SPEAKER: So what is a vocal coach?
JOAN LADER: What is vocal coaching?
JOAN LADER: It's really-
JOAN LADER: My name is Joan Lader, and
JOAN LADER: I am a voice therapist and voice teacher.
JOAN LADER: It's very interesting that they they call us, shows,
JOAN LADER: hire us as a vocal coach.
JOAN LADER: The real-a vocal coach is some someone
JOAN LADER: that really works on the music persay
JOAN LADER: and how- what the composer's
JOAN LADER: intentions were and what the acting choices
JOAN LADER: are. A teacher really teaches technique.
JOAN LADER: How do you know
JOAN LADER: the singer is the instrument, and yet
JOAN LADER: they play the instrument, so they have two functions
JOAN LADER: and they have to know that they're not going to get
JOAN LADER: hurt and that they can produce different sounds,um,
JOAN LADER: pop singers are different from musical theater
JOAN LADER: people, different from opera singers,
JOAN LADER: and they have to be able to do each one of these
JOAN LADER: things safely.
JOAN LADER: Focal therapy, these referrals
JOAN LADER: usually come from an otolaryngologist
JOAN LADER: who specializes in voice.
JOAN LADER: And many of these singers are injured
JOAN LADER: on the job.
JOAN LADER: They may develop nodules, they may develop polyps.
JOAN LADER: They may just have some mid vocal folds swelling.
JOAN LADER: They might have vocal folds cysts.
JOAN LADER: And the idea is to try to keep them out of the
JOAN LADER: operating room.
JOAN LADER: So the first thing we have to do is
JOAN LADER: to sort of what we call unloading the larynx
JOAN LADER: and find out if there is muscle tension,
JOAN LADER: improve their vocal health
JOAN LADER: in terms of hydration, sleep,
JOAN LADER: yelling over noise, trying to
JOAN LADER: reduce these activities,
JOAN LADER: so that then we can begin therapy and address their
JOAN LADER: speaking habits and then ultimately their singing
JOAN LADER: habits. I like combining
JOAN LADER: the medical aspects of voice
JOAN LADER: with the artistic
JOAN LADER: aspects of it. So I like combining voice
JOAN LADER: science with art
JOAN LADER: and I get to do both, so I feel like I'm very lucky.
JOAN LADER: I like watching a performer go
JOAN LADER: from the smallest stage to the final performance,
JOAN LADER: which is is quite quite different.
JOAN LADER: So that's it's an adventure
JOAN LADER: that I get to follow them.
JOAN LADER: First sessions, I have to get to know someone.
JOAN LADER: I have to know what their training has been, what
JOAN LADER: they're doing now, when their next performance is,
JOAN LADER: what their life is like.
JOAN LADER: Do they have children?
JOAN LADER: Do they have to be up early to take the
JOAN LADER: kids to school.
JOAN LADER: Are they out late at night?
JOAN LADER: Are they big partiers?
JOAN LADER: There are so many things, so that's it's really
JOAN LADER: taking a history.
JOAN LADER: Then I usually watch, I
JOAN LADER: have them show me what they do to warm up their
JOAN LADER: voice, and then I have them sing something and
JOAN LADER: try to develop some sort of game
JOAN LADER: plan. So I have a long term goal for
JOAN LADER: them, and then I have short term goals.
JOAN LADER: One of the plans might be to address
JOAN LADER: the tension in their body, they might
JOAN LADER: be involved there- their jaw, their tongue,
JOAN LADER: their neck.
JOAN LADER: I might notice that there is- the airflow
JOAN LADER: is limited and so
JOAN LADER: also so I would have to develop a plan to coordinate
JOAN LADER: airflow and voicing.
JOAN LADER: Sometimes it's to increase range.
JOAN LADER: They're just a belter.
JOAN LADER: And so I have to see if I can stretch them in some
JOAN LADER: way so that they get to use more of their voice and
JOAN LADER: they get to use different, different muscles
JOAN LADER: because that's how people get into trouble.
JOAN LADER: If they just do one thing, then
JOAN LADER: they don't use the other muscles, and so we get an
JOAN LADER: imbalance. And there is a condition known as muscle
JOAN LADER: tension dysphonia, which is very dangerous, where
JOAN LADER: their voice is limited, they have difficulty getting
JOAN LADER: their their vocal folds together to make sound,
JOAN LADER: and then they have difficulty raising pitch because
JOAN LADER: they can't stretch them.
