Standard Songs of the Modern Era

This was originally published at Fresh On The Net and is inspired by my colleague Neil March’s article on great cover versions and the subsequent discussion that took place in the comments. The subject of cover versions can be a touchy one for many independent musicians trying to build a creative career distinct from the

Changing Your Voice Part 6 – Cross-Gender Vocal Techniques

This is the sixth article in my series introducing ways you can develop and change the sound of your singing voice to get the sound you want, whatever style, setting or aim you have in mind. These articles are not intended as a replacement for singing lessons – on the contrary, I hope the techniques

Changing Your Voice Part 5 – Hard Rock, Metal and Extreme Vocal Styles

So now you’ve sung like an angel, it’s time to scream like a demon. This is the latest in my series of articles introducing the aspects of developing a unique singing voice – if you’re new to singing and have found this article via google, you may want to read back on the previous articles

Changing Your Voice part 4 – Creating A Character

Changing Your Voice part 4: Creating a Character Though this might look like a topic for actors and musical theatre types only (dahlings), any time you sing for an audience or in a particular context you will be creating a character to suit, even if this character is simply a stylised version of yourself with

Changing Your Voice Part 3 – Modifying Your Tone

Please note: The purpose of these articles is to provide an introduction to some of what can be learnt from vocal studies and is in no way intended as a replacement for learning from a good teacher. If you learned to sing in classical choirs, you will probably have a clean, fairly flat voice which

Changing Your Voice Part 2 – Expanding your range.

One of the first things I read about singing that I knew to be false was an old book in my school library that stated in no uncertain terms that “the vocal range is fixed and cannot be extended”. While it is true that there are physical limits to what your body and voice can

Changing Your Voice Part 1 – Overview

Singing and vocal teaching has changed a lot over the last fifty years or so, as popular music styles and musical theatre challenged the dominance of pure classical training. The constant of course is the instrument; whatever sound you want to make, you’ll be doing it with the same set of muscles, vocal folds and

Basic Voice Projection part three – General Tips

This is the third and final part in a series of articles I posted on the Magic Cafe in 2005, during my days performing escapology as Helen Held.  Though this was written for magicians, the principles described are the same for anyone looking to develop their voice for the stage or any other setting.  Just

Basic Voice Projection part two – Confidence and Nerves

This is the second in a series of three articles I posted on the Magic Cafe in 2005, during my days performing escapology as Helen Held.  Though this was written for magicians, the principles described are the same for anyone looking to develop their voice for the stage or any other setting.  Just ignore the

Basic Voice Projection part one: Deep Breathing

This is the first in a series of three articles I posted on the Magic Cafe in 2005, during my days performing escapology as Helen Held.  Though this was written for magicians, the principles described are the same for anyone looking to develop their voice for the stage or any other setting.  Just ignore the