The "Speech Level" in SLS

[btherl]

One of the concerns I had when I first took "speech level singing" lessons was that I would have trouble because my speaking voice was not very good. But I've taken enough lessons now to realize that it's no problem.

"Speech level" is actually a property of your vocal cords and body, rather than being something about how you are speaking right now. Even if you've learnt bad speaking habits, the SLS exercises will bring you away from that ineffective speaking voice and toward "speech level".

The idea is that there is a natural configuration of your vocal cords and your breathing that is the most efficient and most beautiful. It's the configuration you used when you were born and made ear-splitting screams for hours without breaking a sweat It's the voice we all use as children, but most of us lose as adults. If you can rediscover that, then you can have the same power and control that you had as a child.

 

[sage]

It's still ridiculously expensive tho

 

[btherl]

The time it becomes expensive is when you can show me another teacher who can give me the same results for less money

You can draw an analogy with cars - cars are HUGELY expensive here if you compare to Australia or even Malaysia. But you can't buy a car in Australia and drive it here. Similarly, you can't take cheap vocal lessons and then expect the same results as the more expensive ones.

 

[momentum]

teach us

 

[btherl]

Hehe I wish I could A good teacher can earn a lot of money. Seth Riggs (the SLS founder) said that he started teaching pop singers because there's no money in teaching opera singers (he was teaching Bel Canto to opera singers originally).

The course (book + cd) costs around S$60. I'm not sure how effective it is without a trained teacher to ask for advice though. I actually had seen the course before but didn't know how to use it effectively.

 

[Ankh]

Hi Brian!

Is that your name? Pardon me if I got it wrong. I have seen many of your post about all these theories about singing. Unfortunately, I don't think it worked for you. Singing is not like learning how to play the guitar or any other musical instruments. If you don't have that voice, you're just wasting your money to some teachers out there. Your teachers must be lying to you about your improvement all along so he can still earn from people like you.

If you learnt to play the bass correctly you can become a great bassist one day. Don't like the sound, you can add effects on it. Singing, you can't do that dude. Sorry to sound so harsh to you. Everyone is being nice to you. Thank god, good people do exist now a days. Hahaha!! I would rate myself as being truthful that's all.

Ankh

 

[Chenglehung]

=Ankh
Thats pure bull shit . SLS worked for me, so does it work for everyone.

 

[Ankh]

First of all, I'm not talking to you. Being in the industry for more than 20 years. Any theories will improve you if you can sing. If you can't, the best theories in the world won't do you good. Let me hear how you sound before and after talking that SLS crap. Let people be the judges. Maybe you sounded just like Brian, I wonder. Wanna know how that sound? It's like those 'American Idol' wanna be that never got through the audition.

I ain't no bull shitting here as I've seen those born singers and those who trained to be better. But never for those who can't sing and suddenly can sing with an aid of any musical theories. Maybe your sense of rythm will improve and understanding the musical terminology. But voice...hmm...god willing!!

 

[illuminationexcursion]

Dare to dream

=Ankh

Ankh I would agree with you insofar as the absolute quality/tone/timbre of the voice is concerned. That is something we have no control of.

However, just because someone wants to give their voice a chance by taking expensive vocal lessons does not give you the right to label any of their courses as "crap". Your wealth of experience in the industry might have given you a perspective that is practical and probably a good and accurate reflection of what things really are, but I would suggest you be more encouraging and less critical.

No one has the right to stop someone else from actualizing their dreams.

 

[Ankh]

=illuminationexcursion

No one has any right to stop anyone's dream. But if dreams can be a reality that's worth the effort and investment. But if it's just another dream....well dream on dude. I have always encourage people to go the extra mile to improve. What happen was, let's say you can sing. Come a guy who really can't sing and give you advice the right way of singing with some formulation theories. You buy it? Well, it's up to individual. One thing for sure, saying truthfully is another way I get things clear to people. If you can sing, any other theories can work for you. There are categories of singing purposes. For fun i.e. leisure, for means of living, performing, etc. We can see many singers wanna be at any karaoke clubs. That's ok as it's a leisure place but yet you can also see real singers there too.

I'm getting sick of this theories, that theories what may be. But the fact the person who wrote it can't sing. You may wanna check some earlier threads posted. All those theories and no result but yet claimed to have a beautiful voice. Come on lah!! Fact is fact, no one can deny it.

Good luck!

Ankh

 

[btherl]

Hi Ankh!

I understand your viewpoint, and I disagree

I think that's all there is to say.

Though I would like to point out I never claimed to have a "beautiful voice". What I have showcased here is the improvement over my previous voices. I can't count the number of people who think that when I say "Please suggest how to improve my voice", they think I mean "Please tell me that your favorite professional singer is better than me"

Brian

 

[illuminationexcursion]

Ankh,

I think you have made a good point distinguishing between those who sing for leisure and those who sing for performance/gigs/make a living. Quite apart from the marketability and listener-friendliness of one's voice, the enjoyment and fun of singing must not be forgotten.

Singing is supposed to be fun!

I can sense the sincerity in the candidness and frankness you display in your advice. I respect that. It really is sometimes more worthwhile to pursue ambitions which can never be made into a reality. Pubs and record companies are not going to give bad singers a chance.

Still, the dreamer in me feels compelled to speak out for the likes of Berthl. Perhaps because I find myself in this endless pursuit of a beautiful voice as well.

