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Grammy Winner Ken Tamplin Here. Bel Canto IS the only Technique

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kentamplin

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Yes i trained with pillars for some months robert, but i found it hard to do it without strain with no toutor that could be there and watch me. Now i usualy train light slides, and alot of falsettowork so i dont hurt myself, cant afford a teacher :(

Yes i know ken knows what he is talking about, you can hear it on his videos... We just got off with a wrong start :P

Il post some songclips when i get a go from my studiopartner :P

ohh fan Matt vad kul med en svensk! Synd bara vi inte kan snacka alltför mkt svenska här i chatten, men jag mailar min msn(om det är ok) kan vi ju snacka någon gång när tiden vill :D

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  • 1 month later...

Wow someone just brought this thread to my attention. Crazy read. I've been a bit busy so I haven't been around here much just wanted to stop by and say hi. Personally I think you can get something from every teacher to one degree or another. I have studied with some of the greatest most famous voice coaches in the world and took lessons from old grannies, learned from them all. Sometimes what to do, sometimes what not to do. I guess for me the key is to not be closed off, I encourage my students to see other teachers if they are real students of voice and 'on the quest' as they say. I think it's good. You never know where it comes from, I've gotten some of the worst advice from $300 an hour coaches, so IMO status is not a guarantee that the coach is right for you, find what works for you. For me I found what worked, one of my main mentors Cantor Nate Lamm (lineage of Keith Davis, NY) calls me an 'animal singer', he says I sing from a primitive place. He told me that many years into my singing career and I always felt like that in my heart when I sang. So for me complicated placement oriented singing technique only drew me further from my potential, I need to get simple and allow myself to blossom. Honestly, from singing at vocal coach conferences over the years I pretty much always sing way better then any of the other coaches, doesn't matter who they are or their style, just the way it usually goes. Does it mean I can teach? Who knows, maybe, maybe not. It proves at least I've accomplished getting one person to sing. lol I only chime in on this thread because if I was 15 year old kid who wanted to sing, threads like this may turn me off and I want to inspire people if possible. So with my name being mentioned I just want to clear the air on where I stand with all this stuff.

p.s. I'm hosting as a celebrity vocal coach/vocal analyst on the red carpet for the grande finale of American Idol tonight on TV Guide Channel. Show lasts 2 hours, not sure when I'm on, usually 3 or 4 segments:

TV Guide Channel Airings:

PREMIERE:

Wednesday, May 20th at 6:00pm ET/PT

Other Airings:

Wednesday, May 20th at 10:00pm ET/PT

Wednesday, May 20th at 12:00am ET/PT

Thursday, May 21st at 11:00am ET/PT

Thursday, May 21st at 4:00pm ET/PT

Thursday, May 21st at 6:00pm ET/PT

http://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/idol-tonight/199034

Should be fun, biggest show in town, second only to the Super Bowl. :) If anyone has any opinions on the singers email me, I need material. james@jameslugo.com Your comment may be on national television.

Peace,

James

p.p.s. Great job on the forum Robert, I remember when you started this, you're come a long way baby.

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Hi James... its always great to see you chime in. We all wish we could see more of you here... If you told your story on the main sites, "articles and essays" about your AI experience, I think people would enjoy it.

Yes, the site has taken off and we are blessed to continue to be servicing singers.

I will be in Europe in June for 4 weeks doing a 4 stop "TVS Training Vocal Athletes" workshop tour, then back to the states to do some workshops here in my own country for petes sake!!! I would be interested in speaking to you about doing something together in LA.

Lastly, I love your point above about the fact that you can learn something from just about anyone. Folks, this is SO true... often times there is this notion that one technique vs the other or one teacher vs the other is the way it has to be... Folks, James and I have been doing this for a LONG time and we are hear to tell you... it is NOT King Kong vs Godzilla. Unfortunately, there are those vocal schools and individuals that play that way.. but they are becoming obsolete.

