“Works of art make rules; rules do not make works of art.” – Claude Debussy
When I completed vocal lessons at The Sydney Conservatorium Of Music my technique could be compared to an opera singer. Being trained by one myself, the style of teaching I received left me polished to the point of little to no room for self expression.
What Is Self Expression As A Singer?
It's different for every musician but the common feature I've found while meeting and networking with young artists always goes back to emotion and the way each person vocally displays their own views, feelings or perspectives. It can be from the smallest change in accent to a continuous breathy style of singing like Billie Eilish. Take Christina Aguilera, for those who are aware of her I'm sure your brain recollected a significant part of her music or voice that identifies her as an artist. As well as her visually and the overall role she plays in the music industry.
How Do They Do It?
Singing is more than auditory. Of course technique plays a part of it, but there is more to being a musician and even more so if you want to define yourself in the music industry.
There should be a combination of aesthetics and unique vocals to express who you want to be as an artist.
How Did I Do It?
In all honesty, self expression is an ongoing discovery that should take place over your whole career as a singer. I wouldn't put a time limit since its subjective to who you are as a person and how you navigate the world through human experience at any given point in time.
Here are some things I started to employ on my road to self expression and discovering my sound. These can be used to base your own journey of discovery:
Music playlists: I filtered out my playlists on Spotify by choosing the songs I felt didn't resonate with me anymore and replacing them with new music. I chose music that was unknown to me that featured artists that had voices and sounds that inspired me. I listened to these playlists everyday and sung along.
Mood boards: Using pencil, paper, magazines and newspaper I compiled mood boards. Most of the time there was no aim, just creating a visual that reflected how I wanted my music and voice to make people feel.
Social media refresh: I removed and restricted social media accounts that made me compare myself against competition and started following influencers and artists that brought inspiration out in me.
Connecting with other singers: I started reaching out to more singings and started the conversation of discovery and started learning from different experiences before I created my own as a singer.
Of course there is so much more to this subject and it continues to change for me on a personal level.
The end goal especially when I teach is to force self love and expression.
Our team and I talk about these topics in more detail with relation to vocal technique in my lessons, if you were interested to pop in for a lesson, you can book in here!