Exciting News! Singers Key Notes Teleconference Begins June 1, 2009 @ 1 pm

Please join us.

We have top industry guests lined up like Julie Gold and Jennifer Hamady!

Listed below are dates, topics and call-in info.

Singers Key Notes, a FREE weekly teleconference hosted by Sally Morgan, beginning Monday June 1^st at 1 pm EST. Calls are based on the premise that “a group is smarter than the smartest person in that group.”

“To provide a forum for the exchange of ideas on the music business, songwriting, vocal technique, vocal health, and successful singing career choices.”

Conference Dial-in Number: (712) 451-6000 Participant Access Code: 975940#

All calls will be recorded and available for download at a later date for a token fee. Questions for Sally and her guests can be emailed to info@VocalPowerTools.com during the call.

Dates/Topics/Guests

June 1^st – Inhale!

Your host, Sally Morgan leads a discussion about inhale techniques. Join us to share your favorite techniques and learn from others!

June 8^th – Exhale!

Your host, Sally Morgan leads a discussion about techniques to release the breath and sound. “The muscles you use to inhale set up which muscles you can use on your exhale.” ~S. Morgan. Join us to share your favorite techniques and learn from others!

June 15^th – Perfect Practice Makes Perfect!

Your host, Sally Morgan leads a discussion about practicing. The old adage about how to get to Carnegie Hall – practice, practice, practice – is true only in part. Perfect practice makes for perfect performance, so say leading sports and business coaches. Join this important dialogue to make your practice efficient and productive.

June 22^nd – Special Guest – Julie Gold, singer/songwriter who gave us “From A Distance” recorded by Bette Midler and many others. Julie is one of the warmest, most generous performers I have ever met and I am thrilled that she will be my first guest on Singers Key Notes.

The biographical info on Julie’s website is typically modest, so I’ll try to fill in the blanks about this Philly girl who makes good in NYC by writing a hit song that has brought peace and understanding to our world.

	Julie Gold

Julie Gold – Singers Key Note special guest June 22^nd at 1 pm

June 29^th – Special Guest – Jennifer Hamady author of the recently published, The Art of Singing: Discovering and Developing Your True Voice, published by Hal Leonard. We will be talking about her new book, teaching on both coasts and the heart and soul of a singer.

Jennifer Hamady – Singers Key Note special guest June 29^th at 1 pm

July guests will announced shortly!

Please join us!

Sally Morgan has been helping performers sing as simply and naturally as they speak for 25+ years. She developed an innovative method with a sensitive eye on the latest medical, acoustical and therapeutic research, and authored a book, the Morganix Method, Sing Like You Speak. Learn the secrets of star power singing - knock ‘em dead without killing your voice - command the stage! Sally’s passion is to make the process of singing simple, for the professional singer as well as kids just starting out. Learn the natural simplicity of using your body as an instrument - the way it was meant to be!

Are you determined to become the next American Idol? Good for you! Anything is possible when you believe in yourself.

In this series of blogs I’m going to walk you through the process I am using to prepare a student of mine to audition on the east coast this summer for American Idol. We’ll first take a look at the basic ingredients needed to become a star. Then I’ll walk you through the specific steps, vocal exercises, choosing music, overcoming fears, choosing the “look”, finding the dedication and focus, plus many more aspects of preparation.

There are certain basic ingredients you need to be an American Idol. Here are some of them:

A great singing voice

Musical ability (different from vocal ability)

A great performer (different from musical/vocal ability)

A comfortable, outgoing personality

A definitive ‘look’

Audition song that ‘harmonizes’ with your definitive look

Time to devote to practice and preparation

Willingness to learn and take direction

Realistic picture of yourself and how you fit into the Idol mold

First of all let’s look at the singing voice. No one has a bad voice it’s all in how you use it. And what do we use the voice for? To communicate. That’s the bottom line – to communicate your message and its’ emotional content to your audience – to take them on a journey.

We all know musical artists who really don’t have great singing voices, but have had powerful careers. Bruce Springstein, Mick Jagger, Christina Aguilera, and dare I say, Britney Spears.

None of these performers has a great singing voice. What they give is a completely focused, powerful, intimate communication with their audience. Passion crosses the footlights from them to you.

If your voice is not as strong as you’d like then take a look at the other qualifications and see if you make up for your lack of strength in one area with an extra dose of strength in another area.

Don’t stop working on your voice and studying with a great teacher! The human voice is capable of infinite expression when free from tension and bad habits. Working with a top voice teacher can be a life-changing experience (as some of my students say). If you find the right teacher, s/he won’t try to make you a clone of him/her, but will allow your natural voice to find it’s true expression.