The new way of things folks is to not fight for turf like lizards and proclaim that you have all the answers... the new age of voice pedagogy is an "Age of Enlightenment"... with the help of services like The Modern Vocalist.com we can now bring people together and pull from each other stuff that works. To my point, if James came to my studio and trained with me for two hours, he would leave with some new ideas and if I took a two hour lesson with James, I would leave with new ideas. My pedagogy is getting better and better and more effective, not because I put my nose in the air and ignore other systems, but because I put my nose in their books and pull from it what I need. At the end of the day, you still have your own pedagogy, your own techniques and language... but as we have often noted on this forum, voice teachers are often teaching the same damn thing, but with different language. One teacher does a lip bubble, the other does a lip buzz thingy... they are both semi-occulation excercises designed to balance respiratory pressures between the super and sub-glottal regions and get efficiency in the vocal phonation with the vocal folds. I have learned a lot of EVTS, Jaime Vendera, some things from SLS, a lot from Classical training years ago, some refinement from CVI, etc... they all serve to polish the pedagogy of TVS.

Also, its also true that what works for one student, doesnt necessary work across the board for other students.

So to my point... if you are a voice teacher, embrace other teachers, learn what they are doing, take their good ideas... if your student.. DO NOT get suckered into this notion that "our system and teachers have all the answers". There are some very large organizations out there that act like that and take it from me... someone that is in the business on the inside, on the outside and has met many of the leaders in these programs... the idea of "our system is the only system"... is perpetuated for the bottom-line. Its marketing... And thats ok, too... this is a business... and all the great systems get results... as James says, even the Grannie down the street has a few good tricks up her sleeve... but as you navigate through this voice pedagogy maze, keep these points in mind.

Find the system and the coach that you "jell" with...

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Yeah it's good to see this place taking off so great Robert. I know this is a hell of a lot of work and fun, you did a awesome job with everything here. Last night I was cleaning out my garage and found a bunch of old TC swag and thought of you. Rock on brother. I will try to contribute here more often but then you'll have to put up with my BS. :D

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Yes i trained with pillars for some months robert, but i found it hard to do it without strain with no toutor that could be there and watch me. Now i usualy train light slides, and alot of falsettowork so i dont hurt myself, cant afford a teacher :(

Yes i know ken knows what he is talking about, you can hear it on his videos... We just got off with a wrong start :P

Il post some songclips when i get a go from my studiopartner :P

ohh fan Matt vad kul med en svensk! Synd bara vi inte kan snacka alltför mkt svenska här i chatten, men jag mailar min msn(om det är ok) kan vi ju snacka någon gång när tiden vill :D

I'm willing to help you for now, untill you can set away some money.

However you should try to work with setting away some money daily, like for example 3 bucks. If you do that daily, after a month you got 180 bucks... That's like what? 2 lessons and some left with Robert.

That implies lessons biweekly, which is very fair...

It's not impossible if you really want it.

However you might be in a really bad situation atm so I'm willing to help you free of charge till you can get on your feet again. I feel for you and wish on you alot of progress :P

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Oh Elration thats great! Ive added you to msn so we can talk maybe you can listen to some of my clips and give me a hint or two.

Will be intresting to get your input!

Ive got loads of progress and thats thanks to all the dedicated souls Like Jaime, Robert, James and you out on the forums :)

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I just ordered Ken's DVD, I can't wait to get it.

Nearly every method out there I've tried has taken my singing backwards but Ken was kind enough to call me on the other side of the world and offer his advice free of charge. What a gentleman.

I am excited about getting into his teaching of Bel Canto techniques.

If this is the technique as taught by Ron Anderson than I can't wait to start seeing results, Ron's client list covers a lot of singers I admire.

Scott Weiland, Trent Reznor, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Bert McCracken, Bjork, Chad Kroeger, Eddie Vedder, Joss Stone, Justin Timberlake, Linda Perry, Maynard James Keenan, Neil Diamond, Nikka Costa, Pink, Seal etc.

All great EMOTIONAL singers.

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  • 1 month later...

Ok, i had a look at the videos and listened to the tracks on ken website, but ,IN MY OPINION,i gotta say the vocals are not unique. I think that's the problem with me, i always listen for the uniqueness in a person vocals. If they don't make me sit up and holler then they are not unique.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not saying Ken does not know what he's doing or talking about, but if you are going to declare bel canto as the best. period. then you better knock me out with your vocals.

This is why i love Adam Lambert. This guy can sing and i'd like to know what technique he is using. It may be bel canto, who knows :)

Also, i am steeped in gospel and most of the singers out there could not stand on the same stage as many of the gospel singers in church. A lot of gospel singers didn't get any training but have spent years honing their craft, normally from childhood.

