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The NEW ERA
of SINGING TRAINING
By Per Bristow
creator of THE BRISTOW VOICE METHOD
www.BristowVoiceMethod.com
The Bristow Voice Method is designed to go far beyond improving the physical voice. Depending on the
individual’s needs and desires, BVM serves to bring the individual to significantly greater levels of well-
being, self-confidence, creativity and health, in addition to dramatically and rapidly improve
communication, presentation and performance skills.
”I was blessed to have found Per and I can't Daniel Yuen - Canada
imagine where I would be without him
(probably still hoarse from the gig last night.)
He is the rock singer's dream coach, and I am “My name is Colleen. I am a professional
proud to count him among some of the most singer and sing for private parties, fundraisers,
influential people in my life.” Legions and the list goes on. I thoroughly
enjoyed your online course. I learnt things
JFK, lead singer of the World Wide Spies about singing that I didn't know before. I used
to push my voice, but my voice began to flow
“I was very self-conscious about singing in and I now sing with little effort. Thanks Per. I
front of people. Now I feel like I've been learnt a lot from your course.”
liberated to explore my own abilities. This
course was definitely a life enhancer for me. Colleen Durdon - Canada
Maybe you want to be able to experience the high of 50,000 cheering fans… maybe
you want to be the front singer of your band, or succeed at your next American Idol
audition… maybe you want to see your friends’ jaws drop when they hear you at the
next karaoke night… maybe you want to be able to experience the true inner joy of
singing – whether by yourself or together with others…
I don’t think there are many people who deep inside wouldn’t want to sing better.
However, many feel they aren’t good enough. Many feel uncomfortable with their
voice. And even more don’t know what to do to dramatically improve their voice.
In this report I am going to outline some of the findings from my last two
decades of coaching singers, and why it is that I can comfortably say that
you can indeed develop your singing voice dramatically. The even better
news is that you can do it so much faster than you probably ever knew
possible.
In fact, I’m not only going to address why you can sound better than ever, but
how you can literally turn your voice into a magnet of attraction.
Some of the questions that have driven me to develop methods that can be
used by anyone are:
Why is it that so many singers after years and years of training are still
limited in the way they sound and in their ability to move an audience?
Why is it that some people learn and develop exceptionally fast while
others don’t?
How can someone who has had a hard time developing in the past turn
into a fast learner?
Why is it that training methods for development of the human mind and
body – from reading skills to sports – have developed rapidly, while
singing training in general tend to rely on beliefs from centuries ago?
Why haven’t they realized that this belief has been holding them back
significantly?
These are just some of the many questions that have been churning in my
mind over the years.
Some of the answers to these questions have become quite obvious and which
I will share with you in this report.
And many more live with a false belief that they cannot sing.
Then again you may not experience this as “restrictions”. We are exceptionally
adaptable animals. We tend to live our lives held captive by our beliefs of who
we are and what we can or cannot do.
However, since you are reading this, I assume you intuitively know what a
difference your life could be if you could break free of some of the limiting
beliefs and realize a greater potential within you…
I am here to tell you that there is indeed a way. And with your permission I
would like to show you how.
How many times have you encountered the advice that in order to sing
properly you must first stand with “correct posture”?
You may also have heard or been told to “feel as if you are yawning”, “sing
through the mask”, or “open your mouth”?
Have you been told to push harder with your stomach to sing high notes?
Have you heard that in order to sing high notes or sing with power you must
“”support your breath”, or have “stomach support”?
Rumi - 13th century poet The only thing that matters is what unleashes
greater capacity within you.
However, for all the singers who have been exposed to statements such as
these and the belief patterns that go with them, it is absolutely fascinating to
observe that when they release these habitual restrictions, they suddenly
break free to discover a new dimension to their voice and expression they
didn’t know was possible.
I am going to address how you can experience this too. However, let’s start
off by addressing the issue of talent.
There is probably no other skill where the word talent is as used and misused
as when it comes to singing. We hear the term “natural singer” all the time.
Many sincerely believe that singers are born rather than made. Many believe
where they are today (or where they are not) is a result of their talent (or lack
thereof).
