BLOG POST 19 – LOVE YOUR VOICE! I know I’ve talked around this before, but so many people who come to me for singing lessons don’t understand some basic things about their voices. These are: • As there are 25 different types of voice (yes, really – have a read of my Blog no. 2 on voice types), expecting your voice to replicate Beyonce’s flexibility etc. isn’t realistic if you’ve got a big, loud and heavyweight voice. Beyonce is probably a lyric coloratura soprano – so a light voice with a lot of flexibility. As such, rather than continuing to try (and then fail) to sing the sort of repertoire somebody with this voice type finds effortless, it’s best to find out what sort of voice you’ve got and then choose repertoire to suit it. The one size fits all most definitely does NOT apply to singing (although a lot of the contemporary types of training around work on the basis that it does – they’re wrong!!). • Sing within your vocal range. Again, this refers to the type of voice you have, but range is a bit more specific really. Most people have a range of one and a half to two octaves and where that range is on a piano, determines this and helps to determine your voice type (along with other factors). For example, if you’ve got a very low speaking voice and can reach really low notes comfortably then you may be an alto (woman) or a bass (man) but these voice types are really rare – about 1:1000. A lot of people (as I’ve mentioned in previous posts) think their voices are lower than they actually are, as with training they will actualise their real range, especially the higher end of it. However, even if it is just a case of no technique that is limiting your range, it still makes no sense to sing outside of what feels comfortable. You wouldn’t expect a cellist to have to play a violin part would you? Don’t stress over or strain your voice trying to sing things that are too low or too high - sing music that feels comfortable. If this means changing the key of a song, do it. If you play with musicians, get them to change the key of the song to suit you as music should suit the singer rather than the other way round. If you sing to backing tracks, there are some great free and paid apps around now which will alter the key of a song (pitch changers) until the key feels comfortable. A big giveaway that you’re singing in the wrong key is if you have to change octaves in the middle of a song – it’s not you, it’s the key of the song that’s the problem. • Try to find out what your voice thrives on. Just because you like listening to say, folk music, doesn’t mean that it’s what you’re best at singing, so experiment. Try out different music genres. The genres which feel more comfortable and which make your voice sound its best are the genres you should be singing. Very few of us can sing lots of different music genres well, tending to be best at one or two. • Look after your voice. If your arm was hurting, you wouldn’t wave it around would you? As such, if you’ve got a sore throat, rest it, don’t sing on it. Listen to your body basically! • If you love singing, don’t smoke and don’t drink too much alchohol (which dries out the vocal cords), don’t take drugs, get enough sleep etc etc, eat healthily. Don’t shout or scream (unless it’s an emergency of course!).

Last day of term for the Choir tonight and also our annual end of term "do". I need to ge the quiz finished!

