How to improve your singing | Think Like A Musician
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زیرنویسها (86 segments)
DownloadI heard this woman singing classical music and everything for me changed.
It was that profound.
It was such an incredibly impactful happening,
that that day I knew that my life changed.
That day, it gave my life a whole direction
and I thought whatever this is, this is what I want to do.
Hey you! Yes, you.
What's that light inside of you?
Is it a dream? A beat? A beautiful sound?
A heartbreaking song?
Whatever it is, we're here with working musicians
to help you grow and share that gift with this wild, wonderful world.
My name is Denyce Graves-Montgomery,
and I have spent more than 45 years on the stage as an opera singer.
Parallel to that, I have all always been in education and have also taught voice.
Even if you're a natural singer and you know how to sing very, very well,
some kind of training is going to be necessary.
It will involve having some external ears,
who can listen to your voice and say:
your instrument is suited in this range.
So in terms of finding your specific voice type,
you would go to a teacher or to a coach,
and they would give you different vocal exercises
up and down the scale to see what's comfortable,
and where the voice also shines and where the voice is at its most beautiful.
I'm considered a mezzo soprano.
We have the coloratura soprano, which is the highest soprano.
Then you have soprano, and then you've got the mezzo sopranos,
the altos, the contraltos.
Then you have the tenors, the countertenors,
the light tenors, dramatic tenors, the heldentenors,
all the different classifications, baritones, and then the bases, right?
There's a lot to learn about your voice and what your voice is suited for.
There are some young people who come to me, for example,
who might start out as mezzos, who might start out as altos,
and then we discover that they, in fact, have this incredible range.
And that they, you know, are sopranos.
It takes time for the voice itself to ripen and to grow,
and to be able to get to that point where you're able to cut
across a really, really big orchestra.
There has to be a certain amount of heft, there has to be a certain amount of steel
in the sound to be able to reach to the person
sitting in the top balcony in the last row.
I am a person who has a big, old honking voice, right?
My forehead and my cheekbones and my nose
and all of these incredible resonating cavities
which creates great resonance that's able to cut.
And when you first start studying, there's the technical part,
but that continues throughout the whole of your life.
The vocal technique of singing is what we call chiaroscuro.
Chiaro, clear, and scuro, which is darker,
to create a balanced sound.
And to be able to do that,
you have to be able to come in contact with what your body is able to do,
and that is being able to use your body as the microphone.
And the most important thing is technique, technique, technique, technique.
And that would be fundamentally the breath and understanding what that is.
And then understanding how to support that in your body,
and with your diaphragm and in your rib cage and in the back
and in your lower abdomen support.
Being able to create that wonderful hollow sound,
where you're able to use those resonators,
and then the articulators, the tongue and the teeth,
and all those different things.
If, for example, if you blow up a balloon, you blow the balloon up.
And you fill the balloon with air.
If you don't hold on to the mouth of the balloon,
all the air will come out and the balloon will fly all over the place.
And with singing, what you want to do
is make sure that you hold on to the mouth of the balloon.
So you create air and you've got to use that air,
and then you've got to spend that air,
but you got to make sure that you don't use it all up.
And so that's the hand on the mouth of the balloon,
so that you are able to dole that air out evenly.
So you don't let it all go out on the first phrase,
but you're able to gauge that breath and spend that breath
throughout the different phrases.
The bottom line, the bottom, bottom, bottom line:
if it isn't real, we know.
It has to be real, it has to be honest.
That is the thing that is transformative for people when they go to the theater.
People come and they're riveted because they're seeing something
in real time happen that is authentic.
And that's the thing that changes people's lives.
The truth. The truth.
Key Vocabulary (50)
toward
"Go to school."
belonging
"Cup of tea."
also
"You and me."
inside
"In the house."
specific
"That book."
A third-person singular pronoun used to refer to an object, animal, or situation that has already been mentioned or is clear from context. It is also frequently used as a dummy subject to talk about time, weather, or distance.
A preposition used to indicate that something is in a position above and supported by a surface. It is also used to indicate a specific day or date, or to show that a device is functioning.
A preposition used to indicate that people or things are together, in the same place, or performing an action together. It can also describe the instrument used to perform an action or a characteristic that someone or something has.
A conjunction used to compare two things that are equal in some way. It is most commonly used in the pattern 'as + adjective/adverb + as' to show similarity.
Used to refer to the person or people that the speaker is addressing. It is the second-person pronoun used for both singular and plural subjects and objects.
Used to identify a specific person, thing, or idea that is physically close to the speaker or has just been mentioned. It can also refer to the present time or a situation that is currently happening.
A third-person plural pronoun used to refer to two or more people, animals, or things previously mentioned. It is also commonly used as a singular pronoun to refer to a person whose gender is unknown or to someone who identifies as non-binary.
The word 'we' is a first-person plural pronoun used to refer to the speaker and one or more other people collectively. It is used as the subject of a sentence or clause.
A modal verb used to talk about future actions, predictions, or promises. It is placed before the base form of a verb to show that something is going to happen later.
A possessive determiner used to show that something belongs to or is associated with the person speaking. It is always placed immediately before a noun to indicate ownership, relationship, or authorship.
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Description
Opera singer Denyce Graves-Montgomery shares how to find your voice, range, breath, and, ultimately, your truth. -- "Think Like A Musician" connects you with working musicians who want to...
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TED-Ed
