Do Vocals help your playing?

I'm one of those in car, in shower, multi-tasking singers. I was never that great of a singer until I picked up the lovely clarinet, where, as previously mentioned in this thread, I learned to open my throat. My vocal tone, control, and intonation has improved drastically.
I took a couple vocal lessons when I was a wee little girl, and dropped out in disgust at my alto-squawk. That's all changed.
 
You now have a bass squawk?

(Kidding. Kidding. Hey, I've been in more than one choir that had a couple female bass singers.)

My 7 year old daughter has been learning how to play piano. She is also being taught to match the pitches with her voice. She's doing pretty good at it.

IMO, most, if not all, musicians probably have some bit of music floating through their heads all the time. Vocalizing it just makes me feel good. I feel better when I can hit the right notes, though.

One thing I always thought interesting is that one of the gentlemen I took sax lessons from wasn't a singer at all, but he was able to compose some nice vocal harmonies. I'd think that would be rather difficult if you can't sing. That's different from the folks that compose vocal parts because they either just hate a particular voice (bass or soprano way too high or low is the norm) or they just don't care what the range is.
 
No, pete. The bass squawk comes from the bass clarinet. ;) I now have a clean alto with a limited range, better than the sounds frequently mistaken for a wounded animal with a nasal congestion issue. (he heh)
I always have a little symphony in my brain, they play constantly. I get a lot of ideas from the streaming radio that is my original subconscious. Being a frequent improvisational pianist/quasi-composer, it sure does come in handy.
I guess your sax teacher has a wide understanding of the limits and capabilities of singers, and used that in his works. It makes a lot of sense to me.
 
Singing will help your aural abilities, which helps your playing (intonation especially). It helps any impro you might do, but otherwise it also helps with phrasing.

As Al mentioned, if you are playing commercial gigs, being able to sing some songs as well as play will no doubt get you more gigs.

Also if you want to do the singing while flute playing a la Roland Kirk, it would help if you can sing.

Thumbs up all round IMO to singing lessons.
 
OT - Pete, how did you get a custom title after 8 posts? I smell a payoff!

BOT - I really wish I had learned to sing when I was younger. I do a little back-up singing here and there, but have a really limited (low tenor) range. I do sing quite a bit when I am arranging. My better half thinks I am down in the basement talking to myself.
 
saxhound said:
OT - Pete, how did you get a custom title after 8 posts? I smell a payoff!
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Pete has no control over me. This is fortunate as he would have banned me by now if he did me thinks. :cool:

I give people I know personally who are in the business an avatar and custom title when they join. Examples include Pete Thomas and Dave Kessler. Most appreciate it and it helps us put a face to a name.
 
I would say singing helps my playing and playing helps my singing.

I'm not sure if it's because I sang for so long before I played - soloist, choirs (trickier inner parts were my fav), musical theatre, sight singing, I find singing helps my playing because I "sing" or hear the pitches of the notes in my ear while I'm playing / a split second before I play the note.

Also, I personally find, I don't really KNOW a part unless I can sing it in pitch/time without the horn.


Because I don't sing as much now - so much so I don't call myself a "singer" anymore - I find that playing helps my singing because after a little time with the horn, when I go to sing my sound/pitch/support is exponentially better than if I just warmed up my voice without playing my horn.
 
saxhound said:
I do sing quite a bit when I am arranging. My better half thinks I am down in the basement talking to myself.
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You're arranging rap songs? :)

FWIW I sing once in a while while playing. That's a funny way of a) opening your throat and b) de-couple brain stem from playing. Like a drummer doing crotchets with one hand and and triplet minims with the other.

Now there's an idea, play a tune and sing/growl the counter-melody at the same time...
 
tictactux said:
You're arranging rap songs? :)
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Bite your tongue! Besides, that is an oxymoron.

I do a lot of arranging (actually transcribing) from old big band recordings and 60's and 70's horn bands. One of the hardest things for me to pick out is a walking bass line, especially if the player is a little free with their interpretation of the chords. I put my headphones on with the bass cranked up, and sing along with the part a few times before I attempt to notate it.
 
retread said:
Vocals must help my playing. When I sing, after just a few notes people demand that I go back to playing.
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Color me surprised that no one used this line earlier ....
 
I'm no stranger to that experience.
I've been experimenting with singing a few notes and scales before practicing, occasionally singing a scale before playing it, as loud and open as possible (locked in an insulated room of course) and it's been helping my tone tremendously. I'd reccomend it to anyone that either lives alone (or has access to lots of privacy), or sings well. It really works (but don't hurt yourself).
 
As a saxophonist/clarinetist turned into a singer, I do have a note along the lines of what PJ mentions: don't hurt yourself.

I've mentioned before that I have a relatively wide vocal range. However, if I'm really a bass (I am) and I decide to sing a lot of tenor I (i.e. "really high") and I'm doing it wrong, I'm going to start damaging my vocal chords. At the very least, this will take some steps off your range and, at the most, you'll end up sounding like Bea Arthur. (Which is good for some types of music, I suppose ....)

When I first started singing, as a church musician, I noticed that it was difficult to get through four or five services on a weekend (i.e. about 2.5 hours of singing) because my throat couldn't handle it: I would either have a 1/2 octave range or just couldn't sing, period. When I started taking lessons and finding out how to hit notes correctly, I had no problems at all singing 2.5 hours. Well, unless I was singing tenor I. Hey, I only did that when a majority of the tenor Is weren't there. That wasn't more than about 4 weekends a month.
 
And the scary part is, sometimes you don't know you're hurting yourself. You'll be singing either too high, too loud, too low, too something, and you won't feel the pain right away, so you have to know your limits. Speak with a vocal coach if possible, do your best to determine your natural range and tone, what you can and can't do with it, etc.
And, obviously, if it hurts, don't sing that way.
 
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