Do take a realistic look at your strengths and weaknesses. When you watch an embarrassing Idol audition, you’re usually seeing someone who has not taken an accurate look at him/herself and the results are painful for the performer and the audience.

Want some advice and guidance about becoming an American Idol? Send me an mp3 or a link to a video (better) and I’ll be glad to give you some feedback. The more professional training you get, the better prepared you will be.

Luck is not chance. Luck is being prepared when you get the chance to strut your stuff! Shoot me an email info@VocalPowerTools.com and I’ll be glad to help you sing like you speak, simply and naturally.

Sally Morgan helps performers sing as simply and naturally as they speak. She is the author of Morganix Method,äSing Like You Speak – used as a text at U of T, Austin and City U of NY; a respected vocal artist, well-known NYC vocal trainer and actress. Her vocal technique demystifies learning how to sing. Sally’s online video lessons have helped people all over the world learn to sing as simply and naturally as they speak. www.VocalPowerTools.com

How do we develop a strong voice that is resonant and can sustain a long phrase or note?

As in every part of voice training, as you strengthen one point of technique you are helping others also. It is also true that as you are concentrating on one fine point of technique such as releasing the jaw as you inhale, then another point of technique falters. Such a dilemma!

This blog post is concerned with developing the strength to sustain a phrase or pitch. Think of yourself as an athlete. Your body must be in the best condition possible. For singers that means well hydrated, well rested and properly aligned with a straight, stretched spine. (that’s a whole other blog post)

The ability to sustain a phrase or hold out “Ah!” in Poor Johnny One Note for 16 beats has to do with several factors.

1. An inhale that opens the airways and engages the abdominal muscles.
2. Using that breath efficiently. This comes with practice.
3. Generously releasing the breath and not holding or conserving at all! Big no-no: The act of parsing out breath a little at a time only creates tension and the breath you do have to use gets stale. That’s why you feel you need to take another breath, not because you need more air!
4. A steady, consistent release of the breath. In the exercise below, you will see how you are using the air as well as learn how to use it efficiently.
5. The exit route for breath and sound must remain as open as possible. That requires muscular strength.
6. You must be saying something to someone! Can’t just sing “Ah” until the 16 beats are up without a clear thought process about why you are still singing that “Ah.” The “Ah” has to mean something to keep your mind and body actively involved in saying it! You might be thinking “Ah, when I see my love tonight, Aaahhhh!”

Here’s an exercise to help build the muscular strength to keep the body open on exhale. It strengthens abdominal/diaphragmatic coordination and response. This exercise will show you right away the inconsistencies in your breath and sound release. Done right, it will help you explore how you are currently thinking about releasing sound – or if you are holding it!

That’s a big build up for this little exercise, but it really is that useful.

You know that annoying sound when a gnat gets in your ear and just keeps buzzing and buzzzzing and bzzzzzzzzz? Well, you are going to make the gnat sound. bzzzzzzzzzzzz. You will sustain the zzzzz… forever. Well, maybe not forever, but for as long as you can moving the pitch around. Don’t concentrate on pitch, but on the zzzzz.

A few rules:

• Get a simple opening inhale – jaw released, lazy.
• Make sure you begin the sound up above the hard palate. Yes, above the hard palate, high in the head.
• As you continue annoying your family and neighbors with the sound, do your best to continue releasing the sound from above the hard palate.
• Make the sound absolutely consistent. When you experience gaps in the bzzz, that means the breath is stopping then starting again. The sound may not want to continue – this is usually due to the lack of muscular strength. Just keep doing it and the strength will build.
• When you are comfortable with just making the gnat sound try matching it to musical pitch. Play a pitch and bzzz on that pitch. No singing allowed, just be a bug.
• Then bzzz on the pitch and slide it down a 5^th and then an 8va – all the while keeping the sound steady and consistent – still be a bug!

Try it and let me know how it goes!

I lifted these 10 Rules from Tom Griep’s Newsletter. Thanks, Tom! tom@auditiontrax.com

Some of the following points I agree with and some I’m not so keen on. Let me know what you think!                                                                                                                                             -Sally

1. The first rule is that any rule can be broken, providing yo know why you’re doing it, and have a good reason.

2. Preparing for a musical audition is like preparing for a 15-round prizefight. It takes that much preparation. Don’t pick up a song and run through it a couple of times, and then take it into an audition. You need to know the composer, the lyricist, the appropriate tempo (which may not be the traditional tempo - more on that later), the key you’re singing in, and the show the song comes from. Know what you’re doing with every word - this is not an improv.

