How to Make It in the Music Industry

Straining when singing is a common problem. It is usually caused by trying too hard, which in turn may be caused by any number of factors. Strain usually manifests itself in poor vocal tone, poor tuning, pops, squeeks and discomfort in the vocal chords.

Most strain can be reduced almost instantly, and any remaining strain can often be fixed with long-term singing practice.

The most common causes of strain are:

• Notes that are too high or sung with a chest voice instead of falsetto (high/head) voice.
• Trying to get increased volume in the belief it will sound better.
• Trying to make a song sound more emotional than it is.
• Trying too hard to be a rock star (when you aren’t).

I’ve experienced (and still frequently experience) all four of these sources of strain. The trick is to beat it.

Notes Too High

Where notes are too high, unfortunately, you not be able to sing them, no matter how hard you try. If you can’t hit the note easily, it will sound terrible if you just ‘go for it’. Trust me. The only solution is to make the note lower, and this is best achieved either by changing the melody for this bit, or transposing the whole song down a couple of steps. It will sound much better if each note is in your range.

Increased Volume

Many people believe that if you sing harder, you will be singing louder. This is true, but the increase in volume will be accompanied by a nasty (as opposed to well controlled) ’shouty’ quality to the music. Increasing volume is better achieved by using your mind and projecting the sound, this way your vocal chords and breathing will naturally do the right things to increase your volume. With a little practice, doing this will become second nature.

Increased Emotion

Some singers will try and make a song sound more emotional than it is. The emotion of the song is best conveyed when it ‘just comes out’. If you try adding artifacts or accents to the vocal, it will sound naff, and less emotional. Listeners are not stupid, they can spot the difference. Spine tingling performances are completely effortless to pull off. If, when you perform, you aren’t enjoying it totally, and it feels like a lot of hard work, then you need to sit back and relax and not get so worked up about it. Remember, effortless i.e. don’t try and put in emotion that isn’t there.

Trying Too Hard to Be A Rock Star

Now we all want to be rockstars, and we all can be, if we find our niche. However, if you idolise the Foo Fighters but have an emotional, quiet listener kind of voice, don’t try and sing like your idol. Accept what you sound like and make the most of it. Maybe you would make a better Radiohead or Coldplay.

It is worth pointing out that on most recorded vocal performances there is a lot of processing done on the vocals which make them sound extrememly loud compared with roaring guitars and crashing drums. A voice without this kind of processing will sound much weaker- in other words, they didn’t have to sing like that to get that sound, so don’t try and copy it exactly.

Remember what you can’t see about yourself, if you are trying too hard, the audience will see this, and label you as a ‘try hard, fail often’. This, is a bad thing.

I Don’t Know If I’m Straining

Sit down and play a friend your song, and ask for an honest opinion on whether your voice sounds strained. It doesn’t require a music degree to spot.

Conclusion

Don’t try too hard, and don’t worry about it.  Strain is something every singer will run into as they explore different parts of their voice. Learn what your individual voice is capable of, and what it isn’t, and maximise what you have. And always, avoiding straining.

Have you ever met somebody who says they play a little piano or sing a little, and you ask them to play something for you, and they go ‘Oh no, no’ and a multitude of excuses come out. We’ve all been there, on both sides of the fence. But for a musician wanting to go pro, this isn’t good enough. What this means is, if somebody asks you to play, or the opportunity arises, you damn well get up and play.

I’d like to tell you about an acquaintance of mine from Manchester. This gentleman, at 21 years old, was quite an exceptional singer/songwriter. He played most nights of the week in the bars around the city, and I even found him playing to a queue of people outside a nightclub, doing an impromtu, uninvited, gig. Here is the mark of a true performer; one who loves to perform. This gentleman, at the wise old age of 22, was signed to Lavolta records, recorded his first album with Danton Supple, the producer of Coldplay’s mega successful ‘Rush of Blood to the Head’ and ‘X&Y’, and went touring the UK. You can look him up, his name is ‘Liam Frost’.

My point here is brash, and will come across as too strong for some people, but this is only because it is what they do not wish to hear. In order to play successfully, you must play as much as possible. There is no use ‘working on the album’, or ’searching for ideas’. It’s all about performance, if you do not like to perform then you had better quit now. If you do like perform but don’t, you had better put your singing hat on and get started.

Performing can be difficult. Everybody has bad nights, and every so often a night will be a disaster, where you hang your head in shame, and leave quickly and silently. When you start out, it’s the most difficult because this tends to happen more often, and lessens as you improve with performance experience.

