When Imagery Hurts A Singer
Posted on 12. Sep, 2008 by Per Bristow in Performance, Singing
I feel it is very important that I publish this letter below. Forget for a moment that this is addressed to me. This is not about me and that is not why I am publishing it. The reason why this is so important is because her experience is, unfortunately, so frighteningly common. Go ahead and read it first, and then I'll discuss it…
"Your program has me excited about singing again. I just started to sing a year ago at the age of 34 with the goal of getting a good part in a community theater musical production in 2010 – just for fun. I also dream of being in a band
. I am a dancer but untrained as a singer. I have had a singing teacher for the last 8 months and I have been liking singing less and less. I just quit lessons a month ago. Talk about the opposite of your approach. He would laugh at me when I would make a mistake. Then I would try to control my voice even more so I was singing with a lot of tension. Then he would tell me not to be tense.
After all this time I still do not understand the particular method of vocal production he was trying to share with me. It had to do with staying open, e.g. feeling like a pelican swallowing a salmon while you sing. He was indeed a beautiful singer himself so I am certain that this method works for him but he was unable to teach me how to do it. I am working on ridding myself of the tension, so far I have made good progress with the first couple of your DVDs. And I don't mind practicing as I do not feel the frustration I was experiencing with my private lessons. Thanks!"
So was she just in the hands of a bad teacher? Not necessarily. This teacher probably did exactly what he has come to believe teaching should be. He teaches the student how to sing according to what he believes is the right way. If the student then doesn't "get it", frustration naturally sets in.
Now before we go on, I'm sure you understand why it is difficult for me to write about this. It is difficult to try and bring the art of learning forward without coming across as I if I am critiquing other colleagues. I have written extensively about the art of learning and how it goes hand in hand with the evolution of consciousness and increased knowledge of our psychology. Discussing the evolution of learning should in no way be considered critique towards the many brilliant teachers around the world who inspire people to sing.
However, the woman writing this letter above is a classic case of someone who has been taught what is supposedly "correct" singing. She has been taught from an external point of view of what is supposedly "right", rather than having been allowed to discover her instrument. As a result, the student undoubtedly becomes more controlling. She is after all trying to please the teacher and do it "right". And this is exactly what is intended according to traditional ways of thinking.
Control was, and is still, seen as good. However, what our writer experienced is that the attempt to control is indeed fear-based.
Unfortunately, she is yet one more person who has been exposed to produce sound in an artificial way. And even worse; She has been exposed to devastating visual suggestions. "Feel open like a pelican swallowing a salmon". What does that mean? As I mentioned in the free video that I offer at www.TheSingingZone.com, visualization is one of my strengths and people who know how to visualize effectively can create phenomenal results from visualizing.
Visualizations can create accurate internal responses in your body. You can learn advanced physical skills by using your mind. But if you really were to swallow a salmon, what would happen? Would your throat open up? Would you relax? Would it feel good? Of course not. With any foreign object entering your mouth, your throat would close up for protection. What about a pelican swallowing? I, for one, have never had the experience of being a pelican.
While taking on an animal as a character can be fun and interesting for an improv comedy class, it is exceptionally destructive when you want to develop awareness of your physical instrument.
And then when everything else fails, the tendency is to give the student the standard instruction to "relax" – failing to realize that telling someone to "relax" is seldom productive. No one has ever relaxed by being told to relax.
Of course we understand that the imagery was just a well-meant attempt by the teacher to get the student to open her throat wide, and he is just accustomed to use artificial external images to get her to do so.
But then we may want to consider this old-fashioned idea of "open throat". Unfortunately, we see people all the time trying to sing with this belief, trying to artificially manipulate the position of the larynx, trying to artificially manipulate the sound. Not surprisingly, many who believe they are creating an "open throat" are in fact creating enormous restrictions in body and mind – just as our writer above realized. And not surprisingly, many evolve to sound like… well, come to think of it…. darn close to a pelican swallowing a salmon.
The point here is that people shouldn't have to lose interest in singing. Congratulations to the woman who wrote the letter for not giving up on her dreams!
Singing can be one of the greatest joys in life. Feeling comfortable to express yourself in sound and rhythm may be one of the healthiest activities you can engage in. Singing is for everyone.
