Roger Love

Using a Mic

Roger — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:27:22 +0000

Most people seem a bit confused when using a mic. I get questions like, when do I keep it close to my mouth? When do I move it farther away? I have one general rule to start with: Think of the mic as an apple or a plum. If you want to eat that plum you have to get really close and use your lips and mouth to bite it. The same rings true of microphones. You have to basically eat the mic at all times. You need to learn to control volume with your voice, not the mic., In other words, if you get really loud in a part of the song, you shouldn’t pull the mic away, you should learn how to sing that song without getting so loud at that place in the song. If you are breathing correctly and allowing your stomach to evenly and slowly come in as you sing out, and if you are not straining on the top of your Chest Voice, you should be able to control your own volume before it gets to the mic. If it is a standard mic, the kind that has a ball on the end, you need to sing right into the top of that ball. The second you hold it to low with your hand closer to your chest, and you try and sing across the top of it, you are making a big mistake. The mic will not transport enough of your real voice that way, you will lose a great deal of the sound. What’s the rule? Eat it and you will sound better!

How Much Should You Practice?

Roger — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:00:47 +0000

People always ask me how long they should practice their singing. Here is what I say… you need to practice for as long as it takes to warm up your voice. If you do warm up exercises everyday for 20 minutes, your voice will get into a pattern of vocal health. Everyday you practice, you will be building on the muscle memory and learning of the previous day. After weeks and months, you will really start to sound great. If , on the other hand, you only practice every now and then. You will need to spend more time on the specific days you choose to warm up. You may need 45 minutes to an hour of just vocal exercises. How do you know when you are warm and ready to sing? When the Chest, Middle and Head voices all seamlessly go from one to the other in the scales without a break or crack, you are ready. When you feel like you have volume but you are not pushing to get it, you are ready. Make sure that if you practice for long periods of time, that you take a 2-3 minute break every 15 minutes or so. Have water, and relax for a minute or so before you jump back in. If you feel any real pressure doing my vocal exercises, you are doing them wrong and need to listen to my explanations and demonstrations again. After you have warmed up doing vocal exercises, you are then free to sing songs for as long as you wish. Some people do so for hours. Just be aware that you still need to take breaks, drink water, and be sensitive to when you and your voice is actually tired. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Take a bit of time with learning, and it will stay with you a lot longer.

Creating a Character

Roger — Tue, 01 May 2012 00:46:16 +0000

When you step on the stage, you need to stop doing so as YOU! You have fears, insecurities, doubts and feelings of inadequacy… but so do we all. So how does someone manage to get past all of the normal phobias that come along with life? They learn to create a character that is only part them, and part made up. Let me give you some examples. When Gordon Sumner gets up on stage he does so as STING, not Gordon. There are so many things that would scare the heck out of Gordon, but STING is fearless. When Paul Hewson gets up to sing, he does so as BONO. he puts on dark glasses, he wears high soled shoes, and he hits the stage thinking that he is a superhero. That’s the only way he can do it. Paul crust can’t do the same things that BONO can do. All great singers and speakers learn to take the best of what they are and what they are not, and fold it into a new character that is a lot more than the sum of the regular parts. Change your hair, your make up, your wardrobe, your attitude, and then get out on stage as a character that is amazing and incredible and true to who you are and who you wish you were. That’s the way to be incredible. That’s a lot easier than spending the next ten years in therapy to figure out how to overcome stage fright. Your character has no stage fright. You do, but he/she doesn’t. Stop hitting the podium or the stage as Stefani Joanne Germanotta… and be Lady GAGA. The end result will be rewarding emotionally and financially. Be all you can be – make a new character and show him or her off.

To Stare Or Not to Stare

Roger — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 17:51:14 +0000

Singers are always wondering about eye contact with the audience. How much should they visually connect or not? To complicate this situation, many performers are just too shy to even look into the eyes of particular audience members. The singer is afraid of being judged harshly. Part of this rational is related to certain animalistic behaviors. Sometimes when an animal stares at another animal, it’s an aggressive act, each waiting for the other’s move, or the perfect moment for one of them to engage in a fight. It can certainly be nerve racking when someone is staring at you. It seems to bring out a lot of insecurities. And you absolutely don’t want the audience to get the feeling like you are ready for a fight. So what should you do with regard to eye contact? Should you be staring at the guy or girl in the front row with mustard on his or her chin? Or staring at you 3rd cousin, ready to jump off the stage and kick his butt if he makes anymore noise with his fork? The answer lies in a little visual trick. If you were to stand 10 feet away from a friend and then look at the top of their head, or about an inch above their hair, they would think you were staring right into their eyes, especially if there is any kind of a raised platform or stage you as the performer might be standing on. I say use this little trick when performing. Look just above quite a few heads for about 5-7 seconds, then look left or right just above heads for another 5-7 seconds. Every so often you can acyltually look at people and connect with thm. Not so much for them, but this will be a great way to sense the energy of the crowd. Are they loving you? Bored with you? That way you can say something energetic or change your performance on the spot to get back their attention. The rest of the time. Just look above their heads.. It will work quite nicely.

