Lund Music Studio

In music, an “interval” is the space between any two pitches. Students of music theory typically spend a lot of time in the beginning of their studies learning how to identify a given interval, both from written notes and sounded pitches.

If you can add and subtract and you spend some time practicing, identifying intervals that are written on the staff is an easy task.  Hearing two notes and determining whether they are an augmented fourth or a minor ninth apart is usually tricker, and can be daunting for some students.

To add insult to injury, I haven’t seen a lot in various textbooks that helps a student learn these intervals — since the book usually doesn’t generate its own sound, it will just show you a couple notes on the staff and say, “That is a major third. Learn it. Memorize it.” Okay, great! But how can you figure out what it sounds like?

Aside from the obligatory “practice, practice, practice”, here are some ideas to help you learn intervals. (Some of these ideas have been borrowed from Hearing and Writing Music by Ron Gorow).

Play it. Assuming you’ve figured out the easy part and you know what the interval looks like on paper, get yourself a well-tuned instrument and play the interval in different contexts — by itself, with other intervals, or in musical pieces.

Name that song! This is a common practice, and in fact was used in my first theory course in college. For example, the tritone is the first interval in the melody of both “Maria” from West Side Story and the theme song to The Simpsons. So, if you hear an interval that sounds like either of those songs is about to start, it’s a tritone. This is very helpful for many students, but has its own problems — chief among them being that if you don’t know the song real well, you can trick yourself with this method.

Size does matter. Intervals are distances. So, each different interval has a corresponding different size. Most people (even completely non-musical ones) could tell you that high C is higher than middle C. They could probably go on to tell you that the C above that is even higher than middle C. Easy example, but that’s what you’re doing when identifying intervals. Spend time listening to different intervals and try to hear the difference in size.

What comes next? Tons of Western music is based on formulaic chord progressions and harmonies. Play two notes. Do you feel like you have completed a musical idea? Or do you need to “resolve” it somehow? If so, how should you resolve it? Intervals like the minor second and perfect fourth can feel like they have arrived on a final note, but other intervals like the major second and tritone will feel to most of us like we need to add another note to the end to “finish” the phrase. Familiarize yourself with this tonal nature of different intervals.

Happy or sad? Most students, especially younger ones, are taught that major scales sound “happy” and minor scales sound “sad”. This is a simple way to say the scale has less or more dissonance. Listen to an interval, and consider how the resonance sounds to you. Some intervals like the tritone will sound very dissonant, or clashing, while others such as the major third will sound bright and pleasing.

Drill wisely. Most attempts to master hearing intervals will require a lot of “drill” exercises — hearing intervals over and over again, and trying to identify them. Start doing this, if you haven’t already. But remember to pay attention to what you are doing. If you get to the point where you are frustrated or just guessing randomly, you’re no longer achieving anything. Give yourself a break, and before you come back to the exercises, refer to a book, article, teacher, or friend to get some new ideas to help you.

There is an excellent online ear trainer at http://www.ossmann.com/bigears/

Happy training!

As a product of the ’80s, I find myself fascinated by video games.  I still spend a lot (too much?) of my free time gaming, and I defend video games as an art form to anybody who puts them down.  For almost as long, I’ve been fascinated by the music that makes the “soundtrack” to these interactive experiences.

I still remember running my video games through a cassette recorder so that I could listen to the music when I wasn’t playing… in a very real way, it’s an “interactive soundtrack” because you can remember doing things as the music was playing.  I would get a huge kick out of listening to music from Mario is Missing! or Mega Man 3 in the car.

Video game music has come a long way since the days of Pong.  Now, video game music is indistinguishable from film music, and I consider both to be the modern-day popular venue for the orchestral and choral instrumentations of classical music.

Games that are heavy into story-telling feature some truly excellent work — I think the WarCraft series music is enjoyable for any fan of orchestral music, and I’ve even gotten goosebumps from some of the pieces in the latest Mario game!

