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The Ultimate Affair


Jazz artist Emily Braden shares how vocalists get hot and steamy again – with music.

Singing is that one thing for me.

It alters me chemically, rewrites my reality, enhances and romances me, cleanses and connects me, drugs, heals and soothes me, forgives and accepts me, intensifies and satisfies me.

Such a hold it has – and I am lucky to know such a love affair.

Yet, singing is not the easiest career path.

It’s easy to drift from that love; how do I get back to it?

See a Killer Show by an Inspiring Vocalist

Here I am struggling to make it in New York City after successful gigging careers in smaller towns.

There’s the pressure of being in a place saturated with good singers, trying to get gigs, pay my rent, hold down a part time job – and deal with all the negative messages one’s brain can send.

How do I get inspired?

I attend my “church”: a great vocal show at a cool venue.

When I am thrilled by someone else’s vocal performance, or instrumental performance for that matter, my inner voice says to me: ‘you’ve got to keep going, keep reaching for your dreams.’

Remind Myself of My Goals

I write down my goals in a journal – and I am very specific.

I write that I want to perform at particular venues, or that I want to be an opening act or a back-up singer for a specific group.

Being extremely clear about what you want opens you up to possibilities that are in line with your biggest dreams.

As one of a myriad of vocalists trying to make it in this city, it’s easy to feel so small in the huge world of music.

That’s why I name my goals, revisit them, check on my progress and remind myself of where I want to go.

(I also write down the negative stuff – it helps me to get it out of my system.)

Be a Sleuth with My Ego

I had an ‘A-ha’ moment the other day:

The same thing that tells us that we are better than others is the same thing that tells us that we are not good enough or we don’t deserve greatness.

The ego tells us whatever is necessary to protect us from a sometimes hard reality.

Isn’t the greatest enemy between us and our dreams found within?

When I feel unworthy, I try to be quiet, look at my ego and examine the messages that keep me from personal progress.

When I took my part time job speaking Spanish in a nursing home, my ego said, ‘You are a performer; what the hell are you doing here? Look how far you’ve fallen.’

When I got in touch with my inner voice, I heard more creative message:

‘All experiences enrich my music.’

When I am on stage, I connect with people — I also connect with them here at this nursing home.

These genuine one-on-one connections inspire me with new lyrics and musical ideas.

An Affair that Lasts for Life

I don’t want just a one-night stand with my vocal work.

After all, a great affair, one that is life-long, is a many splendored thing:

I focus on how to promote my album, exercise, voice lessons, writing song ideas, getting art supplies for my new album design, submitting for the Theolonius Monk Jazz competition – there’s so many sides to my musical life and each day I can ‘date’ a different side.

I don’t always need to be on stage.

But I always need to be in love.

Vocalist, composer and lyricist Emily Braden grew up in Boise, Idaho. She currently lives in New York City and is preparing for the US release of her debut album Soul Walk in the spring of 2011.

Useful Sites

Emily Braden’s Site and MySpace

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The Road to Your Vocalist Dreams


Petra Tool is an artist who examines…artists.

A gifted portrait artist, she explores the personalities of gifted performers, interviewing them about their talent, passions, the problems they face, their insecurities and secrets of their success.

Under her intense gaze, vocalists may find that the wisdom to pursue their dreams is inside, waiting to come out.

Amber Gomaa really stands out on the stage.

With her black curly hair and delicate blue dress, she immediately caught my attention. (See full sized image below.)

And when she ended her solo with a perfect long high note, her arms open wide and a radiant smile, I knew I wanted to depict that mesmerizing moment.

But does a vocalist always live in that moment?

During our conversation, sitting on a tiny café terrace on a hot summer evening, I noticed longings and uncertainties beneath the surface.

She shared her feelings with me: “I can get frustrated from time to time. Especially when I’m writing my own songs. When I try a few lines and it’s not as good as I hoped for, I quit. That’s not because I’m undisciplined, it’s because I’m unsure. I should continue and pass judgments later. I want to focus on writing music, learn to play the guitar and the piano, and improve my singing.”

Every talented person is critical of his own creations. You might call it self reflection—until it causes you to procrastinate.

Then we start believing there will come a better time for our projects in the future…and sometimes we may be right.