There are successful singers who sound completely different and have
completely different physical bodies, different musical “talent”, different
personalities – in fact, completely different skills in every area.
We could argue that to succeed in sports you need a certain genetic physical
makeup. However, even in that area “talent” is highly overrated.
But what if they saw how he practiced? What if they knew the activities of
discovery of his own body and mind that he has been passionately engaged in
since he was an infant (since in the womb probably).
What if they knew about the mental training he has engaged in while watching
his big brother and pros in action?
It was an amazing throw. The feeling in my body as I released the javelin sent
chills through my spine and with that throw I suddenly ranked in the top 20 in
the whole nation.
But I was no javelin thrower. I was thin and weak in comparison to others. I
have never had, nor will I ever have, a body that remotely resembles that of a
javelin thrower.
I could have shrugged it off as a lucky throw. But luckily I didn’t. In fact, I
knew exactly what had happened.
And as I lay down to sleep that night, I thought back on the previous 18
months and all the pain I had been in. 18 months earlier and for six months
straight I had been unable to lie down without severe pain in my lower back as
a result of a back injury from playing soccer. In whatever position I assumed –
lying down, sitting, walking – pain was always present:
Before that injury I dreamt of excelling in sports, but I never really did. I was
decent on a local level, but I had seemingly little capacity (talent?) to be
competitive on a higher level.
Now eighteen months later, I was ranked among the top 20 in the nation in 6
different track and field events. And this in the same year that I won the
regional volleyball championships while messing around in a slew of other
sports.
The funny thing is that my physical abilities where still quite average. I was
still the thin guy with average sprint and jumping ability.
Nobody knows the thought process or the learning process of a child, since as
children we aren’t able to verbalize it (nor do we have much desire to do so).
But these thoughts have been with me ever since my days of the injury: What
is it that makes a body heal? What is it that makes us develop skills
fast? Can anyone do it?
Perhaps it has been my dismay with people’s use of the word talent that has
driven me to become a coach and help people from all walks of life discover
greater abilities within themselves – whether they consider themselves
talented or not.
So for the last decades, my life has centered around helping others acquire
the skill of learning fast and transforming their inner abilities. Whether it is the
world-class backup singer who has no voice six days before his US tour, or the
accountant who never believed she could sing but transforms her life when
she experiences an amazing voice she never knew she had.
You may also be familiar with the different modalities of learning. These
include auditory, visual and kinesthetic. Sometimes we also include tactual as
a fourth modality. These modalities refer to the way we use our senses to take
in and process information. It has been found that different people us their
senses differently when they process information.
Now realize that most of the discussions in regards to methods for accelerated
learning are geared towards retention of information. But where are the
methods to accelerate the development of musical intelligence and inter- and
intrapersonal intelligence?
When you entered this world, your senses and your awareness of self were
developed via your kinesthetic experiences. You began discovering that the
hand in your face was in fact your own hand, that the feet wiggling about were
your own feet. Your eyes began to interpret what you touched and vision was
developed.
Most people would think that becoming a great singer is about musical
intelligence and auditory learning. And this is exactly what singing training
historically has always emphasized. This is why listening, copying sounds and
notes, and singing scales are the dominating methods to learn to sing. Most
beginner singers are for example encouraged to follow along with pre-
recorded CDs.
Singing is also very much a physical activity. Not surprisingly, just about every
client – even exceptionally accomplished singers – are shocked at what they
discover when they go through the Bristow Voice Method’s Kinesthetic
Awareness Process - KAP™. They have just never experienced anything like
it. Is it not surprising that they develop incredibly fast.
(Singing is of course more than just a physical activity – more on that later)
Take a look at both these pictures above. Which kid is going to throw the ball
the farthest? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? But what is the difference?
Now, I’m using my own child here as an example since I know the facts
behind it, but it could be any kid. When people see him throw, bat or catch
they often react in amazement as you seldom see a six-year-old do something
like that. The term “he’s got a great arm” is often used for someone who can
Now, if a kid like this pounds the ball with speed and accuracy the first time he
steps onto a baseball field, it’s not surprising that he is going to be hailed as a
“natural talent”.
