and other topics.

Mr Gauger is a former talent booking agent with the William Morris Agency and jingle singer singing on FOX TV, UPN Station ID’s, O’Charley’s and many others. In addition, Mr Gauger is a TV and radio writer and can be contacted at http://www.reelmusician.com or tgauger@reelmusician.com or 615-300-5030.

[tags]studio singers, vocals, vocal technique, sing, singers, singing, singing technique, gigs, a&r[/tags]