In case you haven't heard, my new mega singing course SINGING TRANSFORMATION: 360 DEGREES OF VOCAL TRAINING is open for enrollment this week!!

I want to quickly answer 3 of your top singing questions that keep popping up during this week of Singing Transformation enrollment --

1. How do I know if I'm singing with my OWN voice?

You already know the answer to this one: if you love singing and have some practice under your belt, you already have a voice! Done! Congrats! You have a voice!!

But here's the KEY -- to stop fighting against your sound. The best singing is the EASIEST singing. No joke. We don't need tricks or compensations. We just need to get out of the way and make way for our sound to resonate.

And we do that through: (1) supported breath, (2) a relaxed body, (3) mental visualizations that help you ready, aim, fire your sound so it hits EVERY TIME. No mystery, no surprises. It all just comes from practice, and a plan.

2. No matter how much I practice, my weaknesses never get better! Will I ever improve?

Heck yes! If you've studied with voice teachers in the past and haven't made progress, you're in the majority. In fact, voice teachers sometimes serve to REINFORCE bad habits because you meet with them every week, sing with bad habits, and they never correct you. Then you go home and practice without goals or strategies in mind, and nothing ever seems to change.

It's super common. But singing is just like any other skill - you need the right instruction and the right guidance. If you have mental or physical blocks that make it hard to sing correctly, it's time to change the conversation.

As a teacher, I'm all about the MIND-BODY connection. Saying that one thing that will get your body to react. And then pairing that visualization or prompt with your practice, every single time.

Habits are annoying, sure. But they can totally be broken. You just need a new approach. Soon, your mind and body will relearn what feels NORMAL -- and what feels normal will be awesome, relaxed, singing. :)

3. What happens when I go to learn a song and it's too hard?

Here's a freeing fact: if you can sing it in warmups, you can sing it in a performance.

So often, the act of adding lyrics, melody, and a character/context to a song freaks us out so we think we have to abandon technique. Suddenly the "big note" at the end seems super intimidating, even though we've sung the note 100 times during practice!

I discuss the Song Performance process in great detail in Singing Transformation, but a HUGE key to making songs accessible is to break them down into small, manageable chunks, and then sing one or two lines as a vocal warmup.

Similarly, if you find there's a really helpful vocal warmup or even vowel sound that gets your voice pinging out beautifully, you can APPLY those vowels and warmups to the song at hand.

Again, this is a multi-step process that I get into in more detail, but it's actually much easier to relate songs to warmups than you think.

A lot of us expect to hear a song, check out the sheet music, and BAM! sing it perfectly. But it doesn't work like that. Take it from me -- sometimes, the first time I sing through a song, I sound like a weirdo.

But once you find your groove, break it down, modify vowels, and understand that lyrics are not all that different from your vocal warmups, you'll be golden.

ALSO!
One more thing - registration for Singing Transformation is OPEN as of yesterday. The deep discounts and bonuses are good only through this week, and certain options will sell out, so please don't wait that long if you're interested in bundling in personalized instruction with me!!

the link is http://www.SingingTransformation.com



okay thanks for reading and sending your questions!!

xo Fel



P.S. I know I zipped through these 3 questions, but Singing Transformation: 360 Degrees of Vocal Training gets into all these topics, in great detail. I also address:



-How to practice

-How to know if your voice "feels" right

-Mixing your chest and head voice

-Adding power to your sound

-Breath support

-Relaxation

-Delivering an awesome performance at a concert or audition

-Self-confidence



Live written Q&A also allows you to ask me any question, any time, and certain tiers of enrollment include Google hangouts and personalized video critiques. And it's all only through Monday my friends--

http://www.SingingTransformation.com?

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If you're a lover of theater and Broadway, you've probably heard of the popular blog Broadway Spotted, which features all kinds of awesome theater-related articles, updates, and community events like book clubs (they even read my book, Unnaturally Green!) and, most recently, Broadway Secret Santa (of which I am happily a part!).

I bring this up because, today, Broadway Spotted herself (himself?) (the identity of its author remains a secret!) took my belting course, Belt Your Face Off! and wrote an awesome review!

Even cooler, the blog is currently offering a totally sweet promotion for readers, running through the month of December (or while supplies last):

1) Get $30 OFF your student enrollment with the code ISPOTSANTA, or --

2) Maybe even cooler -- if you're a Wicked or musical theater lover -- you can get $20 off BYFO enrollment PLUS a free signed copy of my book Unnaturally Green with the code GREENSANTA. There are only 15 copies available, so first come first serve!

This promotion only runs for a few weeks and has limited spots! Redeem your coupon code by clicking on the above coupon links, or by filling out the form below, or by visiting www.beltyourface.com, scrolling to the bottom, and clicking BROADWAY SPOTTED DECEMBER PROMO.

