Grow Old With Me

[BillyShears]

https://vocaroo.com/i/s0vU67LWbtSL

Recorded just a couple of days ago. Tried to use the lowest key possible, because I hate my high register.

What do you guys think of my actual technique (and my voice generally)? What needs improvement the most?

BTW the backing track and the background vocals are also mine ;).

[MDEW]

Instead of singing in the lowest key possible....sing in the key that fits  your voice.

I like the Beatles feel of this.

[BillyShears]

Regarding your question in welcome topic - it was one of four songs given to the remaining members of The Beatles by Yoko Ono. They completed" Real Love" and "Free as a Bird", but "Grow Old With Me" and "Now and Then" weren't used. Which is a shame. I made this cover as Beatlesque as I could

Even though I'm a tenor and I 'can' hit high notes easily (up to g6 in head/falsetto), I just HATE the sound of my voice in high registers. So I try to stay as low as possible to avoid having to go much above middle c...

I trained with Singing Success, but even with better technique the sound remains the same

[MDEW]

The sound remains the same because you are singing the same way. Singing Success gives you the idea that doing these exercises are going to help your voice "Passively". Like you do not need to do anything but sing these exercises and you are good, you can sing the way you always did and your voice will magically sound better and do what it is supposed to do. 

 The exercises are active. Your vocal cords and other muscles DO things to make the exercises work. Like lip Bubbles and Squeaky door exercises. Lip Bubbles teach you how to regulate air pressure and how to alter it to help keep the vocal folds vibrating consistently. Part of the "Instructions" are: to keep the Bubbles consistent: If the lips Stop vibrating or you "Flip" into falsetto.....STOP and start over or start a little lower and continue the exercise. There are also instructions about what to do if the sound STOPS or Changes. You are LEARNING how to maintain the airflow....It is active... you do something to have the bubbles continue in difficult areas of your range. The Squeaky door teaches you HOW to keep the cords closed. The sound cannot happen IF the vocal folds are loosing closure. You DO something to keep the cords in contact with each other to maintain the sound. These are things you are learning. They are not just passive exercises which SLS gives the impression of by using the term "Speech Level Singing".

The biggest problem I had with teachers and vocal courses is that they seem to be saying the less you "DO" the more you gain. Which is kind of true in a round about way. When a teacher says things like "Keep the tone in the mask". It is easier to track because you can actually feel the vibrations in the face and lip area when you ARE singing in the mask. But there are areas in the vocal tract that "Shift" to maintain that vibration. And guess what...Muscles are moving to make those shifts happen. More or less air with different air pressures needs to blow through the vocal folds. More tension or less tension needs to be applied to the vocal folds. The student needs to "Alter" things when the exercises are failing. Paying attention to what you had to change to make the exercise work is "Part" of the "Learning". It is not just muscle memory but also knowing when things need to change to have your voice do the things you want it to do.

Reguarding  not liking the TONE of your voice.....That can be changed. We do it all the time. Happy, sad, angry, sarcastic, jovial, timid bold, sexy, dopey, whiney, bratty. soft, stern.....Each of these things put "tensions" or focus in different parts of the vocal tract or different amounts of air pressure and makes the sound change. One way to change the sound of your voice is to learn what it is that makes these tones different and use them in your singing( without over doing it of course).

[BillyShears]

I started exercising with Ken Tamplin Course, but it looks like I'll need at least some time with a pro voice teacher to make any further progress...

Will I find somebody like Brett Manning or Ken Tamplin in Poland? I highly doubt it :D

[MDEW]

You may not find a teacher like those to be in the same room with you but Skype lessons are almost as good. 

I do not know too much about how Ken Tamplin teaches or about his course. The owner of this forum also has a course called "The Four Pillars of Singing". I have this course and I know that it is in depth and has more information about how the voice works and how to train it. His course has videos of how and why you perform certain exercises 

The types of exercises are basically the same . The difference is how and why you perform the exercise and what it is that you are exercising. You are or should be learning how to control your voice and control the sound while performing these exercises.

Singing is easy when you already like the sound of your voice and can match melodies with the intended emotions. But when learning how to shape the sound and get the effect that you want it can get a little complicated.

My biggest breakthrough was realizing that if you do not like the sound of your voice, not only are you allowed to change the sound, changing , maintaining and directing the sound is required for good singing.  You do this by learning how to shape the vocal tract and adjust  breath pressure and amount of vocal fold compression and vocal cord closure. The vocal tract is "shaped" through different positions of the tongue, throat, larynx, mouth cavity, lips, soft palate.......How do you learn how to do this....By exercising on funny sounds and singing repetitive scales and sirens while maintaining the funny sounds. Singing scales on different vowels and mouth positions. All the while you should be paying attention to which sounds "Sound" better, feel better and allow different areas of the voice to get louder, softer, fuller, brighter or stronger.

If listen to your voice after making a recording, and you find your voice is dull, lifeless or muffled......add a little of the SHAPE or larynx position that adds brightness....... You can't do that until you Learn the Shape or position that adds brightness.

[BillyShears]

Ken has some good musical experience (check out his albums and live performances). He and his students show a lot of real singing (which isn't always the case with other vocal coaches), so he seems legit to me.

Maybe I'm too sensitive about the sound of my voice. There's a lot of famous singers that didn't like how they sounded, Frank Sinatra for example.

But the listeners loved it and that was the important thing...

Plus I'm still not sure about what repertoire should I sing. There must be something where my voice will shine

[Vule]

I like it! So romantic

 

Try to put more feeling into it. More cry. Try to change the key and see how it goes. Also put  some back vocals.

The drum does not sounds right and backing track is too loud.