We should first realize that if he throws a ball only 50 times a day (which is
about 20 minutes of play), he has thrown it over 18,000 times in a year!
Considering this factor alone, wouldn’t we expect that this kid shows greater
skill level than a kid who has never tried? Is this talent or training? Has this
anything to do with their skill level 5 years from now?
However, even so, it is not the time spent that makes the real
difference. The secret lies in the how – in the process.
It is the child who is concerned about catching the ball that has
a hard time learning to catch the ball.
It is the child who is concerned about hitting the ball who never learns
the balanced swing.
It is the singer who is concerned about hitting the notes who
ends up singing off key!
In fact, let’s take this one step further and broaden our perspective:
It is the person who falls for get-quick-rich schemes who never gets
rich.
It is the person who goes for lose-weight-quick schemes that has a hard
time not being overweight.
It is the person who seeks instant gratification via drugs
(pharmaceutical or recreational) that has a hard time being healthy.
The reason for all this is simple: The result-oriented person has not learned to
truly experience the process. When our mind is focused on the result, our
mind rushes back and forth between anticipation and judgment and
cannot truly experience the process.
We adults are expert judges. When a kid makes a drawing, our inclination as
adults is to say whether it is good or bad. If we have a positive mindset we
might say it’s good. But commenting that something is good is also making a
judgment.
While praise is highly beneficial, we easily fall into the trap of praising the
result rather than the process. As kids we then grow up with a subconscious
desire to be good and get external rewards (until maybe we rebel in our
teens).
Embedded in the desire to be good, the desire to catch the ball and the
desire to hit the notes, lurks the fear of not being good enough, the
fear of missing the ball and the fear of not hitting the notes.
Every person who lives with a secret desire to be able to sing, yet feels they
can’t, was at some point told they weren’t good enough. This person was told
to be quiet or maybe was kicked out of the chorus. Many have been told they
don’t have a singing voice. Well, how many attempts did you make? How
many people helped you find your singing voice? And that belief of not being
able to sing well enough has lived on ever since. It’s a ridiculous belief really.
Take two kids and show them exactly how to make a throw with great
technique and you get two different results. One kid might get it immediately,
while the other one just can’t do it.
Think about it; you weren’t “taught” a language. A child acquires a language
when exposed to it. There is no way I could “teach” my kids to lay 100 piece
puzzles at the age of two and a half. They both did it because they were in an
atmosphere where they enjoyed the process of discovering how.
I don’t teach my kids how to throw a ball or how to catch a ball by just
showing them how to do it. I help them discover a fearless approach to seeing
a ball come at them.
I (and my wife – let’s not forget her) help them discover and develop an
awareness of their body – i.e. kinesthetic awareness – and help them
discover the balance, rhythm and movement of the body. This also includes
the ability to go from maximum physical output to maximum physical
relaxation in a matter of minutes. This involves activities seemingly
unrelated to catching and throwing a ball.
The kids who have a hard time discovering this are not necessarily the ones
with less “talent”, but the ones who have not had the opportunity to be
coached through the process. In all likelihood they have been more focused on
the outcome of the throw than on experiencing the beautiful feeling of a freely
rotating shoulder.
Similarly, many people have not had the opportunity to experience the
process of freeing the functionality of the voice. In all likelihood they have
been more focused on the outcome of the sound, hitting notes and singing
scales than on experiencing the beautiful feeling of freely vibrating vocal cords
(vocal folds).
As an example, learning to catch the ball has included seeing soft objects
coming at him in the air, studying different colored balls come rolling toward
him, studying the spin of flying objects, then stopping balls flying towards him
while calling the colors, and a multitude of other games. Catching has seldom
been part of it.
There is never any right or wrong involved in the game – i.e the
process. There is no judgment of the result – but instead awareness of the
process. A year or so later, catching that ball that comes straight at him at full
speed is like picking an orange off the tree. Talk about confidence.
Can any child learn this? For some it may take longer, but of course they can.
In a year or so, they boy on the right may be sensational. We don’t know.