Weeeeeeeee!

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If you happen to follow me on any of my social media channels, this week you've witnessed me going buckwild promoting a project I've just released into the internet-o-sphere called Belt Your Face Off!. And since I've surrendered all humility/restraint/self-awareness elsewhere, why not continue the tradition here? In the spirit of commerce, and America! And singing.

(Please forgive me. I know not what I do.) (Only kidding, I absolutely know what I do.) (But a girl's gotta eat!) ("Or she'll end up on the street!" says Nicole Kidman, in Moulin Rouge.)

HERE I GO. Belt Your Face Off! is a complete online singing course designed to teach you how to belt, which is the crazy kind of singing that Elphabas everywhere do in Wicked (to perform said "Songs of Death" like "Defying Gravity" and "Wizard and I," etc.). I've been a longtime practitioner of belting (specifically in my green girl days, as well as when I played other roles in college), and have taught belting to a bunch o' fun voice students -- so I decided to record everything I know into a mega-informative belting course that will make you laugh, cry, and SING TO THE HEAVENS! That's right! 25 lectures! Almost 4 hours of video content! So much info on belting, you won't know what to do with yourself! YOU WILL PROBABLY EXPLODE!

That being said, I've also published a how-to starter-guide-e-book thing (also titled Belt Your Face Off!), designed to get your feet wet, which you can download to your Kindle or Kindle App. Get it here for a mere 99 cents!

Finally, here are two video excerpts from the course. The first is the short promo vid designed for the general public, and the second is the introduction to the actual course itself, where I tell you a bit more about what's in store. Please watch them if you're curious! Or don't watch them! You can literally do whatever you want!

Love and singing, Felicia

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Calling all singers! The time has come to learn how to belt!

This baby knows what's up

Belting, or belt singing, is one of the coolest types of singing there is. It's that chesty, powerhouse sound that's practiced by pop divas, rock idols, and Broadway stars. It's the kind of singing I had to do a lot when I performed as Elphaba in Wicked. But a great deal of mystery still surrounds belting. Is healthy belting attainable? Is learning to belt even possible? Are only a select few destined to belt?

The truth is, belting can definitely be taught! And in a healthy, sustainable manner that won't fry your voice. Very few are born with the ability to magically belt without training; instead, singers like me learn very specific belting techniques, warmups, exercises, and "tricks" designed specifically for this kind of singing. All you need is the right instructor (ahem!) and an online singing course designed specifically for belting (ahem, ahem!).

This, my friends, is the strategy behind my singing course, whimsically titled Belt Your Face Off! A Singer's Complete Guide To Belting (which is accompanied by a starter e-book guide that you can download to Kindle).

Without further ado, here's a quick promo video!



To summarize: Belt Your Face Off! is an A-to-Z lesson series that provides singers with all the tools they need to belt, including 25 video and written lectures, 30+ warmups, and over 3.5 hours of online singing instruction. Both men and women are encouraged to take it, and all singing levels are welcome.

The other cool thing is that, as my student, you get to chill with me on the class server, as I check in daily to answer any specific questions that come up on your singing journey. So it's going to be a fun process for both of us!

What else??

• Access to the course is for life, so you don't have to worry about rushing through it. 
• The site hosting my course offers a free smartphone/tablet app, so you can take me with you on the go and we can belt our faces off literally anywhere! Especially small confined spaces!
• You can also check out my $0.99 e-book starter guide here if you want to read more about belting and get some helpful initial instruction in book form. It's only available for Kindle at the moment, but any smartphone or device can download the Kindle app, where you can then locate my book.

I sincerely hope all y'all singers, aspiring belters, and cool dudes will take this course with me! It's going to be a blast. And you're going to learn how to belt your face off.

Love,
Felicia

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I have exciting news!

We're just a few days away from the release of my complete online singing course, Belt Your Face Off! A Singer's Complete Guide to Belting, dropping on the internet this Monday, November 4 at noon EST!

The course features yours truly talking/teaching/singing/making merry on a bunch o' videos, as I guide you through singing techniques that are integral to belt-singing (think Elphaba in WICKED The Musical) and teach you how to belt! Belting -- the act of singing in a chesty register at a higher range of notes -- might seem mysterious and weird, but it's actually very teachable and attainable! You don't have to be born with a belting "gift." There are very clear strategies, techniques and "tricks" that I've honed over the years and that I want to share with all of you.

Belt Your Face Off features 24 videos, 3.5 hours of content, and over 30 warmups and exercises. All levels are welcome. And we get to interact on the class server through regular Q and A!

The total package costs $99 per student -- but I'll be offering a special discount code via Facebook and this here blog for people who are either (A) willing to share the link to my course via their profile, (B) willing to retweet my upcoming announcement on Twitter.

**Update! The course is now LIVE! Check it out!*

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