Last Thursday, I went to Don’t Tell Mama for my weekly Bootcamp to learn how to sing in front of people in a very spontaneous situation. I had practiced two songs – Let’s Do It by Cole Porter and Like A Prayer by Madonna a la Postmodern Jukebox.
Welp, I bombed again. I felt like I was straining to sing into the mic. On the last song, I sang it much lower than I practiced and in full chest voice.
Because I’ve been sending my demo out to lots of people and singing live, I’ve gotten a lot of feedback about my voice. Most of it positive, but also critical. There are two camps of people when listening to my voice.
One side says the higher the better! Hit those high notes!
The other side says, save those high notes for big moments! Sing more in your mid-range!
Unfortunately for me, a lot of songs I sing are range-y, that is, they cover close to two octaves, sometimes three octaves. Most pop songs are about an octave to octave and a half. So if a song is lowered or in its original key, it’s hitting the lowest and ugliest part of my voice where I can barely phonate.
With that comes the idea of what my voice is suited for. Hands-down, I know that I’m a jazz singer. My voice has a rounded, warm and flexible quality that lends itself to ballads and jumpy scatting. But what about pop? What about soul? Or funk? Or R&B?
These are reasons why Minnie Riperton has been my bridge and hero. She sings mostly in head voice, with a very warm mid-range. She sings lightly and funky. She sings torch songs and rock jams in the same breath. There’s so much to learn from her! I can’t wait to share her music with you, through me!
Now, if I could just copy that to my other repertoire…