Multiple Personality Syndrome

Roger — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 20:43:10 +0000

I have a lot of interesting characters coming in to see me on a regular basis. Some of them are brimming with personalities, others are a bit more shy and reserved. No matter what type of personality they showcase for me, I believe one thing to be true… audiences get bored really fast! They don’t give performers the benefit of time and patience. If you are singing and a few moments go buy where you are boring the heck out of an audience, and it doesn’t take much, they will easily turn their attention away form you and start to think about other things. When that happens, it’s no fun for them or YOU. Singing to an audience that isn’t interested in you is no better than drinking spoiled milk, it all taste the same, bad. So what do you need to do to make sure that your audiences don’t tune you out? You have to realize that you need to mix things up, create newness, keep them surprised and guessing. How do you do that? I say think about performing as if you actually had multiple personality syndrome. Every second you can sound like somebody else, go for it. Don’t just sing the song all the way through as if you had one emotion. You need to sing a few words and then change your emotion and your sound, then sing another few words and change it all again, and again. If you think that will confuse the audience, you are wrong. When you sound the same for a few moments, the audience figures that you are going to continue sounding the same, and then they figure, why listen if they already know what’s coming. Your job is to keep them on their toes, on the edge of their seats. Go in and out of all of the characters you can imaging that live inside your head. Pretend that you are a kid playing at being a singer. Get in touch with youthful, reckless abandon. Let your imagination and your voice go free. When you do that, the crowds will love you for it. Take some chances, it’s always worth it.

The Power of Being Unique

Roger — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 04:59:30 +0000

I had a student in the other day and she was really focussing on how she was doing each exercise. I could see how committed she was about each note and sound, wanting to understand, process, feel and hear the sounds she had in her musical mind and imagination. When it didn’t sound exactly perfect, she stopped and wanted to do it again, looking for perfection. Now, fist of all, having a student that thinks that way is such a blessing. I wish all of my students focused that intently on every sound that comes out of their mouths. Still, though it’s a positive attitude, I still felt like I needed to reassure her that she was already unique and perfect. I told her that she was doing the exercises as if she thought of herself as a solid piece of marble waiting for the sculptor to carve away the excess and leave only the marvelous statue of a singer. I explained that as far as I was concerned, as her teacher, she was already the ideal statue, ready to be placed in any of the world’s finest museums. That all I was doing was adding little bits of marble, trying to smooth out the seems so that the connections from the old marble to the new wouldn’t show. Do you understand why I am telling all of you this story? I want each of you to realize that uniqueness and differences are what great singers are made of. The fact that every speaking voice on the planet sounds a little different, is the blessing that goes along with wanting to be a singer. You’re goal isn’t to be just like so and so. Your end game is to be the best YOU possible. I applaud differences and want you to make the most of what separates you from everyone else. My philosophy is to teach my students an amazing vocal technique that allows them to soar effortlessly up and down the range with no pressure, no pain and a freedom that make them and the audiences happy. Then after they’ve built the instrument, they can then look to establishing a style and sound that is truly one of a kind with influences of the singers that they love. You are alread a museum piece, beautiful and worthy of attention. Just keep polishing what you have and what you create. Soon others will be clapping for the simple and wonderful experience of you showing them the real you, the open hearted approach to making song and music and attaching that to your emotions and their imaginations.

What is Vibrato?

scott — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 01:22:02 +0000

Influence Everyone

DsDonut — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:32:44 +0000

Most people are letting life happen “to” them. They feel powerless in so many situations they just can’t seem to control. They may have the greatest intentions and ideas, but their plans and strategies fold faster than a bad hand in poker. They look outward to find answers on how to win friends and influence people, but they just can’t seem to make it happen. I’m telling you that if that’s you, you’re missing out on the most important tool you have in your box – your voice box – more specifically – YOUR VOICE. The sounds that you are making are NOT allowing you to control other people’s perceptions about you. You speak, they hear, they make value judgements and decisions about you. Those judgements and decisions are most of the time based on nothing real. So my goal is always to teach people how to choose the sounds that come out of their mouths carefully, so that they can influence anyone and everyone within earshot. Sounds complicated? Truth is, it isn’t at all. It’s really just learning about the components of TONALITY – the sounds your voice makes other than the words. Once you realize how to use Pitch, Pace, Tone, Melody and Volume to your advantage, you will be an amazing influencer, and see the results come to life. I’ll be sharing info and tips for you on this blog in the hope that you will want to change your voice and see the benefits it’ll bring. FIRST TIP is you need to SPEAK LOUDER. Pretend that the person or people you are speaking to are at least 10 feet away. Let your voice fill the entire room with your sound. Too many people whisper and seem weak and afraid. Volume is the perfect place to start. Get louder, get used to it, and I’ll have something else for you next week. Keep me posted on your progress. Best, Roger

Mayer Hawthorne

DsDonut — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:06:40 +0000

Mayer Hawthorne is an American singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, audio engineer, DJ, rapper, mutti-instrumentalist and one of my favorite students. You should check him out at www.mayerhawthorne.com

Roger has a present for you

DsDonut — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 20:32:52 +0000

Click here for a special gift from Roger