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Do Vocals help your playing?

I've heard the rational that it does and that in Italy flute players are required to take vocal lessons.

But I was wondering whether anyone can say whether or not vocals has helped their playing from personal experience.

At the moment learning vocals is just a pipe dream, something I might work on while driving the car but it may not be such a crazy idea if it does help ones reed playing.

Also what is the longevity of a singer, not necessarily professional but amateur. My impression is that your vocals would give out relatively early compared to woodwinds.
 
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I think the trick is to learn to open your throat. We occasionally sing during warmup, just to loosen our throats, get the "hum" into our ears and heads and get a feeling of listening to each other (much more difficult than when you have to press three keys and out pops the G) in order to get in tune.
 
My favorite instructors have always encouraged learning to sing a song that you were going to do a solo on. I sang all the way to Jr. High School but it always hurt my throat. But sometimes I'll sing a song a bit that I'm working on and it really seems to help in most cases.
 
Singing has quite a few benefits, some of which are:

a) Breathing - singers and wind players should be breathing in the same way, and learning/practising the correct technique for one should be beneficial to the other.

b) Reading - go sing in a choir that reads its music (as opposed to having the notes "bashed" in one at a time) and you should find (after a while) that it does your sightreading a lot of good, particularly in regard to being able to "hear" the next note in your mind before you attempt to play it.

c) Memorisation/Transposition - if I can sing a tune from memory, it's usually a fairly easy task for me to transfer that to an instrument. Similarly I can transpose it to another key more easily than one that I haven't internalised and am reading (and my reading is generally much better than my "by ear" playing).
 
another viewpoint

Mygroup plays about 90% vocals - in fact , other than during the dinner hour and as the occasional set closer circumstance, I'd say that we play 99.9% vocals the rest of the time

Of my vocalists at present, four of five also play horns, piano or precussion. I like doubled up folks because they 1) serve as useful backups/ augmentation, and 2) automatically can read music (a big plus when learning new tunes in a hurry).

Having said that, I don't think that they are that better of musicians for it. Perhaps a bit better in touch with the fundamentals and such but only that.

As far as how durable they are, I've never allowed any vocalist to sing more than 25% of a typical gig's tune. If I am short staffed that night, I'll add instrumentals to make up the difference. With rock and pop, it's all too easy for them to get louder out if they go any longer. In fact, for a New Year's Eve, I have preferred to carry three girls if at all possible.

Please excuse the brevity and grammatic errors; I'm posting this from a bar where we're looking over a not-all-that-good Elvis impersonator. We've still got an hour and a half to go (insert frown face here)...
 
Singing has quite a few benefits, some of which are:

a) Breathing - singers and wind players should be breathing in the same way, and learning/practising the correct technique for one should be beneficial to the other.

b) Reading - go sing in a choir that reads its music (as opposed to having the notes "bashed" in one at a time) and you should find (after a while) that it does your sightreading a lot of good, particularly in regard to being able to "hear" the next note in your mind before you attempt to play it.

c) Memorisation/Transposition - if I can sing a tune from memory, it's usually a fairly easy task for me to transfer that to an instrument. Similarly I can transpose it to another key more easily than one that I haven't internalised and am reading (and my reading is generally much better than my "by ear" playing).
While it is *possible* that I've always done it wrong, I always felt that breathing for vocalists is different. Now, mind you, I also played saxophones and clarinets.

One definite thing is that you're still playing with the diaphragm and lungs. You don't have to worry about tonguing. You do have to worry about pitch.

On a woodwind -- and probably on any wind instrument -- it is easier to hit a pitch accurately if you are visualizing the pitch and trying to play it. You also have to worry about how you're moving your mouth. Just like when you're singing.

One way to know if you're not singing properly is if your throat hurts after singing. That means that you either are singing from your throat, as opposed to your gut, or you're singing something out of your range. Or both.

Maybe more later ....
 
While it is *possible* that I've always done it wrong, I always felt that breathing for vocalists is different. Now, mind you, I also played saxophones and clarinets.

One definite thing is that you're still playing with the diaphragm and lungs. You don't have to worry about tonguing. You do have to worry about pitch.