Earlier this month, I had the privilege of singing with the Houston Symphony Choir in a Video Games Live! concert.  VGL is a touring show that pays tribute to video game music, giving it the sound of an orchestra (along with some killer electric guitar and drum kit) and the energy of a rock concert.  It was an incredible experience for a singer who mostly works with classical masterworks, and one I hope to repeat when the VGL crew comes through Houston next summer.

More information about Video Games Live!

Last week, OverClocked ReMix, a website that specializes in presenting arrangements both electrical and acoustic of video game tunes, released a “project album” called Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption.

This marked another contribution I have been thrilled to make to the genre of game music.  Along with about a dozen other men, I contributed to the Fabul Men’s Choir by recording my voice singing choral parts.  Composer Andrew Luers then took these sounds and layered them together to create a choral sound for his track “Fighting for Tomorrow”, a great and enjoyable piece.

The album itself is truly impressive — a monumental undertaking, comprising over fifty arrangements in various styles of music from the game Final Fantasy IV (originally released for the Super Nintendo in 1991).

More information about this album
OCRemix, the parent project website of this work

“Sing from your diaphragm!”

Many students of voice or choir members have probably heard this sentence at one point or another, but how many of us really know what it means?

Illustration of the diaphragm, from "Grey's Anatomy"

The thoracic diaphragm is a muscle located just under your rib cage; it works directly with your lungs.  The lungs, appropriately, are usually thought of as the primary organs responsible for breathing — when you inhale, the air fills your lungs.

So, if the lungs do the breathing, why do we care about the diaphragm so much?  Because the diaphragm allows for a good, full breath.  When you inhale properly, the diaphragm contracts and moves downward in the body.  This breaks up the distribution of space in your body, causing two things to happen…

1. Your chest gets more space.  This allows your lungs to expand, which in turn allows them to hold more air.  This is why getting the diaphragm involved is critical, as it gives you more air to work with.

2. Your abdomen, or “belly”, gets less space.  The kicker is that there’s lots of stuff in your abdomen… lots of organs.  So to cope with this smaller space, your abdomen wall gets pushed out a little and your belly seems like it will get bigger.  This is the best visual clue that you’re taking a good breath — you will notice that your belly sticks out without having to arch your back.

When you breathe naturally, your diaphragm is involved.  This is why your belly moves up and down when you sleep, and why crying babies make so much noise!  The more instinctive your breathing is, the better it is.  Even speaking is a good example of this — most people are capable of producing a lot of volume when speaking, even if they have difficulty doing the same thing when they try to sing.

Unfortunately, many people don’t feel natural singing.  Either the nerves kick in, or they just feel strange doing something out of the ordinary.  The result is shallow breathing.  This improper breath does not involve the diaphragm, which means the lungs stay the same size, and much of the air actually stays stuck in the throat…so when they start to make sound, all the air escapes very quickly and they can’t sustain for long.

Okay, so clearly it’s important.  Now the question is: how do you do it?  How do you make sure that your diaphragm is moving when you breathe?  The solution requires a bit of a contradiction in logic — you have to think more about thinking less.

Embrace your body’s natural method of breathing.  One excellent way to observe how this feels and looks first-hand is to yawn.  Yawning is such a natural instinct that you haven’t developed bad breathing habits with it.  As you yawn, feel your belly expanding.  It can help to look at yourself in the mirror with your shirt off (probably not a group activity!) to see specifically what the body is doing when you breathe well.

Now try and take that natural feeling and apply it to your singing.  Try and take a yawn-style breath and sing some scales, or the song you’re working on.  You should notice much more breath is available.  If this is difficult, keep at it!  Practice makes perfect, as they say… eventually, your body will be used to breathing naturally when you sing and you won’t have to think so hard about it!

Depression is real.  Whatever your personal beliefs on how it is caused, or what sort of treatments should be encouraged or discouraged, I think it’s hard to make a logical argument against depression’s existence and prominence in today’s world.

