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Vocal Lessons
The Mask Technique For Singing
I have been singing on stages as a solo act and in bands for all of my working life.
Being the lead singer I had to make sure that my voice was consistant for each and every show. This sometimes involved performing
7 shows a week often under less than ideal conditions.
- Cancelling shows because of a sore throat was not an option
- Losing my voice during shows was not an option
- I realized that I had to study proper vocal technique or I wouldn't last long in the competitive world of the music business
After studying with a number of very good vocal instructors in both the classical and pop fields, there were still some unanswered questions.
Then I went to see Rosemary Burns - a vocal coach living in Toronto. She was a former opera singer (New York Met) who had studied Bell Canto
in Italy and had developed a technique for singing pop music. She called it 'the mask' and had been teaching it for many years. Her former
students include Bryan Adams, Corey Heart, Jeff Healey, Sebastion Bach (Skid Row) And James Labrie (Dream Theatre).
I have been using her technique for many years now and have been teaching it to students who, like me, don't want to have to worry about
losing or damaging their singing voices.
Components of the mask system include
- Proper breathing exercises
- Placement of the pitches on the facial mask to create resonance
- Eliminating tension in the upper body
- Exercises to increase range and stamina
- The voweling method of learning lyrics
- Programming a song onto the voice one phrase at a time
Along with teaching basic singing technique I also teach how to learn songs. Having learned over a thousand songs during my time as a
full time professional, I have developed a foolproof 4 step process for learning repetoire. It is based on the same principles that master
musicians of all instruments have been using to learn pieces of music.
Using a computer notation program I transcribe the song to music notation and burn it to video so the student has a video coach for practice.
Then using the small a principle of learning we learn the song one phrase at a time. Each phrase is studied for breathing spots, rhythm,
placement on the mask & voweling.
Over the years I have coached many musicians in putting a repetoire together. Many of these musicians are now professional solo act
singer-guitarists.
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