But most of the time we have to accept the fact we have to create in the middle of our not-so-ideal circumstances, accompanied by our own negative thoughts.

Was Amber procrastinating?

I didn’t know. But I also noticed that, although she was a bit anxious, she knew what she wanted. She had her priorities right:

“I’m a backing vocalist to Alain Clark, who is very successful right now. I’ve learned so much from him—he is authentic, remains close to who he is. Prince, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson: they may be eccentric, but are also authentic. If your success comes from authenticity, then it will last.

Until I met Alain, music was not my priority. I didn’t think I was good enough and was afraid to dream about a future in music. Now I know I’m a good singer. I want to have my own album in five years.”

When we said our goodbyes, I had no idea what she would do.

Would she find someone to help her to write songs, take some classes, take a different career path?

Recently she surprised me with the news she had applied for the Conservatory! She was excited about it.

It might satisfy her need to learn, and make her more sure of herself.

And yes, other solutions might also have worked, like co-writing with someone she really trusts.

There are many roads to your dream, and one shouldn’t get lost finding the ‘right’ or ‘best’ one. After all, every choice has its pros and cons.

You’re on the right track when you’re moving towards your goal and are enthusiastic about your journey.

Just like Amber…

Petra Tool is a Dutch artist and talent expert. She’s specialized in interviewing and painting talented and passionate people. Most of her models are dancers and musicians. You can find more information on her website: www.petratool.nl/

Painting: Blue Lady Sings (Amber Gomaa) – 70×100 cm – watercolour- Petra Tool

Useful Sites
The Art of Petra Tool

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Review: Vocalzone Lozenges

Review of Reviews: we’ve studied the most important product reviews so you don’t have to.

Type: Throat Lozenge

Item: Vocalzone Pastilles

US $4.60 – $7.95 (for 24)
UK £2.10 – £3.34 (for 24)

Mic Scale

At a Glance: These lozenges, with impressive celebrity endorsements, appear to have harmless ingredients that can soothe dry and/or irritated throats. Active ingredients include menthol to soothe irritation; peppermint oil as an aromatic calmative; licorice extract to protect the mucous membranes; and myrrh tincture that dries up mucous.

High Notes: Designed specifically for the needs of singers, with no known side effects and no unpleasant taste, we haven’t been able to find a negative review…so far.

Off Pitch: Like all lozenges, Vocalzone may provide respite but it is not a cure. If you have a persistent sore throat that lasts three to four weeks, see your doctor, as it may be a symptom of a more serious condition. Don’t rely on this product as a substitute for healthy vocal technique!

A Singer Says: I want the word to get out that Vocalzone are the best throat pastilles in the world – Sir Tom Jones

More: for user testimonials see here.

Vocalzone Website

See Other Reviews

Review 1

Review 2

Review 3

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2-to-1 Breathing


Gerald Klickstein, author of the landmark book The Musician’s Way, describes a potent technique that helps vocalists dispel distraction, neutralize stress, and sing from the heart.

If there’s a more spiritually powerful art form than music, I haven’t encountered it.

Nonetheless, when it comes time for us musicians to rehearse or perform, it isn’t necessarily easy for us to connect with our spiritual nature.

Often, we deal with interference owing to how we react to various pressures, especially the pressure of performing in public.

But whatever the interference, 2-to-1 breathing helps us > read more

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The Freaked Out Vocalist


How do you judge the judgments? Vocal Coach Mary Beth Felker shares her solutions to mental chaos…

As a busy vocal coach, it had been 10 years since I had done a solo gig outside the recording booth and much longer than that since I had done a long, multi-song performance.

You would think that as I again faced the stage all past performance memories would have faded away and I would be starting with a clean slate.

Instead, it seemed like my body was completely ready to recall every single insecurity and replay each negative tape from the past 25 years.

So what was really going on inside of my head? > read more

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Blowing Out Your Ears…Again.


Blowing Out Your Ears Part II: Protection

What is the most effective protection for the vocalist’s ears? Three experts share their views…

From Dr. Anthony F. Jahn:

This week the focus of our discussion will be ear protection.

There are special musician’s ear plugs that give a flat frequency response and can be custom made for you; they are unobtrusive and used by many professional musicians, whether at a rock concert or in the pit at a Broadway show.

