Today we're going to talk about one of those things
that I think most people approach
as if it's a big mystery.
And that is, how do I find my own voice?
As if it's hiding, and lurking in the shadows,
and you need to go, and seek it out.
Well, actually it isn't.
You've had it since birth.
What really needs to happen is you simply
need to get to know it.
And we're going to talk ourselves
through a few things I think you're
going to find helpful in helping you to discover your own sound
and establish exactly who you as a singer.
Straight after this.
Sound check.
Check one.
Check two.
Hi.
My name is Dr. Dan.
Welcome to Voice Essentials, where we develop your voice
and improve your sound.
And today we're out in the studio forecourt.
That's a fancy way of saying that it's
my front yard, actually.
Forecourt, I've never called it a forecourt before.
And we're going to be-- I thought
it'd be nice to step outside the studio and be out in nature.
Have a cup of tea.
And talk through this subject of finding our own voice.
I think it is often approached by many singers
as if it's this great mystery.
As if it's this treasure that needs
to be found because it's been hidden somewhere.
And it's only the most diligent who find it.
Well, diligence does have a part to play
in finding your own voice.
The diligence comes in you spending regular time
with your sound.
It's got nothing to do with it being hidden.
It's simply you becoming more used
to hearing your voice for what it is.
It's the good, the bad, the ugly,
the stuff you like about your sound,
the stuff you don't like about the sound.
It's only as we spend regular time hearing ourselves
sing that we can identify the things that we really
like about what we're doing.
And therefore we go about enhancing those.
And then, there's those things that we don't quite
like about our sound.
And they're the things that we can really
work on developing and strengthening those weaknesses.
There are some things about your anatomy
that predetermine certain things.
My voice is really quite high.
I'm a true tenor.
And therefore my sound can, at times, if I'm not careful,
be really shrill and thin.
I have to work really hard to develop it and fatten it out.
But I only know that-- I only know that about my sound--
because I've spent significant amounts of time with my sound.
It's not because I was born with this innate knowledge
of my voice.
I've had to discover it.
As, too, do you.
And that comes like the development
of any relationship.
The more time you spend with a person,
the more you get to know them.
The more you get to know the idiosyncrasies
and the things that-- how they respond back to you.
Your voice is going to do the same.
Your voice responds to how much sleep you've had.
Whether you've spent all day in air conditioning.
Have you had enough water?
Are you feeling sick, nauseous?
So many different things that we've
talked about in recent videos that impact your sound
and determine whether your sound is going
to be good, bad, or otherwise.
Sound check.
There's one really practical thing
that you can do in the journey of discovering and building
a relationship with your own voice.
There's a little saying, isn't there, that two is company
and three is a party.
Well, that's because when we're wanting
to develop a relationship with a person,
we want to spend time alone with that person.
There comes a point where having friends hanging around
ain't all that crash hot.
And that's exactly the same in developing the relationship
with your voice.
What you want to make sure you can do
is spend time alone with your voice.
And often I have to say to young students,
hey, when you practice, practice alone just with a backing
track.
Or practice alone just with yourself on the guitar.
Turn the original artist's voice off.
Don't sing along continually with the artist.
Because when you do, what you're going to do
is, your voice will get lost and dominated
by the original artist.
And in doing so, what ends up happening
is we lose the identity of our own sound,
and we start to emulate the sound of someone
else's, in this case.
Or whoever you've been singing along to.
So turn the original track off.
Yeah, sure you've got to practice along with it often
to learn the melody and the lyrics.
But you only need to do that four or five times.
After that, turn it off.
Spend time with your own voice.
The little side bonus of that is yeah,
you won't actually learn the melodic structure exactly
as the original artist does it.
That's great.
We want you to make it your own.
We want to hear that individuality.
Individuality, is that a word?
That didn't sound right.
Anyway, we want your voice to be an individual.
We want it to be unique.
And we want to be able to hear your sound coming through.
Because that's what today's discussion is all about.
It's the discovery of your own sound.
Getting to know and find your own voice.
As always, I'm sure there's plenty of other things
that we could think about in-- that are helpful in discovering
and developing our own sound.
And if you have got some ideas, we would love to hear them.
Everyone here at Voice Essentials
would love to hear your thoughts, your comments.
And leave them in the comments below.
And by the way, have you enjoyed being in the forecourt area?
Again, I've never called it that.
Maybe that's what we should call it, the Djarts forecourt,
from now on.
Have you enjoyed the difference in getting out of the studio
and getting connected with nature?
If you've enjoyed that, make sure you leave a thumbs up.
And if it's your first time here at Voice Essentials,
we would love you to subscribe and join
our ever-growing family of singers
from across the globe who are developing their voice
and improving their sound.
Because we believe every voice, including yours,
deserves to be heard.
But until I see you in the next Voice Essentials video,
I'm Dr. Dan.
Sing well.
Oh, leaf in my tea.
Blech.