Then again he might be more interested exploring other areas.
So we could argue that I don’t “teach” people how to sing. I help them
discover a process in which they discover a voice they never knew they had. I
help them discover an awareness of their instrument, together with a process
of learning they never knew existed, no matter how young or old.
When we take our minds off of needing to sound good and hit the notes – i.e.
the result – we can experience true magic. And not only has it been proven
to be exceptionally effective – it is also fun.
Kids don’t see fun things as “practicing” – nor should they. To them it is all
play. It’s interesting to ponder why we adults have turned the word “practice”
into a rough-sounding chore that takes effort, instead of using the more
effective learning tool “play”.
A child will do more of what he experiences as fun, and so will you. Joy is what
creates a desire to do more of the same.
Yes, now we have momentum. We want to do more of it. Now we are doing
more, not just for the sake of doing more, but to discover new things. Each
new discovery creates more joy and more curiosity, leading to more
discoveries etc.
(Note: There are surely plenty of singing teachers that have evolved their thinking and
their methodology from the old-school thinking, and this is in no regards dismissive of
their fantastic work. Yet, from my experience, the overwhelming majority of singers
have indeed been exposed to this very kind of limited thinking.)
One of the tools is via The Bristow Voice Method’s Kinesthetic Awareness
Process (KAPTM). Through this, the person rather immediately gains a
newfound awareness of the voice. The person experiences what makes the
voice free and what restricts the voice, and can therefore easily go on to
rapidly develop their voice on their own.
A skilled pianist has trained to be able to move two fingers with incredible
speed (as in a trill) while still being able to maintain complete relaxation in the
rest of the hand.
However, if a beginner piano player attempts the same fast trill, the entire
hand will undoubtedly tense up. Tension will probably even spread all the way
into the shoulder and may continue into the face, and perhaps even to the
stomach and legs.
There is hardly any hobby or line of work that does not require the use of
muscles.
Many vocal disorders result from years of unaware vocal misuse. Too
often we don’t become aware of our body until it screams for help.
We could easily claim that our kinesthetic awareness – the awareness of bodily
movement (and non-movement as in tension) – is a foundation, even a
prerequisite, for maintaining good health.
The day we want to change habits, heal injuries, develop new skills, or
improve in just about any area, we must tap into our kinesthetic awareness.
The better we do it — the faster we experience results.
Part of my work is not only to help you release and develop your physical
voice, but to simultaneously release your “inner voice”. The real magic is
when you experience a newfound freedom to your “inner voice” and you feel
freer, more confident and more empowered as a human being.
The idea is to ignite the real you – not the you that only sounds good, but
the you that becomes more spontaneous, charismatic, and compelling. In
short, you become more attractive.
The successful artist is after all the person who is in some way able to attract
an audience. You can do it too – whether that audience is one person or
50,000 people is really beside the point.
It is always interesting when a person says she can’t sing. It doesn’t take
much gentle probing to realize that a more accurate statement would have
been: “I don’t know if I can sing or learn to sing, I really haven’t tried, much
less trained to any great extent.”
Singers, just as everyone else, become afraid of growth and change and
instead “play it safe” and do what they’ve always done. Successful singers fall
into this trap just as easily. Unfortunately, what they used to do was fresh and
full of life, but “playing it safe” now becomes stale and limiting. Their careers
are not only stifled and begin to deteriorate, but resistance also begins to
manifest itself in muscular function (or dysfunction).
Others, who get stuck in the “don’t fix what isn’t broken” or “I know it all”
attitude, naturally tend to operate on a level far below their potential.
Although our voice is so deeply rooted in our psychology, the beauty of singing
(and of art in general) is that we need a psychoanalysis session in order to
sing. You don’t need to fix the psychology. You don’t need to change anything.
You can instead accept what is and use it in your art.
Again: This is not to in any way meant to come across as negative towards the many
great singing teachers that are daily inspiring people to sing better. This is to address
the evolution, as well as lack of evolution, of singing training that the overwhelming
majority of people who would like to sing better are exposed to.
But singers still sing the same scales. The singing training that most people
encounter here in the Western world is derived from the Western school of
classical singing.
