Rock Stars and Cancelled Tours
Quote of the Day
You are born an artist or you are not. And you stay an artist, dear, even if your voice is less of a fireworks. The artist is always there.
Maria Callas
As singers, none of us want to even think about the possibility of losing our voice. We live for the “high” of a great vocal performance and the gift of sharing emotion with an audience. Last weekend I had the absolute privilege of being on stage with and singing background vocals for Mike Reno, lead singer of the illustrious rock band, Loverboy. If someone would have told me in the 80’s, while learning Loverboy songs with my high school rock band, that 30 years from now I would be singing on stage with Mike Reno I would have peed my pants. LOL. The thrill, other than getting to sing such awesome songs from my teen years with the guy who recorded them, was that I was working with a bona fide rock star. Mike is the quintessential pro from his stage presence to his vocal technique. I am always amazed at his ability to sound as powerful and pitch perfect as he did 30 years ago. As a vocal coach, I see the reason for this longevity – great vocal technique. Some of us have it naturally and some of us have to be enlightened.
Recently in the news is the sad fact that the beautiful and talented British singer, Adele, has had to cancel her remaining 2011 tour dates. Billboard magazine states, “A hemorrhaged vocal chord has forced the singer to completely rest her voice and there is as yet no indication when she will be able to return. So far her label has said only that she will need “an extended rest period” before being able to perform.” How scary is that? In my weekly teaching, many young singers want to sing Adele songs. I am so fortunate to be turned onto great artists like Adele through my students. The first thing I coach a student to do is “map out” the places they will be breathing on the lyric sheet for the song. Often I will say, listen to the original artist and breathe where they breathe. Students were coming back and running far too long on one breath. I started listening to the song they were singing and quickly realized that in her songs, Adele runs a long time on one breath. I teach the opposite school of thinking. In my world, breathing more often gives you the support you need and adds emotional value to the song. Don’t get me wrong, Adele has great emotional value in each and every song. The same week, another student told me that she, the student, had had nodes in her younger years. After having them surgically removed she needed to go to speech therapy with a speech therapist. The therapist quickly discovered that my student was not supporting her voice with her breath. Hmmm. I started wondering if Adele’s voice angst may be linked to the fact that she tends to run on one breath too long creating stress on her vocal cords as well. This is just my personal opinion and observation but it does tend to support my theory on breathing. I am hoping that Adele will get the medical support and professional coaching she needs to get back on stage soon to perform for all of us adoring fans. The quote at the top of this blog is for her.
Until next time… Breathe and Happy Singing
Angela
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