How about instead of engaging in "right" or "wrong", you get to experience the truth – the true YOU – the you that constantly evolves? How about getting a chance to really experience what "relaxation" is? How about you get to discover what it really feels like to let out sound with less and less restrictions, with more and more power, with greater and greater and freedom? How can we ever lose interest in that?
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Lisa
02. May, 2011
Hi
When I was a child teachers taught using the "chalk and talk" method. If you didn't learn you were told you were stupid, when in fact this was totally untrue. Each person has a different natural learning style including visual – if you see it you understand it; aural – if you hear it you understand it; kinetic – if you experience it you understand it etc. Those students who's natural learning style is from reading something learned really well at school. Those like me who are mainly visual/kinetic didn't! I have learned far more and got more qualifications since I left school because teaching has now embraced the "learning style" method so there should be something in a lesson for every way a person can learn so everyone experiences and gains something.
My first singing teacher was a natural singer. She just knew how to keep her cords closed and had no trouble with her bridges etc. Me, yeah, you guessed it, have huge problems with my chest head bridge and sang with a very breathy tone. Therefore my teacher gave me images for keeping an open throat like "sing like you're about to take a bite out of an apple" which I suppose is right, but it didn't really mean much to me, much like the Pelican eating a salmon. As as this was a piece of imagery she had gained from, shall I say, "borrowing" from the website of an American singing teacher, she had nothing else to offer to help me.
Now, a good teacher would have been able to find a different method to get me to experience what an open throat feels like when making sounds. For example she could have got me to stand in front of a mirror, stick my tongue out and see what an open throat looks like. Then you keep that position, still looking in the mirror, and make some sounds so I could experience what it felt like when I made noise, and see if things suddenly started to get tight or change shape, then I would be able to physically experience what was right and what was wrong. That would have worked for me. I was also given a different visual image, by a better teacher, of having an umbrella in the back of my throat which, as I sang higher, would be opened more and more. That I could relate to and it made a huge difference.
But like many teachers, and exactly like the one quoted by your letter writer, my original teachers lack of experience and understanding were challenged by me, a student who couldn't translate the image into a correct physical reaction. In the same way, she got frustrated with me and just kept telling me to "sing with an open throat"…."sing like you're eating the apple" and it did nothing. After spending £1000 over a year, thinking I couldn't sing and would never improve, and being frustrated with myself thinking it was me, as it couldn't be my teacher could it (?) I eventually stopped lessons and found Per….and others who have helped me much more.
I would advise anyone to Google search "learning styles". There are quite a few websites which give you some simple free tests to help determine what your natural learning style is. If you know, you can help your teacher help you by telling them your preferred learning methods. Too many teachers blame their students…….if yours blames you, find another teacher that works with you, that finds your "stubborn" voice – if you're anything like me! – a challenge which inspires them to find other ways to help you achieve what you need to achieve. BUT, whatever you do DON'T GIVE UP………….
Hope this helps
Nancy
08. Mar, 2011
I have had an God given voice for my whole life. I never worried about which key to sing in as I always had a very large range, that is until I went into a coma 2 years ago. I still have a strong voice and people still love to hear me sing but I have lost my upper range due to the breathing tube. I do not know what to do and it is soo hurtful that I have lost it. What should I do to be able to perform as I did with the range (e above high c to f below middle c) I use to have?
shelia
31. Aug, 2010
Type your comment here…I fell like steve roberts, last sunday I had to sing a solo and forgot two lines of the song, I sang the first two lines and the last two lines, it was like my brain stop working. I remember going to the mic and in the mist of singing I tried to make an adjustment to the microphone and lost my concentration what should one do about this, wow what an embrassement that was, but I did finish the song and jus felt like I not getting back up there again so what do I do about that.
DONNA
21. Aug, 2010
HI, I'M A 49 YR.OLD FEMALE BARBERSHOP SINGER. I RECENTLY WENT TO AN EVENT WHERE WE TOOK CLASSES.IN ONE OF MY CLASSES I WAS INFORMED THAT I HAVE A RARE QUALITY TO MY VOICE. THE TEACHER CALLED IT A "CLARION " VOICE. SHE ALSO SAID THAT I CAN CREATE OVERTONES BY MYSELF. I'VE BEEN TRYING TO GET INFORMATION ON THIS SO I CAN LEARN HOW TO HARNESS THIS ASPECT. CAN YOU HELP ME, PLEASE?