3. You are the doctor -they are the patients. This is perhaps the least understood aspect of the auditioning process. They WANT you to be the one they’re looking for. They don’t want to sit through hours upon hours of auditions waiting for the right actor to show up. They want it to be you. THEY’RE ON YOUR SIDE.

4. The person in the room with the least amount of power - who has the least say in whether or not you’re hired - is the musical director. The musical director will be the only one in the room who will know how well you can sing, and s/he will be able to determine that within 2 measures of music. Therefore, the least important purpose of your audition is showing that you can sing. So there’s no reason to choose a song filled with vocal acrobatics - choose a song that shows you can ACT.

5. Despite what you may have heard, teh song you choose will tell you whether or not to look directly at the auditors. Odds are are, you’ll want to. Most likely, what you’re doing with your song is telling a story, and you’re telling that story to the people sitting at the table in front of you - you are not telling it to the wall behind them. Singing directly to them does not force them to look away - and it doesn’t’ make them uncomfortable. it challenges them to listen to you. Let them look at your resume after you’ve left. For now, you want them listening to, and watching you.

6. Anyone can sing a song straight. Classic interpretations of lyric and melody are a dime a dozen, and usually unmemorable. don’t be afraid to reinterpret your song. The classic example of this, originated by Albert Hague, (a B’way composer who was prompted by George Abbott to teach actors how to audition), is singing Irving Berlin’s “I Love a Piano” slowly and erotically, (actually making love to the piano as you sing.) You may get a number of different reactions from your auditors - they may even be angry at you, demanding immediately that you sing the song as it was meant to be sung. Which, of course, you are fully capable of doing - brilliantly. Make them laugh, make them angry, make them think. What this does, is make them remember you.

7. Brevity is the soul of wit and auditioning. That story you’re telling doesn’t have to be an epic. What you’re doing here is showing the auditors how good you are, and it doesn’t take a lot of time to do that. Be economic, and get out.

8. Yes, GET OUT. And by that, I mean get you of the building. Don’t hang around, waiting for them to ask you to do something else - if they need to hear more at that moment, they’ll have no trouble asking for it. Don’t hang around to talk to your friends in the anteroom. Don’t do a post mortem of the process. Go home.

9. Id a friend asks you what you sang and wants a copy of it, give it to them. First of all, they can go to a music store and get it themselves. So what if they sing the same song as you? Someone may do that whether or not you’ve provided the music.

10. Thank your accompanist! Even if he or she has done a lousy job. As for hte auditors, despite all I’ve been taught to the contrary, I’d five them a brief thank you. In reality they should be thanking you.

The near-tragedy of January 16, 2009 that has been dubbed “Miracle on the Hudson” became Emma Sophina’s Opportunity with a capital “O”. Emma was on the US Airways flight that made an emergency landing in the Hudson River.

Emma is an Australia singer/songwriter who had been in NYC writing music and was on the way to Atlanta to visit friends when the plane went down. Miraculously, all passengers and crew got out of the plane alive and well. Emma was luckiest of all.

Emma was lucky for several reasons.

#1 – she’s alive! She survived a plane crash.

#2 – Emma’s only connection in NYC was a songwriter.

#3 – she’s adorable and full of spunky personality. (I had the pleasure of meeting Emma – more on that in the next blog entry)

#4 – Mark Swersky, the songwriter Emma traveled to NYC to write with saw an opportunity and knew how to take advantage.

#5 – the time is right, the situation is right and Emma is ready.

Mark and Emma wrote a song about her surviving the plane crash. Within 10 days of the crash the song was written, recorded, produced and mastered. I met Emma less than 3 weeks after the crash when she was being interviewed by Extra and Entertainment tonight.

Lucky Emma. She survived a plane crash, wrote a song about it with a hit songwriter and is hopefully on her way to stardom. That’s what we’re all waiting for is that one stroke of good fortune to swoop in and make us a stars! Right?

Emma could not have taken advantage of this opportunity if she had not been ready at that very moment, though. Can you imagine her asking the gig to wait while she took a few voice lessons to get into shape? No! She had to be ready at that moment to go full speed into writing, recording, being interviewed, hair and make up and all.

