Billy Purnell Ultimate Voice Training

Huh?  Who practices screwing up onstage? Isn’t the point not to screw up onstage?

Well, the fact is, you will mess up, and you will never get to the point where you don’t mess up at times… why?  Because you’re human! There is not a job on the planet where people don’t mess up, and that’s just the way it is – which is why I never really wanted to be a brain surgeon.  But when you mess up onstage, you’re doing so in front of a lot of people, and the thought of it causes some form of stage fright in just about everyone who cares about what they’re doing as an entertainer.

Solution: practice screwing up your vocal training!

The only way you can ever practice becoming “cool” through a mistake is when you actually make one. Take for instance, forgetting the words.  Pretty much everyone’s fear when singing, it causes people to stop, stammer, roll their eyes, sweat, cry, pee, run offstage and more, but being smooth and cool through this dreaded time is what you need as an entertainer, because people don’t really care nearly as much that you forgot the words as they do your reaction to it.

A negative reaction places your audience on edge; they want you to be having fun and in control; when you’re not, they get a weird feeling that can only go away by you taking over the room again with charm and professionalism.

OK, so let me repeat:  The only way you can ever practice becoming “cool” through a mistake is when you actually make one – so when you’re practicing your voice lessons, make sure you’re not just “going over” a song.

After you know the song, you have to get yourself into “performance” mode, singing in the moment.  That means visualizing a crowd, or judges, or record executives, and being accountable to every nuance of your performance as if you were onstage, and not stopping for anything.

Then, if you forget the words, you have to force yourself to smoothly get through it until you find your place again.  You can pause and listen to the music while maintaining your composure until you’re back on track or you can substitute words that make sense in the song.

Believe, me, this takes some real experience to be good at.  I’ve even sung meaningless phrases that sound like words until recovering, but in a slow ballad with piano/vocal only this is not recommended!

So you may be saying: “Dude, I’m not going to freak out onstage when I forget the words; is this really that important?”  I insist that yes, it is, because even though you won’t freak out, you may show a visible negative sign that you’re not even aware of!  A twitch, a look of fear, a change in body motion, it all matters. Besides, practicing your vocal lessons in "performance mode" with full attention is good for you anyway.

Speaking of screwing up, if your voice isn’t giving you everything you want from it and you’d like some help, considering checking out the Ultimate Voice Training for Singers online study program at www.voicetraining.com.

It’s an intensive study into balancing the vocal registers to give you one complete voice from top to bottom and eliminating vocal strain in the high notes!

Happy Singing,

billy purnell
The Vocal Troubleshooter™

P.S. – By the way I just rolled out a way for you to personally train with me – WITHOUT having to drive or fly to see me… I don't have very many spaces available, but if you want customized instruction so you can laser-focus your voice training, check out www.voicetraining.com/onlinevoicetraininglessons