Since there isn't a non-classical forum, I'll guess this is where I should post this. I've been documenting my singing (while playing piano) journey on Pianoworld, but I'll copy my entries here if anyone is interested.
02/21/24
I've decided that my next area of focus will be singing! Specifically, singing with my own piano accompaniment. I'm strangely nervous. Other than elementary school music classes, I've had absolutely no training on voice! People have told me that my voice is good, which gives me some confidence. Unlike piano, I'm a little lost, and I don't even quite know how to approach it. So with my limited knowledge, here is my plan of attack for the next three months or more:
SINGING
1. Find a teacher. Goodness knows I've told enough piano beginners that a teacher is the best way to start. It would be hypocritical for me not to start with a teacher. Part of my gut is saying "You're already musical! You can figure this out with a few YouTube videos" but I know I should ignore that instinct. I know some people who can get me in touch with a good teacher.
2. Find my jazz voice heroes. When playing piano, it's been helpful to have a list of pianists I want to study, so I need to make a similar list for voice. My favorite is Shirley Horn--each word she sings seems impregnated with meaning. But she's a woman, and I'm not sure if the techniques she uses can transfer to a male voice. On the male side, I like Chet Baker and Jon Proulx. For some reason, I really dislike Sinatra's voice, and I'm not sure I could articulate why. Betty Carter is interesting, but her methods may be too advanced for a beginner to study.
3. Find my _____ voice heroes. Maybe jazz is plenty for me to start, but I would like to be able to sing across genres. In order of interest: Korean Trot, Rock, Opera, Pop, Blues. I'm not sure how hard it is to go across genres in voice.
4. Find good Youtube videos. I'm not totally against Youtube research. I've already found a couple good warm-up routines. But I need to make sure this stays at the bottom of my list--something to do if I have time for it.
PIANO
The piano side is a little easier--I need to learn how to accompany myself. But the last time I played with an ensemble was in 2001, and that wasn't even jazz! I'm so used to playing solo, that learning to comp will be almost like learning everything from scratch.
RECORDING
The recording side is a big question mark for me as well. Do I need to amp my voice if I'm using an acoustic piano? One or two mics? I have no idea! I just want to be able to make simple little recordings to share for online recitals, nothing more fancy than that.
It's a pretty vague plan. I don't have a timeframe for all this, but I think I'll spend at least 3 months focusing on voice. I'd love to hear any thoughts from people with experience!
02/28/24
I need to get over the embarrassment of hearing myself sing. Here is a baseline recording. It's unbearable for me to listen to, but hopefully when I get better I can look back and laugh. I still haven't got a teacher, but based on my memories of elementary school singing practice, this is what I tried to concentrate on during the recording:
- Keeping mouth wide open
- Supporting my diaphragm
- Relax my throat
- Holding notes for their full value
- Not using vibrato (I play flute, so vibrato is kind of natural to me, and I don't want it (for now) in my singing voice)
- Keeping pitch. I tend to be flat on chromatic passing notes, so I tried to remember to raise those notes a little
When I can remember everything, I'm pretty happy with my voice (for example, around 1:07-1:17). If you actually listened to this, I am very sorry!!!
04/14/24
Another update recording. I've switched to "Embraceable You", which I'm working through with a teacher. I've taken three singing lessons so far. All the lessons (and almost all my practice) has been without piano, but since this is a piano forum, I improvised an accompaniment for the recording! My criticisms of myself:
I started the recording trying to focus more on singing than piano, and tried to keep the piano part very simple. But without thinking, my mind focused more on the piano, and by midway I was making the accompaniment too fancy!
My singing teacher gave me a LOT to think about while singing. When I play piano, here's a list of things that I forgot to do in this recording:
-- Keep the pitch fluid, and don't emulate a piano, which jumps between pitches.
-- Remember to breathe at the right places, and use abdomen to control volume
-- Legato
-- Vowel modification (per teacher's instructions, I'm trying to modify all the vowels to get the best resonance)
-- I hear almost no singing dynamics
My low notes sound terrible. I don't think I usually sound like that. Maybe my throat is too dry.
One thing I haven't worked on at all with the teacher is pitch. She's not worried about it at this point, so neither will I. I think we are focusing on some fundamentals first.
The Adult Beginner Forum's quarterly recital is very soon (May). Even if it's not perfect, I'll try to submit a recording.
04/16/24
Recorded after my lesson today. No piano, but I'm in my car, which makes it hard to sit properly. I used iReal for accompaniment. The start is very shaky, but I think it got better soon after. Teacher is happy with my progress, and she wants me to start working on a new song!
I'm probably going to work on a Korean song--something I can sing for Karaoke (we have a trip to Korea planned soon). I've accompanied family on piano when we do "karaoke night" at our house, but I guess this is a good opportunity for me to dig into replicating the Korean Trot sound on piano. I know it's a long shot, but does anyone here have experience with piano accompaniment for K-trot?
05/15/24
Two weeks ago, I submitted a recording for the ABF Recital. It's the last recording of "Embraceable You" I made before my teacher had me move on to "All Through The Night". The recording is far from perfect, but I'm happy with my progress! I'll post a "All Through The Night" recording sometime next week probably. It's giving me even more problems.