JOAN LADER: When we raise pitch very often, the vocal folds
JOAN LADER: are longer, thinner and tenser, so we
JOAN LADER: work on that.
JOAN LADER: There are so many myths about
JOAN LADER: singing. My favorite one is, you know, is
JOAN LADER: dairy bad for me?
JOAN LADER: Well, if you produce
JOAN LADER: thick mucus, then it's bad for you.
JOAN LADER: Some people who are nervous,
JOAN LADER: when they've got a lot of adrenaline, they
JOAN LADER: also dry up and then dairy would
JOAN LADER: really be bad for them. But I know people who eat a
JOAN LADER: pint of ice cream before they go on stage, and
JOAN LADER: they're fine.
JOAN LADER: There's another myth about water.
JOAN LADER: The water has to be room temperature.
JOAN LADER: Your larynx really doesn't know it by the time it
JOAN LADER: gets there, whether it was room temperature or
JOAN LADER: whether it was cold.
JOAN LADER: Other myths?
JOAN LADER: I'm trying to, I'm trying to think-
JOAN LADER: whispering.
JOAN LADER: Is it bad to whisper?
JOAN LADER: Well, it's not bad to whisper, if you really
JOAN LADER: whispered, but if
JOAN LADER: I were really whispering- you can hear that you don't
JOAN LADER: know what I'm saying. So if I started to do that,
JOAN LADER: that's not really a whisper.
JOAN LADER: And so that is really dangerous
JOAN LADER: and it just goes up. The list goes on and on and on.
JOAN LADER: I'm asked this question all the time.
JOAN LADER: I think you can be trained and you can improve your
JOAN LADER: ear and learn
JOAN LADER: some technique.
JOAN LADER: But I don't think that's- I
JOAN LADER: think the the voice itself is, is
JOAN LADER: something that you're born with and,
JOAN LADER: you know, whether it's a beautiful instrument and
JOAN LADER: how unique it is, but you can train people.
JOAN LADER: I don't know that there is a real approach.
JOAN LADER: I borrowed I think I've stolen from almost
JOAN LADER: everybody I've I've ever studied with.
JOAN LADER: There are so many different techniques
JOAN LADER: and body techniques that I've studied.
JOAN LADER: You know, Feldenkrais, I've studied Alexander
JOAN LADER: technique, I've done pilates.
JOAN LADER: I've done yoga, I've studied
JOAN LADER: Fitzmaurice voice work, I've done
JOAN LADER: Arthur Lessac and I'm
JOAN LADER: a master Estill teacher,
JOAN LADER: which is a different type of vocal training.
JOAN LADER: So it's just a combination of things and you really
JOAN LADER: have to see- you try things.
JOAN LADER: You're always looking for the window to open when you
JOAN LADER: when you work with a singer and then you think,
JOAN LADER: OK, that's how I'll start.
JOAN LADER: And then it gets bigger and better, usually.
JOAN LADER: The most typical is when somebody
JOAN LADER: is doing eight shows a week and
JOAN LADER: they're afraid, they want to make sure that they're
JOAN LADER: not going to lose their voice by the end of the week.
JOAN LADER: And sometimes it's a producer who will call me.
JOAN LADER: We have some shows that are just impossible.
JOAN LADER: I mean, to to sustain.
JOAN LADER: School of Rock is one of those shows where they
JOAN LADER: literally are screaming, jumping, playing
JOAN LADER: instruments, singing
JOAN LADER: at the very top of their register.
JOAN LADER: And so that's a that's a very typical thing, trying
JOAN LADER: to make things easier to see what we can
JOAN LADER: eliminate.
JOAN LADER: But that's usually when they are
JOAN LADER: preparing to do a long run of
JOAN LADER: a show.
JOAN LADER: What the body is doing has a direct effect
JOAN LADER: on the voice. If it is not aligned properly,
JOAN LADER: if there is tension in the body,
JOAN LADER: all of this will interfere with the
JOAN LADER: respiratory process.
JOAN LADER: And that has to be the- it's a
JOAN LADER: three part system.
JOAN LADER: There's the respiratory, which has to
JOAN LADER: do with inhalation and exhalation.
JOAN LADER: We sing and we speak on exhalation.
JOAN LADER: The source is where the sound
JOAN LADER: is made.
JOAN LADER: However, we don't perceive it as sound until we
JOAN LADER: place it in a filter, and the filter is the vocal
JOAN LADER: tract.
