Jim Dix Voice Studio

featured singing tip

Make Your Voice Ring!

Small changes can have a big impact on your singing.
Check out how with this quick video tip.

See Blog below for more free tips!

get your free voice lesson

Vowel Power!

Hi everybody, I'm Jim Dix. I've recently had an opportunity to take some amazing voice lessons with some great teachers, and I want to share with you some stuff that I'm really excited about right now, and I'm enjoying a…

Quarantine Practice

Hi, everyone, this is Jim Dix here in my studio. And I just want to take a minute to throw something out here that may help you to leverage an opportunity that is, maybe well concealed in this adversity that…

Rhythm and Lyrics

Lyrics and Rhythm

Hey, singers, it's Jim Dix. Again, just coming at you with a quick tip for today. I want to talk about lyrics and rhythm and practicing songs in a way that you may not be used to…

Upper Register Singing

Hey all you singers out there this is Jim Dix and I just want to take a minute to put up a quick tip on singing. Today's subject is singing in the upper register, and some of the things that…

Microphones and Mic Technique

Hey all you singers out there, this is Jim Dix. I want to take just a minute to put up a quick tip on singing and matters relating to singing. Today's topic is going to be microphones and mic technique…

Eye Contact

Hi, all you singers out there. This is Jim Dix. I want to talk today for a second about eye contact and what that means in a performance situation. First of all, eye contact is very important, and it's more…

Practice

Hi, all you singers out there this is Jim Dix. I want to take a second to put up a quick tip on singing, and today I want to talk about practicing - when to practice, how much to practice…

Speak the truth

Make a Song Live by Speaking it First.

To make a song live and breathe, speak the lyrics.

Speak the lyrics of the song when learning a song (even if it’s your own original song) and check back in with this practice periodically. Speak them freely, as you would in a conversation.

This puts the meaning of the song in a context that is unsupported by melody or harmony. Speak it so that the lyrics communicate meaningfully through spoken voice alone. Connecting to the core meaning or feeling of the song like that brings you into a place where you’re really speaking from the heart or telling a story when you sing, as opposed to just singing a lot of notes with words attached.

Speaking the song also frees your phrasing from the rhythmic cadence of the rhyme scheme. It’s OK to use that cadence, but being unbound by it will yield phrasing that is conversational, natural, and fresh. You don’t generally repeat the same patterns of emphasis and rhythm in your day to day speech, right? So a conversational approach will tend to have a spontaneous and genuine delivery, which may vary naturally with every performance.

This approach will also aid in keeping a more relaxed and healthy vocal technique. Think about how much tension you have in your tongue, neck, and jaw while talking with your friends. Not much, right? That’s how relaxed it should be.

Next, speak the lyrics and add tone. It doesn’t even have to be the melody of the song. In fact, it’s probably better if it’s not. Just something to get you making tonal phonation while speaking the lyrics.

Finally, speak the lyrics over the melody, retaining the kinds of inflections and phrasing you used when speaking them without music.

Bring lyrics to life by speaking them to yourself. Make them live for your audience by speaking them in song.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jim Dix

www.jimdixvoicestudio.com

Jim Dix is a South Florida vocalist, songwriter, and teacher.