How to Develop the Art of Training the Voice and Allowing it to Happen

PUBLISHED IN BUSINESS TIMES MARCH 6th 2015 == If you’ve ever had trouble allowing your voice to deliver the notes to a song the way you want them, then chances are you’re holding back. If you’ve done the training, all you need to do is to allow it to happen. This may sound like a farfetched pie in the sky storyline, but let me assure you that it is very true and real. This article will offer tips on how to make the transition from training the voice on the scales, to delivering tight and powerful vocals when you sing ANY song. It’s a journey of discovery you’ll likely enjoy if you stay alert and tuned in to your inner voice. So let’s begin.

First things first, do the scales to train the voice. They may seem like some lifeless exercises to you, but they do what they’re meant to do. They fix your voice. However, here’s the secret to getting quick results with your training. Agreed, the ability to learn varies from person to person, but if you try to focus on HOW you feel when you train… by listening to your own voice and by being aware of how it feels as you do the exercises, will help you DISCOVER your voice very quickly. With every exercise, you’ll begin to understand better how your voice works. Speech level singing, in particular, would have you sense areas of your vocal range you never knew existed. But only if you listen, feel and use all of your senses to experience the sensation of connecting your chest voice to your head voice. Now let’s take a closer look at HOW to allow things to happen.

The best way to learn to sing is to do the vocal exercises (the scales) and to make sure that you’re doing them correctly. You see, you’re training both your ear and your voice here, so make sure you’re listening very intently so that you sing in key. There is a tendency—with many, to want to get over and done with the scales as quickly as possible so they could just sing a song. Let me give you a piece of advice. Never do this in a hurry! Focus on training your voice first before you even attempt to sing the songs you SO want to sing. You will be amazed how after focusing more on the exercises, when you’re finally good and ready, how much easier it becomes to sing your favorite songs… as if by magic! I implore you to be patient and to take your training very seriously. That’s if you really want to discover, nurture and develop a great singing voice.

JOETT
Private Singing Lessons 

Learn to Sing from Home: How to Efficiently Plan Your Vocal Training Schedule

PUBLISHED IN BUSINESS TIMES NEWSPAPER 27th FEB 2015
Voice training is about discipline. If you think you can do this without a proper training regime and solid commitment, you’re very much mistaken. When I sign new students to my private vocal training program, I give them an information booklet and my vocal training CD Learn to Sing with Joett Booster Program. The reason for this is so they can continue to train at home. That said, in this article, I want to focus more on how you should plan your learn-from-home vocal training sessions around your day.

I always advise that you need to train at least once a week to get results. However, the more often you train the quicker you get to see the results. The benefits of training three to four times a week are far greater than training once a week. So how then do you synchronize all of this into your busy week? I will explain. To begin with, and let make this very clear, the only way to train your voice is by doing special vocal exercises to the piano—commonly known as the scales. Now let’s assume you have my Learn to Sing with Joett Vocal Training CD or you’ve downloaded my free piano scales from my Hulkshare page, then what you’ll want to do, ideally, is to plan your training based on when you’re most alert to focus. Yes, it takes a fair amount of energy and concentration to do your training correctly. So whatever you do, let’s say you knock off work at 5pm and are home by 7pm, make sure you spend a little quality time to unwind by doing something that’ll relax you. Like taking a shower and maybe a short nap before you begin your training. You must feel refreshed and ready to go. Not tired and couldn’t care less. And most importantly, make sure you don’t begin your training immediately after a meal. Remember, you need the same space—your stomach—to breathe into, and besides, your body will be too busy digesting the food to allow you to focus. Imagine constantly burping through your scales!

If you’re a morning person, then try waking up a little earlier to allow for 45 minutes of voice training before you hit the shower, have breakfast and head off to work. If you drive, another great place to do some scales is when you’re sitting behind the wheel and stuck in traffic. If you can plan your training around your day in this manner, you should be able to clock an hour-a-day three to four days a week if you’re well organized. But the difficult part, dare I caution, is to stick to the plan. Whatever you do, if you’re serious about training your voice, make sure you do whatever it takes not to fall off the wagon. So here’s the crunch-time question. When can you stop training altogether? Well, I’ll tell you this for nothing. When you stop, your ability to sing goes down. So if you’re in this for the long haul, don’t even THINK of quitting. Michael Jackson trained with one vocal coach for 35 years. So you go figure! Try to stay motivated by experimenting with different ideas and formulating ways to push the boundaries a bit. On my blog, you’ll find useful tips on how to vary your training so it stays interesting, fun and fresh. You may also download my free piano scales and illustration videos; join my FREE vocal coaching program via WhatsApp and MORE.

