Chuck Stewart

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Some vocal coaches can help with issues like the ones above. Some vocal coaches cannot. Some vocal coaches have studied music, the voice, and vocal anatomy extensively. Some vocal coaches have not. Singing lessons are not all the same. Some singing teachers sing so badly that you would only hope that you never end up sounding like they do. Why would a person giving singing lessons not be an example of his/her knowledge, expertise, and experience? For centuries people learned through apprenticeship from a master, regardless of the craft or the art. A bad singer cannot teach you to sing well. A bad singer who teaches is an example of what you might sound like if you follow that person's advice. If the voice teacher cannot sing well, he/she obviously has not been able to solve his/her own vocal problems. All singing lessons are not alike. I have had many lessons from many people and can attest that the differences from one to another are astounding.

I was able to almost double my singing range in six months with the vocal technique I teach! I give private singing lessons (voice lessons) six days a week. If you live in or visit the Orlando, Florida area, call to see if I have any openings at (407) 696-6300. Ask for Sheree for more information and to schedule your first singing lesson with me. If you do not live near Orlando, we can schedule a lesson online. Call or email me to schedule.

A LITTLE ABOUT ME:
I am a professional singer. I have worked in bands touring the midwest and southeast U.S. I was the leader of my own 7 piece band, after which I moved to Las Vegas, NV where I worked, not only as a singer but also as a professional musician for 18 years.

I am a member of NATS (The National Association of Teachers of Singing). I'm also a songwriter, arranger, and a writer member of ASCAP. A "writer member" is one whose music has had radio airplay and has been voted in to ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers). I have written and produced jingles for radio in Las Vegas and in Orlando. I also have done voiceovers professionally and have 3 years experience in acting, writing, directing, and creating sound effects in radio plays. In addition to singing in Las Vegas shows, I even worked lounges there. One gig was 6 hours a night, 6 days a week. That was a test of endurance which is a tribute and success story to the vocal techniques that I teach.

So, what is a vocal coach? I have studio experience as a singer, producer, songwriter, arranger, musician and vocal coach. As a vocal coach, I have helped singers in the studio who were having problems with tone, pitch, vowels, articulation and other issues. I helped them to sound their best. Some recording engineers are great at what they do but most are NOT anything resembling a vocal coach. It simply is not what they are trained to do.

I can help singers to accompany themselves on piano and many students also enjoy the experience of writing or co-writing original songs. Pianists you hear on CDs of pop, R&B, Jazz, and other styles are usually not reading music. They are playing chords in specific stylistic patterns and these things are NOT usually taught by "traditional" piano teachers. Piano lessons can cover reading, technique, accompaniment and even improvisation and arranging.

One of my students is a producer for Warner Brothers. Another went from being a NYC Rockette to landing a part in 'The Producers' (a Broadway Play). Some have recording contracts and others perform in local theater.

5. Do you know which medications adversely affect your singing voice?
6. There is one thing that many voice teachers stress that has almost nothing to do with the problem that they are trying to help you with.
7. The problem that all the "bad" singers in the American Idol auditions have in common is... but most of them could be better singers if they knew it and it is NOT a lack of talent! Surprise. Surprise.
8. Singing, like music (it IS music), is a "hearing art" but if you don't know what you should listen for, you'll never progress beyond a certain point.
9. Which are back vowels and which are front (or forward) vowels and what should a singer know about these? This greatly affects performance and recording results.
10. You should know the difference between aspirated and phonated consonants and if you do not, your articulation will always suffer.

READY? Gonna spill the beans here. When singers sing higher than the pitches at which they speak, most have a problem with laryngeal elevation and concomitant hyper-adduction. Things CAN be simple, But...

Your larynx should remain stable, neither moving up nor down, regardless of whether you are singing high or low. It should be in about the same position as it is when it is at rest as it is when you are not speaking or singing. Getting it to do that may indeed be quite a challenge. It is easier for some people to do this than it is for others. Almost all people require training to accomplish laryngeal stability.
The reason for having the larynx as stable as possible is that if it moves up for high notes, there are muscles which push the vocal folds (cords) together too hard. This is called “hyper-adduction”. It can cause irritation to the vocal fold tissues, it can cause high notes to sound harsh, and it can severely limit vocal endurance. The sound one makes with an elevated larynx is aptly called “constricted phonation”. Add enough volume, range, and muscular tension over a long enough period of time and the stage is set for blisters on the vocal folds, the precursor of vocal nodules. Vocal nodules are calluses and they greatly hinder the tone quality of the voice.
If your larynx is down below resting position when you sing, you will have a sound not unlike that of the voice of the cartoon character, Yogi Bear. When the larynx is down, the “tube” above it to the pharynx is elongated, which changes the acoustics and thus the tone quality, or timbre, of the voice. There are other cartoon characters with the same vocal characteristic and also a few singers who use this for effect or even habitually. Other than the sound being peculiar, the additional effect is that of making articulation much more of an effort. Some singers who do this “lowered larynx tone production” are unintelligible when they sing.
The vocal folds terminate behind the “Adam’s apple” cartilage, called the thyroid cartilage. Females have this too, although it does not usually protrude to the extent that the male’s does. The vocal folds each (there are two) have in the vibrating edge a ligament which runs from the backside of the thyroid cartilage to two cartilages which “swivel”. The swiveling causes the vocal folds to elongate as a person ascends in pitch. It also allows for the pitch to descend and to be controlled by the singer on whatever note the singer chooses to sing.
There are two muscles, which operate each vocal fold: the thyroarytenoid and the vocalis muscles. So, each vocal fold has two muscles, which control the swivel of the arytenoid cartilage for each vocal fold. These muscles have plenty of strength to work the folds without the necessity of “help” from other muscles. Take a look at the diagram below which I "drew" on a cad program, because we refer to this in lessons to understand larynx function as regards singing.

THE ART OF SINGING--What are we all after with the art of singing--our singing? In the final analysis, aren't we living as singers to share our art and in doing so to uplift the spirits of others or to take people on a journey through emotions, thoughts, feelings, and ideas which we want to share? We want to do this without it being impeded by our own musical or technical shortcomings. We want to be up to the task. We actually want to have more skill ability, endurance, range, artistic expression, and artistic imagination than what is required to make an impact, to change lives, to bring happiness, or to have others experience or know us to the core of our very souls.

We want to have overcome the impediments and barriers and just be able to thrive as artists and make the world a better place. Isn't that what art is about? This group is what that is all about. What are our tools? Which ones are we missing? How do we use the ones we have and gain the others so that we can achieve our goals? Let us explore the possibilities and the potentialities which may lie beyond our present awareness. Let's find the things in ourselves to turn dreams into realities.