Author: Mark JW Graham

I send one email a week, at 6pm on a Sunday, to those on my subscriber list. I only send one so as not to bombard people with more emails than we already get. If you’re not already subscribed, you can sign up via the vocal prospectus signup at the bottom of this page.

Come Friday/Saturday of each week, I look back on what has come up in client sessions and what has been on my mind, and send something out that is highly relevant to that specific week. Most of the time it’s a fresh article, and sometimes it’s one I’ve revised to bring up to date.

At the end of each year, I look back and see which articles grabbed people’s attention more than any others. Maybe there was something in the zeitgeist that year that meant everyone was thinking along the same lines, but sometimes it’s just because they are eternally relevant questions.

These are the five most read articles from my website for 2023. It’s fairly obvious why some of these are on people’s minds! Have a scan of the headlines for yourself, and dive into whatever grabs you!

1) Why some voices sound better than others?

2) Four singers that changed my life

3) Unsingable songs: Why there are some songs you’ll NEVER sound good on

4) If I could go back in time and tell my younger self THREE things…

5) What most voice teachers get wrong about singing
 

Want to learn more?

If any of these have piqued your interest and you’d like to discover more about your voice for yourself, you can book in your first session via my booking form right here.

One of the things I regularly discuss with clients is how a huge proportion of voice training, is actually ear training.

Sure, we are looking to train our body and voice to operate in more refined and better ways, and in this regard it is undoubtedly a physical/physiological endeavour.

However, we cannot hope to program our body in more refined ways, unless we know what we are aiming for, unless we have a target to shoot for. The more refined and clearly defined that target is, the better we can hit that target.

But there’s a problem with this target.

This target is not visual like an archery target, nor is it numerical like a mathematical or financial goal. The target is aural, and we can’t see it, touch it or measure it in any helpful way.

The only feedback about our accuracy that we get is from our own ears and bodies. Our brains then have to interpret all that data, and decide how accurate we were with hitting the intended target.

Two challenges present themselves

Even before we consider the physiological aptitude that we have, our ability to do great singing is therefore dependent on two main things:

1) What we hold in our heads as the aural target we are aiming for; and… Continue reading “How Voice Training Changes Your Brain”

I have had these two videos saved for many years, and I revisit them every so often.

1. Kaufmann
The first features tenor Jonas Kaufmann and conductor Anthony Pappano. Kaufmann is arguably the premier operatic tenor in the world today. In this excerpt, Pappano covers what the mixed voice is, and how one has to move across bridges/passagi in order to traverse the male tenor voice from low to high.

What I want to draw attention to is how incredible Kaufmann’s vocal control is. He can rise and fall on almost any note, low or high, and make it enormously dramatic or whisper quiet… even moving from one to another on the same note. It really is stupendous, as you’ll hear.

Moreover, I want you to notice just how complex this transition is, and how most of the singers’ orientation towards what they are doing is internal and experiential. There’s no frets to watch, piano keys to press, etc, you’ve got to play this instrument of the voice entirely by feel and by ear. This is what makes it so challenging to sing well, and to sing well means to make it sounds like it’s no challenge at all – one hell of an illusion!

2. Pavarotti
Speaking of taking a lifetime to master, this second clip features the wonderful Luciano Pavarotti.

In this very short clip, Pavarotti very succinctly describes and demonstrates the difference between merely hitting a high note, and sculpting it into something truly magnificent. This also represents a key difference between not just levels of singers, but the aesthetic requirement that opera places on singers.

Do you note his parting comment? That such a simple sound, that he makes sound so effortless, took him 20+ years to master. Even at the shorter end of the timescale, he said “it may take you 10 years to make a sound like that”.

People vastly underestimate just how skilled top-flight singers are, and what it takes to craft a beautiful and lasting vocal sound. I hope these two clips with such giants (at least in the classical realm) gives you some idea of the work great singers undertake and what they aspire to create.

If this is something you’d like to start to discover for yourself, I’d love to work with you. You can book yourself in via my booking form right here.

I have written a Beginners Guide to a Home studio on a budget, and also written a follow-up guide on the next steps for those with a home studio.

I had a few people email in reply, some of whom were grateful for the advice. But it struck me that some of you might not be sure whether they should only go to professional studios to record, especially if they want professional results. So that’s what I want to cover here today, as I there’s actually several reasons I strongly believe that every serious singer should invest in a home studio setup.

Let me explain why

Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree that if one is seeking professional results – and you yourself are not a said professional – then one should seek a professional and pay them to do the work they do best. It’s entirely why I applaud anyone who is progress focused enough to seek professional help to improve their voice in sessions. It astonishes me how many try to DIY their way to solutions without really knowing what they are doing.

However, many of you who sing seriously and record yourself will know, that there is far more to having a home studio than trying to avoid having to pay someone else. There’s a myriad of reasons that even a basic home studio setup is worth having. Moreover, I think a home studio is a wonderful complement to those who eventually want to get into a professional studio.

For those of you who do not have one, or are not sure why you should even set one up for yourself, I wanted to cover five reasons I think that every serious singer should have some kind of basic setup at home. Continue reading “The Benefits of having a Home Studio”

A few years ago, I made this guide on putting together a recording studio together for under £500. I update that guide a couple of times each year to reflect any changes in approach, or bits of tech that I’ve found that work well.

This guide is actually one of the most read articles on my site. Many clients (and even people who call me) tell me that they’ve found this starter guide helpful to get their studio together.

But what about next steps?
What if you’ve already got some basic recording equipment, monitors, a computer, a microphone, headphones, etc. What are the next things one should look at to improve their studio space for recording?

That’s what I want to cover this week. Let’s say you’ve got some more cash, maybe £100-£500 you’re happy to invest into your studio space, what would I recommend as a good upgrade?

Fortunately, the first few suggestions are almost entirely free to do, so keep reading to find out more. Continue reading “Studio on a Budget: Part Two”

I received an email this week from someone having issues with their voice at work. They informed me that they were having trouble “projecting their voice” in a clear way that can be heard in a busy/loud environments, but also in group meetings/conversations. 

They were looking for advice on whether there’s anything practical they could change or exercises they could do, or whether it’s something they were stuck with.

The reply I put together is something I realise that I’ve covered with clients in sessions, but not actually written down anywhere, so I thought I would relay the content of my reply here for you to read.

While this reply is centred around issues regarding being heard in work, the same logic applies if we are trying to be heard singing in bands/groups, or with other instruments.

Issues around “projection” and loud environments

The stated problem is multivariate, as such there is no short answer or simple solution. However, I’ll try to break it down as simply as I can, then provide some practical suggestions. Continue reading “Voice Myths: Projection”