Use these whenever you are in an excessively noisy environment. Keep them with you at all times and wear them every time—no exceptions.

Think of the plugs as safe sex for your ears! As a professional musician, this measure is the single most valuable investment you can make to protect your hearing. > read more

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Blowing Out Your Ears?


How can vocalists surrounded by loud music maintain good hearing for life? A physician, producer and vocal coach share crucial wisdom.

From Dr. Anthony F. Jahn:

Many books have been written on noise-associated hearing loss but let me just highlight a couple of important points, specifically for singers, from the medical perspective.

There is a normal age-related deterioration in high frequency hearing that affects all of us.

At birth, we can hear up to 20,000 Hertz, well beyond the dog whistle frequencies. By our fifties, this has usually dropped down to 8,000 Hertz, still more than adequate (a Pavarotti high “C” is 1024 Hertz) but clearly heading south!

The rate and degree of hearing deterioration is partly hereditary and partly due to your environment. For most of us, however, taking a few simple measures will ensure that your hearing will be adequate until “the final curtain”.

My first suggestion is to calculate your total exposure to loud sounds, both in their duration and intensity. > read more

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When Smoke Gets In Your…Throat


How can singers avoid vocal set-backs from second-hand smoke?

Dear Doctor Jahn,

Is there any way to protect the voice in smoky bars? You see, I often perform in smoky places such as bars. I was wondering, what steps I can take to protect my voice, and to help me perform my best in such smoky situations?

-Ray

Dear Ray:

The problem you describe used to be much more common before the increasingly universal smoking ban was introduced in the North America, as well as in many parts of Europe.

Nonetheless, smoking continues, often in confined and poorly ventilated venues.

Most singers who believe they are “allergic to tobacco” are not so much allergic as > read more

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Vocalists Improve Their Jen Ratio


Susan Raeburn, PhD, shares the idea that the key to improving the quality of your vocal work may lie in improving your Jen ratio:

Confucius introduced the concept of Jen to refer to kindness, humanity, and reverence and bringing the “good things in others to completion.”

But what does this have to do with being a vocalist?

Dr. Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Berkeley, describes the science behind positive human emotions such as gratitude, humor, compassion and awe, and suggests that one can increase the meaning in one’s life by improving what he calls “the Jen ratio.” > read more

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Vegetarian Vocalist?


Dear Dr. Jahn,

Many of my friends in the arts scene are vegetarians; I’m attracted to the idea. But, the thing is, I’m a hard rocker, use tons of physical energy on stage and I don’t want to compromise my health in any way. Is it possible to have a perfectly healthy diet and be a vegetarian or am I heading down an endless road of supplements and dangers? There’s just so much propaganda on this issue and I was hoping you could clear the air.

-Alan

Dear Alan,

This is a great question and one for which there is no real answer, short of personal experience.

But I would re-phrase it: can a vegetarian get enough nutrition from a diet that lacks meat?

It seems to me that as long as you get the right amount (and the correct ratio) of carbohydrates, protein and fats, it shouldn’t make a difference whether they derive from animal or vegetarian sources.

Of the three, fats have the highest number of calories per weight (of food consumed) so this would have to figure into your diet. Surprisingly though, fats do occur in vegetarian food, such as nuts.

Protein is found in many non-meat sources, most notably in soy, while the best quick source of energy is simple carbohydrates, the sugars found in fruit, for example, so you should be okay in that regard.

You would, however, be likely to need to eat a greater volume of food to get all of the nutrition you need.

As you’re unlikely to sing well on a full stomach, I would recommend eating smaller amounts more frequently. This “grazing” style of eating is actually healthier than the usual three meals a day.

Now the really interesting question is: will you sing with as much passion and aggressive energy if you don’t eat meat?

Soy, the main source of protein in most vegetarian diets, is a prime source of the female hormone estrogen (called phytoestrogen) and for this reason it is often recommended to post-menopausal women. Would substituting estrogen-laden tofu for red meat change the masculine energy of your performance?

As I said, there is no real answer short of trying this, but do let me, and other readers, know!

Dr. Jahn

Questions for Dr. Jahn can be sent to VoiceCouncil Editor

Note: this discussion is for general information and not to be construed as specific medical advice which you should obtain from your own physician.

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