Singing From Scratch

Instead of giving you a synopsis of this episode on Why Singing Lessons Don’t Work, I’m including a transcript. It’s that important. So here it goes! Introduction I’m going to get a little controversial with you and probably step on some toes, and feelings in the process. But hey, maybe I’ll help some people at the same time. And that’s the important part. To me it’s worth a few hurt feelings and squashed toes. Today, I’m going to tell you why most singing lessons don’t work. I’m going to start off with a little mental demonstration. Image if you will. You’ve just boarded a small plane in Miami or somewhere on your way to Barbados for a vacation. You’re about halfway there when the pilot and copilot come walking through the cabin and then jump with the last two parachutes. Well, obviously somebody’s gotta land the plane. And that somebody is you. But all you have to rely on for training is a video game flight simulator you once played, or movies you’ve watched where a passenger ‘magically’ lands the plane saving everyone on board. You think ‘Ok. I’ve seen snakes on a plane, how hard can it be right?’ So, without any understanding about taking off, landing, how the controls work, the navigation, gauges, wind speed, surface speed, approach speed, angle of approach, how to put on the brakes etc., basically all the necessary fundamentals on flying, you’re supposed to land this plane safely. Right… That’d be terrifying. Well, for some it’s just as terrifying to sing on stage in front of a live audience. And that is simply due to poor singing fundamentals or no fundamentals at all. The Why A LOT of vocal coaches skip the fundamentals. Most of your most popular online singing courses do as well. They go straight to the sexy shiny tips and tricks. Or they skim the top of the important stuff giving you just enough information to be dangerous so to speak, using the airplane example from before. Or even more disastrous, you take these lessons, think you have it all under control, go out and sing, fail a little bit, if not miserably, and then give up singing for good. For the rest of your life. You decide that you just can’t sing. That you don’t have “it”. And it’s over before it even starts. They use catch phrases like “Better Vocal Control”, “More Accurate Pitch”, “Improving Tone”, “Improved Power”, “Vocal Agility”. Ok fine. Let’s take a look at a few of those. Marketing Catch Phrases Better Vocal Control – How about vocal control at all? How about knowing exactly what vocal control is? What IS actually doing the ‘controlling’? More Accurate Pitch – Of course they’re assuming the student can even sing in tune to get more accurate from. Better yet, what IS singing in tune and why is it important to understand what pitch even is? Improving Tone – How can you improve tone when you don’t even have a knowledge of tone to improve. What is tone? What are the mechanics behind it? How about we learn how to create tone before we try to improve it? Huh? Vocal Agility – This one is a funny one to me. Ever have a spouse, partner, parent, friend, teacher, anybody chew you out for something? In the middle you usually hear a phrase like ‘and another thing…’ or something like that. Context aside, think about what their voice was doing throughout it all. Goes something like this. “I can’t even BELIEVE you would even think about doing something like that! Seriously? What in the world were you thinking? Obviously you weren’t or you wouldn’t have done it in the first place!” Going up and down, and loud then soft, then jumping high then low. That’s some serious vocal agility there. But it certainly isn’t singing. So how about we teach the student how to sing notes first before bunching them all up and attacking vocal agility? Tips and Tricks Now as you know it’s true. I do give several tips and tricks so to speak in my free YouTube videos, FB Posts, and my podcast. But everything I do is to help you start down the road to REALLY...