Let’s not confuse luck with being ready when the opportunity arises. Emma’s readiness isn’t luck, it’s the result of focused hard work on her craft. When I speak to groups of junior high and high school students about a career in music, I ask what they want from their music. Inevitably, 95% of them answer, “I want to be rich and famous. I know with a little luck I can do it.” Wrong answer!

You have to be passionately driven to create, to know every detail of your craft and to incessantly work on improving. In my book, Morganix Method™-Sing Like You Speak, at the beginning of every chapter there’s a quote from a famous performer. Chapter 11 begins with, “I never wanted to be a star, I just wanted to get work.” Gregory Hines.

Gregory Hines did become rich and famous not because he was aiming for fame and fortune, but because he loved his craft, gave it the respect it deserved by working constantly to make it better.

Why do you think there are so few people who make it in our business? There are millions of very talented people out there. So few people make it because few are so driven by the love of their craft – singing, acting, dancing, songwriting – to persist.

What do you think? Would you be ready if your plane went down in the Hudson and suddenly you had a chance at making your dreams come true?

Our current economic climate is challenging just about everyone on the planet. Our biggest problem is fear. I never realized what FDR meant by, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” Now I do.

Most of my students’ economic status has not changed since the recession began, but their ease with spending money on voice lessons has. Fear. But for those of you who must study to keep your skills sharp without a teacher? And because the job pool is diminishing rapidly, the need to hone your craft to its maximum strength is essential to your survival as an independent artist. Terrible dilemma.

You may want to look at how much money you might loose if you don’t keep your craft shinny and new. With fewer jobs available your skills and flexibility mean a lot to those hiring you. So if continuing your voice (acting/dance) studying is out of the financial picture, here are some suggestions to help you keep growing on your own as an artist.

Practice. Always practice. Perfect practice makes for perfect results – that’s what the gurus of sports coaching tell us. What does that mean? It means taking one very small point of technique and concentrating fully on that one point.

Let’s say you know your jaw is tight and interfering with your vocal freedom. So during your next practice session, resting your jaw is the focus of the entire session. First action you take for every inhale is to rest your jaw. During phonation keep the jaw at rest. All you need to do is to remind yourself.

Watch in a mirror. Instantaneous feedback is invaluable in learning. Watch your jaw. Is it tight? Release it! This will reinforce the thought process of resting your jaw. In fact, while watching in a mirror, your jaw may behave very well because of the instantaneous feedback.

Record yourself – audio and video too. Tell your recording if you didn’t feel the jaw was loose enough and then repeat the exercise with your jaw loose. You’ll hear the difference and learn.

Take your small point of technique into the rest of your life. Practice happens all the time – especially when the instrument is your body. It’s always with you. When you are at the computer or cooking dinner, keep your jaw at rest.

Something I talk with my students all the time about is that you cannot separate your speaking life from your singing life. That means every day, all the time, as best you can be aware of that jaw. If it is tight, let it rest. Then it becomes a habit. If a released jaw is a habit for you, then when you are on stage, you it’s one less thing to think about to make your vocals great.

As always, allow your unique voice, your unique personality and style to lead the way. Individuality will make you stand out as much as your talent. Be bold about being you!

Reliability is just as important. Gone are the diva days where the star got away with coming late to rehearsals. You will be fired in a heartbeat.

There are other tools available to you to keep your voice in top shape.

• How about a workbook and 4 practice CDs? You’ll find it on my website.
• If you’ve gotta’ sing, but can’t get to NYC or don’t have the cash for private lessons, you can still study with a top NYC voice teacher – me. Get my desktop video lessons online and work in the comfort of your own home for a mere fraction of the cost of private lessons.
• Consider taking a voice class. I love teaching classes – you never know what is going to happen and who is going to learn what from whom in the room. It’s a fascinating dynamic and a valuable learning experience. You can find classes most anywhere. If you are in NYC, contact me.

Lastly, listen. Take the time to listen to singers you admire. Preferably singers with great technique and listen deeply.

• How is phrasing defined – rhythm, lyrics, other?
• How is the unique sound of the song achieved? Instrumentation, vocal presence, other?
• Do you hear the song done differently? Try it.
• Absorb the music and take it with you.

Best of luck to all! Please let me know if I can help you in any way to become who you are meant to be!

Casting Directors I have interviewed and those I’ve been privileged to hear at conferences like this past weekend at the Music Theater Educators Alliance, have one piece of advice for performers that stands out from the rest as their strongest requirement. They want performers who are actively continuing to study their craft.

As a voice teacher I was thrilled to hear this comment over and over again. And as someone who loves talent and am passionate about helping others nurture and strengthen their talent, I am doubly pleased to pass on to you some options for continued voice study - no matter how much money you have or where you live.