Most importantly, the money invested in lessons will be well spent as long as the person spending it derives some gain or benefit from it, be it real and tangible or simply a fiction of one's imagination.

Good luck to all aspiring singers!

 

[Chenglehung]

First of all, I'm not talking to you. Being in the industry for more than 20 years. Any theories will improve you if you can sing. If you can't, the best theories in the world won't do you good. Let me hear how you sound before and after talking that SLS crap. Let people be the judges. Maybe you sounded just like Brian, I wonder. Wanna know how that sound? It's like those 'American Idol' wanna be that never got through the audition.

I ain't no bull shitting here as I've seen those born singers and those who trained to be better. But never for those who can't sing and suddenly can sing with an aid of any musical theories. Maybe your sense of rythm will improve and understanding the musical terminology. But voice...hmm...god willing!!

Ankh,
I understand what you meant. Talent is talent, but raw talent without being refined is still raw. With the aid of a coach would help one to refine his talent and go further. One without talent can still go far with hard work. Not trying to bullshit here, last time i was no singer but now i could perform classical songs infront of my school with claps on the first few lines. Not trying to start a debate here but my fellow mate in SLS was once a tone deaf, but now he is an impressive singer. Furthermore, he is only 13.

Good Luck

 

[sage]

... But SLS is still too expensive liao...

Honestly, just in my pure honest opinion in going for different vocal teachers and workshops, you could get the same results from a non-sls training, if the instructor knows how to train you. The only difference between SLS and a regular vocal teacher is SLS is selling a theory, and lots of "product-persuasion" goes into it. Like I've mentioned and strictly abide to mentioning, singing has some psychology in it, and if they're persuading a product to you that convinces you sound better, you'll sound better... It's kinda like brainwashing, yknow?

I sincerely have nothing against anyone who wants to train in SLS, or any other way for that matter. It just kinda puts some comedy in my life in this forum when guys vouch their voices on it but I don't hear much of a difference from if the same person were to go to a vocal teacher..

 

[gracepoh]

SLS is expensive, but it sure did work for me

 

[btherl]

... But SLS is still too expensive liao...

Honestly, just in my pure honest opinion in going for different vocal teachers and workshops, you could get the same results from a non-sls training, if the instructor knows how to train you.

Now this is the whole point .. where is the cheaper instructor who knows how to train me? Shopping for teachers takes a lot of time and money. For me it's a no-brainer that I go with a proven teacher than spend a lot of time shopping for bargains.

That's why I say that SLS becomes expensive only when you can show me a cheaper teacher who can do the same If I have to shop for the teacher, then it's no longer cheaper, because the shopping itself is very expensive for me (Both time-expensive and money-expensive, the both are pretty much interchangeable).

 

[gracepoh]

btherl, i gotta agree with you how long have you been taking lessons with Daniel or SLS for?

 

[btherl]

I took one lesson with Daniel back in December 07, then didn't take any for 6 months. Then I've taking 5 lessons starting in July 08. So I've had around 2 months now of working seriously on SLS.

When I started the lessons again in July I was sad that I'd wasted so much time .. he really teaches a lot in just 1 hour. Each lesson my voice would come in as a mess and he would spend about 15 minutes fixing it Then the rest of the lesson he would develop it and teach me something new. Right now he's on a break so I haven't had any lessons recently (and my wallet appreciates that!)

A lot of it has been reducing the "weight" and reducing the air I'm pushing. I can get it sometimes but old habits die hard! So I am continually reducing weight and reducing air in every practice session now.

One problem is that I speak with quite a tense throat, so I am working on my speaking voice too.

 

[gracepoh]

Ohhh, that 6 months break is long man! if you've continued you'd be far better now!

haha, yeah he'd be back soon! gotta spam lessons again, last lesson i had was on the week before he left. I've been taking for about 5 months now.

the problem is i blow out too much air sometimes, but it gets fixed real fast

 

[I snot in the wind]

=Ankh

Ankh I would agree with you insofar as the absolute quality/tone/timbre of the voice is concerned. That is something we have no control of.

...

No one has the right to stop someone else from actualizing their dreams.

I disagree pretty much on the first part. There are some things you can't change. But everybody can learn to sing well. Period.

And quality is reduced by constrictions, which we can control by breath support and mouth-/tounge-/(sometimes)larynx-positioning, among many, many other things.

Tone/timbre is partly controlled. You can change the tone brightness, remove constrictions to get more overtones, etc.! But you can't control your physical structure and vocal folds, which influences(/makes) the tone.

If you disagree with me, take Complete Vocal Technique lessons. You can learn literally(!) any singing technique from it. And fix all problems. (Unlike classical singing, SLS, bel canto, various new methods).

As for SLS: It wasn't very useful for me as a technique. I have Singing Success. The exercises will help your muscle memory learn to sing well in the medium register and softly in the high register, but it doesn't teach what the classicals would call "full voice" in the high register, which is what I need in that area. And it is much more specific.

I advice you guys to take a look in the Complete Vocal Techinque forum.

Really!

Oh, and btw: Listen to "I can't say" on Singing Success creator Brett Manning's myspace. His crack is pretty noticeable, and it doesn't sound like it's supposed to be there.

Kind of un-SLS'ish, eh?

And he "pulls up chest voice" in the "tougher" parts.

Kind of un-SLS'ish?


And Ankh: Being in the industry doesn't qualify you as having superior knowledgeable about all techniques.