Sorry Ken, hear you but not sure, not sure at all.

Dionne

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well dionne, vocal technique has very little to do with uniqueness... Sure you can use technique to sing a certain style, vocaltechnique is your tool but you yourself bring the uniqueness

And besides Adam lambert isnt that unique just a very technical and competent singer... :

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Hi Jens

... which makes Adam lambert unique.

If anyone is to make 'grand' claims about a particular technique - in this case bel canto - i want to hear something special in the voice of the person making the those claims. I listened to ken's audios and watched the videos and left wondering: 'whats all the fuss about?' I couldn't hear what bel canto brought to the voice that other techniques couldn't.

There are many singers who do not use bel canto but still sing like Ken (no disrepect Ken), so i ask: 'where is the uniqueness?'

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I think Ken talk about his experience with all the singers he met. You can certainly achieve the same skills and same tone with other technique, but maybe a bit more dangerous for the voice.

that's my 2 cents.

Not talking about uniquess of his voice.

Compared to a football coach, i don't think some can say that they are or have been better than the player in the team, but can sure coach them great....

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... which makes Adam Lambert unique.

"Just because one is unique does not make one useful." Adam Lambert is rather overrated. By a statute of singers, he's better than average, but nothing spectatular. And I didn't find his technique all that satisfying. Technique makes a vocalist. It does not, however, make a singer. A singer is an artist. An artist isn't really "unique." They just make you feel something. So, if you want to get technical, a singer is NOT unique because they bring you into their realm so you can enjoy what they are enjoying. A vocalist, however, can be unique. And can find no use.

I think Ken sings rather well. To be honest, I would rather take lessons from one sings somewhat average and doesn't get the spot light. Most of the time you'll find THAT is the good teacher. They aren't an exceptional artist because they spend their time and energy creating an artist in others. Very little time gets put into creating an artist in themselves. The teacher who is an outstanding artist more than likely can't teach you to be an artist.

Just experience. Knowledge about the subject, and the ability to get someone to do something while still looking from the outside is one thing. Ability to use it and coordinate it into a form of art is something entirely different.

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here here beyond tenor.

I agree, and i certainly understand what everyone has said in respose to my original post HOWEVER in my opinion, singing is not just about having a great technique.

Having great technique is an absolute. It goes without saying because that is a major goal for us as teachers or students. BUT using your voice, whether to sing or to speak comes down to one thing and one thing only - COMMUNICATION. and if you cannot communicate when singing then you missing the point of why you sing or speak in the first place.

For us, the desire to sing is to express ourselves in a way that speaking alone does not allow us to do. Speaking alone does not fulfill our desire, hence why we are all Modern Modern Vocalist members, we want MORE!

For me, having great technique is redundant if it doesn't communicate. In other words it is not unique.

So let me summerize this..

if you are not using your great vocal techniques and knowledge to communicate then your wasting your time. If you are using them simply to show you have great vocal technique and to show off your skills, again, your wasting your time.

Singing is not simply about great vocal technique and skills it is about communicating.

Ps: i can understand why you say Adam Lambert is overrated, but he uses his vocal techniques in a way that immediately challenges your intial perception of him and your perception on how a man should or could sing. he uses his vocal techniques to fully explore his range, dexerity and abilities. And it's obviously working (communicating) to many of us as TMV members, as we wouldn't be mentioning him so much throughout the forum. I will even go as far to say that there are many male teachers and contributors on TVM right now who CANNOT do what Adam does - and they,ve been singing and teaching for years.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I just ordered Ken's DVD, I can't wait to get it.

Nearly every method out there I've tried has taken my singing backwards but Ken was kind enough to call me on the other side of the world and offer his advice free of charge. What a gentleman.

I am excited about getting into his teaching of Bel Canto techniques.

If this is the technique as taught by Ron Anderson than I can't wait to start seeing results, Ron's client list covers a lot of singers I admire.

Scott Weiland, Trent Reznor, Chris Cornell, Layne Staley, Bert McCracken, Bjork, Chad Kroeger, Eddie Vedder, Joss Stone, Justin Timberlake, Linda Perry, Maynard James Keenan, Neil Diamond, Nikka Costa, Pink, Seal etc.