I stated in the beginning that every society and tribe sings. However,
centuries ago in Europe when opera became popular, the common man did
not sing opera. It was not music for the people. It was music for the courts.
Opera became a style, partly born out of a need to project the voice in a large
auditorium over an orchestra.
Singing opera was, and still is, a far cry from a natural way of using the voice.
It was a highly specialized technique and it was an art form for the elite few.
Becoming a singer back then was a way to go from poverty to wealth, just as
it can be today. But it was only the select few that were able to pursue it.
The chosen ones were indeed chosen because of genetic makeup. In order to
be able to create a sound of opera, you did indeed need a certain physicality
that was inborn. Today this is no longer true as singers can sound completely
different and still be “singers”.
We should realize that even within opera there were clashes among
techniques. There were differences of opinion between the German and the
Italian school, for example. However, even within the Italian school, where the
technique that got the name “Bel Canto” came from, there were many
differences of opinion.
I have to admit I find it somewhat puzzling when teachers of today claim they
teach “Bel Canto” or even as some teachers claim; “the real Bel Canto”. How
would they know how someone taught centuries ago?
Even if that were true, why would that be a positive? If you are striving for
Olympic gold, would you use the same training methods from centuries ago?
This does not in any way mean that we cannot greatly appreciate, admire and
learn from art and cultures of the past. Few contemporary singers of today,
however, have a desire to sound like singers did centuries ago.
But even so, the real dilemma is when techniques that were used then are
promoted as a “correct” way of using the voice. Perhaps such claims are the
remains of an elitist point of view.
The fact is that my clients gain greater and freer breathing within just a
few minutes, without me ever mentioning breathing. (Remember in the
discussion about throwing the ball that I said I help people discover rather
than “teach” them what is supposedly right or wrong.)
One would be hard pressed to find any singing instruction that does not begin
by teaching the concept of breathing.
The obedient worker was the valued worker, and a worker accepted to be
subjugated to the powers above. Children were subjugated to the adult world,
and were taught to assume their place in society. It was not long ago that
children were assumed to do what their parents did. To “dream of success” or
strive for something different is a quite new concept.
To not be obedient was disruptive and not seen as beneficial for the greater
good.
The successful child is the one who is empowered to discover his own
abilities.
The healthy body is the body that is empowered to be alive and to flow
with energy, rather than being controlled.
Actors of today want to let go of the need to act and the need to control. The
top actor of today seeks to experience the truth, and to be completely
spontaneous and authentic in the moment.
To Release Restrictions
The need to control really implies the fear of being out of control. For
example, it is only the person who lives in fear of his emotions who feels a
need to control his emotions.
It is the singer who lives in fear of missing notes who needs to control the
notes. It is only the singer who fears the voice will crack who feels a need to
control it.
It’s not surprising to observe that people who have been trained in the
concept of controlling their breath also have the most restricted breathing
patterns, (although they don’t experience it as restricted until they experience
a newfound sensation of freedom).
For many people fears such as “if you don’t control your breathing you will
damage your voice” are deeply ingrained.
With all of this in mind, isn’t it interesting that we are so often still taught
concepts of control when it comes to singing, when singing is perhaps the
most natural form of expression?
The result from training with the mindset of attempting to control and do
things “correctly” is that, although you may now have a person who sings
“well”, can hit the notes well, and has good tone according to the old
standard, this singer has no greater ability to truly attract today’s audience.
Her true inner voice is no freer than it was when she started her training. This
singer is no more empowered by virtue of his training, and has not yet
discovered the true, unique, authentic, and influential inner voice that lies
within. We could argue that maybe he hasn’t discovered his true “talent”.
It is not surprising that many rock singers shy away from singing
lessons out of fear that it will ruin their style. This fear is well-
founded. Old-school training may very well change their style, just as old-
school acting training will not release a truthful actor of today’s standard.
It is not difficult to realize how this directly translates into a freer, warmer,
more dynamic, powerful and compelling human being.