On a woodwind -- and probably on any wind instrument -- it is easier to hit a pitch accurately if you are visualizing the pitch and trying to play it. You also have to worry about how you're moving your mouth. Just like when you're singing.

One way to know if you're not singing properly is if your throat hurts after singing. That means that you either are singing from your throat, as opposed to your gut, or you're singing something out of your range. Or both.

Maybe more later ....

That's interesting Pete. When I was studying my flute teacher and choral director were singing the same tune (at least from the neck down) which was (very basically) keep the throat open, the ribcage out, and support from below that.

Cheers,

Stefan
 
It's sorta like the concentration is different.

For playing, I'm using the gut like a bellows. For singing, I'm using it like a big pillar of air. Support's the word, rather than quantity.

When I started actually taking singing lessons from professionals, I noted this difference.

If I sing like I played, my throat gets worn out pretty quickly. However, I think that if I played like I sing, that'd work. To an extent.

(BTB, I used to play low saxophones; mainly bari, but bass, too and low clarinets; bass and contrabass.)
 
Of my vocalists at present, four of five also play horns, piano or precussion. I like doubled up folks because they 1) serve as useful backups/ augmentation, and 2) automatically can read music

...and 3) represent one salary where there would otherwise be two.
 
Singing a song helps my playing of the song.

(The melody is only half the composition. The story is incomplete without the lyrics.)

I find that I phrase lines more creatively when improvising if I have both the melody and words in my head. I find that I play a melody more readily by ear if I have already learned to sing it.
 
I agree with Al. I sing a few songs with the band with whom I play, and most of the others in the band do, too. I haven't found that doing vocals helps me physically, but it sure helps everyone understand the tune better. And, the audiences seem to like hearing the lyrics - helps them understand the tune. DAVE
 
Here's another way singing helps my playing. Because I sing, I get more gigs. More gigs helps my playing.
 
...and 3) represent one salary where there would otherwise be two.

More like a better chance to have a backup for a sideman position, than to have them both sing and play on the same job. I do have a guitarist who also sings on Walt Stuart's version of Mac The Knife, and I do occassionally employ a singer who plays the trombone solos on Marie and I've Got You Under My Skin, but that's it.

The local contract doesn't specify any spif for doing vocals in addition to the normal sideman share.
 
As far as how durable they are, I've never allowed any vocalist to sing more than 25% of a typical gig's tune. If I am short staffed that night, I'll add instrumentals to make up the difference. With rock and pop, it's all too easy for them to get louder out if they go any longer. In fact, for a New Year's Eve, I have preferred to carry three girls if at all possible.
Actually by longevity I meant in terms of age. It seems like singers retire several years before they pass on, whereas woodwind players seem to be able to keep on playing.
 
Well, none of mine have died yet, so it's hard for me to give an informed opinion.

One of them is a bit shady, so I could probably arrange to have one of them offed. But, that's not your intent, I imagine.
 
If most of the band are male, and the vocalist is a single attractive female of questionable morals and minimal clothing, I could see where rehearsal attendance might greatly improve, thus improving the over all playing of the group.

Music is music, regardless of your medium. Some can, some can't.
 
If most of the band are male, and the vocalist is a single attractive female of questionable morals and minimal clothing, I could see where rehearsal attendance might greatly improve, thus improving the over all playing of the group.

Music is music, regardless of your medium. Some can, some can't.

This may not work as intended. Apparently Sir Thomas Beecham was once asked why he would not have women playing in his orchestra. His reply was something like: "If they're ugly the men won't play next to them, and if they're good looking they can't".
 
Singing a song helps my playing of the song.

(The melody is only half the composition. The story is incomplete without the lyrics.)

I find that I phrase lines more creatively when improvising if I have both the melody and words in my head. I find that I play a melody more readily by ear if I have already learned to sing it.


I agree 100%
 
Singing helps my sax soloing and saxophone has helped my singing.

Everything you learn about music helps. And remember, when you playing your instrument, it is your voice, and you should be "singing" with that voice.

Learning to play guitar, wind synth, bass, and keyboards also helped my sax playing, but not as much as singing.

Insights and incites by Notes
 
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