- You want to sing like Frank Sinatra,
so I made a video especially for you.
I hope you'll stick around.
- [Speaker At Microphone] Soundcheck.
(microphone screeching)
Check one, check two.
(microphone screeching)
(crowd cheering)
- Hello, everyone.
Welcome back to Voice Essentials,
where everybody sings.
Now, for those of you who don't know me,
my name is Dr. Dan,
and I'm a contemporary singing voice specialist.
And it's my job to help you realize
the full potential of your singing voice.
I have over 250 learn-to-sing videos here on YouTube,
but this is the first one I've ever done
where we talk specifically about learning to sing
like a particular artist.
Now, I can hear some of my regular subscribers
thinking to themselves, "Frank Sinatra?
Why Frank Sinatra?"
Well, Frank was an interesting singer and performer.
By today's standards, and what the general public
has come to expect from a stand-out voice,
Frank was fairly ordinary.
He rarely sang outside of an octave range,
and he almost never displayed vocal acrobatics
of really any kind.
So, what is it about Sinatra and his voice
that earned him the title King of Swing?
How did his voice become so iconic?
Well, today we're going to look at a range of things
that helped Sinatra's voice become synonymous
with words like smooth, warm,
authentic, and timeless.
- [Speaker At Microphone] Soundcheck.
(cheering)
(microphone screeching)
- Here at Voice Essentials,
I want every singer to learn to be comfortable,
and content with their God-given anatomy.
You can learn to develop your voice, sure,
but I think we can find ourselves
pursuing the extension of things,
like our vocal range, at the expense
of the body of our voice.
And herein lies our first lesson from Frank Sinatra.
Learn to sing within the range of an octave first,
before you go trying to break glass with uber-high notes.
Sinatra became the singer we remember him to be
in part because he remained content
with singing over a limited range.
And he could do this because he never lost sight
of the fact that singing is more about the lyrics
and less about the melody.
The moment a singer forgets to sing
the narrative of the song,
they expose themselves to technical criticism.
The pitch was bad.
The tone was inappropriate.
There was too much struggle and tension.
We don't want our audience focused
on our vocal inadequacies.
No, we want to immerse people in the message of the lyric.
When your audience is focused on the story telling,
they don't have time to nit-pick about bum notes.
Frank Sinatra was the master storyteller,
and he developed his phrasing to serve the narrative.
I've got a whole other video about
learning to phrase when singing.
I'll leave a link in the description section below,
along with an interactive card
that you'll see pop up on the screen.
Suffice to say, at times you want certain words
to be emphasized to convey the intended message.
Sinatra would use his well-developed breath-management
to hold and extend words,
and his ability to use messa di voce --
a gradual increase in volume followed
by a progressive decrease in volume -- were superb.
But none of these skills was used to show off the voice.
What would be the point?
No, these technical skills were used
to expertly draw the audience
into the narrative of the piece.
- [Speaker At Microphone] Soundcheck.
(crowd cheering)
(microphone screeching)
- I think many of us associate Frank Sinatra
with the genre of jazz.
Actually, there are many music historians
that would challenge that, stating that Sinatra,
in his early years, was influenced
by both jazz and cabaret.
And while his phrasing and choice
of rhythmic articulation were truly at home
in the standards of the American songbook,
he ventured into contemporary popular music
later in his career, with hit songs like,
"New York, New York."
The lesson we can learn here,
don't be afraid to explore genres
that sit outside of your comfort zone.
Sure, you might consider yourself
to be a jazz singer.
Well, have you ever considered studying
musical theater and adult contemporary?
Learning to sing these other genres
will teach your voice new tonal colors,
and help you to explore different phrasing options
that will ultimately benefit your jazz vocals.
Frank may have been known as The Chairman of the Board
by his fellow musicians, but he never lost sight
of the fact that music is a business of collaboration.
That's one of the greatest lessons that you can learn
from Sinatra, is to always conduct yourself
in a manner that acknowledges
your fellow musicians on stage,
remembering that without their assistance,
your performance would be considerably less attractive.
Singers do well to remember that music is a team sport.
I hope you've got something from today's video.
Please remember to hit the thumbs-up button
and leave your comments below,
highlighting other key things we can learn
from the great Frank Sinatra and his iconic voice.
I'll see you in the next Voice Essentials video.
I'm Dr. Dan.
Sing well.