Peggy Seeger: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

BLOG POST 18 – EXPRESSION Most students come to me to learn vocal technique, but I always have to point out the importance of expression (which is, after all, technique anyway). I have found over the years that the ability to convey meaning and expression seems to come naturally in some and is completely missing in others! I have also found that it’s surprisingly difficult to teach. You can get someone who speaks expressively, but as soon as you give them a song to sing, that same expression is just not there. Obviously I take into account things like nerves and the concentration required for learning vocal technique (which demands enormous focus just like when you’re learning to drive a car), but even when students are really comfortable with me and their technique is bedding in, some will still not be able to convey the emotion and meaning of a song well. I’ve thought about this a lot on and off over the years and have come to the conclusion that it’s much the same as singing different musical styles – some people can just hear that something needs to be sung in a lazy, laconic way, whilst something else needs to sound urgent, almost angry. It’s pretty much the same thing going on inside the brain as enables me to turn my natural/classical “voices” on and off. For me, there’s nothing worse than hearing a classical singing voice singing a contemporary song – it’s just wrong (I’m sure some of you will disagree but I can’t stand cheesiness!) Similarly, it’s never going to work singing an aria in a “Coldplay” voice (luckily the calibre of singers singing Coldplay or Ed Sheeran aren’t going to cope with any arias as this takes years and years of vocal development and practice!). Style and expression, therefore, seem to be governed by the same style ability switch in the brain – that is, whether a person can hear the style change. I try to help students to think more carefully about how they approach a song, in order to help them overcome this and for some, they do get it. The most important thing of course is to read the lyrics – yes, I did say that – read the lyrics! I really don’t think a lot of people do this these days (no doubt why Sia has managed to become popular!! – see my blog post number 11) with the result that they have absolutely no idea what they’re singing about and of course this really doesn’t help them to convey the meaning and emotion of those same words. Students are often really surprised when I ask them to read the lyrics in a spoken voice first as they then engage (often for the first time) with the meaning of a song they’ve been singing for ages. The next thing I ask students to do is to listen to the accompaniment (if there is one) as this will give the singer a lot of clues as to how to sing a song. If the music is loud, you need to be loud too, if the music is quiet, you need to sing quietly, and so on. There are other clues within the lyrics as well though. For example, if the lyrics say something like: “Now I shout it from the highest hills”…..the word “shout” is clearly telling you to sing louder! (from “Secret Love” from Calamity Jane, in case you’re wondering!). Folk music (or for that matter any repetitive song with little structure other than loads of verses) requires a lot of thought as, if you’ve got thirteen verses to sing with no choruses or bridges etc to break things up a bit, you’ve got to be creative about how you sing the song otherwise your audience will just fall asleep…. Vary the rhythms within the song for more interest, put stresses on certain words, vary the melody for more interest and of course think about the dynamics in the song (as mentioned above), that is, where you need to sing loudly or quietly eg: “Last night she came to me, my dear love came in So softly she came that her feet made no din…” (from the traditional Irish folk song “She Moved through the Fair”) Again here, the clues are in the lyrics – you’re not going to be singing loudly when the lyrics are telling you that the character you’re singing about made no sound when she came in! Jazz is also a wonderful musical style for experimenting and working on expression, which is why I love singing it. You do need a certain amount of creativity to be able to sing jazz well as improvisation is key (that is, varying the melody quite a way beyond the written melody) but it can mean that the song ends up being better than the way it was originally set). I always look at a contemporary score and then think about what I can do with it. I’m looking at the song melody as a guide basically and then making the song my own, which is a lot of fun, taking into account the steps I’ve mentioned above. It's also much better than singing a song exactly the way another singer sings it - that's just karaoke and won't help you to develop as a singer. Anyway, I hope that’s helpful! To end this post, and to rest my case as it were, I want to give you a very clear example of what not to do with a song! Most people will have heard of the song “The first time ever I saw your face” (made famous by Roberta Flack in the 1970s and used in the brilliant thriller “Play Misty for Me” with Clint Eastwood in the lead role). Have a listen to a recorded version of Roberta singing this song - she makes a beautiful job of it and it's very hard not to get emotional when you listen to it – she brings the emotion in the song alive. What few people will realise, however, is that this song wasn’t written by Roberta Flack but by a folk singer called Ewan McColl (as pointed out to me by one of my students last week). He actually wrote the song for his lover, another folk singer by the name of Peggy Seeger. The way in which she ruins the song is, therefore, more bewildering as it's about her – but really, it’s quite appalling! Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO_7NXp2Tos

BLOG POST 17 – HABITS UNRELATED TO SINGING Over the years, I’ve noticed that during the time students are learning how to sing, they usually develop unwanted habits along the way – and I’m not talking about the bad habits they already had when they started learning, I’m talking about new ones! I am of course always vigilant about this, but the students themselves are blissfully ignorant about what they’re doing. These “habits” have included: frowning when attempting to sing high notes, turning or cocking their head on one side, raising one shoulder, swinging an arm, raising their feet up on tip toe, looking down – and so it goes on! Whilst this is all very amusing to watch as an onlooker, what these things are actually indicating are students’ psychological responses to learning something new that they’re finding physically difficult to master, requiring enormous concentration. I think that everyone struggles at the prospect of singing high notes when they haven’t managed to do so in the past and it’s hard to overcome the psychological resistance based on the (usually ingrained) belief that it’s not possible! In fact, using the correct technique makes singing higher notes much easier but it’s difficult to trust in the techniques until students can see that they work! In the process, therefore, they develop these weird habits as an unconscious way of avoidance. Ideally, students need to get to the point where they’re able to stand back and look at their practice objectively and also to learn to start correcting themselves (but of course they have to know how to identify what they’re listening for in the first place). The other problem with these habits is that they tend to cause tension and learning to be relaxed enough to trust in and use correct technique again takes time and practice (even though these techniques have a proven record going back centuries). As such, the next time you notice that you only seem able to sing high notes if you are wearing red lipstick whilst standing on one leg, that’s probably not a great way to go forwards with your singing!

