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How to keep singing having a busy life?


Melie

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Hi everybody!

I am new here, just starting to discover everything, and it seems to be an interesting forum!

Well, it's been two years now that I'm living a really busy life, with non conventional timetables (working a lot) and few time to rest.

It's really hard to find time to sing and to make it seriously.

Between two serious vocal training, there's always a very long period... I'd like to find a way to put an end to this "routine" :/

I really love singing and, lately, I'm starting again singing, working on a cover, and I've realized how much technic I have lost... so in the end I feel demotivated and sad, which is the reason why I am writing here, I guess!

In the next months, my "working" life is going to change, I'm going to move to another country, etc, and I'm afraid I'm again going not to sing for a while.

I'd like to get some tips about all that. Maybe someone has some exercises that are easy to include in a busy life and that help keeping healthy vocals without singing for hours and hours each week......?

Sorry for the bad English, I am French... :D

Hope I'll get some answers!

Thanks.

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Hi :)

There are some good programs to work with, and I'd recommend a book called Raise Your Voice by Jaime Vendera. It's very simple and won't take up too much time unless you decide to practice more. Also 4 Pillars of singing..which you may know about since you are a member here. Those are both good to work with. Just making time is the best thing. Make it a daily routine to do vocal practice. If music and singing is what you really want then you'll get there if you practice and work towards it. And keeping a workout schedule and jornal might help you out

Melanie

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Hi! Thank you for your answer :)

I was hesitating some years ago to buy it, after I took a course with Magali Luyten who participated to that book.

But, well, I think this time I'm going to buy it and I'll tell you then how do I find it!

How is it built?

Are you currently using it?

How does it help you?

Do you take lessons with a teacher at the same time?

Thanks again :) !!

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I'm currently using the isolation method (Raise Your Voice) as well as the warm ups and TVS foundation exercises from the Four Pillars. And I take lessons every so often through skype. Which really works great. I've had one lesson with Jaime Vendera and currently I'm taking a few lessons with Robert Lunte. I've been on these programs for for 2-3 months. And I've seen more progress in this amount of time than anytime before and I've been singing for 9 years. So I love it. :D The book is based on just 3 exercises. All you need is a pitch wheel, or keyboard and you go from there. You don't use scales. So I've added the TVS foundation to give me some scale work just to give me some variety. But the isolation method is really my favorite.

And if you ever need lessons just check out Robert's website or Jaime's. They are both GREAT.

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Melie, you might try something I do. Warm up and exercise whereever you can, through out the day. My job is an hour away from the house. I get to work a little before 6:00 am and rarely get out before 4:00 pm. Then, at least another hour on the road to get home (traffic is thicker in the afternoons). I will practice while sitting on the commode. Not romantic, I know. That way, when I just launch into a song, I didn't just actually start it cold. I can remember pitches pretty well. I also know my lowest full volume note, in case I need a reference (E3). Or my lowest note at low speaking volume G2. It's not a usable singing note and it is just above speaking fry, for me. But it is a reference point to start from.

If you are studying with Robert Lunte, I would recommend the resonant tracking. It accomlishes several things, at once. Fold adduction, breath support, pitch stability and recognition. Recognition of intervals. Bridging. It is an excellent tool. And then, onsets and sirens. As Robert says, onsets and sirens is singing, singing is onsets and sirens. Here's where resonant tracking helps with bridging. Most people are pushing too hard in chest voice and when they must enter head voice, it is a noticable switch. However, resonant tracking is a medium to lower volume exercise. This will train you to use chest lighter, which makes for a smoother transition to head and then, in the head voice, you can later add the volume that you want.

I have no magic tricks. We all have busy lives. So, we do what we can, when we can, however we can.

Bob (videohere) operates a video store. He has an hour to himself after closing, while he cleans up the place and does the final paperwork. And he uses that hour fully, to the limit. Robert Lunte works, on average, 14 hours a day, sometimes 20, not even leaving time to work on his original music as much as he would like to do so.

I am an office manager for an electrical company that specializes in the electrical stuff for swimming pools, spas, and outdoor living environments. 2 + hours a day on the road, 10 hours in the office, grocery shopping afterwards. Cleaning the kitchen, feeding the dog (he only eats in my presence,) cooking dinner, taking a shower. So, you do what you can, when you can, however you can. If it means enough to you, you will find a way.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thank you for your answer Ronws!! Since I have received "Raise your Voice", I am starting to change my bad singing habits! As you adviced, I'm warming up and exercising whenever I can!

I said I have bad timetable because, in fact, it changes absolutely every day, so that I can't plan anything. One day I start at 7am and over at 11pm, the day after I start at 11.30am and over at midnight, other times I work by night.... I really don't have what we can call an "healthy life"! I'm very tired all the time and spend my free days resting. So it's very difficult for me to include singing sessions in my... routine (if I can call it that way..!).

But well, soon I go away and start everything from zero, so everything's gonna be better!

I have a question: I've started using Jaime Vendera's technique, for some days now, and I noticed that, when I'm singing after a good warm-up and the falsetto exercise, I often have to clear my throat, as if I had mucus in it... :/ Do you know from where does it come? Do I do something bad? If so, what can it be? Does it happen to you?

Thank you :)

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Hi Melie:

if you're feeling "gunky" after certain kinds of exercises, with strong urges to clear your throat, you may be pushing a little too hard. When the cords get slightly swollen or fatigued, the extra fullness can feel kinda- like phlegm, but clearing makes the mechanism more irritated, not less.

suggestions:

- Be sure you're working in the range where your voice naturally feels good (even if not as high or as low as your dream-voice. straining too high OR too low, at loud intensity, can lead to that phlegmy feeling)

- build endurance/ power gradually with plenty of relaxation breaks (yawn, stretch throat, stretch whole body, do some yoga breathing, etc.) in between sets of harder vocalises.

-Be sure you're hydrated -- chug some water an hour before you start working the voice & sip constantly as you warmup.

But absolutely, as ron says, find ways to build it in to nooks & crannies in your daily life, if that's all you've got!

like, a songwriter friend of mine Charlie King wrote about a (real) guy who wanted to learn how to dance, but had 8-10 hr/day job alone in a boiler room. So he figured out how to watch the guages, do his boiler safety stuff while dancing around the pipes....

There's always some way to keep music alive, you'll find what works --

cheers

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