Norah Jones - Come Away With Me

[bubblycrazy]

Hi, this is the first song I have uploaded anywhere before! It's taken me a while to get to this stage as I get very nervous when singing in front of others, to the point where my whole voice sounds shaky.
I'm currently taking lessons but I know that the next stage is to get over my fear of the public!
I would appreciate any comments and constructive criticism.

https://soundcloud.com/bubblycrazy/come-away-with-me

 

 

Updated version, please see post 8: 

[Bono]

Hi bubblycrazy. I think you have a beautiful voice! keep on your lessons and your voice will get much better... regarding to your nerves, my advice is to perform in front of people, your family, friends, until you get used to...

[Clint Torres]

Hi Bubbly. I think you gave yourself your own constructive criticism right there in your own post

I get very nervous when singing in front of others, to the point where my whole voice sounds shaky....

...I know that the next stage is to get over my fear of the public!

Your tone is wonderful. I would tend to think that you can sing well but at this point it is hard to tell because you're holding back. This may not have been the best song choice because it is so low key and mellow which is causing more holding back and lack of support. You need to go for it! How bad do you want this? Just do it. SING! Let people hear you and make them believe. Once they start to compliment you it will get easier! When you get low and soft and don't put any drive or oomph into your voice you go off pitch. There is no pitch at that point. There is no note. Only a whisper.

Pump up the volume on the music and the vocals. Support and stand tall. Sing it girl!!:)

[BlackieJane]

Let me say first that it's a big step putting your recording out for the first time. So you've already taken a big leap. Your natural tone and texture is really nice and you have the potential to have a really rich sound. So I hope you accept that and own that you have a naturally lovely voice. Everything else is just developing the basic techniques to bring that sound out. The technical stuff won't seem as hard once you accept your own abilities and potential.

What were you doing when you recorded this? Were you alone? Were you wearing headphones? Maybe you didn't want to make too much noise? I suspect you couldn't hear yourself very well. You tend to talk-sing in some parts, which is okay to do, but it has to be well placed. Billie Holiday was a big influence on Norah Jones and noone could talk-sing like Billie. Of course Billie had such a limited range, so she kind of had to, but honestly, you have such potential to be a good singer, I think you'd be cheating yourself. You have a much better natural voice than Billie Holiday, who is regarded as one of the best singers ever. You already have an advantage so don't let anything hold you back from finding your voice.

[ronws]

Stagefright is because you are worried about what people think of you. You have to let go of that.

Sing the song because you are as much a fan of the song as is the audience. Share with them the joy of that song. It is not about you or how your hair is parted to the left or to the right, or whether your nose is shaped aqualine or like a hawk's beak. It's about the beauty and meaning of the sound coming out.

Stagefright comes from you assuming what the audience is thinking and sorry to say that your assumption that they think you are rotten is grossly mistaken. Not everyone is Simon Cowell, berating someone into dust for the purpose of tv ratings for ad sponsor generation, which brings income to the show, which pays their huge salaries.

Which doesn't mean you are perfect. You are going to stumble and fall. And then, you are going to get back up, dust yourself off, and go for it again. That's what I do, anyway. I make mistakes all the time. I just don't know when to quit.

"Cannot" is not in the vocabulary.

The only easy day was yesterday.

Accomplish the objective regardless of obstacles.

Even if you and your assumptions are one or several of the obstacles. And often, getting past obstacles is not about head-butting your way through them but by circumnavigating them.

So, you have a few obstacles. Fear that your technique is not good enough. That's the easy part. Find a way, by means of whatever selective imagery helps, to gain the solidity you are looking for in a passage or even through a passagio (voice flip point). When you find something that works, stick with that.

The harder part is the obstacle of your stagefright. Some of that will lessen as you become better in your technique, like any other musician playing an instrument. Once they become more comfortable playing the instrument, the technical errors decrease.

All performers have some stagefright or at least some adrenaline rush in getting in front of an audience.

So, for now, accept the stagefright and use your technique and feeling for the song as a means of concentration to escape the stagefright. It will sound a bit zen and maybe even counter-intuitive. But let yourself get to the point where the audience is part of the scenery and all that exists is you and the song. Because that is what it will be for the audience.

All of this may not mean much coming from me. I have no shame and have always sang anywhere I chose to, regardless of what harm I inflict on an audience.

And I have made bad notes and good notes. As will you.

[bubblycrazy]

Thank you everyone for the lovely comments.

In answer to a couple of questions, I was alone when I recorded this but still get paranoid about the neighbours hearing me! It was just me in my room with the laptop playing the karaoke track and me singing and recording it on my phone. No headphones or microphone.

I didn't turn the track up too much in case it blocked out the vocals, should I crank it up and sing through a mic? Or just sing the song with thicker folds even though it's quite a breathy song?

It has taken me a while to accept the sound of my own voice, but I think I have finally.

Ron I wish I could open up and sing anywhere I like! Although I do sing in front of others slightly more than I used to.

[Clint Torres]

I didn't turn the track up too much in case it blocked out the vocals, should I crank it up and sing through a mic? Or just sing the song with thicker folds even though it's quite a breathy song?

There is a fine line between singing softer or in a lower volume for softer songs and being breathy. You need to learn how to control the voice. Master support to control the volume. Even a breathy song has connection. Control of breathyness is an artistic choice not a default of singing softly. You still need to be able to wander in and out of connected and falsetto etc. Ask your teacher about it as it is better explained in person. :)

[bubblycrazy]

Hi everyone, sorry I posted and ran! I've had an awful few weeks with my grandma being in hospital and passing away, and then had trouble logging onto the new site.

 

However I am now back in action!

 

I have, however, had a good month with my singing and have eventually cracked the problem my teacher and I refer to as a 'breathy mix' and have found good thin vocal fold closure. I have uploaded another version of this song and hope for some more constructive criticism.

 

I also have a couple of other tracks on there, and have added new versions of those as well. If I could get some feedback on those that would be great.

 

I hope I am not losing too much of my natural tone? I sometimes have a tendency to take it the opposite way and sound too harsh and have to be reminded to sing softer.

 

Oh and I bought myself a portable PA system for Christmas, one step closer to public performance and busking!

 

[bubblycrazy]

I have realised that I was singing take 2 of this song too thickly and have eased off on take 3. I'm not sure if there sounds much difference between the 2 versions, or which one sounds better? but I can feel a difference between them. Any opinions please? Then I promise no more versions of this song!

 

[ronws]

take #2 does not show up and take #3 sounds pitchy in the low parts.

 

Hard to tell, because it is hard to hear your voice.

[Chris Miyai]

Hey Bubbly, good potencial there.

 

Try to realize how to sing is as a mental trip: forget about how you use your voice for speaking, try to be someone else emerged in the tune atmosphere, to be a character with another point of view about song's story. You did it better in 2:26s of the updated version! Go this way and I'm pretty sure you'll can sing even nicer.