BLOG POST NO. 16 – THE MALE TENOR VOICE (for those new to my blogs, it’s probably helpful to read this post in conjunction with Blog post no. 2 on voice types) The tenor voice is one of the highest of the male singing voices with a range that generally stretches from C3 (one octave below middle C on a piano) and A4 (the A above middle C). Some tenors can, however, sing up to C5 and down to Ab2, although I appreciate that this may mean very little to a lot of people reading this! Interestingly, until late into the 16th century, when the countertenor voice was “introduced” (a countertenor sings the theme music to the TV show “Silent Witness” – it’s a very androgenous sounding voice), tenor was usually the highest male voice and was often used as the “foundation” role in opera. This is probably why leading roles in opera are often tenor parts eg. Rudolpho in “La Boheme” by Puccini. In popular music, tenors include singers like Michael Buble, Chris Martin from Coldplay, all the singers in One Direction etc etc!). As with other voice categories eg. Soprano, baritone etc. there are different types of tenor voices, although I think it’s important to remember that any “system” of categorization is only going to be a rough guide because, at the end of the day, we’re all individuals and it’s always going to be hard to categorize anything like this perfectly. There’s also inevitably considerable overlap between the categories and finally, voices can change! They can change with maturity, with training etc. Leggero tenor - this type of tenor voice is more or less the equivalent of the female lyric coloratura, that is, it’s light, agile and able to sing difficult bits of what I call “twiddly bits” to my non-music reading students! Think of the sort of highly embellished notes that singers like Mariah Carey and Beyonce sing. I can’t actually think of a popular male singer in this category at the moment – any suggestions?! Lyric Tenor - the lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy and can be heard over an orchestra unmicrophoned. My favourite Luciano Pavarotti was a lyric tenor and what a beautiful voice he had! Spinto Tenor - the spinto tenor has the brightness and height of a lyric tenor, but with a heavier vocal weight which means it can cope with dramatic climaxes with less strain than the lighter-voice counterparts mentioned above – it’s louder basically. Spinto tenors also have a darker tone than a lyric tenor. Dramatic Tenor - the dramatic tenor has a very powerful sound (so, very loud!) – a big weighty voice. There are others, but unless you're heavily into opera, they're not going to be very relevant to you. The bottom line with any voice type is to try to sing what feels comfortable for you. This varies from one person to another – and to sing in keys that are comfortable.

polyphonic overtone singing - explained visually

Well, this is weird. An explanation of overtone singing (that is, the ability to sing more than one note at a time). I'm not sure that I'd call it singing exactly, but it's fascinating nonetheless! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHTF1-IhuC0

Taylor Swift Ft. The Civil Wars - Safe and Sound ( Lyrics )

BLOG POST 15 - BREATHINESS I’ve probably seen all of the unconscious avoidance “techniques” that students apply when singing (I probably did them myself before I trained classically!). Breathiness is one of the most common and what I’ll talk about here today. When singers sound breathy, it’s because: • They are letting breath out too quickly • they have no control of the diaphragm • It’s also, I think, a way of backing off from the perception of "high" notes (which mostly aren’t high at all as breathy notes make lower notes sound as though they’re higher!). Singers try to unconsciously avoid higher notes all the time of course due to: • sheer panic! • lack of belief that they can sing higher notes • not knowing how to access the top of their voice • lack of breath • lack of knowledge of their actual vocal range I’m not criticising the majority of singers for being breathy as most are just doing their best. However, I’m not quite as understanding when it comes to professional singers as surely if you’re doing something for a living, you would want to ensure that you look after the tools of your trade. Indeed, if I didn’t look after my voice, it would probably be letting me down by now. Taylor Swift (and remember Dido?) are very breathy. So much so, that when doing Taylor Swift’s song “Safe and Sound” with the choir last term, we actually coined the phrase “doing a Taylor”! Have a listen anyway. You’ll need to wait until the chorus to get the full “Taylor” effect! As a slight addendum, I'd like to add that occasionally I think it's fine to purposefully use breathiness to convey an atmosphere, but there's a big difference in knowingly doing this on occasion compared to doing it as a matter of course! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hK4W8WGQ6SY