Do you think this could happen to you? In fact, even people who have gone
through this via the home-study course experience this newfound sense of
freedom. It isn’t hard. It doesn’t take years. In fact, once people have
experienced it, it seems so simple. The truth is that it is simple. It only
takes minutes to get there, and it certainly has nothing to do with talent.
The slow learner is the one who operates with a judgmental voice that is so
loud and so frequent that the person cannot experience the “now”.
The slow learning singing student is the one who will not allow herself to
sound anything but “good”, and she will readily point out and subconsciously
prove how bad she sounds. (It may seem like an oxymoron since she already
believes that she doesn’t sound good.)
Naturally, this habitual inner critic will produce anything but a free and
resonating sound which, for example, is necessary to make it possible for the
vocal cords to vibrate on pitch.
Many beginning singers truly believe they have problems singing on key.
More on the ability to sing on pitch/on key another time, but let’s just say this:
A restricted voice has a hard time singing on pitch, but when the voice
becomes freer, singing on key becomes a piece of cake, even for the “pitch-
challenged”. The deeper this belief is rooted, the harder it is for the student to
allow himself to be in the present moment.
There are also the people who are so conditioned to believe that singing is all
about emotion and will do everything to “emote” - i.e. try to convince the
listener that they are expressing emotion. There is nothing “wrong” with this
behavior. It is in fact what we all tend to do as beginners.
The goal of today’s acting schools is to train the person to let go of the need
to produce emotion (or the result) and instead allow the emotion to happen.
The great actor learns to trust himself and does not need to artificially
produce emotion or control emotion. Instead, he allows emotion to flow
spontaneously in the context of the circumstances.
Naturally, this person develops slowly. He has a hard time acknowledging his
kinesthetic awareness, not because of lack of motor skills or “talent”, but
because his mind won’t allow him this awareness.
Luckily there are ways to transform this person as well. All of us, whatever
habits and beliefs we may have lived with, experience transformation when we
discover something new that has a profound impact on us.
1. The singer is led to believe that singing a series of notes is the mark of
a great singer. You automatically shift to a mindset of following and
doing it right.
2. You shift to auditory learning and your mind is on hitting the notes and
sounding good – or sounding in a certain way that the instructor
promotes.
3. You become less aware of “how” you are doing it.
4. Your CD never changes and next time you are doing the same thing in
the same order and in the same tempo
You are simply not in charge of your practice when you practice to pre-
recorded CDs. You are not in charge of what you are doing, of how you are
doing it, and of what you are trying to accomplish.
Only the athlete destined to plateau after two weeks trains the same
way day in and day out in the same sequence and at the same tempo.
So many singers have come to believe that vocal training is about following
pre-recorded scales. It is completely understandable since there are very few
alternatives available to the general public.
To Practice Effectively
Singers in bands sometimes make the mistake of using the band rehearsal as
their only vocal practice. Your awareness is quite limited when your mindset is
on trying to perform the song in the best way possible for the sake of the
band. You are then focused more on the result than on developing your
instrument.
You aren’t given the opportunity to, for example, sing the song in a different
key, even if it’s just for practice. You aren’t giving yourself the chance to plant
good habits in your muscle memory, which, for example, will enable you to
sing those high notes with less strain and more true passion.
The strategy of “just going for it full blast” is as slow and limiting as
that of the high-jumper who every day sets the bar at the world-
record height and thinks that by just trying it over and over, he will
one day succeed.
On the other hand, if you are in a band where experimentation is part of the
philosophy, and you develop a greater kinesthetic awareness, then yes, you
can absolutely make leaps in your development even during band practice.
You change habits and rapidly improve skills by tapping into your…
Then add..
Curiosity
Fearless exploration involving all senses
Freedom from judgment
And…
Joy!
In essence…
Sincerely,
Per Bristow
PS. If you like what you have read I have two friendly request:
1. I have a “tell a friend” script that makes it really easy for you to help
me spread the word and help your friends at the same time. Go there
right now www.BristowVoiceMethod.com/new-era-tellafriend.html
2. Go to my blog and leave your comment – tell the world what you think
about this report. Go to:
http://www.perbristow.com/the-new-era-of-singing-training-released.htm
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