Performing is a skill that is only learnt by doing; it isn’t something you can learn from a book. The only way to become a good performer is to start by being a rubbish performer and improve. It’s not often that you will be the best performer of the night, and if it is, often enough somebody will come along and show you up. It’s just the way art works.

The ‘Edge’ - Experience

There are dreamers, and there are do-ers. Getting experience means going on stage, swallowing the nerves, cocking up royally, taking the abuse and lack of applause, and then going back and doing it again. This can be a relatively traumatic process, but it can be made relatively painless if you see it as a means to an end. Unfortunately, you have to go through this process to go from a bad performer to a good performer.

Eventually, after having done enough shows like this, you will become much more able and develop a thicker skin, so when things go wrong, you can just laugh at yourself and forget about it.

Experience Will Make You Better than Everybody Else

People who are born with talent annoy me. The rest of us have to work at it. It is, however, what you do with it that counts, and by playing more, you will gain something that they do not have, so even if they are better musicians than you, play more instruments, write more songs or whatever, you will be able to upstage them with your performance. The ability to do this is essential to being singed.

Conclusion

The simple conclusion of this article is to dream less, play more. If you haven’t played many shows, do it. It is scary at first, but it won’t kill you. Do it a few times and you’ll wonder what you worried about. If it all goes horribly wrong, don’t worry, just book another gig and try again. Success comes from unwillingness to give up, so that if you can make that a virtue of yourself, all will be well.

When performing a show, it’s important to always to speak to the audience. In my experience, they are much more likely to listen to you play if you’ve spoken to them before. It’s also a good chance to ‘break the ice’, tell them who you are, when you are playing next, if you have a record and crack a joke or two. Generally, it’s unfriendly not to at least introduce yourself. You don’t need to bother with song titles unless you have good reason to, but if you fancy explaining the story behind the song go ahead. Relax, and laugh along with audience, and this will create a much better impression, and you are also more likely to enjoy the gig.

When Not to Speak to the Audience

I saw famous American metal supergroup A Perfect Circle play live a couple of years ago, with James Iha on guitar. For anybody who knows what kind of music they make, it is very heavyweight, serious, emotional music, and the show was in a very large auditorium. Between the songs, they cracked rubbish jokes and talk about nothing, and this completely and utterly destroyed the mood. Consequently, the impact of the band was substantially reduced.

Often successful bands will elect not to speak to the audience, but to go from one song the next, to deliver maximum ‘bang’. This only works if you’re in the right setting, so consider carefully.

Conclusion

A good rule of thumb is, when playing a small gig, is to always speak, and when playing a larger gig, with a band, speak less.  Make sure you thank the audience for listening, and for clapping, and pay them a compliment or two. That way you’re sure to get the keenest ears and maximum impact from your performance.

Last night I performed at ‘The Honest Cabbage’ in Kingston upon Thames. A friendly, unprecocious open mic on a Thursday eve. Unfortunately, the audience was very small. This has happened to me before, where you are playing to a sort of ‘empty room’, and you can hear a pin drop when you stop. Personally I find this harder than playing to a bigger, roudier audience. Nerves did get the better of me, but I pushed it aside as best I could.

I think the toughest part is ‘going for it’ proper gig-style when you know you’re being closely watched. It takes a lot of courage to stay calm and relaxed when playing in this situation. I think it’s good practice for a perfomer.

Fortunately, I was well received, for which I’m very grateful, and that was nice! I’d say that at every open mic night you get a different audience, and so the challenge is different every time, and doing a lot of these nights gives you experience and knowledge that cannot be gained any other way.

I’d say 90% of the people you see at the amateur open mic nights look really happy to be there, and to be playing, doing what they love. 10% of people are tense, distant, antisocial, and knobheads. Those guys are tough to strike a lasting conversation with, and they care intensley about their music, without an objective point of view. Often this will lead to a person with complicated instrument parts, but the songs are ultimately not very entertaining.  Such a person focusses on the details and not on the bigger picture.

So, if you go up on stage, and tense and quiet, you won’t win many hearts. On the contrary, there is nothing more hypnotic than watching someone who adores playing and plays with a wide smile across their face. In other words,

• SMILE and be happy and bubbly, even if your songs are serious in nature.
• Chat with the audience.
• Thank them for clapping and listening.
• Laugh if you can.
• Enjoy yourself as much as you can, with a positive mental attitude, you will electrify an audience, even if the songs are only average.

Remember, nobody likes a miserable git, so be positive, be bold, be brave, and smile.