William Ainsworth
13. Aug, 2010
I have sung all my life. I don't know what I sound like or who I sound like. I sing in the car, in the bath, in the garden. Like everyone here, I cant stop because I don't know how to. I will do your program because if I can't stop I may as well make it sound a little better.
miller caldwell
25. Jun, 2010
Singing has always been in my head. In my bath, bed and dog walks too. It started when I was in Sunday school some fifty five years ago and I won a Glasgow Praise certificate because of it. But tradgedy. My voice broke. Shattered more like it. Gone was the wonderful boy soprano voice and in its place not quite a tenor and not quite the full baritone. So my singing is now benefiting from a new breathing technique and I have now been able to be on the stage again…but now it's a tenor saxophone I play.
Dino
21. May, 2010
I have been singing for almost 30 years-but I'm a newbie to your program-just received it yesterday. I saw Walt's comments on April 10th and was curiuos about your response. I am 49 years old and have had acid reflux for almost 2 years. I know you do not dispense medical adivce and I am not asking, but what has been your experience with other students that have had this. I have been working with a doctor for about 6 months and feel that we are making progress, but would love to hear your experience with this and any helpul suggestions. btw-I've spent THOUSANDS of dollars on lessons in the past and just the first two DVD's, taught me more in plain english than all those lessons combined! Looking forward to your comments.
Christine
19. May, 2010
Type your comment here…iam aged 30 and like singing alot.but sometimes i fail to reach high notes.wat practical steps do i need to take
Sandy
18. May, 2010
I'm 15 years old and I sing a lot. Church, while I'm on the computer, in the car, and in the shower:)
I have always loved singing and adore the ones who seem to sing wonderfully with little effort at all.
My problem is straining and not being able to reach certain pitches. i don't know the right terms to describe this but I can sing the higher notes but i change from one octave from another. i can sing either all high or get strained in my natural voice when some of the notes climb into the higher areas. I really don't know how to explain it.
I kind of don't follow with what your trying to say in all of this. And I definitely understand when you say that its hard to understand people when they say things like "sing with your stomach" or "open your throat" or "stay relaxed".
Is the main idea….just keep singing and it will come to you?
Steve Roberts
17. May, 2010
Type your comment here…When I when I was a kid, about six or seven years old I was picked from my school to sing at an estedford. I forgot the words in front of a full auditaurium, it was the first time I remember wishing the floor would swallow me. I didn't sing again untill I was 21 and in a band but was always self conscious and because of that. a poor singer. I went to singing lessons, with not much results other than sing felt even more unnatural than ever. I forgot about all that, and persisted with singing anyway (I busk every weekend) and am now at a stage where my voice isn't too bad. I just know that somewhere in me is a great voice, and it's what's in my head that stops it coming out. I'm in the middle of moving house at the moment, which is expensive, but as soon as I've settled in I will be doing this course, it sounds exactly what I've been looking for, all these years.
Walter Adams
10. Apr, 2010
Type your comment here…I'm wondering is your program would help me. I'm 81 years old. I've sang barbershop, gospel, blues, country, church choir. A few years ago I had a problem with Acid Reflex and since that time I've had no singing voice.
Can you help me?
Walt
Ed S
05. Apr, 2010
Love singing to myself. always sang as a kid, But alas no confidence. People say (when they hear ) that I have a great voice, but I dont know about that. Maybe your program could help .I dont know how your program works. Will keep reading this column,might pick up something that will help. I will start saving just in case. Ed S
kimi
23. Mar, 2010
.to candace , in reading your words i just want to say that i felt like it was my story , i have been singing since i was a little girl i started singing because when i was a year old my mother left me with my grandparents and my grandfather use to put me in a rocking chair in front of a big mirror in the living room of their home and he would tell me to look in the mirror and sing and sing and sing some more and i use to feel really shy as if there was someone in the mirror looking back but me but it made me nervous so he would say kimi in the mirror there is you and the pretend that you are your own audiene and then the only other person thats there is god and all around you feel him all around you and then ask him to cover you with a big blanket and you will be great .. years went by i was doing fine then i got sick , and i feel like i have lost the one thing in my life i love to do that makes my heart soar beyond the bonderies of what i cannot explain considering when i sing i feel such release such joy and then lately i came across this sight for singing and i am about to order the dvds like you just waiting to purchase , i want you to know you are not alone we are hundreds of people connected in heart through the unbeliable talent of voice and i cant wait to get back what i feel like so much sickness and anxiety has done to me , you keep singing and when you can get the singing dvds and lets get back to where we were … and just to telll you that god hears you he listens in his time he will answer and this is the way he does through people who reach others with their gift like per ,, after all god sends angels to help in time of trouble i believe that ….
