Professor Harold Hill had it right -- The THINK system works
Amazing: watching a baby learn to make sound, cooing and articulating any and all strange noises from their surrounding world. How do they eventually learn to speak? By mimicking, of course.
Amazing: hearing a child put together words and pitches with absolute accuracy while singing along with an after-school kids' show on television. Did we have to teach them how to move their voices and sing pitches in tune? No, they just follow along.
Amazing: how we forget the simplicity of the voice, and the natural capabilities of the instrument within. Do we continually need to "tune" our own voices, as we seem to do day after day in the studio?
No – we just need to "think" it.
In Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man, quirky salesman "Professor Harold Hill", who carries with him only musical instruments and not the knowledge to teach or play them, lures a small town into believing that children will learn to play their instruments simply by "thinking" the melodies. Hill has the young players hum and sing along, never even picking up their tubas or trombones -- until the day of the concert. Miraculously, the kids recreate the piece by tuning their instruments with their ears, saving the salesman's reputation (and sales career).
Obviously, this is a romanticized and fictionalized situation but rooted in truth.
We know instinctually how to sing and make musical sound.
So how did we get so far away from the natural production of our own sound? The same way we got so far away from our natural breath cycle, and our natural sleeping patterns, and our natural way of movement.
Years and years of conditioning, spiked with a not-so-healthy dose of judgment.
I'm sure you remember times when singing with friends or to the radio, or along with your favorite band live at their concert, when you've felt absolute connection and ease in your vocal production, with much success and little to no throat sensation.
You were not concentrated on every pitch. You were simply doing. You were simply recreating. You were allowing your brain to hear the pitches and melody line, and your vocal cords were taking care of the rest.
The actual vocal mechanism houses an incredible independence if we stay out of its way and allow it to stretch and lean and "rock" the way it was meant to.
Experiment on your own with this:
(audio record if you can - quality is not important)
Sing your favorite Holiday carol or choose another such song that you've known since grade school. You might find that you are "making" your voice jump from pitch to pitch, and mechanizing the "placement" of each note as you go.
Now, sing it again, and allow your mind to think 2-3 notes ahead. Notice the ease of the voice when you THINK the pitches before you actually phonate. It's almost like the voice already knows how to sing it.
And it does.
Now, try the same process with a newer song, or a difficult passage in a challenging piece.
First, sing through it as you usually would...
...and second, simply thinking 2-3 notes ahead, allowing the voice to go wherever and do whatever it pleases.
When you listen back (if you're able), you'll notice a difference in the quality and ease of the sounds you made. You'll also notice how accurate your tuning is when you think the pitches and allow the voice to do its job.
Enjoy singing like a child again!
In Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man, quirky salesman "Professor Harold Hill", who carries with him only musical instruments and not the knowledge to teach or play them, lures a small town into believing that children will learn to play their instruments simply by "thinking" the melodies. Hill has the young players hum and sing along, never even picking up their tubas or trombones -- until the day of the concert. Miraculously, the kids recreate the piece by tuning their instruments with their ears, saving the salesman's reputation (and sales career).
Obviously, this is a romanticized and fictionalized situation but rooted in truth.
We know instinctually how to sing and make musical sound.
So how did we get so far away from the natural production of our own sound? The same way we got so far away from our natural breath cycle, and our natural sleeping patterns, and our natural way of movement.
Years and years of conditioning, spiked with a not-so-healthy dose of judgment.
I'm sure you remember times when singing with friends or to the radio, or along with your favorite band live at their concert, when you've felt absolute connection and ease in your vocal production, with much success and little to no throat sensation.
You were not concentrated on every pitch. You were simply doing. You were simply recreating. You were allowing your brain to hear the pitches and melody line, and your vocal cords were taking care of the rest.
The actual vocal mechanism houses an incredible independence if we stay out of its way and allow it to stretch and lean and "rock" the way it was meant to.
Experiment on your own with this:
(audio record if you can - quality is not important)
Sing your favorite Holiday carol or choose another such song that you've known since grade school. You might find that you are "making" your voice jump from pitch to pitch, and mechanizing the "placement" of each note as you go.
Now, sing it again, and allow your mind to think 2-3 notes ahead. Notice the ease of the voice when you THINK the pitches before you actually phonate. It's almost like the voice already knows how to sing it.
And it does.
Now, try the same process with a newer song, or a difficult passage in a challenging piece.
First, sing through it as you usually would...
...and second, simply thinking 2-3 notes ahead, allowing the voice to go wherever and do whatever it pleases.
When you listen back (if you're able), you'll notice a difference in the quality and ease of the sounds you made. You'll also notice how accurate your tuning is when you think the pitches and allow the voice to do its job.
Enjoy singing like a child again!