Every year, nearly 10% of the U.S. population is affected by a depressive disorder, and most people will find their lives affected by depression at some point.

It seems universally accepted that treatments of depression need at their core behavioral and emotional changes.  A lot of the behaviors recommended to stave off depression are, at their core, distractions.

And that makes sense!  If you’re depressed, it’s not going to help to dwell on something that’s depressing you and obsess about how you can’t do anything about it.  A positive experience is needed.  And I can think of fewer things more positive than making music.  Consider:

Music is thought-provoking. If you’re making music, odds are that you are thinking about what you are doing.  I can think of very few times in my life that, while making music, I was thinking about anything other than the music at hand.

Music is emotionally satisfying. Surely everybody knows some music that makes them happy. Maybe it’s a favourite song from childhood, maybe it’s a meaningful hymn or praise song, maybe it’s the #1 song on the radio right now.

Music is a departure from the normal. There’s something about making music that can carry you away from your normal life and the hassles you cope with every day.

Have you broken into song lately? Do you sit down at the piano first thing when you come home? Many people don’t do either of these things. I would imagine it’s quite common for people to go entire days without singing, and I bet lots of folks sit down at the T.V. first thing when they come home. Try it the other way for a while, and see how you feel as a result.

Also consider the difference between “practicing” and “making music”:

• When you practice, you should have a fixed goal, and you should acknowledge flaws in your technique and work to correct them.
• When you make music, you should not do those things.  Work with music you already know or music that you make up in your head, and don’t pay attention to whether or not you’re doing anything “correctly”.

Practice is important for a learning musician, but making music is invaluable for everybody.

Teaching music is a business like any other. So those of us that are trying to make a substantial portion of our income from it have to advertise and attract customers. That’s harmless. But, I wanted to take a few moments to address some troubling “gimmick” techniques that I have seen being used around the internet by voice teachers.

1. A promise of guaranteed immediate results. By now, most of us should be wary of any product or service that makes this claim.  The human population of this world is so diverse.  We have people with different levels of intelligence, different emotional states, different amounts of experience… different everything.  As such, when it comes to teaching, a guarantee that the same exact method and presentation will work for everybody is an outright lie.

2. A “money-back” business model. This goes along with the guarantee, right?  Many voice teachers selling products online such as CDs or DVDs charge very high prices, and then promise that if you don’t see results, you will get your money back.  Caveat emptor… buyer beware.

Some of these teachers may be very much on-the-level, but as a cautious consumer, I would be very careful to get specific instructions on how the “money-back” process works before spending.  And, even then, I would be skeptical.

I have seen a couple reviews for products like these on Amazon.com, where the customers don’t trash the product itself, but the return process… and, if a CD package is not for you, you don’t want to be out $200 because their “customer service” department never actually existed.

3. Teaching via CD, DVD, or book. I will start by saying these may be the best way to go for some students with tight budgets or odd schedules.  There are also many quality products of this nature that have been put together by excellent teachers.  Be warned, though, that this is inherently inferior to taking a lesson with the same teacher in-person.

There is no way for you to communicate how effective the exercises are for you, or to ask questions.  Most importantly, there is nobody spotting you — if you do employ a harmful vocal technique, nobody will know.  And you can end up with permanent vocal damage.

Also, these approaches require a great deal of self-discipline.  Rather than having a regular time to meet with your instructor and their encouragement with your practice routine, you are entirely on your own.  It may feel good at first to not have anybody care but you if you put off your vocal exercise, but after some time passes, you may realize you are not accomplishing anything.

4. Teaching via phone or internet. This is similar to #3, but a little better.  In this sort of teaching setup, you will interact with a teacher, but there are still limitations — most importantly, visibility.  The phone teacher can’t see you do anything.  Even if you have lessons with a webcam, it will be harder for your teacher to see certain things, like your breathing technique and posture.

