Episode 345: How To Let Your Voice Out
Key takeaways from this episode:
- Why you need to be singing louder.
- How to stop holding your voice back.
- The physical and mental challenges of letting your voice out.
- Getting the strong singing foundation that you deserve.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Free Resources
How To Sing Like A Paid Professional In 1 Year Without Boring Or Pointless Vocal Warm-Ups.
Subscribe to The Star Singer Podcast on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to The Star Singer Podcast on Spotify
Foundations of Singing Higher Course
The full transcript:
Hello, and welcome to the Star Singer Podcast. My name is Tiffany VanBoxtel. I'm a vocal coach, and I'm here to help you to feel more confident with your singing so that you can use it in whatever way. You want to, especially if you're a singer who overthinks or worries about how you're singing sounds all the time, you are in the right place.
We're going to be talking through all things, singing, technical performance, and especially mindset. So if this sounds awesome to you, then you are in the right place. Let's talk about letting your voice out. I love this topic because Just this idea alone can solve so many quote unquote problems with your singing.
It's kind of like the big domino that can knock everything else down. And it has both technical, physical, and mindset kind of related to it. So learning how to let your voice out is also a huge confidence builder. So it just. Okay. Okay. I'm, I'm so excited to share this. So another reason to let your voice out in general, we're going to go through like why letting your voice out is important, um, some easy techniques and some ways to get your voice out there, and some challenges and some objections that you might have to, you know, Whatever it is.
So because I've I've been around the block. I've been teaching voice lessons for a long time thousands of voice lessons one on one and I know what your objections are gonna be. It's probably gonna feel like I can read your mind And I know what the cultural norm is and i'm telling you that this way just works better.
So i'm super excited because Singing is simple. It does not have to be hard. It is simple. So letting your voice out You is so helpful for confidence. Another thing it's helpful with is muscle memory, because when you are holding your voice back, you're really controlling how much energy you're putting into it.
And then it makes it difficult for your body to develop muscle memory. Because if we think about all the things that go into singing and we just break them down into mathematical or physical components, we have things like frequency, which is measured in hertz. We have things like air volume, like inside of your lungs.
And then we have like all sorts of changing variables like tidal pressure when we breathe. And basically if we were going to do a math problem that, you know, calculated exactly How much air pressure and airflow you would need to sing one note for four seconds at the speed of, you know, a second. Um, I was thinking in tempo.
So, you know, tempo you can change. Anyway, whatever. Um, like that's rocket science. Legitimate rocket science. Like if you calculated that on paper, it's insane. Like it's amazing that our body even comes close. But when we're changing all of these things and we're taking breaths differently all the time and we're, you know, I'm feeling a little shy today so I'm going to hold it back.
That really messes with your body's ability to create muscle memory and muscle memory is just so useful because on the days, you know, if you're feeling a little more anxious or you have a little more performance anxiety or you're really excited to perform, Muscle memory is one of those things that you can really rely on, and so being able to develop muscle memory through consistency is important, and letting your voice out is just going to get everything out there.
I like to think about it like, um, Bob Ross, I've probably said this before, but, you know, the painter guy, Bob Ross, like he always said, um, like, get all your paint out. on the picture first. Um, I don't know if he like said that, but I remember a quote with him like saying like, we'll make that decision later or something like that.
But it comes to like how many trees he's gonna put on the picture. But it's like, get everything on the canvas first and then make those decisions. So until you truly let your voice out completely, you really can't even see what you're working with. And. Gosh, I want to like stick to my list here, but they all They all go so well with each other.
Like a lot of people, for example, one of the challenges that will come up is like, Oh, but I want to make sure it sounds good. I want to make sure like I have accurate pitch and tone before I let my voice out. But the thing is that until you let your voice out, you cannot. Have consistently accurate pitch and tone because your body is always going to be calculating based on your level of tension Which you are controlling and that is not a good way to sing.
It is not a good way to develop muscle memory It just doesn't work. So when you let your voice out more You add more Airflow, which is super helpful for consistent singing and then this idea of physically Letting your voice out and when i'm doing this, you can't see it right now But i'm like taking my arms and i'm putting them out to the side When you are thinking of letting your voice out, you are also opening up your body's physical space and space and airflow is going to create the most consistency for singing.
So here are some easy ways to let your voice out and you're probably going to laugh at me, um, which you shouldn't because I have more experience than you. No, I'm just kidding. But you're probably going to be like, skeptical that it's going to work, right? And I've had moments like that myself. You know, I talked about my brilliant college professor who, and he was like, focus on the rhythm and the pitch will come out.
And I just thought he was crazy, even though I had such respect for him. The idea was just so insane that I could not believe it until it physically happened for me. So try to keep an open mind. I know it's going to sound crazy, Try to keep an open mind until you give this a try, but an easy way to let your voice out is to just sing Louder now hear me out.
I know there are gonna be some objections here Because you're going to be like, well, I want to make sure it sounds good first. And we already kind of talked about that. We really can't make any big adjustments. We can't develop any sort of consistency without letting out the voice first. And there might be some recalculations that your voice is doing too, because it's like, oh my gosh, she's letting her voice out.