shirley macilwraith
21. Mar, 2010
I read a post from Candace, I hope by now she is well on her way with a wonderful singing career, I know about anxiety and how crippling it can be, and I also know how the good Lord works…His blessings are new everyday. Let me share this with you all, I was at my computer the other day typing a mail to a friend when the Lord spoke to me….He said, "singing was created in heaven, when I made the Angels, they all lifted their voices in one accord to sing praises to me".
Per is very close to what he is saying about singing, that it is in everyone….IT IS ! Because our good God and Creator made us and gave us all gifts and the one particular gift that we all have in common is to SING..
BEST WISHES TO ALL IN YOUR SINGING FOR JOY !
Shirley MacIlwraith
shirley macilwraith
21. Mar, 2010
I am very interested in buying your dvd's as soon as my husband sets things up. I have recently started singing after 36 years. I did so briefly in my late teens then stopped. It has always been my dream to sing since I was 5 years old…I am now 54. I say better late than never! I started singing again last December and in February I auditioned to join a musical program run by a local music store where you can form a band with other people and after 4 weeks of practice the band get to perform at a concert.. I got into a band and I'm having a wonderful time, the concert is on in one weeks time. So we get to be rock stars for 30 minutes…Anyway I have enjoyed all the information I have received from you and as I want to continue singing I feel I will do very well with your help, so I'm looking forward to purchasing the dvd's……I feel confident to say thank you in advance because as a retired teacher and foster mum to many I have instinctively helped children to discover themselves using similar of not the same steps. Thank you Per
Shirley Macilwraith
anita
25. Feb, 2010
Hi Per.
Thank you so much for your fantastic way of deliver your knowlege in singing.
I have been trying to get your DVD:s but I hav'nt been able to get through.
My best
Anita
Elaine Beard
14. Feb, 2010
Thanks for the comments,all helpful.I am going to purchase the CDs.Let's all keep singing,the world needs it.Elaine Australia
Anna Daugherty
11. Jan, 2010
Per,
I have never had any formal training as a singer, and I have no preconceived notions as to how a singer should do with regards to breathing, etc. I have been singing since I was three-and-a-half years old, according to my mother (RIP). I just open my mouth and let my voice flow out and enjoy the experience. I don't get tense about it. I only ever got that way when I was a local celebrity of sorts, and sang before an audience. Even then, the nervousness helped rather than hindered me. It made me focus on what I was doing, so that I gave my best performance. It didn't make me get all stiff, but instead added a sense of excitement to performing. I guess what I am trying to say is I don't know if your program would be of any help to me, under the circumstances. You see, I have a huge voice with little effort to do so. I just open up and it comes blasting out. Maybe because I never had any training. I don't know. I will have to think about your program and whether I feel it might actually benefit me in light of all I have just said. Thank you. Anna
Hannah Cromer
05. Jan, 2010
Hi. My name is Hannah and I'm 14 years old(I will be 15 in a week and a half). I just found your website on accident. Singing is my dream, passion, and is what I've always wanted to do, but to be honest, I am no where close to having the voice to it. My family is in no way supportive. They believe I can have dreams but not live them until I'm older. My fear is that when I'm older it will be too late to live my dream. I've always wanted to try taking singing lessons to see if my voice gets any better, but I am not able to with my parents rules. I was just wondering, do you put any lessons online? Because I cannot order any of your cd's. Thank you and please reply. <3~Hannah~
Mishelle
02. Dec, 2009
I really love you as an individual and your tancity to help me and others, I pray that the lord bless you in all you put forth your hands to do. You are truly a blessing to me. I just can't thank you enough for being you, please don't change. Love you much
Mishelle Calvert, your fan!