Six Steps to Reaching your Singing Potential
By: Nicole LeGault

When a beginner - or even an intermediate vocalist – attends their first professional voice lesson, one of their main concerns is usually “the assessment”.

The vocal coach’s job #1 is to determine what the vocalist is doing well, what they need to do to improve, how to help them achieve their goals, and of course, the student wants to know “how long until I’m good?”

“That depends” I usually say, upon how much they practice, and what are their goals. Results are guaranteed, but of course a student who, for example, plays bass in a punk band and would like to sing his/her own compositions may reach their goals more swiftly than a gentleman who would like to sing his favorite female diva’s passionate love songs. They will be working on differing technical requirements.

Music is a beautiful thing – its purpose is to share emotions, and convey thoughts and ideas. If one is singing from the heart, especially if the song is good, it is rather difficult to go wrong. The mistake I would warn against is just singing out of your caliber pending further improvement. Strain all you like at practice, but when in public stick to your comfort range.

We can all easily name five rich and famous singing stars that are very successful, but not at all accomplished technically. Why? We love to listen to a good story teller, and a good song.

So that said, if you’d like to reach the full limits of your own potential, (and why not?) there are six basic talents of music to work upon: Pitch, dynamics, melody, timing, tonality, and authenticity.

Pitch = hitting notes with accuracy
Dynamics = adjusting the volume levels in the music for texture and expression
Melody = flowing from one note to another skillfully and gracefully
Timing = one must be in “in the pocket” grooving with the rhythm of the music
Tonality = the quality and the timbre of the sound you’re creating
Authenticity = the thoughts should be clear, your emotion authentic

To be a complete singer, one requires a complete program.

My words of advice regarding potential:

- Beware of vocal coaches who don’t want to work with you unless you’re already pretty good. Afraid of a challenge are we?

- The difficult parts are only difficult because you’re not good at them yet.

- “Talent” is an illusion. Practice a lot (correctly!!!) and you will be “talented” too!

Nicole LeGault is President of “A Sharp” School of Music and the creator of the Song Savvy Vocal Instruction Program. Learn more about the Song Savvy Vocal Instruction Program at http://SingerCity.com.

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