So you want to learn to sing, and you've
been told that learning to sing requires
learning classical voice.
But you don't want to sing classical songs, arias
and lieder.
You want to be able to sing rock, pop, country,
music theater, all of the contemporary genres.
Well, let's find out whether you actually
do need to train the voice classically
before you even get started on what you want to sing.
Sound check.
Check one.
Check two.
[AUDIENCE SCREAMING]
Hi.
My name's Dr. Dan.
Welcome to Voice Essentials, where we develop your voice
and improve your sound.
And in today's video we're going to tackle kind
of a thorny issue, globally.
And that is, should a singer, if they're
wanting to learn to sing, always develop a classical technique.
Well, you're probably not surprised to learn for me--
as a contemporary singing voice specialist-- that, in fact, no.
Contemporary singers need to develop their voice
with contemporary technique.
Now here's the thing, when most people think
about the difference between classical and contemporary,
they automatically think about the repertoire.
What's the song that I'm going to be singing?
Is it going to be an aria?
Is it going to be German lieder?
Or is it going to be a rock pop 1980s pop ballad?
What's the piece of material that I'm going to be singing?
Now here's the thing.
When I approach the difference between
classical and contemporary, yeah, sure,
the repertoire is in the mix.
But there are other major factors
that determine the differences between the two.
And why a contemporary singer-- those people
who want to do rock, pop, country, some music theater,
jazz-- they need to be taught with contemporary technique.
Sound check.
[AUDIENCE SCREAMING]
Let's highlight a few reasons why that might be the case.
The first one is breath management.
You see, with classical singing, a lot of classical teachers
really teach quite a bit of volumetric pressure.
So that we have a really good sense of heightened air
flow through the larynx.
The idea of that is that it sustains the note.
That's great.
Here's the thing.
For contemporary singing, however, that's
actually going to often cause the voice to constrict.
You see, when we have too much pressure sitting up
under the larynx, our main muscle that is being activating
in contemporary voice is what's called
our thyroarytenoid muscle, our vocalis muscle.
The muscle that dominates the structure of our chest voice.
Or what I refer to often is the short and the dominant sound.
That full-bodied, lower register sound.
The second area, and this actually leads on
from the first, is the registration.
The way we create our sound.
And so for a contemporary singer,
often when they're in studio with me,
I'm working the voice from low to high.
I'm actually wanting to develop and strengthen
the muscle I just mentioned, the thyroarytenoid muscle.
So that it's dominant in the sound.
And it can transition lighter than what,
for example, a classical singer would want them to do.
A classical teacher is often going
to work the voice from high down to low.
To strengthen the lengthener muscles, the cricoarytenoid
and the cricothyroid muscle.
The muscle that helps to lengthen the vocal folds out
and thin them out.
So that we get a really nice head voice.
Remember, there's no right or wrong here.
It's just horses for courses.
And so the second-- the third area,
I should say, that we want to look at
is also the way we structure our articulation.
With contemporary voice, we're often driving the song
by the use of our consonants.
And if we're doing it well, we're
not creating any backflow of pressure
because the consonants are grabbing.
But that being said, the classical singers
are often structuring their voice around the vowels.
Now let me be really clear, both disciplines-- classical and
contemporary-- are using both vowels and consonants,
of course.
We wouldn't be able to understand either
if that weren't the case.
But in contemporary voice, we're wanting
to really allow the consonants to kick and pulse.
And so that we get that really great rhythmic value.
So there you go.
There's three major areas that are
going to be really helpful in you thinking about-- when
it comes to you learning to sing-- what, firstly,
are you wanting to sing?
What genre?
Is it rock, pop, country?
Is it classical?
Then you've got to really think about the task-specific
technique that you need in order to actually develop
that area of your singing.
Sound check.
[AUDIENCE SCREAMING]
So there you have it.
Three major areas of difference that
differentiate between the classical voice
and the contemporary voice.
Breath management, the muscular setup of your registrations,
and the way in which we use vowels and consonants
differently between the two disciplines.
I know there are more differences between the two.
And I want you to write in the comments below.
Let us all know, here at Voice Essentials,
what are the differences that you've
found in the development of your voice?
Have you experienced the difference
between having classical lessons as opposed
to contemporary lessons?
Leave a comment below and let us all know.
And if it's your first time here at Voice Essentials,
you are more than welcome.
We would love to have you join us
in our ever-growing global family.
You see, here we learn to develop our voice
and improve our sound.
And we know that you would be a really valuable member
of our growing community.
But until I'll see you in the next Voice Essentials video,
my name is Dr. Dan.
Sing well.