Steph Hill

Vocalist, Performer, Composer, Teacher

  • Home
  • Performer
  • Composer
  • Teacher
  • Contact Me
  • Blog

Simple but effective – Dynamics for singers

October 29, 2018 By Steph

Hello! It’s been a while since my last blog post, but I really have been meaning to give you some simple tips to demystify your singing in your self-directed practice. I find it so interesting to listen to self-taught singers and ask myself – “what are they doing well?” One such musical technique that can dramatically affect the style elements and expressiveness of your vocal performance is adding musical dynamics.

Dynamics is the umbrella term for musical loudness, and is often described in the Italian words for very soft (pianissimo) soft (piano), moderately soft (mezzo piano), moderately loud (mezzo forte), loud (loud) and very loud (fortissimo).

Not to go into too much detail, but the thickness of the vocal folds affects pitch and volume. Paying attention to your dynamics, or the dynamics of a song you’re wanting to imitate, can give you a short-cut to getting the registration and style of a song correct – and creates more interesting performances! (Sidebar: If you’re not familiar with vocal registers, some common terms for those are chest register/mechanism 1, head register/mechanism 2, flute or falsetto register/mechanism 3 – they’re sort of the different ‘zones’ or gears of your voice).

I ran a workshop recently when we had one of the competent singers in the group demonstrate a pop song. This singer sang the song in a similar style to the original artist, but without over-manipulating her natural voice – lovely. Then a second girl in the group asked how to perform a stylistic “flip” between her two primary vocal registers (similar to a subtle yodel) which the first singer had done with ease. The second singer’s technical vocal training had smoothed out her register transition beautifully meaning she could sing with consistent tone throughout her range, but this made a stylistic un-smooth change difficult for her! I explained that we can simply listen to the technique through the lense of dynamics, instead of analysing the registers. We found that the “flip” also involves going from moderately loud (mf) to soft (p or mp) in a split second. This gave her a simple way of practicing this song at home.

Wanting more of a belt and less of a mix? Try thinking of your sound in terms of dynamics – go a little louder (keep your whole body involved… more on that some other time) and see what happens! More of a mix and less of a belt? Try calming down the dynamics! Want to sound more rhythmic? Try adding in quick crescendo-decrescendos to accent your rhythm (see the last blog post for more on this pulsing technique). Want to put your own stamp on a song? Experiment with your dynamics!

I hope this has given you some great ideas of how to develop your voice without the help of a teacher; however, if you have questions about how to apply this, or want some help developing your vocal register zones, please hit the Contact Me tab up the top of the page – I’d love to help you find your best and most expressive voice.

Happy singing!

Filed Under: Performance, Tips for Singers

First Blog!

September 18, 2017 By Steph

Hello!

My name is Steph, and I’m a singer and singing teacher. I’ve had a blog section on my website since forever, but it’s always been something that’s gone to the “one day I’ll…” list. As I’ve gotten more experienced as a teacher, I’ve found I have a lot on my mind and some wisdom to share, so I’ve finally taken the plunge!

I initially wrote a post that will probably go up next week, as I realised it wasn’t a very good topic for a first-ever blog. Instead I’ll share a bit about how I became a singing teacher, that you won’t find on my formal bio.

When I was 18 or 19 I was working part-time as a receptionist when my childhood piano teacher happened to walk into the business. We’d had a great rapport and I’d learned from her for 7 years. During the course of our conversation, she offered me a job at the music school she was running. Little did she know my piano playing had gone seriously rusty… but I have a bit of a life philosophy of say yes whenever an interesting opportunity comes, and tread water for dear life if you end up being out of your depth!

While this job not only forced me to brush up on my piano in a way with some appropriate external motivation, it also led to someone approaching me to teach their daughter both singing and piano. Now I was studying songwriting and composition at university, but also taking singing lessons with one of the University’s singing teachers, the fabulous Kristina Kelman. I was learning a lot from her, and the difference between her teaching style and that of my first singing teacher helped me to begin forming a lot of opinions on how singing training should progress… so again I said yes… and discovered I LOVED teaching singing.

I have so many favourite parts of teaching singing. Some of them are a bit self-gratifying; for example, I have quite an analytical personality and I’m intuitive and logical, so listening to a voice, diagnosing any problems, then analysing the student’s personality and devising a solution is just a fun thing for me. But I also love that I get to champion my students – be their cheerleader, coach them through their own vocal self-discovery and the pursuit of their dreams, and getting to celebrate their successes with them.

So, that’s a bit about me and why I teach. Thanks for taking the time to read my first blog post, and in the coming weeks I’ll be sharing some of my teaching philosophy, top singing tips, and some stories from my journey as a singer and teacher.

If you need a coach in your corner as a performer, I’m available for in-person lessons in Melbourne, and everywhere else via Skype.

Filed Under: Singing Teaching

Gallery

I am a singer, songwriter and music teacher in Melbourne, Victoria.

Connect with Me

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 · Steph Hill