Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us this afternoon. We spent the last month planning a series of guests posts with our dear friend Deborah ‘Zuke’ Smith that we are thrilled to continue today. Zuke is an industry professional with knowledge and insight well beyond her years, but I am sure all of that will come to light through her posts in the weeks ahead. If you have any questions about developing as a writer/blogger in music, please do not hesitate email james@haulix.com and share your thoughts. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
Finding your authentic and original sound can be both a frightening and wonderful experience, but it can also be so damn confusing with the mixed messages you hear. You try and develop your original sound, and then someone asks whom you sound like. So you say, “I sound like me, I’m original!” Then you read articles and blogs saying, “no one is that unique and special, everyone is derivative of someone else.” So you’re left trying to come up with some clever answer that kinda-sorta is a reflection of whom you sound like. Unfortunately, even that can be confusing. If you could mix the DNA of Michael Bublé with Buckethead in a petri dish, that’s what I sound like! …Really?
Let’s get something straight right away. You have a voice, it’s yours, it’s not copied, maybe it’s unique, maybe it’s not, but the bottom line is that you need to go through a journey of self-discovery to release the natural sound of you. And eventually, that natural sound will start to develop like a fine wine. But you need to put in your time and homework on the development of your voice.
As a singer, you probably started out in your youth copying, inflection for inflection, your favorite artist. You pretended you were a star on stage and imagined what it would be like to be just like them. It’s important to start your developmental growth as an artist by copying those you look up to and admire. As you continue on your artistic journey, you start emulating habits and styles from other singers you admire. Perhaps you only choose one element that stands out about them and you make it your own. I’ve heard singers utilize the intense and audible breathing between phrases as Matthew Bellamy of Muse does. And I’ve heard many of my female singers use a lazy and cool non-articulated approach like Adele. We are products of our environment and when we’re bombarded with the latest marketed sounds, we start copying without even realizing it. How do you break out of this?
Don’t stop copying, but do start listening to other types of music far removed from your genre. Allow your ears to soak in sounds from ethnic and world artists. If you hate pop/punk, listen to it and emulate the lead singer. Can’t stand the twang of country? Don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. Use your voice to emulate an instrument and not just a singer. Imitate a child, a bird, the sound of machinery, your aunt yelling at you- your voice is an instrument. Think about that. Instrumentalists are aware that they need to shed hours and hours on their guitar or sax to develop an automatic response as well as an individual style. What makes you think the voice is any different?
When I was in college, I was asked to be the private student of Eileen Farrell, a famous opera singer. At the time, I was schlepping around coffee houses singing Joni Mitchell covers and writing my own songs. I knew nothing about opera! Ms. Farrell assigned my first lesson with one of her graduate students, Cassandra Hayes. I remember her name because she made me do something that’s etched into my memory forever. I had to sing looking into a mirror and I was petrified. She was trying to get me to open my mouth and let out some real sound. Finally she said to me “if you could imitate an opera singer, what would they sound like?” I ran through a scale and used a very affected and mocking operatic voice and she said: “Finally!” I was confused and liberated at the same time. I had imitated a sound I wasn’t familiar with, but it opened up a new and exciting way of using my voice. So a few years later, when I formed an original punk/new wave band, it was easy for me to sing like the artist Nina Hagen.
“Nina Hagen” by Nicole Smith
Become a painter with your singing and discover all of the colors and textures to help you find your authentic voice.
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Deborah ‘Zuke’ Smith is the founder of Zuketunes and a seasoned industry professional. She’s one of the coolest people you could ever hope to meet and has really wonderful insight on not only vocal technique and training, but navigating a career as an emerging artist. We’re thrilled to have her join our contributing team throughout the months of May and June. If you enjoy her columns, please seek out her other work.
