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Singing With Allergies

-by Brett Manning

It's that time of year again! Your eyes seem to itch for no reason, you throat gets all scratchy, and your sinuses are easily infected. No one likes dealing with allergies, but for singers they are especially problematic. As human instruments, our tonal quality is dependent on the health and condition of our “instrument,” and nothing wreaks havoc on it quite like allergies.

The singer simply will not live up to his or her standard of singing if allergies set in. There are over sixty muscles that directly influence singing. If any of those muscles are affected by excess mucous production or by allergy-induced edema (muscle swelling) of the chords themselves, the singer will find that the voice is a stubborn instrument indeed. Fortunately, there is hope!

Many allergy specialists throughout the country have had success treating allergies medicinally. Unfortunately, the side effects are especially problematic for singers. Antihistamines, for example, cause such significant drying of the vocal tract that most singers find it impossible to perform with them. That, among other reasons, is why I usually recommend nutritional and herbal treatments.

For me, it’s really an issue of nourishing my body's endocrine (hormone) system and my respiratory system. Through my own research, I've learned that the majority of allergies are caused from weaknesses in these systems. The two herbal formulas I've used throughout the years are called Prime Again and Conco. I’ve been taking them for allergy prevention faithfully for over ten years now and have remained allergy free. As a singer who nearly quit a few times due to vocal inconsistency, I feel truly blessed to finally have some relief! Naturally, I’ve been recommending Prime Again and Conco to my students for many years with great success, and we have recently added them to our website as well. I also recommend a few herbal teas that work wonderfully for singers with allergies, including Calli Tea for prevention and Fortune Delight for quick relief.

Nutrition is also important. For starters, you should avoid refined sugars, excess dairy products, and wheat during the spring months. Be sure to drink plenty of fluids (but you do that anyway, right?) and lots of vitamin C. A great source for both is grapefruit juice, which helps by thinning mucous and carrying it out of the body. Radishes are also particularly helpful.

Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, and as a singer, nothing is more important than maintaining the health of your “instrument.” And be sure to check out our online store for a complete list of recommended vocal health products.

Happy singing!

Brett Manning

Vocal Coach - Singing Success Program

Singing Tips, Voice Lessons FAQ's

-by Brett Manning

Aren't voice lessons like pulling teeth? Every lesson I've had was a miserable experience where I was criticized for every little "wrong" thing I did.

You are so right. Unfortunately, most voice teachers are still training their students to look and sound like classical singers, using techniques that have nothing to do with developing a contemporary sound. That's why students who don't enjoy older styles of music often find voice lessons frustrating and fruitless. Brett Manning will never stifle your unique sound and style. In fact, the Singing Success Program provides tools and techniques that will allow you to sing with more style. Besides, who wants to listen to someone who sounds like every other "proper" singer?

Can I improve my tone quality?

Tone quality improves when the correct musculature is engaged in the singing process. Feel underneath your chin with your forefinger and slide it inwards to the point where your neck meets the muscles under your chin. Now swallow. Notice how your larynx (Adam's apple) raises up and the muscles under your chin tighten up as you swallow? These muscles that are engaged in the swallowing process are opposed to those engaged in the singing process. The use of these muscles while singing creates a myriad of problems that can take years to correct if left unchecked. For good tone quality, you must learn to sing without the outer muscles of the larynx. Doing so will set free your natural voice, drastically improving tone quality and ease of use. Naturally, the Singing Success Program contains techniques that will help you do this.

Is it really possible to teach style?

Until now, there really has not been a comprehensive system of teaching vocal style. There have been scales played to reflect certain genres, such as the Blues Scale, but that's really not enough. Brett Manning worked with hundreds of brilliant vocal stylists to co-develop training techniques based on their various skills. Using these techniques you can develop style skills so prolific that you'll be able to reinterpret any song you wish into a unique masterpiece. Think of it this way: As a singer, you are the artist and the final "painting" is up to you. Brett Manning's style training just gives you more colors to work with.