Phone or internet lessons will be helpful — but not as helpful as seeing a teacher live.  So, make sure you’re paying accordingly.  I have seen some teachers actually charge more for a phone or Skype lesson than they do for an in-person lesson.  This may make sense to them, as they have to deal with extra equipment setup for a high-tech lesson… but, as the customer, you will be paying more for a lower-quality service.

5. A “my-way or the highway” claim. I’ve seen a distressing number of voice teacher websites declare that by studying with anybody else, you are wasting your time.  Unless they’ve been the exclusive teacher for every singer that ever was, this isn’t true.  Different teaching styles work for different people, and over time, a number of formal teaching methods have seen a great deal of success.  So, anybody who says their method is the only real way to learn is using a fear tactic on you… and maybe doesn’t want you to find another teacher that may work with you better.

A teacher who uses these tricks isn’t necessarily a bad teacher.  You may get amazing results working with them.  On the other hand, these gimmicks to get customers in the door may be preventing you from studying with another teacher who gets even better results.  My advice — always be mindful of the actual service you are getting from any teacher, and make an independent and educated decision about who gets your money and your time.  Pay for the quality, not the hype.

Probably not. A 2000 survey showed that nearly two-thirds of Americans are not drinking an appropriate amount of water. But how much are you supposed to drink, and how can you make this easy to do?

There’s a lot of different “rules of thumb” floating around, telling people how much water is the correct amount to drink. One popular rule says you should drink at least 8 glasses of water daily… but like many things in health, the actual correct answer is that the “necessary amount” varies for everybody.

Eight glasses is actually a good amount, but some people may require more, and others may prefer to satisfy their water requirement through foods and other beverages. But that doesn’t mean you can’t get a good idea of how to stay appropriately hydrated!

First, make sure that you drink actual water several times a day. One fun fact that has popularly come to light recently is that you in fact can satisfy your daily requirement for water not just by drinking water — soda, coffee, and foods containing water will also keep you hydrated.

I feel this fact can be misleading, though… all these consumables have many ingredients other than good old H₂O. In other words, you will have to drink more soda or coffee to get as hydrated as you would from drinking less water.

Another factor in your quest for appropriate hydration is the amount of exercise you get. If you have a very sedentary lifestyle, your body will not go through fluids much… and, as a result, you won’t need to drink as much water. If, on the other hand, you have a daily workout routine and end up sweating a lot, you probably want to supplant your 8 glasses of water with a few more.

Just like exercise affects your body’s fluid consumption, so too does your environment. If you live in a very hot climate, you probably find yourself sweating during some of those balmy summer days… and you need to adjust your water intake appropriately.

Most singers find themselves acutely aware of the importance of water, either through being nagged by their instructors or trying to drink it to soothe sore throats during performances. But it’s very important to turn this awareness into action by developing a good habit of drinking water. Make it convenient. Buy bottled water, or fill your own empty water bottles, so that you can just grab water whenever you are around the refrigerator.

If you make sure you’re drinking enough of this great stuff, your entire body will thank you… including your voice!

We all want to hit those beautiful high notes that professional singers are so envied for!  The first thing to remember is that it is not going to happen instantly.  It’s not as if you’re doing something wrong, and can be told in ten minutes how to correctly have a three-octave range.

Here’s what you can do.

Make sure you warm up your voice.  This is always good advice for singers, and it is absolutely essential when you’re trying to improve your range.  If you try to sing an unusually high note first thing in the morning, there’s a good chance you won’t be able to sing well for the rest of the day.

Use good breathing technique.  Don’t be afraid of your belly!  Include some breathing exercises when you are warming up, if this is not something you’re used to thinking about.

Think happy thoughts.  Instead of worrying about how to hit an A#, and stressing about how high it is, just let your voice smoothly go up the scales.  You will find high notes a lot easier to hit when you don’t think about how high they are!

Practice.  Like I said, it’s not an instant-fix situation.  But with enough practice using good, solid technique, and education on correct vocal technique, anyone can pull off great results.

