An Inspirational Workshop with Brenda Earle Stokes
Whom did you imagine yourself to be when you were young and first trying out your voice? Did you have some idol that you wanted to sound like? Mine was Julie Andrews. Maybe you were satisfied with one and never thought of having a number of sounds that you could sing with. Maybe you never knew how many different people you could sound like, what a variety of styles you could sing in.
When Brenda Earle comes and gets her clinic attendees fired up with her methods, she makes us think that we're capable of sounding like all kinds of other voices. Her techniques and training aids are meant to develop individual awareness for placing and pitching your voice so that it sounds--by turns--brassy, mellow, heady, chesty, blended, young, sweet... you name it. It's almost like you can place your order. But then you do have to determine how to arrive at that sound and then remember how to get there!
Brenda's experience at this kind of 'imitation game' comes from a stint on board a cruise ship. She was asked to play piano and sing songs for the guests in the exact style of all kinds of vocal artists and found that, with a little work, she was able to pull it off. When she met up with her teacher, Jeannie LoVetri, whose Somatic Voicework methods harmonized with her own ideas, Brenda's own considerable vocal talents found a place to grow. This body-based system for singing frees the singer from over-thinking breathing methods and stressing over vowel sounds (among other preoccupations) and relies instead on techniques that enable the voice to make specific sounds that are usually new, fun and fulfilling.
Here are a few nuggets of wisdom from this fantastic teacher, from our most recent workshop
with her in November 2014:
• The throat changes form every 4-5 notes. This can explain why your sound changes and
sometimes drives you mad in doing so.
• One approach to navigating your voice break is to anchor your practice scale by starting
in your throat voice (most likely to be your speaking voice), relax (no judging your sound
at this point) and open your mouth (maybe more than you're used to) as you ascend the
scale. You might not even notice your voice break go by which is a big achievement in
itself since we can be haunted by this problem.
• The "Big Owl" is a way to describe the operatic voice (thought by some to be the 'best'
and only voice you're allowed to use, but it's not!). The "Little Owl" is a way to describe
the light contemporary sound. Both of these are exercises where you, not surprisingly,
make a hooting sound.
• To sustain volume, think about a crescendo, not just sitting on the sound.
• Develop playlists of artists who sound like you want to, in specific pieces.
• Choirs that don't blend well can look at differences in registration and the mix of chest
and head voices that the individuals are using. Making a decision about what sound you
are after and practising together to achieve it can alleviate this difficulty.
• If you can hear it, you can probably create it.
