• Often, when I feel my voice getting tired or hoarse, I sing lighter, with a breathy tone. Does this help”

• When I wake up the morning after a gig it takes a long time to get my voice to come around. Why is that? Can I do something to help against that?

When you wake up after a night of singing there is usually a layer of mucus covering your larynx. This is a protective layer the body has placed over the vocal cords as a reaction to the shock of singing. Try gargling with warm salt water to remove it. (Put only enough salt in the glass to lightly cover the bottom)

• I know it’s harder to sing after a big meal, but I’m not sure why.

There are two basic reasons: When the stomach is full the diaphragm can’t move down completely for us to get full breaths; and the primary job of the body is to stay alive. Digestion is of utmost importance to this. Consequently when digestion is taking place shortly after a meal the body routes energy from all areas of the body to help with the process. During digestion we suffer from a noticeable lack of energy because it is being used for that purpose at the expense of singing, deep thought, etc.

• What foods should a singer avoid.

You can be a good judge of that. Everyone's system is different. However, avoid food that make you feel "heavy," or seem to remain in your stomach for a long time. Definitely avoid milk and dairy products before singing; they gum up the vocal works.

• What about smoking?

NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!

• Al, How do I go about finding my own personal singing style?

At the risk of being slammed to the mat on this, I quote the old quote: "there's nothing new under the sun". There are only new ways of putting old stuff together. Great comedians will tell you that they have spent years collecting funny lines, concepts and jokes from other sources, and that very little of what they do in their routines is completely new. What is unique about their humor is the way they use this collected material. In other words, they have built an arsenal of funny stuff, and they call it up and put it together in constantly changing new ways to make new routines or fit the occasion. This is their "originality."

 

Every great artist is influenced by others They collect and file into the subconscious bits and pieces, ideas and techniques they learned from others. Ask a guitar or bass player and they will often freely tell you their influences and often even show you where they "stole" from Hendrix, Steve Vai or Paul McCartney. Too many singers take pride in insisting that everything they do stylistically is totally their own original idea. It just aint so. This doesn't mean that we lift whole finished phrases, lyrics, riffs and progressions and claim them as our own. But it does mean that we should constantly be aware of what's being done by others, and begin to integrate the things we like into our own style in our own unique way. This certainly doesn't condone duplicating another's style. But drawing on the creativity of others and consciously or unconsciously using what has already been done in totally new ways is today's "originality".

So, just as the comedian constantly collects and files things which have already been said and done, so the singer needs to listen and collect. The cool way Steven Tyler pronounces certain vowels; the feeling of Stevie Wonder's riffing, the way Christina Aguilera fuses the blues with pop, the ballsy attitude of Reba - and on and on. Cover material is your teacher. Don't ignore it.

• I’m a girl, and I try to move smoothly up from my “chest” voice into my head voice, but all I get is a strange abrupt change in quality from a rich, full sound to a shrill, whiney sound. I hate that, so I usually strain my lower voice trying to reach the high notes without getting that break. Is there any help for me?

This is a universal problem with female pop singers, and is most easily fixed by working with a good vocal coach or teacher. I do have a couple of tips, however. First: sing a lot in your head (high) voice. Chances are, you have avoided this part of your voice so long it has become weak. Remember that the voice is run by muscles, and muscles will strengthen and coordinate themselves with exercise. Second: sing scales and phrases down from your head voice into your chest voice. Try sliding down, using an “oo” vowel. Singing from high-to-low is much more beneficial to your learning than practicing from low- to-high. Session Seven (The Singer's Bible) addresses this problem with a great exercise program.