If you’ve been following my articles for any period of time, you know that it’s space that creates the fullness of the sound. Just think of thumping a wine glass. If it’s empty when you thump it, it’ll ring out. But, if you fill the same wine glass with pennies and thump it, all you’ll hear is a quick thud.

But this article isn’t about space… okay, well maybe it is, but in somewhat of a round about way. That being the case, why would spitting out our consonants give us more space when singing?

Well, there are a handful of different spaces within our body that we can open to create more space when we sing. One of these spaces is the back of the mouth and throat area.

It doesn’t take a genius to know if you close off this area, you’re going to be able to create like zero sound. But, the more you allow this space to open naturally, the more sound you’re going to produce while exerting no extra effort.

So, once again, what does that have to do with spitting out the consonants?

When we sing, it’s relatively common for the consonants to pull the tongue backward, closing off the back of the mouth and throat. This is especially true when singing R’s and L’s, but relatively common with many consonants.

One of the best ways to keep this from happening is to spit out your consonants.

When spitting out your consonants, you want to keep the tongue as comfortably forward in the mouth as possible when speaking the consonant, then, AND HERE’S THE BIG THING, release the tongue forward after speaking the consonant.

This will likely feel very weird to you at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s no big deal. Doing this will not only effortlessly give you more volume, but the added space will likely make singing higher notes much easier on you than they were before.

While there are certainly more places in your body that you can open up to create resonance space while singing, spitting out your consonants to create more space in the back of the mouth area is probably one of the easiest to do and will yield you one of the greatest results.

So give it a try and see how much it helps. And of course, feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

Happy Singing,
Vocal Coach Ken Taylor

In order to get past this, it’s important to remember that the fullness of the sound while singing is created by space, not effort. Singing requires a delicate balance, and if you start trying to force things to happen, it’s going to knock that balance out of wack. So the next time you get frustrated because you’re having difficulty singing something, instead of turning aggressive, try relaxing and allowing the sound to come out at more of a speech level instead. You’ll almost always get better results this way.

Guys Have More Extreme Voice Changes

Ahhh, the infamous voice change. To a girl, it’s inconvenient… to a guy, it changes his world. I love the analogy I heard from a fellow vocal instructor, Wendy Parr – Imagine one morning you wake up and your legs are two feet longer. Now, imagine trying to walk. That awkwardness in coordination is similar to what a guy goes through during his voice change.

If you’re going through your voice change, I feel for you, as it’s not always the easiest thing. To me, one of the best things you can do is work on maintaining a steady flow of air, then work on making sure that your larynx doesn’t jump around like crazy while using your voice. You can learn more about these two things in the articles Breathing and Singing and How to Sing High Notes on another website of mine.

Guys Have Less Competition

I figured I’d end this on a high note… no pun intended. If you’re a guy in the performing field, then you’re likely to have much less competition than your female friends, especially when growing up. There are probably 2-5 girls for every guy at an audition,
 which means you have much better odds both for getting the role, and finding yourself a girlfriend afterward.

…this should make the voice change a little bit less painful.

I hope you guys have enjoyed this article. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll try and respond.

Happy Singing!
Vocal Coach Ken Taylor

Hello all! Lately I’ve had a ton of people preparing for singing auditions for various summer shows. This inspired me to share a handful of ideas that will hopefully help you and the rest of my readers have a more successful auditions.  So without further adieu, lets do it!

Always Show Up For Your Singing Audition Prepared

This seems really obvious to most everyone. If you’re going to an audition, you always want to prepare for it. But, how does one do that? Most importantly, you want to make sure that you know what’s expected of you. You should know whether to bring sheet music for their accompanist, or a track. Did they request you sing something from the show, or can you show off your voice with whatever song you choose (keep it genre specific)? Are you supposed to prepare 1 song, 2 songs, 16 bars, 2 mins, etc? How about a resume and headshot? These are all things you should take the time to find out before your vocal audition and most of it should be available on the flyer or website announcing the audition.

