The following are a list of the top 10 vocal myths

“Rock singers have more problems than Classical Singers.”
Not true!!!Classical Singers sing for longer periods of time and cause great damage to their cords due to the continual length of time on stage.

“If you are under puberty age, you should not start voice lessons”
Whoever started this rumor, must have never talked either before puberty! You are using the same exact muscles…It is so much more important to start early because you can develop your muscles to form a vocal instrument properly. Many unskilled vocal instructors try to push the larynx of a child by asking them to do things that only an adult singer can manipulate. This definitely can be damaging, but a good voice teacher can do just the opposite by preparing the child singer to properly care for their voice. Gymnasts, dancers, etc.…all are quite aware of the need to start young. It is no different with the vocal instrument.

“Belt singing will hurt your voice”….
Hmmm sounds like this is one of the top 10 vocal myths that came from a frustrated choir director who didn’t make it in the pop industry and is jealous of her/his students doing better than they are. Or, they are jealous of their young students having better opportunities that they did. We hear this comment quite a bit from “wannabes” that are disguised as choir directors in high schools. Belt singing is the same as speaking on a range, and the more you exercise properly, the less chance you will have to injure your instrument.

“Drugs can hurt your vocal cords”.
They won’t hurt them….they will kill them. They can eat divots into your cords until they become so airy and breathy that you have no tone, no control and no range. I can name at least 5 pop stars that lost their voices due to misuse of illegal drugs.

“You should always exercise your cords before singing”.
Well, the older you get, the more your cords have muscle memory and actually, you have to warm up less and less. Controversial? Not really. As an older singer, I never have any problems with my voice starting at 6 am when I pop out of bed. But they are mature built cords and know exactly where to go when they wake up because I must talk in my sleep ….But when you are young, your voice remembers more of your range when you talk because that is what you do the great majority of the day! So….you must exercise the voice beyond the speaking range of 2 – 3 notes!

“When you drink water on stage, this helps hydrate you”.
Well, not really, if you are that thirsty on stage that means you have not had enough water all day long. When you drink water on stage (which sometimes is just necessary), you take the chance of swallowing air and burping through the rest of your set. It is better that you sip water on stage and you will have less chance of air pockets.

“Smoking creates a raspiness in my voice that allows my style to be cooler”.
Well…it might be a cool sound, but the nicotine eats your cords and layers a thick tar day after day until you sound like an old old singer. It also limits your range to about 4 notes after awhile, besides the fact that your face becomes aged, you smell like crap, and no one want to kiss an ashtray. …..and you might die of lung cancer….but I guess you’ll have a cool sound as you drift of to heaven.

“Singing is a form of entertainment”.
Wrong – singing is a sport…It is classified as a sport because of the number of calories you burn in one sitting. You can burn as much as 400 calories in a voice lesson you have a reputable voice teacher that knows what they are doing in remaking your body into a vocal monster.

“Can I make my range bigger through voice lessons”?
Yes and NO….a voice teacher can discover the range you were born with and help you to sing within that range, but you cannot “make” a bigger range. It would be like asking your legs to grow to be a track star!

“My young voice won’t be injured by singing in a rock school bands and gigging, right?”
Our biggest clientele is from kids who have been pushed beyond their limits in singing rock oldies and trying to sound like the 40-year-old lead singer. Their voices are fried. We have to start vocal therapy and completely redo the instruments. Many develop nodes, dysfunctional vocal cords and acute hoarseness.