Welcome back to final part in a 3 part series on How To Sing Harmonies. As I go over in the intro, this episode is released late due to A/C leaking problems here at the studio. Had to vacate for a bit. But we’re back and rockin’ away. In this episode I’m actually borrowing the audio from a YouTube video I did on How To Sing Simple Harmonies. Not really borrowing, as the entire purpose of recording the video was to ALSO create the audio for this podcast. I did it this way simply because I was able to get good stereo separation from the video sound in order to separate the different parts for you in your ears, as you will soon hear. Here’s what I go over in this podcast: Answer a listener’s question about where I got the podcast intro song I use Sing On Yeah! You might be surprised at the answer lol!! Let me know if you have any questions. Until then.. Sing On! Michael The post How To Sing Harmonies – Part 3 appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

Oddly enough, even some professional singers have a problem learning how to sing harmonies. It’s not just a beginner problem. Essentially it is an ability to hold your own, be an individual voice, and sing with others at the same time. This part 2 version of how to sing harmonies introduces you and helps you train yourself to hold your own note and sing with other. In this instance the other singers are me! I will use editing magic again to bring in me singing both notes. This is what we will cover: And then as usual the wrap-up! Let me know if you have any questions, and as always Happy Singing! Michael The post How To Sing Harmonies Part 2 appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

In this episode I wanted to dispel one the most, if the not the most, blatant lies about singing. It is the first and biggest barrier to singing – Tone Deafness. It is also disguised as what is known as the ‘It Factor’. It is a widely accepted phrase and is complete B.S. “You either have it or you don’t”. Let me know if you have any questions in the comments and as always… Happy Singing! Michael The post The Biggest Lie And The Tone Deaf Test appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

In this weeks episode, I dive into the professional end of singing, and go over the use of the 6 Element of Singing – Dynamics, and how to invoke emotional expression using Vibrato and Volume to create tension. Here are the topics covered: The 6th Element of Singing is the element that takes singing from…well…just singing, and turns it into art. To access detailed exercises on how to master Dynamics, take a look my online course on the subject. Let me know if you have any questions! As always, Happy Singing! Michael Graves The post Tension and Emotional Expression appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

In this episode I take common Quora questions that are requested of me about singing and performance and answer them in more detail with vocal examples. Hopefully this will fill in some of the blanks for you as well! Here’s what we cover. As always let me know if you have any questions, and of course don’t forget the courses that give yo the basic tools to completely master these singing problems yourself! The post Questions and Answers appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

This episode is a continuation of Basic Pitch Lesson Part 1 (of course that is obvious given the title lol!). In this one though I cover the following: Conclusion on the importance of transitional notes.Again let me know if you have any questions and don’t forget to check the Singing From Scratch YouTube Channel and FB Page! The post Basic Pitch Lesson Part 2 – Transitional Notes appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

In this episode we want to concentrate on basic pitch matching. Nothing even close to being fancy here. Just hearing and matching. Here are the topics! As always, let me know if you have any questions! The post Basic Pitch Lesson Part 1 – Sing Along appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

This episode would be better titled how to use the 6th Element of Singing – Dynamics to convey emotional expression like Freddie Mercury, but that title would have been way to long! Freddie was a master at all 6 of the Elements. But let us start with this one. In this Episode I cover the following: I also have a video going over this information on my YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CRQ3HxVHzOg Also check out the Singing From Scratch Page on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/singingfromscratch/ But if you REALLY want to learn how to do all of this, learn the basics with my online courses at www.singingfromscratch.com The post How To Sing Like Freddie Mercury appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

This one should actually be called How To Learn How To Sing Harmonies, but that’s a bit long for a title. Here’s what I go over: What is ‘Harmony’ and what does it mean to be harmonious? What is all this 1, 4, & 5 business? Vocal Examples of harmonies. PRACTICE DRILLS with me to […] The post How To Sing Harmonies appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

In this episode I go over the basic elements of how to sing in tune. I hope you enjoy it! And as always, let me know if you have any questions!! The post How To Sing In Tune appeared first on Singing From Scratch.

Hello and welcome to the Singing From Scratch Podcast! This being the first Episode, it is of course an introductory episode. Here is a brief overview of what I go over. Brief introduction to myself, Michael Graves (don’t worry I don’t go on and on. It’s REALLY short lol!) Quick overview of the 6 Elements of Singing and how everything about singing can fit in and/or be address with these 6 Elements. Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions! The post 6 Elements of Singing appeared first on Singing From Scratch.