[Kat Hunter]

Interesting topic. I have a few ideas:

1. As much as it sucks, it is their choice. As service providers we really have to get in their shoes and see what they’re getting from lessons. Of course we have to encourage them to improve and make sure that they ARE objectively improving. But what is almost MORE important is that THEY feel they’re improving. Like from their perspective. It may be that they’re actually happy to repeat lessons, so that it sinks in. Or maybe they need more structure. The key is, they’re paying us for that 1 hour (or whatever the allotted time is), and then they control the other hours in the week until we see them next. We have very little control over that. Our only responsibility here is to help them feel as though they’re improving, and to encourage them to make space in their lives for that. Some people just want to spend an hour a week basically wasting time. But that’s their prerogative and we still get paid anyhow. So the more important question to ask is “what are you wanting to get out of singing lessons?” “what do you want to improve on, in relation to your voice?” “Do you feel like you’re moving toward this goal quickly enough?”. If they say “no”, then we set up structures that encourage more practice. If their goal is to have fun, and they’re improving at a rate they’re happy with, there’s no incentive to practice and they won’t anyway, and that is ok too.

2. Practice has to be focused and goal-oriented. Give them 1 thing to practice, that only takes 5 minutes (so as not to be overwhelming). Say “if you only practice 1 thing this week, this should be it! But for it to work, you have to do it every day. In the shower, or in the car, I don’t mind, but make space for it every day”. If they start the habit and 5 minutes turns into 30 (because, you know, singing is fun), then that’s a bonus.

3. Ask them questions about *where* they practice. A yoga teacher once told me “the best way to get people to practice yoga is to tell them to leave their mat open in the living room at all times, not rolled up. That way, every time they walk past the mat they think “maybe I could just do a pose or two”, and suddenly that pose or two ends up being 20 minutes of yoga. I always ask students where they practice and give them tasks like putting up pictures of singers they love in that part of the house. Or if they practice in the shower, I give them exercises they can do without accompaniment. If they practice in the car, I suggest they burn their exercises onto disk, for example, or I get them to put post-its on the dashboard with ideas about singing.

4. Give them the authority to KNOW if what they’re doing is correct or helping them, and how. The worst thing is going home and practicing it and not even knowing if you’re doing it right, or if the exercises are actually helping you. I have a worksheet I give students, with a table, where they can write their most important exercises. It has at the top the goals the student wants to reach and then says “I can reach my goals by doing….”
WHAT (here they write in what the exercise is) | Why? (the purpose of the exercise) | How do I know if I’m doing it right? (What to listen/feel for, and how you know it’s working) | How often? (usually I write “daily” here, but it never hurts to remind them of this) |
And I help them fill out the table.

Don’t know if these points help! But hopefully they do x

[Kat Hunter]

As for your student, it’s hard to say without hearing. But as far as I know, Think is in Bflat, and it’s reeeallly high.
The top “freedom” notes are around F5, which is truly getting into second bridge/passagio! So if she’s not totally comfortable in middle voice yet, getting into head voice may just take time.
My only thought is that given how many Bflats are in this song, that’s dangerous territory for a really chest dominant singer unless she can mix well (I think Adele would just about keel over!). But like I said, it’s hard to know what’s going on without hearing her, and if she’s using twang to thin out and keep the folds adducted, chances are you’re definitely on the right track!

[Kat Hunter]

So… this get’s a little crazy, but here’s what I believe to be true.

– bratty and witchy sounds both adduct and thin the vocal folds with a higher-than-normal but stable larynx position.
– a sobbing sound (or a cry if it sounds sobby – sometimes it’s hard to know we’re talking about the same sound!) again adducts the vocal folds but with a somewhat lower larynx position.
– a dopey sound only lowers the larynx without necessarily causing more adduction (in fact in many cases it will lessen adduction. In other cases it will simply deepen the level of adduction so that more of the “belly of the fold” (vocalis muscle) is used in vibration).

Now… the word tilt is really kinda misleading. The fact is that your thyroid cartilage will tilt whenever the cricothyroid muscle is used. And this is the main method of stretching the vocal folds (ie. making a higher pitch). So really, regardless of the quality of the tone, the cricothyroid muscle is primarily involved in pitch-making. But I’ve heard a lot of people with estill backgrounds talking a whole lot about “tilt”, so maybe there’s something going on here? You’d have to explain it to me:)

[Kat Hunter]

Pharyngeal sound is just another word for the witchy/bratty/twangy group of sounds. I know some teachers would split hairs over this – actually some teachers would cry war haha, but this is what I’ve seen in common usage. All of these sounds raise the larynx and allow the vocal folds to adduct more easily and consistently.

Dopey or cry sounds are also pretty rad. I love a good cry/whine sound especially at the top of an exercise if someone’s voice is flipping a little too much into falsetto at the top.

[Kat Hunter]

Yes! Silly noises are the best. Actually I find this can be a big hurdle for some students at the start. There are some people who could do well with a pharyngeal sound for example, but it’s a really uphill battle to get them to just let loose and imitate the sound, even though I assure them it’s meant to sound ugly and bratty and like a silly accent.