The Intelligent Vocalist

Jamila Ford is an experienced singer with a long list of credits, including Seal and the Coachella Festival. Jamila brings the perspective of a successful working singer to her podcast audience (The Working Singer) and her lucky voice students.

Just as in life, music and singing will bring disappointments. Most of these disappointments are not in our control, but that doesn't mean we can't get back on track. In this episode, John discusses how to handle setbacks and why self-forgiveness can be a powerful step in moving forward.

Teachers and singers often struggle to fix a vocal issue because the root cause has been misdiagnosed or missed completely. Making a proper assessment of your or a student's voice is an essential step in finding your way forward. In this episode, John talks with Chris Johnson of the Naked Vocalist podcast on his detailed assessment method and how you can more accurately discover what's happening in the singing voice. EPISODE LINKS: Chris' Website

It can be difficult to know what to practice, especially if you are having a bad vocal day. In this episode, John breaks down a recent practice session and how he analyzed and corrected his vocal issues  

A full, rich-sounding voice is highly sought after by singers. But what if you find your voice to be thin or nasal? In this episode, John explains what causes a thin tone and his best tips to make your voice fuller and richer.

Almost every creative endeavor carries the question, "am I good enough? Do I have talent?" This feeling of not being good enough has caused many worthy voices to stumble and go quiet. In this episode, John discusses the role of talent in singing and why your fear of not being talented enough should never stop you from expressing yourself.  

Our minds can be a terrible place to live. Constant chatter, worry, and criticism are the opposite of what we need to practice and create music with our voice. In this episode, John discusses how to calm the mind and find a state of flow to help you practice and sing at your best.

Getting stuck in chest voice or the lower register is a common problem for developing singers. Much work is devoted to lightening this part of the voice to reduce yelling and strain on higher notes. But many singers develop a fear of their chest voice and avoid its full power for fear of overloading and straining their voice. In this episode, John discusses the need to initially get the chest voice under control and then bring it back in for vocal richness and power.

Interruption has been the theme of this past year. The lack of performances and general uncertainties has led to many of us taking a break from our singing. In this episode, John discusses how to carefully and properly return your voice to peak shape and performance.

Vocal tension is one of the top issues singers deal with. However, not all tension is bad. We need a certain amount of tension to produce sound. Knowing good from bad tension is essential for singers. In this episode, John discusses how to identify and correct tension to sing at your best.