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Welcome back to Find Your Voice Rock Your Confidence. I am your host, Sloane Reali. Today we are going to talk about how to go from shower to stage, singing tips for aspiring sensations. So we have a lot of shower singers. I know that I have car singers that love to belt it down. When you're out on the freeway getting to your destination, maybe you are in a long commute.

I, I've been back and forth to LA a number of times to see clients there. It is a, it's a bit of a commute. It's not always an easy one. It's a great time. Maybe you're listening to this podcast while you're on your commute. Either way, whether you are a shower singer, car singer. Doing this for fun, playing with your voice[00:01:00] or you are an emerging artist.

The primary thing that I want to have you help you hear is to have fun, number one with your voice. So we have talked about lots of different ways to warm up. We've talked about different exercises. Before I jump into today's topic, I just wanted to share, you've heard this quote before sing, like no one is listening.

Love, like you've never been hurt, dance like nobody's watching and live like it's heaven on earth. And our focus today is really to sing as if no one is listening. And it's easy to do. When we're by ourself one of the frequent things that I hear from clients that are coming in, just to check this out just for fun, just as a hobby, is fear of other people hearing them.

And even with emerging artists, that is still something that artists are still having to deal with is their [00:02:00] original work and sharing that it is such a vulnerable place to be. But what we're going to do today, I'm going to give you five different tips to move from shower to stage, whether it's just for fun something that you are reigniting as a new or old.

Interest that you had to get out of being so serious. The last week's podcast, I shared how to rekindle that joy of singing the, that fun of using your voice in a way that you don't have to be tethered. To what other people are thinking and great examples for us are kids, little kids, you know, they don't care.

They're running and dancing and playing and making up their own songs and, and my heart, my intention is if you are one of those people who really just needs to find something that you can do for [00:03:00] yourself, Not for any end product or delivery that this is a great podcast for you to be in. One of the first tips I wanted to go to was warming up your voice.

So whether it's for professional purposes, whether you are gonna be singing or doing a presentation, or maybe you're leading a meeting or going into the recording studio or an audition. Even just for fun, even, even before I jump on my podcast, I am still doing something to get these muscles warmed up.

So starting one, let's do a real simple exercise here. You may have heard me in previous podcasts or when I work with clients, the first thing that we're doing is breaking down your voice into three parts. You've got one voice with what I refer to as. Three vocal vicinities or three parts to your voice, that low vicinity is what we call exactly that, your low voice.

Then you've got your chest or that [00:04:00] speaking voice, that voice that you're using all day, every day, and whatever you're doing. And then we've got this falsetto area. Woo, that part of the voice. We're not gonna do anything with that today. What I want you to do right now is drop in to that low voice. And we do that by placing your hand either hand on that solar plexus muscle, which sits above your belly button below your ribcage.

And as you inhale keeping the shoulders relaxed, you're going to inhale that breath past the lungs down into the solar plexus muscle. Inhaling your hand forward, away from your spine on the inhale. Try this with me if you're not driving. Try this with me. And then on the exhale, as you exhale releasing that breath, the hand is going to go towards the spine.

What we're going to add to this exercise today is a low hum. So mouth is closed. You're exhaling through the nostrils. I just want to [00:05:00] hear, we want you to hear yourself make sound in the lowest part of your body would sound something like this. Listen, once.

So let's do a couple of those together. Take that breath, drop into the lowest part of your body, and all you're doing is vibrating those vocal chords and releasing sound that you're drawing from the lowest point of your body. See how low you can go? Let's try that again. Nice big breath in, exhaling out.

Now when I do that, when you do this, you're gonna feel a lot of vibration. You're gonna feel your lips are vibrating, your teeth the vocal chords, of course, but this is just a simple way to just get something moving in those vocal chord muscles, right? There's a ton of [00:06:00] warmup exercises. I have all kinds of things available.

On the YouTube channel there are tiny little snippets, two and three little minute videos that you can go and check out. A ton of warmup exercises there. So making sure that you warm your voice up is still important, even if you're doing this just for fun and not for any professional purposes.

Number two, finding your signature style. We all have our own unique sound. In fact, the tonal quality of your voice is, I liken it to your thumbprint. You know, you gotta go down. We, we do our thumbprints to get our driver's license and identifying information. They're unique to us, that thumbprint nobody else has.

