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Hello my name is Jasmaine I am 14 years old I attend Auburn Junoir High School located in Auburn Alabama. I am in the choir their Mrs. Rhyne is my choir teacher. I have an amazing singing voice I've been online looking for all kinds of collages that would have to do with singing and acting. I found alot and I'm very interested. I understand that i'm getting older and my voice is rapidly changing. TO the point where it's sounding diffrent every month not worse better. So much better and I am very proud of myself and very blessed. I get really frustrated because when I'm trying to sing I can hit every note right. I come back and try the next week and my voice just wont do it. It get's really annoying because I'm constantly singing and I surly don't want my voice to go out while i'm singing. It makes me feel so insecure about my voice. It makes me nervous to even lead a song. I am a very outgoing person and I love to sing dance and act all day long. When I grow up I want to be a R&B singer as well as Hip Hop. I want to be a wonderful A-list actress. I want to have my own clothing line. And I want to model. I know it's alot but i'm really confident in myself that I can do it. I really think that my voice just needs the right traning the proper tranning that it's not getting. I have tried to do it myself it worked for a while. Now my voice is just going through another change after change. I do thnk I can be damaging my voice because when I can't seem to get a note I scream thinking that will help and I also push really really hard until I force that note out no matter how it sounds. Once I get the note out I practice it untill I get it and when I finally do I can do that for a couple of weeks then I can't anymore. I have to retrain my voice. My choir teacher has taught me the Doe Ray Me Fa Sol La Ti Doe scale and that seems to work with me, but after that my voice seems to sink back down. Then It will just spring back up. I want to know if it is my voice going through some changes and if it is. HOw can I make my voice sound better while going through another phase? I also read another conversation that you had with Eric and I tried the thing when you said to sing to the lowest point in which your voice is holding a solid sound. I did that and I think it was a B flat I haven't tried my highest pitch yet. I just want to know if I am hurting my voice or helping and could you please help me direct my voice just show me ways that I can go that you know will be good for my voice and for me. And if this isn't enough for you to determine that then please let me know and I will explain it much better. Please help me. Thank you.
Hello, Jasmaine –
Thank you for your question and all the surrounding information.
The most telling phase you are going through right now is the belief that you can train yourself or that a few vocal tips acquired on-line will solve the problems you have already created. Every professional singer knows their voice is not the same day after day, year after year – and for the privileged few, decade after decade. Working on your musicianship and your instrument – whether you play the French Horn, an accordion, or are the featured star at Opening Night of the San Francisco Opera – never stops. But it has to start off right – first. Clearly, you are on the wrong track. You need one-on-one help. No matter how well you describe your problems to me – hearing you sing is a whole other experience.
I am happy to know your imagination is fired with ambition and dreams of success about many industries – including the performing arts. You will probably remain as diverse and enthusiastic in your various interests throughout your life. Me too. But, what I know for sure is that you first need a great education, professional training, and lots of practical experience. If you want to be a professional singer, then you must first become the most-informed musician you know. You have confined yourself to a particular style of song. At 14, that is not the best idea. Your academic career cannot be based on the changing trends of one variety of pop music, i.e., R&B.
Have you put anything on the Internet that I can listen to? I can hear through any variety of home-grown product and give you helpful feedback. I will be happy to listen if you have something available.
I am a professional singing teacher and vocal coach in San Francisco. To book an appointment, contact me through Craig's List – http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/lss/875945167.html I am also the fine arts critc for SanFranciscoSentinel.com. All my articles and interviews provide a link to my personal e-mail.
Take a look at my You Tubes:
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Best regards,
Seán Martinfield
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Answers by Expert:
Sean Martinfield
Expertise
I am a professional vocal coach in San Francisco. In addition to answers from a previous web site (Askme.com - where my "tag" was "VocalCoach") I have published over 2000 responses related to vocal training - particularly as it relates to Musical Theatre and Opera. I have 24 years of experience as Personal Trainer to singers and actors in the San Francisco Bay Area. I sang professionally for 20 years and know what it means to live the life of a musician. I can determine your voice category, i.e., Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Alto Belter, etc., and how to broaden and strengthen your range. Need an audition song for a Broadway Musical? I will give you suggestions that are appropriate to your vocal category and to requirements specified in the audition notice. I have also created a vocal methodology, "The Belter`s Method". It will enable those in Musical Theatre to practice more efficiently because it focuses on the demands of professional performers as well as to those auditioning for school and community productions, and as University and Conservatory performing arts majors. If what you want is a better voice and more control over your career moves and choices, contact me. Also, as the Editor of SanFranciscoSentinel.com, it is my privilege to review productions at the San Francisco Opera, Ballet and Symphony, as well as Broadway National Tours booked into San Francisco's Orpheum, Golden Gate and Curran Theatres. I also review works by A.C.T (the American Conservatory Theatre) and Magic Theatre. I cover select films, tributes and retrospects, and various international film festivals – particulary those booked into The City's opulent Castro Theatre – including the LGBT Frameline Festival, International Film Festival, Silent Film Festival, Jewish Film Festival, etc. For private vocal instruction, I can be contacted through SanFranciscoSentinel.com. Look under: Seán Martinfield, Sentinel Editor and Publisher.
Experience
As a vocal coach, I work primarily with singers and actors throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. My students range from absolute beginners to working professionals, from pre-schoolers to senior citizens. The vast majority of my clients come to me through recommendation. I know how to identify any singer's vocal category, i.e., soprano, tenor, alto, baritone, etc. I know how to muscle-up every singer's vocal range and to expand it beyond conventional definitions. I have developed a vocal methodology for those who want to know how to belt, THE BELTER'S METHOD. As a singer who spent half of his career doing Bel Canto, I know that classical or Italian methodologies do not work in Standard American music. Bel Canto cannot be "adapted" to meet the needs of contemporary American music, including the demands of the Musical Theatre.
There are a number of major components to my work as a vocal coach. The first is to identify the client's vocal category and to strengthen and maximize the vocal range accordingly. Then it's about teaching a reliable vocal workout that will enable the client to gain better control of their musicianship. That includes scale work to expand the vocal range and to improve placement, breath control, and diction. Then we work on material for the audition portfolio, the immediate job or assignment, a recording session, etc. My task to is to better equip singers and actors who are hoping to or relying upon their performance skills and vocal endurance to maintain a career in the Performing Arts. My clients regularly appear in cabarets and musical productions throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Some have worked in New York and gone on National Tours. For more information, Contact me at: Broadwaybelters@yahoo.com
Education/Credentials
San Francisco State University – BA in Theatre Arts; graduate work in Theatre, Philosophy, and Comparative Reiligion.
Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley – Graduate work in Ethics
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