BLOG POST 14 - CHILDREN’S and ADOLESCENTS' VOICES Lots of children love singing and some of them are really keen to have singing lessons. The desire for actual lessons has probably been intensified by celebrity culture and TV talent programmes that have so influenced youngsters today. The other group of children who want lessons are those who are doing drama and dance etc. I really sympathise as finding a suitable singing teacher is as daunting for parents as for me when I was trying to find a good plumber (knowing nothing about plumbing!). Very occasionally, parents ring up wanting full-on formal vocal training for very small children, which is just too young as, quite apart from the fact that I've never known them be able to concentrate for long enough, evidence shows that it doesn't really work with children this young. I can sort of understand parental perception on this as they may be operating from the view that the earlier you start the better, but this is not the case when it comes to singing. As some of you will have already read on my website, the voice is entirely composed of muscle and as such, you wouldn’t, of course, send your child to the weight room in the gym to give them a head start on getting fit by building their muscles this way(!)…it’s the same principle. In addition to this, everything’s still growing (including the vocal folds, larynx and pharynx) and developing. Of course, when I was a youngster, we were generally singing nursery rhymes, hymns or quite formal children’s songs in school – and more importantly, were happy with that. I think the difference these days is that kids don’t come to me wanting to sing nursery rhymes! They’re much more sophisticated….they want to sing Queens of the Stone Age, Coldplay, One Direction, Katy Perry, Taylor Swift, Christina Perri, Rihanna etc….. and unfortunately, a lot of the adults singing these songs are singing them in keys that are really inappropriate and uncomfortable for children (they’re usually very low – although you still get the occasional child who’s happy to sing Disney, or one recently who loved The Sound of Music, but they're the exception). In addition to this, children today are rarely separated from the ability to access music on various electronic devices, especially when on the move! It’s easy for them to start hurting their voice, therefore. I love teaching children (they're usually so enthusiastic!), but whilst they might love singing, lessons that focus solely on vocal technique (that is, developing breath and diaphragm control) are not something I'm prepared to do. I don’t correct children's breathing, in fact, I don’t do anything with their breathing or diaphragm. What I do try to do is to instill an appreciation of the importance of always trying to sing songs in a comfortable key (never to put their voice anywhere that’s uncomfortable in fact), not to shout (which isn’t singing anyway!), try to help them understand what suits their voices so that they own it a bit more and of course help them to gain confidence with their singing and their own voice. It’s really not a good idea for children to stretch their voices too much or to sing loudly for long periods of time anyway. So when is it a good idea to start properly training the voice? Well, really it’s around the time of adolescence. Obviously, the age that a child goes through this dramatic life change varies from child to child, but generally it’s between 12 – 14 years of age. Having said this, even if a child goes through puberty early (for example, age 9 or 10), I tend to wait until their speaking voice has lowered, which again, tends to be when they’re a bit older – it’s basically when they no longer sound like a little child. This is indicative of their voices undergoing big changes, obviously influenced by all the hormones flooding their bodies! Adolescence is, therefore, the time to really start work, but even then it’s still a good idea not to heap demanding repertoire on them; better instead to concentrate on a sound but balanced development. I find that songs can still be really challenging, but I always try to work with the current ability level of the student concerned, as well as exploring different musical genres (as I said in a previous post about choosing a top in a shop: what you like singing isn’t necessarily what suits your voice the best) which encourages young students to be more open minded about repertoire.

Rex Harrison — I've Grown Accustomed To Her Face

BLOG POST 13 – SINGERS or STYLISTS? Well, it’s a bit of a dilemma, isn’t it? Today, more than at any other time over the past century, we celebrate people who aren’t singing at all, in the real sense of the word. I’ve already covered, in my last two posts, the problems caused by bad diction and also the smoke and mirror effect of autotuners. The video I’ve attached here shows Rex Harrison performing “I’ve grown accustomed to her face” from the film “My Fair Lady”. Rex never purported to be a singer and so he cleverly created a way of getting through the song by speaking on notes, which gave the effect of singing. Today, quite a lot of performers use this “technique”, no doubt for the same reason as Rex (they can’t really sing very well!). As such, I tend to call these performers “stylists”. Have a look anyway and notice the difference. I think it worked very well in the film as Rex expressed the emotion of the lyrics - and this is key: if you’re not a good singer, you will still make a song sound much better if you express the emotion of the lyrics. Today, in the contemporary music world, it appears that there is a place for both singers and stylists, although I for one, think that we would do well to recognise great singing talent a lot more than we do and celebrate mediocrity less, otherwise we’ll literally drown in it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPhsR0T_cjA