Our thumbprint, your sound, your tonal quality, no one else has your sound. Now we can mimic other people's voices. In fact, there was a video on YouTube. It [00:07:00] was a young woman who could literally sound. Like, I think it was like 20 different singers. She could literally mimic and make herself sound exactly like these different singers.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you go out and do it, but it is a great way, it's a great exercise to play with different styles. Specific for singing until you find your own style. The other thing is we don't wanna get stuck in a style because we will evolve. You know, how many times has Madonna re remade herself over and over?

She went from that very, you know, that

all that, that nasally, that's, that's a lot of metal. That's a metal sound to some of her. More recent. I haven't heard anything super recent, but her sound, her style, she went from that eighties girl, you know, the, the, all the stuff in the hair and the tooling to [00:08:00] more serious back to pop. And she has a, a, a huge spiritual program.

I don't know a lot about it. But you know, it, her style, her sound, how she presents herself has evolved just as many times as she's probably, you know, years she's been in business singing. So, coming back to your style, you know, play with different genres of music one of the things that, that is a common thing.

People wanna come in and generally wanna stay with slower ballads. I think that the thinking there is that, you know, more time to breathe, more time to hold out those long notes. There's something that feels like their voice might sound better when they're holding out those long notes and, and that's.

Fantastic. Again, it's a great way to train our voice in a certain style or genre. What I, I do try to keep clients from doing is putting yourself in a [00:09:00] box and saying that this is all you can do. You know, I'm just a ballad singer. All I do is big ballads, or, you know, I'm just a pop singer with, with good vocal training, whether that's with me or somebody else.

But with good training, you should have an incredible range where you would be able to do. Any style, any genre. One of the things I teach is how to take a ballad and turn it into more of an upbeat song, how to take an upbeat song and turn that into maybe a jazz song or take a jazz song and turn that into musical theater.

So these are all really fun ways to experiment and play. They're also a wonderful way to create something new from something old that we've heard. A really fun one. A song A Stand By Me is a, a training song. I, I do a lot of, and there have to be probably 50 different ways that that song has been done.

One of my favorites is young Man who turned it into a Latin song. So the [00:10:00] whole feel, you know, the tempo is not much different. The singer is not going to be singing much. Differently, but the feel of the song when you turn a classic song like Stand By Me into a Latin song, is going to change dramatically.

It's going to feel very different. So finding your style. For your voice is something that doesn't necessarily happen overnight, but it's something you definitely wanna play with. Experiment, and again, have fun with this. Don't take it so seriously. Just enjoy the ride. Number three, mastering the art of stage presence.

So it's not just about. What you're singing or presenting, it's how you're connecting with your audience. It's that eye contact. It's moving and using the stage. If you are presenting information [00:11:00] and the, there's a podium available, I really try. To discourage my clients from hanging out behind that little box.

It, it puts a, it separates you from your audience. So in this case, the case of going from the shower or your car to the stage, this could be something as simple as, I think I spoke a lot about karaoke singers last week. You know, heading out to your local karaoke, or if you are one, you, you also play multiple instruments and you wanna go.

Try out an open mic. My encouragement to you just to work the audience in a small setting as that is to get out from behind that karaoke monitor or you know, if you are using a, a. Music stand, you know, set that music stand. If you're out of an open mic, set that off to the side so it's not separating you from your audience.

And that's a whole nother conversation. I'm, I'm having with current clients right now. You know, using those [00:12:00] lyrics, you know, lyrics. Are really a security blanket. It's something that I struggle with because when I, I am doing shows these days, it's primarily with my clients. I open things up and then I'm running this entire production.

So I, I'm one of those who have my words off to the side. Hey, if Christina Aguilera can use her words when she's performing, we can certainly have our lyrics off to the side if's something really special that happens. When you get rid of them, all of, there's a lot more freedom. There's a lot more engagement with the audience.

There is nothing more satisfying than having that connection with the audience working this stage. If you are In a, a little bit bigger venue, maybe it's more of a performance type thing, or even at at a party, you know, we're heading into summer months, lots of barbecues, lots of parties, lots of gatherings at the local parks or at your beach, you know, these are great opportunities.

I am speaking to [00:13:00] some really specific people right now. I'm not gonna call you out, but instead of trying to make sure that your 13, 15 songs are perfect before you share them at the barbecue for the next holiday weekend, just get out and do it right. We can that. That, you know, analyzing things to the point of paralysis, analysis paralysis, that is going to keep you from ever getting out there and you're gonna wake up one of these days going, dang it, I should have just done it.

You know, I didn't need to be perfect. I should have just done it. Right. What, what enough? Stop. Stop it. Just. Do it. Getting out there is also how we learn what we need to tighten up, what we might need to change, what do we need to tweak in our presentation or our performance? Maybe we thought, okay, great example.