What I hear from casting directors and music producers across the board is this: the people they hire consistently are performers who continue to study their craft – when they are working and when they are in between jobs. The people who will hire you want to see that you are actively working on your craft – all the time.

They also realize how difficult and expensive that can be. This is the catch 22 for you as a performer. Dance classes are pretty easy to find and fairly cheap. Acting classes in general are a bit more, but also fairly accessible. Voice lessons not so much.

Private voice lessons. The most productive and quickest route to vocal expertise. They are also the most expensive. The instantaneous feedback from a skilled voice teacher however, is priceless. Private lessons are the best way to stay competitive if you can find a great teacher.

Yes, private voice lessons are expensive – and you don’t always get what you pay for. Be careful! Anyone can hang out a sign as a voice teacher. You need to find someone who is a pro and who teaches to the style of music you perform.

Used to be the only voice teachers we trusted to give us the ‘proper’ technique was Opera singers. The trouble with that is that if you are not an opera singer yourself, then why are you training with someone who is? My new method for contemporary singers, Morganix Method™ has broken the mold by training strictly for contemporary singing.

There are classically trained teachers who will tell you that they use speaking on pitch as a principle of their technique. These teachers in general teach Bel Canto method and then want you to speak the lyrics of your songs – without really training you to do so. The Morganix Method™ trains you to speak on pitch as the basic technique, then adds the roundness of tone and quality of Bel Canto, to speaking on pitch – if your music requires. Look for my other articles for more in-depth looks at vocal technique.

Back to vocal training options. There are other alternatives to private lessons.

Voice classes. I teach several voice classes in the course of a year and they are wonderful. There is a unique support you get from a group. Many different perspectives on feedback. Also as you watch the teacher helping other singers, you learn to equate that with your own singing process. I love teaching classes and love watching the bond that forms between students. Some of my students are now writing music together and have gone to songwriting seminars together.

Video voice lessons. On my website you will find desktop video lessons. They follow the step-by-step process of my method with me demonstrating and also clips of me working with my students, so you get a bit of a group lesson experience also. The video lessons are a mere fraction of the cost of private lessons and can be used over and over and over again, each time with a new understanding as you learn more about your voice.

Best of luck in all your performance pursuits. Let me know how I can be of help. Info@VocalPowerTools.com

Last weekend I attended the Music Theater Educators Alliance annual conference where I presented the Morganix Method to my learned academic colleagues. More about that in another entry.

Two of our guest speakers talked about what they were looking for - and not looking for - when auditioning potential actors for their theaters. Their comments are listed below. Most of these comments I have heard from other casting directors and managers, so you can take them to heart.

Here are some don’ts and do’s of auditioning.

When auditioning DON’T

… do anything just for shock value! Make sure everything you do is justified in the song or script.

… swear!

… do monologues about suicide or abortion. Over-done, over-acted.

… use gratuitous emotion just to show your ‘acting.’

… perform a pratfall to get attention or to be memorable.

… do something (monologue or song) new just because it’s new.

… prepare ONLY the songs in your book. Be ready to sing whatever they put in front of you or ask you to sing.

… SCREAM your monologue.

… wear inappropriate clothing. A low-cut dress with large polka dots, not good especially if you’re doing a Shakespearean monologue.

… wear torn jeans or a t-shit with a large logo. It’s distracting.

… learn just the melody line of your songs. Learn a harmony line or 2 also.

… lying! Don’t put anything at all on your resume that is a lie. If you don’t read music, don’t say you do on your resume. If you don’t tap dance, leave it off your resume.

… take rejection personally. It may have nothing at all to do with you.

… use 8 bars of recitative in a 16 bar audition song.

When auditioning please DO

… songs that are contemporary and popular.

… make every word and movement count by giving it meaning.

… show diversity of craft.

… act the song! This casting director said that the biggest failure he sees is actors performing a great monologue who then turn to zombies when they do a song.

… live the monologue, live the song.

… have a song you can rock out on.

… the audition as though you are doing it for the second time!

… give out contact information that will be good for several years to come. The company may not need you for the current season, but remember you and want you 2 years from now. (He said that has actually happened!)

… dance like a man if you are a man.

… make judicious eye contact. Make a connection with the auditors.

… be authentic.

… be polite, be honest, be charming and

BE YOURSELF!!!

Please let me know if I can help you prepare for your next audition! Just shoot me an email info@VocalPowerTools.com and I will get back to you quickly.