BLOG POST 12 - THE PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL BENEFITS OF SINGING A study published in Australia in 2008 identified that generally, choral singers felt happier with their lives than the rest of the public – they attributed this to the “deep breathing” they were undertaking in order to sing. As a professional singer, singing teacher, vocal and peformance coach and choral director, I’ve taught countless individuals, including individuals from both classical and contemporary choirs), as well as observing those in the choir that I run; ninety-nine percent weren’t breathing either deeply or correctly when they came to me! Having said this, even attempting to breathe deeply will promote a good mood, help your circulation, tone your diaphragm, abdominal and intercostal muscles, and, if singing in my choir is anything to go by, provide enormous fun as well (although I admit that my own choir members seem to find me a constant source of amusement as well!). The breathing required for singing is not to be mistaken for the breathing promoted in exercise classes though. By training your singing voice properly, you are developing muscles (and sophisticated control of them) from the diaphragm, the lungs, the vocal cords, the tongue, jaw etc. Singing properly also provides you with an aerobic workout (students are regularly amazed at how physically demanding it is to learn to sing properly), so you get more oxygen into your bloodstream for better circulation, lots of endorphins are released which raise mood, reduce stress – and pain. You are also, of course, attempting to create beautiful sounds in time to music, as well as expressing the meaning and emotion of the lyrics that you’re singing (so it’s emotionally cathartic too). Add to this the sheer joy of singing in close harmony (which can literally raise the hairs on the back of your own neck as well as those people listening to you) and singing is a pretty special activity! There is now strong evidence to support the fact that singing can boost the immune system, improve the speech of people with Autism, help patients with Asthma and Parkinson’s disease and improve the memories of patients with dementia – even NICE (National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence) has got on the bandwagon supporting the “music for memory” programme for dementia patients, which is apparently as effective as medication! My own experience of singing has inevitably been quite intense. I’ve noticed its effect on myself, other professional singers, individual students of mine as well as those in the choir that I run. Singing isn’t so much what I do for a living, it’s who I am (I think this is something that can be said about artists from any discipline) and I basically don’t feel right physically or emotionally without expressing myself in this way. What this means exactly is hard to quantify, but when I spent thirteen years of my life not working as a singer (when my daughter was little), I felt less confident, less fulfilled. During this thirteen years hiatus I did, however, undertake a formal classical training. This was an extraordinary experience and transformed my experience of singing, tempered my instrument and developed it way beyond what I had been doing previously; it literally took years and required physical and emotional stamina and determination. Up until my classical training, I had worked as a contemporary singer/songwriter and was unprepared for the almost transcendental experiences I had when singing opera. Don’t get me wrong, I have wonderful experiences all the time singing contemporary music, but it’s different with classical music – more intense, generally more difficult, so it requires great focus. It’s also important to understand that the singing voice is a living instrument residing in your own body. When I began teaching singing in 1999, I was amazed at how many people came to their first lesson saying that they wanted to “find their voice”. Over the years I have continued to hear this mantra repeated time and again and have realised that to many people, even if they haven’t got a great voice, finding what they have got is very important to them – it’s as much about being able to sing without fear as discovering the voice itself and I have come to the conclusion that for many people it’s about reuniting themselves with something they feel they’ve lost or can’t quite touch. My belief, therefore, is that it’s ultimately about being able to express ourselves freely without fear. So, if you feel like this – start singing! There are literally loads of singing groups around these days. If you’d prefer to sing on your own or in a band, just do it – or sing in the shower, even if your family tell you to shut up – if it gives you joy, do it!

Sia - Chandelier (Official Video)