Sleep is a much-debated resource these days.  On the one hand, society urges us all to do more with our time, and there are products on the market that help us do this — energy drinks, coffee, various forms of stimulant pills.  On the other side of the spectrum, there are people pushing the importance of sleep (like me, according to the title).  And there’s products for that, too — namely, sleeping pills.

So, you’re caught in the middle.  What are you to do?  First, realize that there’s no universal answer.  Some people need six or less hours of sleep every night, some people aren’t fully rested unless they get a full ten hours of shut-eye.  It’s up to you to determine when you’ve had enough.

It’s amazing how often people overlook the obvious signs of sleep deprivation!  Now, I will admit that some people try, they really do try, but they just can’t sleep the whole night through.  I would encourage those people to seek medical help, and think an angry thought toward the next group of people I’ll mention — the ones who just don’t admit how necessary sleep is.

Many people these days are just wandering around in a stupor all day, trying to accomplish but not giving in to their physical need for relaxation.  Give it a rest, guys.  Literally.  One of the things that is great about being self-employed is a little more flexibility with my sleep schedule.  I am up at 5:30 every morning, but on days like today when I woke up feeling like my vocal cords were going to fall out, I have the freedom to GO BACK TO BED.

Again, I will concede — not everybody has the freedom to sleep in a couple hours whenever the need arises.  But I bet more than a couple of you just aren’t giving in to your tiredness.  I know I hear lots of people talk about staying up late watching television, or surfing the internet.  Then they get up early the next morning, and wish things were different.

Some of these folks don’t like going to bed at an unusual or early time because it takes too long to get to sleep… but if it takes you even a full half-hour to get to sleep, what is that compared to the gross amount of time that you feel drowsy if you’re not getting enough.

So, I put it to you… if it’s late at night, you’re reading this, and you feel a little sluggish — stop.  Go to sleep.  Sweet dreams!

There is an upcoming event in Kingwood that you will not want to miss!  Carl Orff’s famous cantata Carmina Burana will be performed on April 25th by the Kingwood Chorale, along with the Lonestar College Chamber Singers and the Kingwood Park High School choir.

Dr. Todd Miller, the artistic director of the Kingwood Chorale, has been rehearsing the Chorale and Chamber Singers for months in preparation for this concert, along with James Park, who has been leading his singers at Kingwood Park through the piece.

All singers came together for their first rehearsal a week ago yesterday, and the result was amazing.  Dr. Miller has mentioned that it is quite likely this will be a choral performance the scope of which North Houston has never seen.  Simply witnessing first-hand the raw power and dynamic contrast possible from such a group is worth admission price alone, but these groups in particular are quite talented.

If you are free this Saturday, come check out Carmina Burana.  Tickets are available at the door, or at Kroger and H.E.B. in Kingwood.

Time and again, I hear people talk about the “secret remedy” for singers — the miracle product that, when consumed, make your voice feel better and make you sing at your top potential.

Sadly, there is no such thing.

It’s important to understand the difference between your throat feeling good and your vocal quality being good.  Most of the products I’ve seen out there, the sprays and such, will make your throat feel nice.  Many singers use not just sprays for throat comfort, but more common consumables, like honey, herbal tea, lemon juice, or throat lozenges.  All of these items are merely lubricants.

Another common panacea for singing ailments is to gargle something — be it salt water, regular water, tea, you name it.  Again, this does not help as much as you might think.  Try this simple exercise — gargle with nothing in your mouth.  Then try to tell me that feels good on your throat or your vocal cords.  Just try it.

No, just like athletes and auto mechanics, singers are best served when they exercise preventative care for their vocal cords — do your best to use proper vocal technique, stay well-rested and hydrated, exercise good nutrition, and above all, do not overwork your voice!  If your vocal cords start to feel like they are strained, it is probably too late for you to do anything about it.  Just let it be an object lesson for the future.