Sing as you Like!

Methodology

Every singer has a different instrument, different goals, and different backgrounds. This means that a method that suits one singer might not suit another singer.

Thus, at Sing As You Like, we believe in adapting our teaching to you. We call this our “Method-less Methodology”.

That said, there are some common threads that we believe almost every singer will benefit from, which we’ll explain below:

1. The Vocal Journey: Match Pitch, Sing Freely, Sing Anything
2. Evidence-Based Pedagogy: Empowering Singers with Evidence and Science

What does the Vocal Journey look like?

Summary: While there’s no set path to reaching vocal success, all singers should build the voice by first learning to match pitch, then learning to sing with ease, and finally learning to gain full control of their instrument, with the aim being “vocal mastery”.

1. Step 1 – Start with Pitch Matching:
   • Pitch matching is the first thing to work on with beginner singers
   • Given enough tries, anyone can match pitch. It’s just a matter of coordinating what you hear with what you’re actually singing
   • Why is pitch matching so important?
     • Even if you have the best voice technique in the world, people will not consider you a good (or even passable) singer if you cannot match pitch
     • If you can’t match pitch, many vocal exercises will be pointless, it will be unclear what exercises to give, and any results you get will be haphazard.
   • Pitch matching is its own skill, and thus must be worked on independently of general technique matters
     
2. Key Concept 1 – The Infinitely Malleable Voice: Your voice is what you want it to be, as long as you learn the skills to control it. See the next point for more details
   
3. Key Concept 2 – Singing as Adjusting a Series of Dials:
   
   The singing voice has various dials that you can turn up and down. They affect each other, they affect how you sound, and they affect how easy or difficult it is to sing:
   • Breath Pressure (Volume)
   • Vocal Fold Length (Pitch)
   • Compression (Strength)
   • Larynx Height (Style)
   • Resonance (Timbre / Tone)
   • Distortion (Additional Colours)
     
4. Step 2 – Sing with Ease: Vocal ease requires you to achieve a balance among all these dials
   
5. Step 3 – Vocal Technique Mastery:
   • Vocal mastery requires you to gain independent control over each dial as if each dial were completely independent of the other
   • To achieve this, you must be comfortable singing with every possible (healthy) combination of the dials
   • Achieving full vocal mastery is a lifelong journey, regardless of your starting point
     
6. Bonus Step – Beyond Singing: While a voice lesson will mainly be focused on technique, we cannot lose sight of the fact that great singing also involves elements that go beyond technique, such as musicality, storytelling, acting, diction, and expressing emotions

What is Evidence-Based Pedagogy?

First, let’s look at the way lots of singing lessons go.

You come in for your lesson. You’re told that you’re singing off-pitch, that you’re singing the wrong vowel, or that you’re too breathy.

Maybe for the first time ever, your teacher says “Wow, that was the first time you were so in tune!” You might think, “Is the teacher for real, or is he/she just telling me that to make me feel better and pay for more lessons?”

In either situation, you have no objective way to validate what the teacher has said. You just have to take their word for it.

While most voice teachers mean well, we’ve all heard horror stories of teachers giving vague advice like “Sing with more support!” and hoping that solves all problems.

Sometimes, the advice they give is based on a faulty understanding of the voice and might even be detrimental to your singing, like “Lift your soft palate!” and “Squeeze your abs!”

After years of trying to follow such advice and not making progress, you might even feel that you’re the problem. You’re not. You trusted the voice teacher, and they didn’t deliver.

But how then can you tell if what you’re doing is giving you results or if it even makes sense?

The answer is Evidence-Based Pedagogy: You should always be able to fact-check your teacher during the lesson with immediately available, objective metrics. This goes beyond teaching based on the best science available to researchers: it makes the science available to you.

At Sing As You Like!, we provide you the tools you need to assess your progress and to assess your teacher. These fall into three main categories:

1. Software
2. Physical Checks
3. Knowledge-Sharing

1. Software

With the appropriate software, almost anything singing-related can become quantifiable instead of merely subjective. You could even call this “Data-Driven Singing”.

For example, if we’re working on pitch matching, you will be asked to download pitch monitoring software, or to sing through your teacher’s pitch monitoring software online so we’re all on the same page on your progress.

We might also be working on breathiness or pronunciation. With spectrographic software, we can objectively determine whether you are singing the right vowel or even how clear your tone is. The possibilities are endless.

2. Physical Checks

While the teacher can hear what you’re doing, you can also determine whether you’re on the right track with physical checks.

For instance, if we’re practicing different larynx positions, you will be taught how to feel where the larynx is with your fingers.

If we’re focused on breathing, you will learn how to physically feel the breathing apparatus working by placing your hands on your ribs and belly.

3. Knowledge-Sharing

Sometimes, you may wonder why you’re doing a particular exercise, or what a particular concept means.

We will openly share any of our knowledge with you and the reasoning behind what we’re doing in a way that you can fact-check us (either by reading on your own or with the software and physical checks mentioned above).

With this, you can rest assured that we aren’t just making you sing off a list of top 10 exercises to pass the time, and that we’re not trying to hide behind fancy words to confuse you.

How does this help you?

You as a singer should be empowered to take charge of your own destiny. With Evidence-Based Pedagogy, even if you stop coming for lessons, you will have the ability to keep yourself in great vocal shape.

Put in another way, with Evidence-Based Pedagogy, you can see and feel what your teacher hears. There will be no gatekeeping of knowledge from you to ensure you keep paying for lessons.

If you’re ready to feel what this approach to singing can do for your voice: