Style - What�s Mine? P-1

By Jeannie Deva

July 2008

�You gotta have style,� uttered by some celebrity in the early years of Hollywood may have become a trite slogan of talent scouts or marketing consultants later on; but, if we define it as �a characteristic manner of expression,� it remains to this day as a keystone of every successful performer. Some singers develop a style naturally as they learn and gain experience, while others, who like kids in a candy store faced with too many choices, remain indecisive and leave unfulfilled. Is there some way of choosing, of being sure, so that your performance isn�t like a badly coordinated room with conflicting designs and colors?

For a performer, style is your personality on stage and the identity by which you will be known. Certainly, no one can tell you how to be yourself, but perhaps we can identify some components of style and steer clear of pitfalls on the road to becoming the unique performer that you truly are.

Aspects of Style

Is it true that you have to specialize in only one genre to develop a style? What does it have to with your personality? Does vocal technique help or hinder a unique sound? How do you enhance your talent by learning from others without becoming an imitator? Let�s answer these questions and explore the various aspects of style development.

1. Your Personality
   
2. Learning from others
   
3. Vocal Technique
   
4. Musical Genre
   

Being yourself is your style!

Mick Jagger once said �It�s the singer, not the song.� Perhaps that sounds a bit arrogant, but coming from an icon of Rock music, perhaps there is some truth in it. Regardless of your vocal prowess or flamboyance, there just isn�t a substitute for being comfortably yourself on stage and delivering a genuine performance. The big question is, �How do you arrive at that level of confidence?� Certainly good vocal technique, performance skill and practice build confidence, but are they enough?

Your personality and how you normally express yourself are natural spring boards for your style. For example, a shy timid person is not likely to give a convincing Heavy Metal performance. A singer with a one octave range would not be convincing as an R&B performer. This is not to say people can�t change � they can. Range can be expanded with proper vocal development and there are ways of opening up a person emotionally. The more flexible you are emotionally and the more versatile you are vocally, the broader your choices of style. Nonetheless, assessing yourself and your current attributes is a place to start, and as you develop, so will your choices.

It is better to deliver a performance that is harmonious with your personality and current capabilities than to try to be someone you are not. One of the best ways to objectively determine if you are doing that is the response of your audience. If your performance is genuine and well rehearsed in a style compatible with your personality and skill, it will affect the audience emotionally and they will respond accordingly.

Hidden Singers

Some time ago I was working with a songwriter who considered he wasn�t a good singer. His negative opinion of his voice drove him to subconsciously imitate certain singers he admired. His word pronunciation sounded pretentious because it wasn�t the way he would talk and though his song writing was fabulous, his delivery masked the beauty of his material. I spent time with him working on how he would say each line if he was just conversing with someone or talking to himself. While doing so, I urged him to notice how he was naturally pronouncing the words.

Though articulation while singing may be an exaggeration of spoken conversation, practicing lyrics the way you normally speak will uncover unnatural pronunciation that would sound insincere to your audience. It will also help you find �your voice� for a particular song and can be used as a remedy when having difficulty making the song your own. As we continued to work in this manner, first talking through and then singing each song, he began to recognize each artist he was subconsciously attempting to mimic so as to hide behind their identities. These realizations further freed him up and he found he could begin to deliver the songs as his own to the audience.

Try This

Here are two techniques you can use to practice your song delivery and uncover any �hidden personalities.�

1) Choose a song whose lyrics you know from memory. Speak the lyrics as though you were really talking to someone. Avoid singing or rhythmic chanting and really try to �tell a story� as if you were talking to a friend right at this moment. You can also employ a method used by actors; �If these were my words, why would one phrase follow the next?� Develop your own meaning or story line for the lyrics so that they make sense to you. Approaching the lyrics this way will also help you with memorization, and is essential for achieving your own interpretation of the song. Do this until it sounds natural and comfortable

2) Now choose an object in the room that is several feet away. Using the lyrics you just talked through, sing the song to this object as if it were a person in the audience. If your attention wavers from the object onto the pitch (thinking up or down) or any of the mechanics of vocal technique, stop and repeat that section of the song. Anytime your attention wanders off the object onto yourself or anything else, stop singing, back up a bit and repeat that section. Keep going through the song in this manner until you can sing the entire song with your attention directed straight to the object. Take note of any insights and improvements you have while doing this.

In next month�s article, we�ll look further into the elements of style. Have a wonderful summer.

Jeannie Deva