Building A Successful Sound

By Brett Manning

Three years ago, I signed a distribution deal with Media Products in Barcelona, Spain, for the translating and marketing of the Singing Success Program, thanks to a man named Paul Zamek. Paul is responsible for the overseas licensing of many major American recording artists. (His largest client, Kenny Rogers, has sold over 100 million albums worldwide!) I met Paul on a flight to Club Med, and he became intrigued with my approach to teaching the human voice. He wanted to know how I'd advise an amateur singer looking to become a commercial success.

First, train the voice as you would train your body. Understand that you have muscles that can be developed in the same way athletes train their muscles. Singing is fairly easy, with tiny muscles involved in coordinating the voice and subtle exercises required to develop their coordination. I have taught thousands of girls to sing as high as Mariah Carey and have safely developed a convincing commercial sound with even the most rigidly trained classical singers. Just remember that correct technique is necessary before moving toward a record deal, because you will need consistency and longevity if you really want to make it.

Second, develop your "style ear" and your vocal coordinations to sing the rapid licks, trills, and runs consistent with today's pop-singing styles. You must also develop your unique version of a commercial sound. A straight purist voice (one dominated by a heady/classical sound) has little chance of competing with Jewel, Christina, Mariah, or Celine.

Third, do your own thing after you've learned everyone else's tricks. You have to get as close as possible to your natural talking voice and make your singing more like speech on pitch. If you change your tone quality so that you are talking in one voice and singing in another, you've lost the very qualities that make your voice distinctive. You'll also have a harder time sustaining your vocal health.

When I first explained this ideology to Paul, he freaked out, then drew a big smiley face on a yellow legal pad and said, "Your voice is as distinctive as your face." How many times do you answer the phone and hear, "Hey girl," and know exactly who it is without hearing another word? We are sometimes still amazed at this, because most of us don't have voices as recognizable as Fran Drescher (The Nanny), Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jennifer Tilly, James Earl Jones, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, or the late sports announcer Howard Cosell. You don't need a "character" voice like these people to be distinctive; God already took care of that when he created the equivalent to a thumbprint in your voice. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars to develop technology that can recognize a particular voice. The multiple frequencies produced by your unique voice are your ticket into the recording industry, and making the most of them is what I've spent the last 15 years of my life teaching people to do.

People e-mail me with career questions from all over the world, and many of them ask the same thing: What do I have to do to get a record deal?

Here's the answer you usually hear: "Headshot, bio, and demo." And yes, those items certainly have helped many people get started in the recording industry. Some have even added a video or showcase to the requirement, because singers also have to be performers. But other than preparing all of these self-promotions and throwing yourself into the brutally competitive music industry, what else can you do to increase your likelihood of landing that record deal you've dreamed about since you were barely old enough to sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star?" Here are three other important goals to reach for:

First, increase your vocal range. The greater your range, the more exciting and confident your singing will be. Find a coach who can teach you how to mix your chest voice (speaking voice) with your head voice (your softer, lighter, classical-sounding voice). This "mixed voice" is much thicker than pure head voice, but has more frequencies than a belted chest voice (which is also the leading cause of vocal nodules). The "mixed voice" has the best of both worlds, which is why so many top Grammy winners sing in this vocal register. You must learn the "mix" if you want a commercial sound, effortless vocalizing, and a healthy voice. (The Singing Success Program can help you with this.)

Second, find as many influences as possible. Influences are inescapable. The real question is, do you have enough of them to keep you from sounding exactly like your favorite artist? We don't need another Celine Dion. I have coached dozens of young women who can now sing almost exactly like Celine; but who wants a counterfeit when the real thing is already available? If you have enough diverse vocal influences, you will find a little piece of yourself in each one of them.

Third, make a decision to find your unique voice and spend the rest of your life devoted to developing it. Don't quit your day job until your career takes off, and your office gig can be replaced with a Broadway contract or record deal. But give every extra buck, hour, and emotion to this endeavor. You don't want to look back and say, "If only." You are unique and you have dreams. Dreams are visions wearing work clothes. The world advances, not through those who give up on their visions, but through those who stand until their labor and talent takes form.