Belief...Positive Thinking...State of Mind...etc etc

[derek_r]

Still very new here and have about a zillion posts to catch up on, so excuse me if this has already been covered in depth (most things have, which makes it very difficult for a newbie to find things to talk about! :/), but something I've noticed the experienced folks here say a lot is that if you believe you can do something (or indeed if you believe you can't) then that belief in itself will have a huge impact on your voice.

I've long heard similar things said about many aspects of life, and in the main I've found it's true. But I always thought when it came to singing that it kind of wouldn't apply on account of my range was my range and my ear was my ear etc etc

Anyway, after a week or so here, and several months of Gugging and Mooming I figured it was time to start believing, and at last nights band practice I was delighted at the difference such a change of attitude could make. Hit a higher notes, held notes longer, was happier with my tone, and overall felt way more confident than ever before. Long way to go - was still very pitchy at times and I find it hard to focus on the breathing and posture and other things I've read about whilst trying to play incredibly brilliant(*) lead guitar at the same time.

But a great start.

That's all. Back to work

Derek

(*) Please note the word 'trying' :cool:

[Gina Ellen Vocalist]

yessss, positive attitude is so key. If you believe you can't do something then I think you simply won't. It doesn't apply to everything I guess. Like 'I believe I can sing exactly like Aretha franklin' oh damn it i can't! haha! But 'I believe I can put the hard work in to sing notes like Aretha can' might be something more realistic!

posative thinking can go a long long way. Easy for me to SAY but hard for me to actually DO some days!!!

[Guest]

I'm just a singer, not a teacher, but I think the power of positive thinking can be misapplied. If you're in practice and you suck out on a song, good positive thinking would be "I know I'm better than that; let's try this again". Bad positive thinking would be "that's just my voice and it's unique, beautiful and perfect like a snowflake".

[Guest]

Haha agreed all around! I thought it might be worth mentioning the unique snowflake thing just because that particular brand of delusion seems a little different to me than, for example, someone who has fooled themselves into thinking they sound like Aretha.

If someone thinks (mistakenly) that they sound like Aretha, they might have bad ears or they might just be giving themselves too much credit. The snowflake type of delusion, which I've run into a lot more regularly, is people thinking they don't need to sound like Aretha, or any other professional singer for that matter. They'll throw all their flaws - pitchiness and all - under the umbrella of "individualism" and "personality".

I mean, I've been that guy myself: when I was playing in high school, barking like a dumb mutt to muddy waters songs, I would listen to Elton John and pat myself on the back for not sounding as "vanilla" as he did. What I failed to realize back then is that even a chocolate cake should have a little vanilla extract in it.

[Gina Ellen Vocalist]

mmmmm chocolate cake :D

[ronws]

Yes, more chocolate cake, please.

Positive attitude. Please, people, do not confuse it with thinking that every note you have uttered is magical and that assuming others with a positive mental attitude are thinking that.

But there is nothing wrong with holding the belief that you can excel and to keep working. Get past the bad notes. You get those once in a while. And beating yourself silly doesn't actually improve anything, even if you like to do so, from being a masochist.

Just fix what was wrong and move on.

Your voice is new, every day. Seek the good thing every day and let the bad thing extinguish itself from lack of use.

That's also from operant conditioning, whether anyone likes that, or not.

[Guest]

Seek the good thing every day and let the bad thing extinguish itself from lack of use.

I like the sound of that, Ron! I think you just coined yourself another mantra.

[ronws]

Thanks, raph. Like I mentioned, it's also a concept in operant conditioning and is sometimes effective in the training of anything.

If something is not rewarding or something else is more rewarding, then the previous thing decreases as a habit from lack of use. It's called extinguishing behavior.

[Billy Budapest]

One teacher I had years ago always said "Singing is mental".

Sure the hell is.

Without that belief in yourself, it's going to be funky. I'm a pretty non-confident dude. However, for shows, I pretty much "put the rock star clothes on" to get through the gig and be something more than I am, or think I am. It's a total mindset. If you go out there bummed out and unconfident, your voice will react to those doubts. Same as if you go out there tense. I can warm up and feel GREAT, then get pissed off on the way to a gig and it can completely derail my voice if I'm not in the right head space.

State of Mind is KEY.

[Rafael Pashamov]

Aint no positive thinking when you cant afford lessons or cannot find time to do them.

Studying too much, work takes over free time... having to pay rent and taxes. But at least thats for now, maybe something .. WILL happen and things will change.

[Billy Budapest]

Aint no positive thinking when you cant afford lessons or cannot find time to do them.

Studying too much, work takes over free time... having to pay rent and taxes. But at least thats for now, maybe something .. WILL happen and things will change.

Rafael, if you can't afford lessons, RECORD yourself. Be your own audience. Be your own technician. Listen to how you sound. Do you like it? Is it strained? Is it sharp? Is it flat? Is it a good sound to you? A friend of mine recently, who teaches but had a little kid in one of his lessons said "what this kid needs to do is go away and sing a TON of songs." This kid was really too young for lessons and didn't know their own voice enough to really be in lessons. I agree with that. Learn what your voice is and what it isn't. Get to know your voice. Learn what you don't dig about it, learn what you DO dig about it.

If it hurts, try something else. If it's not what you want it to be, check out what's out there online and available to you. Try that stuff. If it doesn't work, at least you're still on your journey to find out more about things. At one point, you'll have the dough and time to do a more formal kind of thing. Sing on your own. Sing a lot.

[ronws]

Hey, Raf, here's a few maxims I learned from people in my life.

"Accomplish the objective regardless of obstacles."

"The only easy day was yesterday."

" "Can't" is not in the vocabulary"

[Rafael Pashamov]

Thanks ,Ron... really appreciate your comment. As always. :)