9d (edited) • General discussion
Practice Shmactice: CAR KARAOKE!
Life is hard, busy, stressful, and frankly insane lately — so I’m not going to add to your stress or worries. I’ll only ask you to do a small reflection about yourself…
What music did you love before you started dating? Or before you had to think about being responsible in the big, complicated world?
I find my core tastes haven’t changed very much. Maybe I’m a little hard‑headed — an intractable hippie, firmly planted in the 60s and 70s — except that my students keep bringing me modern songs that prove I’ve clung to the past a bit too diligently and for far too long. There are some very cool things happening in music over the past ten years that I seem to have entirely missed.
I was humbled to discover that there are, in fact, new artists under the age of 80 (wow!) creating amazing rhythms, meaningful lyrics, and wonderfully approachable melodies. I love that.
Winehouse, Radiohead, The White Stripes, Joss Stone and other “modern” artists have joined my playlist alongside Woodstock, Big Yellow Taxi, and James Taylor.
My newest obsession is Lose Control by Teddy Swims — a thirty‑year‑old, giant, red‑bearded, Scots‑looking pop star with tattoos on his face and a Barbie earring. I can howl his catchy music at the moon until the cows come home.
At least 75% of my students sing Lose Control to practice effective, open modulation techniques. It’s a fantastic teaching song, and I know it’s good because after hearing it five kabillion times in every possible version, I still love it.
Choosing a song that truly resonates with you — something you know well from your past or something you’re grooving to right now — is one of the best ways to practice your vocals. Because of course, the only way to learn how to sing… is to actually sing.
Trying is not doing.
Doing - is doing.
I highly recommend DOING car karaoke. Find songs you love and sing them as emotively as your little heart desires. It’s important to have a place where your own sound can take itself for a walk and you feel safe to go to your own edges. We’re too emotionally and behaviourally contained in our homes, with our family, at work, and out in public. I dont take being a career musician for granted. I an aware and I consider it a great honour that my life involves yelling at full force with my now super‑powered lungs in front of crowds of people who seem happy that i am doing that.
What an awesome life!
It takes time, and doing different approaches, notes, volumes for dynamic big and small, to become comfortable with your own sound and with how your breath behaves when you’re making sounds that big — which is why… car karaoke! Your own studio bubble of blissful privacy.
This is an experience: letting go with your full self, through sound. (And please be careful if you’re driving!!) Being able to access that kind of freedom and creative expression has powerful short‑ and long‑term benefits for performers — and all humans in general.
Thanks for reading. Let me know what your go‑to Car Karaoke faves are!
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Practice Shmactice: CAR KARAOKE!
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Join Josee Brault Canadian singer, songwriter and international vocal coach for practical, useable and urseful techniques to find your VOICE!
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