Customer Reviews

The Ultimate Practice Guide for Vocalists

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This DVD is sketchy at best, and shows almost no actual technique. You get to watch people exercise their voices, but it is completely unorganized and uneducational. I would not recommend this to anyone, unless you want to buy mine, in which case it's great!

I am a young music teacher and I am always looking for new techniques to teach my students. This DVD is excellent for many reasons. It talks about practice routines, breathing techniques, vocal and more. This book has really helped me understand the body related to singing. It has also helped my students improve their singing. I would commend this DVD to anyone who is interested in working on their vocal techniques. Enjoy! Also check out The Contemporary Singer by Anne Peckham.

I think this DVD offers amazing value - you get several professional singing lessons for under twenty bucks. McElroy concentrates on breathing and breath control, and if you come away from this DVD with a few solid exercises to help you improve your breath management while singing, you will have gotten your money's worth (how many breaths did you need to draw to finish this sentence?).

McElroy offers a general approach on how to make up your own vowel exercises, rather than assigning you specific ones to memorize. She gives pointers on taking care of your voice (e.g. start humming right after you get up to loosen phlegm and warm up, rather than coughing or clearing your throat; and avoid coffee - it dehydrates). She also provides useful suggestions on how to manage the break from chest to head voice and back while singing.

I found McElroy's example itself a source of inspiration: her powerful voice, confident rhythm and how both are so much a part of her that her singing seems to just happen by itself, smoothly, beautifully and *right*. There is valuable information and advice in everything she says - but you really have to pay close attention and think about it carefully. If you're only half-listening you may think you've heard it all before and not "hear" the intended message. And of course you need to *practice*, not just sit and watch and then forget everything you just learned.

I was also impressed that the example song used in the teaching was written by McElroy herself. This got the producers around copyright issues, but it was also well suited to the singing style McElroy is trying to teach.

To be honest as a singer wanting to explore different opinions,i found this dvd usefull, yet a bit of a rip off by the way it is advertised. If a total beginner spent money on this item they would be left clueless. There should be some sort of grading to dvds instead of making people think that everyone will benefit from this. So a little honesty goes a long way.!!!

Good DVD. Practiced good breathing techniques and singing in your head and chest voice.

I thought that this video was so strange becase you would have to know a lot about music theory and almost nothing about singing to watch it. It also had almost zero actual technique or exercises that you could practice. I was excited about it, because I'm interested in non-classical, non-white western european approaches to singing, I'm a singing teacher, but this was just sad. The woman seems unprepared and uncomfortable throughout the whole video.