BLOG POST 11 – DICTION Where do I start? One artist today epitomises bad diction and that is Sia. Now don’t get me wrong, I like some of her songs, particularly “Sledgehammer”, which she wrote for Rihanna (it was used on the latest “Star Trek – Beyond” film in the end credits (fantastic film, by the way!), BUT whatever you think of Sia, she is most definitely slurring her diction to the point of incomprehensibility. Some of her fans seem to think that she does this on purpose. Really?!! No, it’s just sloppiness and it sounds appalling (I’ve seen too many students over the years doing the same – until I correct them - simply because they hadn’t noticed they were doing it). Let’s make something clear here: one of the functions of any singer is to convey the meaning and emotion of the lyrics they’re singing because if they don’t, audiences (whether on a recording, or at a live performance) can’t understand them. This in turn means that the audience cannot then engage with the song emotionally - and it’s frustrating not to be able to connect in that way, let alone on a basic level of comprehension! I have noticed a huge deterioration in the quality of diction for some years. I think it took a pretty sharp dip downwards when r’n’b became more popular (so I’m talking at least ten years or so ago). Perhaps the singers felt that slurring their lyrics made them seem cool/sophisticated (or as I’ve said above, just didn’t realise what they were doing), well it didn’t and it still doesn’t – it just sounds stupid. Obviously, if somebody has a speech impediment then that’s an entirely different matter, but you tend to find that people who have speech problems are trying their hardest to speak clearly and to be understood! Most contemporary music is sung with an American accent (and I’m not talking about a hillbilly accent or anything like that!). It’s simply a case of softening “t” sounds on certain words into soft “d” sounds which has the overall effect of making the music sound less formal, so that it flows better. Jazz of course started this trend, but it is prevalent throughout modern music. The exceptions are things like Brit Pop, or particular artists like Lily Allen who purposefully put on an accent to sound like a Cockney – and of course this gives a more jerky sound to the lyrics. As a general rule though, all modern music is sung in American. All classical music is sung in “received” English (like the Queen) if in English of course, folk music is sung either quite formally or in a dialect (which tends to be the case if the singers concerned aren’t really singers!). Whatever accent is used, however, the meaning of the lyrics should be easy to understand. What is the point of being unclear? Why would anyone even want to be unclear? Think Freddie Mercury, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald – all singers from bygone days, but all with very clear diction (and we’re still singing the songs they made famous today as a result – mind you, they were great songs). I hear you asking: so how do you improve diction then? Well, it’s quite simple really. You need to do what clear speaking people do. We don’t generally smile whilst we’re speaking. Instead, our mouths move up and down. In singing, this is obviously more pronounced and more important, as we’re singing a melody over the words, so dropping the jaw is crucial to both good diction and tone. When I say dropping the jaw, I mean in an oval sort of shape, not a big wide smiley space. Keeping the mouth “forwards” aids good, clear diction, no matter what style of music you’re singing. With singers today, it’s sadly harder to pick out clear diction, although there are singers who sing in a reasonably clear way (meaning you can understand the words!) e.g. Ellie Goulding, Lucie Silvas, Mindy Smith, The Weeknd (although I’ve only listened to “Earned It”, if I’m honest), Evanescence, Michael Buble, Beverley Knight, Sting, Jamie Cullum, Diana Krall, Adele BUT I still don’t think their diction is actually quite as clear as the older artists I’ve mentioned above. Perhaps style has won over clarity but I for one don’t understand why we can’t have both. I admit I’m a stickler for clear diction whatever the music genre - and audiences obviously do appreciate it (even if some singers don’t think it matters) as my daughter and I regularly get audience members coming up (it happened two days ago) and saying how much they appreciated being able to understand the lyrics! As such, if you sing, don’t get sucked into bad trends like sloppy (read incoherent!) diction. Anyway, just to push the point well and truly home, by all means have a go at attempting to understand what Sia is singing in “Chandelier” (without watching the lyric video!). Personally, I’ve absolutely NO idea! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM

Sound Engineer's Hard Work [HD]

BLOG POST 10 - PITCH/AUTOTUNERS IN THE MUSIC INDUSTRY TODAY I was talking about singing after a lesson with one of my students last week and it occurred to me that a lot of the singers today who have thriving careers in the music industry, wouldn't have actually been able to have those careers if they'd been working when I was younger. I was a session singer in the early 1980s and worked at Abbey Road Studios, amongst other places. Obviously, autotuners didnt exist at this time and so singers HAD to be able to sing in tune. I find it weird that we celebrate people today who can’t sing in tune (or at all really) and whose careers effectively rely on technology that is used both in the studio and at live gigs. This video sums it up and indeed I remember years ago being congratulated on a demo in one breath and being asked in the next if I could sing in tune like that live! Obviously the promoter concerned had been caught out too many times by singers who couldn’t! Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this video which, although really funny, is unfortunately a very true to life example of the trickery of the trade today! I’m pleased to say that everybody in my choir can sing in tune! I’d also like to make it clear I’m not criticising people who have pitch problems, simply that if singers are professional singers, then surely they should be able to sing in tune – or is it just me?!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2Rhh_4GZmU