JOETT
Private Singing Lessons

Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Finale Video TEASERS

I'm sure you've been itching to find out what went on at the Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Finale. Well here are teaser videos from the performances by Mayunga, Henry, Tracy, Rose and Topher. Trace TV are still editing the official videos, when that's done, I'll post them here for you. So please standby!

JOETT

Vocal Coach

Private Singing Lessons

Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Winner, Mayunga Wins 50M

I was hired by Trace Music to sit on the judge panel alongside Vanessa Mdee and Hermy B, to sift through all the audition tapes and later, after we eventually selected the top 5, I was commissioned to vocal coach the contestants for the finale. Quite a tall order, considering I only had 10 hours per contestant to get their vocals in order in time for the finish line. So do you know what I did to bring their vocals up to scratch to an international standard? I put them through an Intensive Speech Level Singing Crash Course for an hour-a-day. It was the only way to get the job done quickly—and with great results.

In a text message after the February 7, 2015 competition, I wrote... "Mayunga, I have waited YEARS to meet someone like you. It has been an honor to work with you. I feel truly blessed. With YOU I know Tanzania has found a TRUE star to carry the Tanzanian flag to the WORLD. You are the next Michael Jackson, and what REALLY delights me is that you are TANZANIAN. The doors to my studio are open to you for ALWAYS. Now let's go out there and show the world what we Tanzanians are made of. I'm truly proud of you!"

In all honesty, Mayunga thrilled the crowd with his soaring vocals with the BBMak hit single More Than Words from 1999, a cover of the original version by Extreme (1990). I selected this song for him, and trained him to deliver. He did me proud. I'm SO very excited. Mayunga will represent Tanzania at the Grand Finale in Nairobi in March, where another 12 countries will compete for a chance to get signed by Universal Records in the USA and to hang out with superstar Akon for a week—who will mentor and assist the winner with the production of their debut single.

I'm a huge fan of the late Luther Vandross, and I think Henry who emerged runner up, is quite frankly Luther Vandross reincarnated. His delivery of the hit Vandross classic Always And Forever -- which I selected for him -- a cover of the original version by Heatwave, left everybody spellbound. I'm VERY proud of Henry. You're going to be seeing a lot of this guy. Just watch this space.

Gabrielle is another one of my favorite vocalists, and Tracy who came third, delivers vocals to hit classic Rise -- which I selected for her -- in such an incredibly SO Gabrielle style, yet distinctly original. I loved her performance, elegance and grace with this number. She looked absolutely stunning. What an amazing transformation and performance! Christopher and Rose who sang Say Something by A Great Big World and Girl On Fire by Alicia Keys respectively, also did a remarkably good job. I’m really proud of them for working so hard.

So that's a quick round down of my take on the Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Top 3. In picture, Evans Bukuku, presenter for the evening, stands next to the winner Mayunga, who was presented with a check for 50 million shillings. Far right and looking on are Tracy and our new king of R&B, Henry.

Stay tuned to this blog for more footage and EXCLUSIVE behind-the-scenes snippets to the Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania singing competition. It's so much fun, I can assure you, you'll love it!

Catch you later,


Joett
Vocal Coach to Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Top 5
Private Singing Lessons

How to Maintain A Healthy Singing Voice: Video Illustration by Joett

The cells in your body need vitamins and minerals to stay healthy. There's not a lot going in food, you have to supplement. In this video, I show you what I take PHYSICALLY, so make sure you take a good look. And here are the links to Advanced Liquid Nutrition,  Super Antioxidants, and Skin Support as shown in the video. The Vitamin C 1000 milligrams you can get from ANY pharmacy. However, this other lot you'll have to get from America like I do (any questions, just ask). If you want a really healthy voice, vitamins and minerals are an absolute essential.

A toast to your healthy singing voice with cellular nutrition.

Joett
Vocal Coach
Private Singing Lessons

Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Rehearsal Video Teasers

Contestants in rehearsals a day before the February 7th 2015 Finale. Competition starts 8pm. Doors open at 7pm National Museum theater Dar es salaam. Karibuni!

Joett

Vocal Coach

Private Singing Lessons

Meet Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Top 5 Contestants

Meet my pupils, Airtel Trace Music Star Tanzania Top 5 Contestants during voice training sessions in my studio. Today is the ninth and final day of training. Tomorrow 7th Feb 2015 is the Grand Finale at the National Museum in Dar es salaam. I've had such a hectic schedule, but it's been loads of fun and well worth it. Tanzanian raw talent went from zero to hero in 9 days, well, plus the final drill and rehearsals and sound check going in at the venue tomorrow... several hours I'd imagine. So best of lick dear pupils, I'll be sitting on the judge panel with Vanessa Mdee and Hermy B, so show us what you're made of!

JOETT

Vocal Coach

Private Singing Lessons