Singing Voice Training with David Delaney

By David Delaney, MA, CAR

david@singingvoicetraining.com

Shana comes to me through a recommendation of a fellow singer. She is having vocal difficulties and does not know why it is happening. I can hear over the phone the first time we talk that she has a mild ‘glottal fry’ and she is gasping for breath constantly. This is someone who speaks with a degree of tension in her throat and it produces a low popping or rattling sound when air passes through the throat. If you try to sing with this going on, you are likely to have at minimum a sore throat and at maximum more serious vocal difficulties. Shana is unaware of it’s existence though.

Shana comes to me through a recommendation of a fellow singer.  She is having vocal difficulties and does not know why it is happening.  I can hear, even over the phone the first time we talk, that she has a mild ‘glottal fry’.  This is someone who speaks with a degree of tension in his or her throat and it produces a low popping or rattling sound when air passes through the throat.  If you try to sing with this going on, you are likely to have at minimum a sore throat and at maximum more serious vocal difficulties.

Neurofeedback training and the performing artist…

George (not his real name) is a seasoned singer/performer with many years of experience performing for audiences.  However, he has always had to deal with a low self-esteem issue that, even though he is loved by the audiences her performs for, he questions his skill and this affects his performance of course.  He was referred to me by a voice therapist who knew about my background in the performing arts and suspected that I might be able to help him.

by David Delaney, MA, CAR, LPC                                                        

david@singingvoicetraining.com

When we talk about singing, we are really talking about ‘talk-singing’, since speech is the basis of all singing, whether operatic singing, pop, broadway, rap, or whatever style; it is all the same exact process. Many people have been taught, and thus believe, that it is the vocal chords (vocal folds) that are the key to sound production but this is not accurate. Sound production begins with natural speaking.  The vocal folds produce a primitive vibration which is not speech, but which is picked up at the mouth and teeth, and turned into speech, and eventually singing.