Roger Love Tips

Tips of the Month

06.08

The best way to develop a unique style is to spend time learning to imitate great singers. Pick a different singer every week and try and "become" that voice. Play their music over and over, sing along, trying to sound exactly like that artist. Then, record yourself singing along, and play it back listening to how close you have come. If you don't sound the same, go back to listening, and then singing along and recording yourself later. Follow these simple steps until you've become a great imitation of the original artist. Then pick another singer, and start all over again. Sometime between now and "who knows when", you will learn to mix and match those imitated sounds, and create a unique vocal style that is old and new, familiar and fresh, and it will ultimately help you achieve the next levels of success.

03.08

It should only take about 30 minutes a day to warm up your voice. The main goal is to make sure that you open up the entire range. You need to exercise using all three voices - Chest, Middle, and Head. Some people think that they can warm up the voice by singing songs. I have several problems with that theory. If the song is written in a way that creates pressure or strain as you sing toward the higher notes, you are hurting yourself instead of helping. You should use exercises that gently allow the voice to move from lower to higher pitches with no tension. If you try and start out too loud or too airy, you can dry out the cords long before you ever get the chance to hit the stage. Remember that it's called "warm-up", so give yourself a break and allow the voice to build up strength gradually over the 30 minutes. Give your audience the best of you... not just what's left of you.

02.08

Many people believe that you have to be born with vibrato, but that just isn't the case. It's more about learning to imitate it. When my daughter was two we watched The Wizard of Oz, and I asked her to try and sound like the cowardly lion...he has a very slow and exaggerated vibrato. She did it quite easily. I told her that sound was called vibrato, and by the next day she could actually control the speed, and make it sound less silly and more lovely. Vibrato is a wave like oscillation of the pitch. It allows the note to go a bit sharp and flat and create a nice wave. It's never too late to learn it. Pick a singer that you like and start imitating their vibrato. Soon you will be doing it with ease. Remember, it's going to feel manufactured for a while, like you are faking it. That's fine for now; it will feel more natural soon.

01.08

You have probably heard the terms Voice Box or Larynx. You may even know that the vocal cords live inside the Larynx. What you need to realize is that the position of the Larynx is vitally important. If you put your finger on your adams apple (the front part of the Larynx) and swallow, you should feel it raise up. Great singing and speaking only happens when the Larynx remains in the lower position. As it raises, it starts to close up the throat and create a tight, thin sound. Practice speaking and singing with your finger on your Larynx and learn to keep it from jumping up too high. With a little focus and patience, you can make it happen.

12.07

Lack of melody is the number one problem with the average person's speaking voice. We must allow the voice to go up and down the range, like a good song does. The world is full of people hovering around one or two notes as they speak. This creates a monotone voice that is lifeless and boring to the listener. To change this, you need to exaggerate the highs and low pitches as you speak. Pretend that you are singing a song and let your voice create an interesting and varied pattern. In the beginning you might think it sounds a bit phony. But as you practice, the sounds will become more natural. People will love listening to the new and improved YOU.

11.07

We need to realize that singing and speaking is almost exactly the same thing. When you sing, the brain thinks that you’re speaking with unusually long words, and perhaps more melody. Other than that, the vocal cords, air, and the body are basically performing the same functions. We must learn to speak while our stomachs are deflating. This will send a solid stream of air to the vocal cords, and help the words ride out of the mouth on that same bed of air. This, with more volume and melody, will give your speaking voice the sing-song quality I believe you need. Speak like you sing and see how it improves your conversations and your life.

10.07

As you work towards mastering diaphragmatic breathing, you should focus on exactly how your stomach comes back in as you exhale. The end result is to allow the stomach to slowly deflate with no tension. In the beginning, especially when you sing louder or higher, it'lll be hard not tighten your stomach muscles. Please remember to keep working toward releasing that pressure. A tight stomach creates a blocked, restricted voice. Soon you'll be free from that tension, and singing and speaking will be a much better experience.

General Tips

1 Drink as much water as you can
There are two holes in the back part of your throat–one where the food and water passes, and the other for air. When you drink, the water goes down the liquid hole. The problem is, the vocal cords live down the air hole. It is actually impossible to drink water directly to the cords. So, you need to have so much water in your system that the bloodstream carries it to your vocal cords. To do that you should drink about one half of a gallon of pure water every day.

2 Tea with honey and lemon is a bad idea
Sorry mom, but, if the tea has caffeine in it, that unnecessarily speeds up the production of mucous and gives you too much phlegm. Then, the tea is usually too hot and that makes the vocal cords change in size. The temperature of liquid can change the size and shape of tissues it comes in contact with. Haven't you noticed your fingers look like prunes when you take a long hot bath? Then, the lemon is citrus which makes you salivate extra, which also makes too much phlegm. And finally, the honey is so thick it causes moisture problems too.

3 Stop Smoking
When you inhale, the cigarette smoke passes directly through the vocal cords and dries up a lot of the natural moisture they need to function.

4 Learn Diaphragmatic Breathing
It is very easy and much healthier for the body. Just put your hand on your stomach where your belly button is. When you inhale, pretend that you have a balloon in there and let it expand. When you exhale, let your stomach fall back to its normal position. It's no more difficult than that.

5 Stop tightening your stomach
Too many people have heard the word support and think that it is simply creating pressure in your stomach that somehow helps push the sound out bigger and better. The truth is, when you lock your stomach muscles, you are actually stopping the air from getting back out of your body and making beautiful noises. The key is to relax your stomach muscles and create no pressure at all.

6 Warm up your voice
Use a few minutes of vocal exercises every day. A runner would never start the race without stretching before. Why not give the voice a bit of stretching.

7 No whispering
When you whisper, you send a tremendous amount of extra air to the cords which makes them dry and irritated. This is actually worse than screaming and shouting.

8 Use melody
When you sing a song the melody is important. Why is it that most people are singing boring songs. They stay on one note, they have no interesting dynamics, and they bore the listener. I say, pretend you are singing while you are speaking. Move it around, shake it up, swoop, dive, soar. Let your voice be as interesting as you are?

9 Drop your jaw
Most people simply do not open their mouths enough to let the sound come out unobstructed. I do not mean that you should smile and go very wide. I want you to simply drop your jaw down a bit and not keep your teeth so close together. This will send more sound into the cheek area where it will bounce around and come out more resonant and full.

10 Voice lessons are not about talent
Every time we open our mouths to speak or sing we are affecting ourselves and the people hearing us. By opening up your voice to its greatest possibilities, you will experience positive changes both physically and emotionally. Change the way you sound and enjoy the success it will bring to you.

To find out more of Roger's tips and secrets click here.