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Chrys Page, voice coach and author has kindly provided permission for us to place excerpts from volume 1 of the e-book A Voice For a Lifetime in 30 Days online! This provides YOU with a unique opportunity - read the articles or buy the ebook which comes complete with audio samples!
Table of Contents
· Introduction
· Preface
· Relaxation
· Breathing
· Creating the Sound
· The Resonators
· Maintaining Quality
· Reviewing the Seven Deadly Sins
· Stage Presence
· A Final Word
· About the Author
Introduction
Welcome to Volume I of "The Complete Singer"! This volume, "A Voice For A Lifetime in 30 Days", is your guide to a flowing, fluid voice that will last for your entire lifetime. In later volumes, we will learn the art and skills of performance and musicianship that will make you "The Complete Singer", but for now, let’s take care of your most precious instrument, your voice!
Whether you are a beginning student of voice, or an accomplished performer, whether you have ever been diagnosed with severe vocal cord problems or just have occasional dry throat and hoarseness, this "at-home" study course will strengthen your voice, increase your endurance, enhance the natural resonance of your true voice, and teach your body to relax and allow the gift you have been given to flow from you into the world. This manual stands alone as a complete vocal strengthening course, or it may be used in conjunction with weekly vocal lessons if you are already studying with a teacher.
You will learn as you go through the workbook that some myths you’ve come to believe about the voice, aren’t really true at all. For instance, you may attribute the vocal "Earthquakes" and "warblers" heard in most church choirs on Sunday mornings to the age of the singer. In reality, that one’s vocal ability decreases with age is just one myth that has been perpetuated by classically oriented vocal maestros for decades. You will find, as you apply the techniques learned in these pages, that this is truly a myth, and it will be dispelled along with some others.
How many times have you heard the phrase, "resting the voice"? Many singers of the past and present have been known to cancel tours and go into seclusion for months while their voice "rested". Well, resting the voice is totally unnecessary. Like any muscle of the human body, when you stop using it, it gets flabby and ineffective. Once you learn to use the correct muscles of the body to produce your rich and resonant tones, you won’t want to or have to "rest" them. No indeed! Our motto in the studio is "Use it or lose it", and we are speaking of the voice, the human instrument.
Another myth we will shatter is the one about tone deafness. We do not believe in tone deafness at all. We believe that the human voice is an instrument, much like any other musical instrument, except that it’s God-made and not man-made. Finding where the notes are on the vocal instrument is the same as finding the notes on a clarinet or a violin. It takes practice!
And on the human instrument, there’s no keyboard to look at, or valves to push. It’s all done by feeling. But with repetition and dedication, anyone, yes anyone can sing.
A series of systematic exercises is provided to take each singer from the first steps of total body relaxation, to proper breathing, to the creation of your first vocal sounds, and finally the performance and the maintenance of the voice over the long run. In later volumes, we deal with confidence, projection, audition tips, musicianship, music biz savvy, the right connections and many other issues. We invite you to send for your copy of "The Complete Singer" and be on your way to making your dreams a reality! Our goal is a voice that will last for as long as you live, with little or no diminishing of quality, range or strength. It can be done!
Read an excerpt from Relaxation
Read an excerpt from Breathing
Read an excerpt from Creating The Sound
Read more about A Voice for a Lifetime and purchase online.
Artist's Emergency Kit
This kit was developed for Performers and Presenters at the 2002 Grammy Awards and it was a smashing hit! After working with top performing artists on and off the road for 10 years, THE BEST herbal and homeopathic products were combined into this kit. The products included address the most common wellness complaints associated with heavy travel and road life... in a compact and convenient Kit! Vocal-eze, White Flower Oil, Ola Loa, Incense Matches, Oscillococcinum, Sound Sleep, Re-usable Earplugs. To learn more about these products read individual descriptions below. A must have for the road warrior! Relax...regroup...re-energize and breath.
Artist's Emergency Kit includes:
Vocal Eze - For dry, strained over-used sore throats. Shake bottle and spray as needed.
Reuseable Ear Plugs - Quiet comfortable reusable ear plugs. Can be washed with soap and warm water. Great for sporting events, concerts, plane rides, etc.
White Flower Oil - To quickly open sinuses: Apply one drop in palm of hand, rub palms together, cup hands over nose and inhale gently. Keep out of eyes or mouth. Wash hands before using restroom. Great for use when flying.
Oscillococcinum - To reduce the duration and intensity of flu symptoms. Take immediately upon onset.
Personal Space Matches - Incense that comes with its own lighting mechanism "like a book of matches" but with that extra incense aroma. Designed for stinky hotel and dressing rooms.
Ola Loa - Drink your vitamins and replenish your body. Mix with 4-6 oz. of water or juice and enjoy.
Sound Sleep - To help you reach a sound sleep naturally.
Makes a great Christmas gift or stocking stuffer for any entertainer, speaker, teacher, etc!
View info and purchase Singers Survival Kit.
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