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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Hi singer friends!! I've just finished my latest singing tips video, this time breaking down "Chandelier" by Sia! It's a super cool song that got requested by lots of you on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and this blog.

When it comes to singing and creating a signature sound (like Sia), you don't manipulate the cord, you manipulate the resonant space in your face and mouth. Please watch and let me know what you think! Was this helpful? Which parts of the song give you the most trouble? Which songs / singer styles would you like me to break down next? Thanks, as always, for watching!

Love, Fel

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Why is everyone so afraid of voice cracking?? And what can we, as singers, do to prevent the dreaded wobble? Check out my brand spankin' new singing tips video -- "Voice Cracking and How to Prevent It" -- for advice on combatting the process of cracking. In it, I crack a lot like a complete weirdo. Hopefully you will lol with (at?) me.

(This video has also been added to the Free Singing Tips area of this blog, which is a collection of handy singing articles, videos, and singing advice. Check it out if you haven't visited yet!)

What do you think about cracking? Have you ever cracked during a performance? Are you terrified of cracking while practicing, or have you learned to embrace your voice's vulnerabilities as you learn and grow? 

Leave a comment in the comments section below!

Love,
Felicia

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Here is my face, smiling at you, like, "Please take my survey lol!"

*Note: As of Friday, April 25, 2014, submission has been closed. Thank you to all who participated! The winner will be announced later today.*

Are you a singer? An aspiring singer? Do you belt it out in the shower?

If so, I'd love for you to help me out by taking a quick survey.

Is there a prize involved? Heck yes! One survey-taker will be randomly selected to receive a free online video critique from me! (What's a video critique? Learn more here >)

So what's the survey about?

In an ongoing effort to bring more beautiful, free, effortless, joy-filled singing into the world, I'm searching for ways to better serve my private and online voice students.

Lately, I've been very interested the concept of fear and what holds us back when we perform. 

Would you mind lending a few moments to offer your opinions? 

You can remain 100% anonymous.

Cool bonus: I'm also looking to phone interview some of you for further research.

If you're interested in potentially having a little one-on-one chat with yours truly, simply fill out the survey as truthfully as possible, leave your email at the bottom, and be sure to check "yes" when I ask you if you're open to speaking over the phone. 

If I feel you're a good candidate for an interview, I'll email you and we can schedule a time to speak.

Thank you, friends! I can't thank you enough for participating!

Love, Felicia

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What?? Two new singing tips video in one week?? I've gone insane!

This new video answers a question I get a lot:

"Felicia. What can I do to improve my singing technique, right now?"

Some of you may think the answer is "nothing," but that's actually not true. Of course, anything worth achieving takes lots of practice, and this is certainly true of singing. But there are a few things you can do -- right now -- to enhance your sound and improve your singing technique immediately.

Check out the video below for my best 3 tips for making big singing strides -- today!

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Because there is nothing more fun rewarding than judging you critiquing singers' technique and song performances, I am now offering online video critiques!*


Who I Am 

In case you missed it, I'm a singer, performer, voice teacher, encouraging mentor person who wants to help you achieve your singing goals!!

How It Works

1. You film yourself singing a song, upload it to YouTube, and let me know what you want to work on.

2. I send you a video back in 1-3 biz days, addressing your technique, song performance, interpretation -- whatever you want! In said video, I will most likely be wearing a funny hat.**

 3. We end feeling great about ourselves, and the life-affirming power of music.

 *I would never judge you! I am really nice. I swear! I'm also honest. But nice!
 **Okay, I probably won't be wearing a funny hat.

***UPDATE: I've streamlined the video critique process and all you have to do is visit my website and fill out the form here.***

Cool Package Deal Thing

Students who are currently taking my online belting course Belt Your Face Off! get a discount! New people of the world interested in enrolling Belt Your Face Off! and getting a video critique get a sweet package deal. Wooooo!

If you're confused about this, that's okay -- just fill out the form below and all will become clear! (I'll email you!)

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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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