The reason I get so specific is theatres or individuals holding the auditions can see hundreds of people in a weekend and if you don’t show them enough respect to follow their guidelines, they likely will see you as unprepared and lets face it, NO ONE wants unprepared people in their cast. Other things you should do include showing up 10 minutes early and you want to be sure that you know your piece well enough that you can sing it at any tempo the accompanist chooses to play it.

Let Your Personality Shine Through

I can tell you from personal experience that the best singers don’t always get hired or cast. Most people think it’s because theatres play favorites, but I think more often than not it’s because some people are more reliable and enjoyable to work with.

That being said, when auditioning, you always want to be gracious, upbeat, and have a good attitude. Having a can do, enthusiastic attitude always beats out those who are likely to complain (or even worse, are complaining). So be gracious. Thank people for their time after they’ve heard you. Smile before and after your performance. Be excited to be there! These are all great qualities that the “judges” cannot help but notice, even if they act like they don’t (and they probably won’t).

Have Something About Your Dress that Sticks Out

Just like a pleasing personality, this little trick helps people (and judges) recognize and more easily identify you. If you wear a unique hat, a bright colored ribbon in your hair, a scarf… really anything that sticks out, people can’t help but notice and remember you.

If at First You Don’t Succeed…

Give up and go home. Ok, I’m totally kidding. Of course, try, try again. Let me share something with you that I tell all my vioce students.

You should never go into your first audition at a new place expecting a lead role.

I say this strictly because the director doesn’t know you. Being in a show is a huge responsibility, and honestly, it’s not something that everyone can handle.  Because of this, many directors absolutely will not cast someone they do not know in a lead position because it’s unclear as to whether or not they can depend on them. So, if you aren’t cast, don’t get down. But more importantly, if you get in the ensemble, do it and take it seriously. Show the director how reliable you are and how fun you can be to work with. This will help the director become more confident in your ability to sing the lead the next go around.

Well, that’s it for today! I hope that these tips help your audition go smoothly. Break a leg (unless you’re a dancer, of course!) and as always, happy singing!

While describing how a singer should breathe using their diaphragm without visual confirmation isn’t something I feel comfortable doing, I CAN give you 3 Breathing Tips for Singing. These tips are things I check for when I’m working with my private voice students. Applying these vocal tips will help you better utilize the breath and come closer to singing your best.

Tip 1 – Singers Should Avoid High Chest Breathing

Also known as Clavicular Breathing, this is when the chest rises during inhalation. This is a very bad habit to have for singers and results in shortness of breath, vocal tension, and often a breathy tone. As an alternative, take relaxed breaths deep down in your stomach and lower back before singing. This should give you more control vocally.

Tip 2 – Singers Shouldn’t Breathe too Deeply

Many voice teachers tell their students to take deep breaths, but often times what they leave out is taking overly deep breaths before singing results in unwanted pressure underneath the vocal folds ultimately creating tension. To feel this, just take the deepest breath you possibly can then hold it. Feel that strain in your neck and throat area? That’s bad. It’s bad because it puts extra pressure on the voice making it heavy and more difficult to sing. So breathe consciously and don’t take overly deep breaths before singing.

Tip 3 – Singers Should Avoid Grabbing While Inhaling

This is bad habit that many, many singers possess. Close your eyes and pay attention to your breathing for a moment. Feel how easy and effortless it is in the throat and neck area. Now, pick the bridge of a song you like to sing and sing it (typically the bridge is where the high notes are). Feel the same? Now do the same thing, just this time pay attention to your neck and throat area while breathing in. Odds are there are some muscles in your neck grabbing during the breath before you sing. This like any other tension you may feel is bad. So stay conscious of the breath while singing and make sure that your breath stays easy during the inhalation. This not only will help vocal stamina, but it will also lighten up your voice which in turn will open up your full range.

Using the breath properly is simple in concept, but it’s not always easy. However, if you can learn to apply the tips mentioned above you’ll be further ahead of the game than most singers.

As always, if you’re interested in taking singing lessons with a vocal coach in the Memphis area, please visit Vocal Coach Ken Taylor.

That’s all for now! Happy singing!