Whoa, like, and the voice has a little glitch because it's like, it's not used to that sort of freedom. So it's just simply recalculating. And then you might've heard, well, if you sing louder, it's going to sound, you know, Like I'm just blasting it out there and I might hurt my voice um in like 17 years of teaching one on one voice lessons for the majority of that time teaching them full time So that means like 40 voice lessons a week Um, i've never told anyone to sing quieter And hardly anyone, you know, I work with some people, a couple of people who like to take their belt really high.
But other than that, I've never told anyone to like sing quieter. And I don't even tell belters to sing quieter. We just redirect it, right? But I've never told anyone to sing quieter. You're not going to hurt your voice. You need to learn how to release that energy through your entire body and not just your voice.
And so an easy way to do this is to think about, on a scale of 1 to 10, if level 1 is meh. And level 10 is just like, your biggest, your boldest, your most exaggerated. I want you to always be singing at a level 8. And tracking data when I ask singers for the following. first time, most singers are singing around a level four.
And so level four for me almost is like holding your voice back. And when you hold your voice back again, you're creating tension in the body, which is now in control. Okay. And if you want to control your voice. Now you're actually allowing the tension to control it, which is a very inconsistent way of singing, right?
So we don't want that. We want the voice to come out, and we want it to be nice and free. So singing louder. Literally, you could start singing a song, and before you sing the song, you can put yourself on a voice recording and be like, Sing louder! You know, every five seconds, sing louder, sing loud. Because what happens is you're like, Oh yeah, I got to, I got to sing louder.
So you sing louder and then it kind of fades away. And then you're like, Oh yeah, I got to remember, sing louder. So it's going to be this constant refresh in your brain where you're going to have to remind yourself to sing louder, sing louder, sing louder. Cause it's going to feel weird. It's going to feel really vulnerable and it's going to feel just really big, a lot bigger than you're used to.
But also singers. Our bodies are incredibly efficient, so you might be really, really surprised over what you can put out there. But the biggest thing is singing louder really kind of, I think of it like flushes out the system. That's kind of how I think of it. It releases all the tension and it also gets you out of your head too.
Because no longer can you start to be thinking about, Oh, I'm a, like you have no choice. You just, you're singing louder and you're letting it out, and you're focusing on being big and letting it flow. Another way to let your voice out is to move around. Remember when I was talking about tension? Tension can exist in the mind and then it manifests itself in the body.
But it can also start in the body. So if you notice, ah, my shoulders are really tense when I sing, like just start to move your shoulders around. Like just start loosening up the part of your body where you feel tension. It's just going to create a greater awareness over you as a singer and where you're holding your tension.
And if you move around, if your body is physically free, your voice is going to want to follow your body. So your voice is going to follow your body. And that is going to also help to let your voice out. Okay. Letting your voice out. Super important. Honestly, one of the first big foundational things that I work with singers on inside of one on one voice lessons.
And literally once you learn how to do this, everything starts to change. You start to feel more confident. You start to sing with more accuracy. You notice your pitch and your tone becoming more consistent. And you find that your body, it's, it's like you're singing. really loud but it's also incredibly easy and it feels good.
So these are all of the things that you can look forward to even though on the front end thinking about letting out your voice and really allowing it to come out can be kind of scary. So this is, this is just super super important and Again, it's one of the things that I really start a lot of singers with as well.
So, I mean, private lessons are definitely a thing I do. Um, there's, you know, limited space depending on the season and in this season, you know, I'm open to, I'm open to more. So, you know, if it's a good fit, go ahead and click on the link inside. Otherwise, you know, I've created. a process with this based on my work with, you know, hundreds of singers, thousands of voice lessons, and, you know, over 17 years of experience doing this, and I created a program called The Star Singer Green Room.
And you can hop in for the first 30 days, it's just a dollar, and then after that, you know, it's 47 a month, it's 12 months, and then you get lifetime access, you know, after you pay for that 12 months. But the thing is, it's like, Everything you should have learned in voice lessons Like I would value this program at over five thousand dollars and it's just got years of experience Trial and error like the only vocal exercises in here are things that work And what I love about it is that it goes step by step.
But anyway all of that aside Honestly, even if you just want to jump in for a dollar for the first 30 days, the first two levels that you get access to in the first three weeks, because I know people like to jump ahead and I'm all about building muscle memory, so the content drips. Um, the things that you get access to in the first month, Are literally going to change your life.
They are the foundation of singing. So even if you hop in there for a dollar and then get your booty out of there, um, and you take those steps with you, you take those exercises with you in your body. I mean, you're going to be twice the singer you are now, at least. So, um, I added that special trial link for you and yeah, do whatever you want with it.
My mission is. Is literally to be like singing is simple get your butt in here do this See how awesome it can work for you. And I want you to just like believe in yourself. Okay, that's why it's a dollar That's why it's there. That's why i'm offering it to you. Um, the other step is sing louder Let me know how it is dm me.
Let's be friends on instagram at @TiffanyVanBoxtel and I hope you have a great day. Subscribe to this podcast because it is awesome. You are awesome. And I cannot wait to hear how just letting out your voice goes for you. All right. We'll see you next time.