All great EMOTIONAL singers.

Hi. I'm sure I as well as many others here would love to here a review on Ken's program. Hey if it really works we should know about it right? :-) Thanks!

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  • 9 years later...
On 5/20/2009 at 11:24 AM, Robert Lunte said:

The new way of things folks is to not fight for turf like lizards and proclaim that you have all the answers... the new age of voice pedagogy is an "Age of Enlightenment"... with the help of services like The Modern Vocalist.com we can now bring people together and pull from each other stuff that works. To my point, if James came to my studio and trained with me for two hours, he would leave with some new ideas and if I took a two hour lesson with James, I would leave with new ideas. My pedagogy is getting better and better and more effective, not because I put my nose in the air and ignore other systems, but because I put my nose in their books and pull from it what I need. At the end of the day, you still have your own pedagogy, your own techniques and language... but as we have often noted on this forum, voice teachers are often teaching the same damn thing, but with different language. One teacher does a lip bubble, the other does a lip buzz thingy... they are both semi-occulation excercises designed to balance respiratory pressures between the super and sub-glottal regions and get efficiency in the vocal phonation with the vocal folds. I have learned a lot of EVTS, Jaime Vendera, some things from SLS, a lot from Classical training years ago, some refinement from CVI, etc... they all serve to polish the pedagogy of TVS.

 

Also, its also true that what works for one student, doesnt necessary work across the board for other students.

 

So to my point... if you are a voice teacher, embrace other teachers, learn what they are doing, take their good ideas... if your student.. DO NOT get suckered into this notion that "our system and teachers have all the answers". There are some very large organizations out there that act like that and take it from me... someone that is in the business on the inside, on the outside and has met many of the leaders in these programs... the idea of "our system is the only system"... is perpetuated for the bottom-line. Its marketing... And thats ok, too... this is a business... and all the great systems get results... as James says, even the Grannie down the street has a few good tricks up her sleeve... but as you navigate through this voice pedagogy maze, keep these points in mind.

 

Find the system and the coach that you "jell" with...

  This is from the owner of this forum. The one who people ended up with the idea that he was a tyrant because he started openly advertising his product on his forum. And it was a long journey before he did that.

   I only looked through a few posts on that thread a few minutes ago. I will read it from the beginning later.

   This thread is a good example of what the forum WAS about and , to me, what new and experienced singers/vocalists are looking for when searching "Modern" vocalists or vocal forums in general. Not so much the blatant advertising that Ken was doing when he started the thread or the subject of what system is "Best" but the fact that each of these post or responses were by Teachers, students or those who truly were interested in how the voice works and improving it. Then they responded giving their opinion and why they have that opinion.

   Even though Ken started with an advertising saying his technique is the only technique and a subsequent rebuttal against that statement, he was accepted by The owner and welcomed by him and the others who may have had a different view.   Many coaches and methods were mentioned and credit given to different styles on their own merit.

   Those responding including Ken mentioned their background and their own troubles that led to their seeking through different "Techniques" and teachers on their vocal journey.

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On 3/8/2009 at 6:26 AM, kentamplin said:

Hi guys, for those of you that don't know me, I have 3 grammies, 14 nominations, a master's in voice and have toured the world for some of the worlds biggest rock bands.

 

I have developed a technique using the old Bel Canto (operetic) style of singing and firmly believe this is (in my opinion) the only true technique for maintaining great vocal health, longevity, power, range, tone, clarity and pitch.

 

I don't want to make any enemies here, but the proof is in the pudding.

 

Check out these free vocal tips I have posted on You Tube and you will see what I mean.

 

www.KenTamplinVocalAcademy.Com

 

Another thing: Though I know there are a LOT of great coaches out there, it is rare to find one that can actual sing for you and REALLY show you how to do it.

 

And not only that, have an understanding of what it is like to run up and down a stage, with smoke, crappy monitors, a guitar strapped around your neck (for some :-) bad food, terrible sleep, different time zones coming off a cold and having to perform your best.

 

This has been my world for 25 years, and I have never sung better.

 

Be well Guys,

 

-KT

The proof in the teaching is in, the teaching... Just because you can sing, it doesn't mean you can teach. That has most definitely been proven...  Thanks for stopping by.

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