JOAN LADER: Basically, we're trying to take a tone that has
JOAN LADER: harmonics and get a boost, once
JOAN LADER: we put it in this vocal tract, and if the body
JOAN LADER: is not working optimally,
JOAN LADER: you're not going, you're not going to be able to
JOAN LADER: continue that process.
JOAN LADER: Very often, I'm called in to watch a final dress
JOAN LADER: rehearsal to see if I think
JOAN LADER: that they're producing sound correctly.
JOAN LADER: If I think there is a chance that they might be
JOAN LADER: injured, and it's a very
JOAN LADER: different thing to watch, to watch something on
JOAN LADER: stage. I also go, I used to go to performances
JOAN LADER: five nights a week.
JOAN LADER: I don't do that anymore.
JOAN LADER: Two is plenty, but I'm constantly
JOAN LADER: going in to see the same show over and over as we put
JOAN LADER: new people into it.
JOAN LADER: Well, in my studio, it's a very small room.
JOAN LADER: They don't have to, they don't feel they have to
JOAN LADER: project. They're not on mic, which also
JOAN LADER: changes the situation.
JOAN LADER: Costumes, very heavy, costumes
JOAN LADER: are very often a problem. I have a girl that we just
JOAN LADER: put into Phantom of the Opera and she's
JOAN LADER: playing Carlotta, who is this big
JOAN LADER: opera singer and the costumes are so heavy
JOAN LADER: that I can barely pick up those dresses.
JOAN LADER: And that's problematic for a small
JOAN LADER: person, so I really need to see if they're able to
JOAN LADER: breathe. Sometimes in a period show, they're
JOAN LADER: wearing corsets which really are
JOAN LADER: closing their ribs and they can't open them,
JOAN LADER: hats, things like that.
JOAN LADER: If it's too heavy, it can press on your head.
JOAN LADER: When, many years ago, when Beauty and the Beast
JOAN LADER: opened, the person who was playing the Dresser,
JOAN LADER: had this very heavy headpiece,
JOAN LADER: so it was squishing her
JOAN LADER: throat and she came into
JOAN LADER: me because she had lost at least
JOAN LADER: five notes off of her upper range, and we figured
JOAN LADER: out that there was just so much tension.
JOAN LADER: The hat was much too heavy and they
JOAN LADER: redesigned it.
JOAN LADER: The most challenging part of my job, I think,
JOAN LADER: is to encourage
JOAN LADER: while teaching very specific things
JOAN LADER: and to make sure that they still feel the same joy
JOAN LADER: that they always felt when they sing.
JOAN LADER: Because some people just say, I just don't, I just
JOAN LADER: don't feel it anymore.
JOAN LADER: I'm so worried.
JOAN LADER: Well, that's my job to try to encourage
JOAN LADER: them and and make it come back.
JOAN LADER: The most rewarding part of all of this is
JOAN LADER: to.
JOAN LADER: Have a singer who feels confident
JOAN LADER: and is able to produce sound
JOAN LADER: in an easy way, day
JOAN LADER: after day after day without fatigue
JOAN LADER: and without worrying about it.
JOAN LADER: Oh, yeah.
JOAN LADER: OK.
JOAN LADER: Renee Elise Goldsberry, just back from
JOAN LADER: Brazil.
JOAN LADER: OK, so we haven't sung in a while, so we're going
JOAN LADER: to- why don't we do, um.
JOAN LADER: Let's do a little, just a little humming, OK.
RENE´E ELISE GOLDSBERRY: Yes.
JOAN LADER: We'll do, Hmm. Mm hmm.
RENE´E ELISE GOLDSBERRY: Mm hmm.
RENE´E ELISE GOLDSBERRY: Mm hmmm.
JOAN LADER: We're going to stop for a minute, OK?
JOAN LADER: So let's just find, mmmm. Let's
JOAN LADER: check head position first.
JOAN LADER: OK, so can you jut your head out like this?
JOAN LADER: We want the most vibration with the least amount of
JOAN LADER: work. OK?
JOAN LADER: Hmm.
JOAN LADER: Let your head float.
JOAN LADER: Nice, see if you can get the bottom of your voice to-
JOAN LADER: Good, tighten your jaw, mmm,
JOAN LADER: wide apart, mmm, someplace
JOAN LADER: in the middle.
JOAN LADER: Very nice. A couple warm-ups.
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