We were working, I had a [00:14:00] client we were working tr Tracy Chapman. There's a song called The Promise Beautiful, beautiful song. I didn't think it was the greatest song. It was very slow. You know, the energy of a room, of a party, of a whatever is going on. Music is so powerful. It can light up the room and energize everybody in it, or it can bring you all down to.

Yeah. Right. Ask me how I know, right. Been there, done that. We've experimented. Anyway, fast forward the client decided to throw that out and replace it with more of an upbeat song. Now, how she discovered this and I let her discover it on her own. I, I'm always there to make suggestions, but we tried it out at a karaoke club night and sure enough, She did not get the response when she, when she tried that song out and sang it to the audience, did not get the response.

She was desiring. It was slow. The room was [00:15:00] dead. There was everyone, no one was really paying any attention. She wasn't getting a lot of support from the audience. So I, I loved that she came to me. I didn't have to make the suggestion, you know, I let her try that on, you know, like trying on costumes and outfits and makeup and all of that, and she decided on her own.

I think it's too slow. Beautiful song. Not the, not the right venue for that. So there is that, you know, play, play with your audience, play with different you know, styles play with engagement. The greatest compliment I think that you can get as a performer, singing performances, you know, whether you're professional out touring.

Shout out, Nicki, your, you are on fire. I don't know if he'll even hear this, but one of the artists that I worked with in Los Angeles, he's, he's on his summer tour right now and he's sharing on, on Instagram. You can all go find him. Nicki, your sunroof was his big hit [00:16:00] and he is on a different stage just about every other night.

And to see him evolve and engage with his audience. And every single city has been different. Chicago is different from Boston. Boston is different from Southern California. But it's been really exciting. Now, again, for you shower and car singers that are aspiring sensations it's gonna be a little bit different.

We had our spring showcase recently with my. My hobby for fun singers, a lot of my karaoke club singers were part of that, and I think just about every single singer in that showcase shared what a blast it was to have the audience get up and dance as if they were that performing artist on tour.

There's, it's. It's a huge compliment. People getting up, you know, it's, it's awesome to have them in their seats and smiling and cheering you on, but for people [00:17:00] to get up out of their seat and dance to you singing it's, it's pretty fun. So that's another way to play with the art of your stage presence.

Number four, harness the power of breathing. Okay, I can't say enough. In fact, the only thing I'm going to say about breathing today. Is starting this Wednesday. If you are a woman listening to this podcast, please head over to the Find your Voice, rock Your Confidence Facebook group. It is a group. Guys, no shade.

Love you. We need you. You're important. This is catered primarily for women and women issues around the voice. Ladies, please go there starting this Wednesday. I am doing a whole course. For the remainder of the month, I'm going to be focusing lives 2:00 PM Pacific. If you can't make the live, please catch the replay.

I'm going to be [00:18:00] doing trainings, kind of like a webinar workshop type format, but I'm, I'm gonna be going deep dive the next few weeks. All about breathing, all different breathing exercises, not explaining what it is, why it's important, showing you how to get a hold of that breath in a way that is going to support your voice for whatever you need to use your voice for.

So head over there, jump into that group. Next, embrace feedback and continuous. Learning friends feedback is your best friend. It's an opportunity to grow. Please don't stop learning. Or refining your craft or your desire to be using your voice, the more that you invest in yourself in learning and having fun with your voice, it is just going to grow exponentially from there.

Now, of course, receiving feedback. You know, I, [00:19:00] there's, there's a pleasant, positive way to receive it, and there's the person who just is kind of like, that hammer just, you know, gives you the feedback whether you wanted it or not. So, you know, I like the sandwich analogy or metaphor. You know, it's the two pieces of bread, you know, you've got the constructive information first, and then you put in that nice.

Peanut butter and jelly that yumminess all that good love and support, and then you followed up with that other piece of bread for anybody who is still eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I, I love them. I don't eat them very often, but when I do, they're, they're pretty yummy. So, receiving feedback now, if you're getting feedback from someone on your voice.

And it was unsolicited and it's, it doesn't feel good, you know, a nice deflect and a way to be kind, you know, is, is to say, Hmm, you know, you may be right [00:20:00] or, Hmm, I'll, I'll give that a thought. You know, thanks for the information. It doesn't mean you have to take it. It doesn't mean you have to use the information.

