VocalQuarters
… with renowned voice coach Diana Yampolsky
As a world-renowned vocal coach, voice repair specialist, and author, there are few things Diana Yampolsky doesn’t know about the human voice and how to get it to perform at its peak.
She has helped a myriad of stars achieve their vocal potential, including Our Lady Peace singer Raine Maida (US Top 10, Canada No.1), Canadian Idol winner Brian Melo (Canada Gold) and singer-songwriter Anjulie (US Dance No.1), and she can help you too whatever your ability! According to Ms. Yampolsky, while 25% of a singer’s performance is grounded in talent, 75% relies on coaching.
The Toronto-based specialist continues her VocalQuarters column that addresses how to improve both your voice and vocals. Furthermore once she puts down her pen she’s on hand to answer any questions you might have.
Psychology of Performance - Pavlovian Conditioning
By Diana Yampolsky
A statement I frequently make when speaking at music conferences is that vocal coaching is as much about working on the voice as working on the mind.
I like to think that one reason I have been successful over the years is that while I have received a comprehensive musical education, I have also tried to learn aspects from other scientific and artistic disciplines and use them to enhance my capabilities as a vocal specialist. One field that has a bearing on singing, as well as pretty much every human endeavour, is behavioural psychology.
In 1891, the Russian scientist Ivan Pavlov conducted a series of experiments with dogs in order to prove that behaviours are conditioned over time via repetition. In essence, he programmed the dogs’ brains to enable them to react in the exact manner that he wanted. For example, if he wanted the dog to learn the command to sit, he had to say, “sit!” with a very firm voice, put the dog into a sitting position, and then reward it with a treat. Eventually, the dog learned the command and would sit when instructed to do so.
Salivation would always accompany this response, as the dog would always associate the command with a treat. Pavlov proved that saliva was produced in anticipation of the reward.
What’s more, despite recognising the command to ‘sit’, the dog is not able to understand any particular language. The Russian master would command, "sit!" in the Russian language, the Japanese in Japanese, etc. It is the sound the dog recognises and responds to accordingly.
Now let's suppose the dog was enrolled in an obedience school in which the masters weren't sure of what command to give and what response they wanted to receive. With the command ‘sit', they were making the dog 'lie'. With the command 'lie' they were making the dog run and so on. The dog would get completely confused and not know what to do anymore.
Furthermore, let's say the dog then enrolled in a different obedience school and the new master started giving him the correct commands. The new master would be perplexed - he couldn't understand why the dog was lying when he was commanding the dog to sit and why the dog was running when it was commanded to lie.
Obviously, the signals were mixed up. With vocal coaching and consulting, I am faced with a similar situation every hour of every day. Many singers have mixed signals and ‘run’ when they should ‘lie’. To recondition the mind and the response of the body is not an easy task, but it can be done. However, in a lot of cases it is with a great degree of difficulty.
I therefore use a structured set of speech and singing exercises to condition the mind and body to work both in synergy and synchronicity.
In many ways, what I am doing is similar to another scientific methodology, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), which is essentially designed to help people alter and reprogramme an individual’s behaviour by ‘installing’ a certain set of instructions into their brains.
Although I have found that all people are given a voice, that doesn’t mean they necessarily have the instructions on how to use it, at least not in a scientific way.
The ‘manual’ and ‘programmes’ that I give singers consist of special speech and singing exercises that train people in a way that is really not all that different from the way that Pavlov trained his dogs. After I have supervised the repetition of these exercises over a consistent but relatively short period of time, the way that singers use their voices is the result of a programmed instinct that will give them optimum results with a minimum amount of effort.
In many instances, the hardest part of improving an individual's performance is not in programming new behaviours, but actually getting the singer to admit and, more importantly, understand that they have a problem.
I call this the ‘Vocaholics Anonymous’ syndrome because in many ways it is similar to the behaviour of an alcoholic with respect to alcohol. Alcoholics abuse their bodies through the excessive consumption of alcohol in a manner similar to the way that many singers abuse their vocal chords - and ultimately the ears of their audiences. In both cases, they usually feel pretty sore the next day.
Similarly, both are often told by friends and family that they have a problem, but they usually do not listen and cannot admit it to themselves. The first step for any recovering alcoholic is for them to acknowledge they have a problem, and for a "vocaholic' the steps are pretty much the same.
The singer first has to admit to them self that their current vocal technique - or lack of - is a problem. The 2nd step is to commit to doing something about it. The 3rd step is to get expert help, and the 4th is to be able to establish a proper habit so that they won't fall back into their bad ones. As with alcoholism, the goal of any vocal coach should be to cure their students of their bad habits to the point that there is no chance they will ever fall back into their old ones.
In conclusion, singing, like almost any other discipline, is based on conditioning. If your voice is conditioned the right way, you will sound better than you ever imagined possible. Like a dog, you need a competent master and a great obedience school.
To learn more about Diana and her unique vocal tuition read our interview with her here