I mean, this is, this has been one of the heartbreaking things that I've dealt with in the, you know, quarter of a century that I've been doing this. Now are these stories of clients coming in and sharing, you know, the well-meaning parent or sibling or teacher or the choir director suggesting or telling.

These people that they shouldn't sing. You know, you're tone deaf, you can't keep a beat, you shouldn't be doing this. Don't give up your day job. These are heartbreaking stories. I, I have Kleenex in my studio. I have it for a reason because as we start to dig into some of that stuff, Steph will come up and, which is what we want.

We want that old stuff to come up. So we can let it go, so we can create, create space for the new stuff to come in [00:21:00] for the truth about the voice tone deaf, by the way, doesn't exist. No such thing. It's training like anything else. There is such thing as hearing loss that is real, but there's no such thing as tone deaf.

There's no such thing as someone being able to hear a note and not be able to find it. Maybe not find it immediately. Maybe it takes a little bit more time. Everybody's process is different. Some people get this stuff really, really fast. Some people take a little bit more time to find it, but once we train the mental brain to connect with the physical body and how to find your voice in those different vocal vicinities and we work with timing and rhythm and pitch and all of you know, your fundamentals of working with the voice.

Those things do actually all come together. It's very exciting. So, coming back, I could go on and on. I'm really trying to keep these in bite size pieces that you can listen to in between running your errands or doing your chores or in between your own clients. [00:22:00] So just a recap here. The way to move from shower or car to stage number one.

Make sure that you warm up, even if you're goofing around and playing with your voice, make sure that you warm up. Number two, play experiment. Find your signature style. What are those songs or that style of music that you are drawn to? Right? We all know it. You know, there's the music that you turn on.

It's like, oh, you know, it's kind of nice background music while I'm, you know, getting my admin done in the office. And then that's that stuff that you turn on that you've gotta. Drop what you're doing and go pick up your guitar or sit down at the keyboard or just start singing along it. It, it's a vibration that gets set off in your body.

So go play and don't be in a hurry to put yourself in a box and say, I only sing country songs. Because you don't, you're capable. We're all capable of singing a plethora of different styles. Number three, master the art of stage presence. And I've been giving you [00:23:00] all kinds of ideas the last couple of weeks about how to get yourself out there.

Go find a buddy to go along with you. If you don't feel good heading out, you know, on your own, find another. You know, I've got a lot of couples right now I shared last week that are singing together, A lot of karaoke going on together. Maybe you have a trusted friend that wants to support you, but maybe they're not really into the singing thing, but they'll go with you to the open mic.

Maybe you wanna just gather people in your own home or, you know, out on your patio with instruments, get, get together, do some sing alongs, go. You know, my, my kids grew up star King Preschool. Bless you. It was a parent co-op where the parents were actually also being educated as parents in how to work with these little beings that they are, are raising.

And we had what was called circle time. And we would frequently, there would be, you know, times throughout the day where we could gather and sing and play, but we ended every day. We ended in a circle [00:24:00] with guitars and drums of percussion and, and all we did was play. And I'm telling you, those kids, they are wonderful teachers for us.

So, get out there, have fun, you know, try to let go of what anybody else thinks and remember the reason. That you're wanting to do anything with your voice. It's not for anybody else. Keep the focus on you, right? Just don't worry about what anybody else is thinking. Number four, harness the power of breathing.

Like I said, if you're a woman listening, head over, get into that Facebook group, find your voice, rock your confidence. Every Wednesday for the next few weeks, I'm gonna be doing full courses. Full free courses. On how to breathe correctly for your voice. And number five, embrace feedback and continuous learning.

This is our best friend. Try not to take it personally if some well-meaning person is giving you feedback you really aren't interested in. We can still be kind you know, thank you so much.[00:25:00] You know, you could be right. They might not be but it's a way to be kind and received. Doesn't mean you have to go and do it.

And then Last thing for today, please go pick up, and this is for all of you, whoever is listening, 26 ways to access your voice instantly. This is a breathing meditation, a mantra from A to Z where we break down. You're going to inhale deep down into that solar plexus. The words I am. And on the exhale, you're going to release something that starts with the letter A I give you some examples in the meditation you can put in your own.

It's less than 10 minutes long. It's a great way to get yourself grounded, centered if you're feeling nervous, if you have to go and. Speak in front of people or deliver a meeting or an audition, whatever you're doing with your voice, this is a great way just to get yourself centered and grounded. So for today, thanks so much for tuning in.

I look forward to seeing you [00:26:00] again next week. And in the meantime, keep calm and sing a song.