MAKING THE SONG YOUR OWN

When a new student sings a popular song for me, many times they try to copy the artist singing the song. Most of the time, this does not work. Some artists have a style that is unique to them. When someone else tries to sing that style, their voice does not fit the style, and the song ends up sounding unnatural. If a song has low notes that you cannot reach, you need to change the notes to higher notes found in the chord. Also, do not scoop your notes. This only ends up sounding like you are singing wrong notes. This is why people need voice teachers and vocal coaches. Your voice sounds very different to someone else than it does to you. Another problem is when someone sings along with the artist and not by themselves. The singer gets a false sense of security because they think they are sounding just like the artist. But nothing could be further from the truth. That is why shows like American Idol want the person trying out to sing accapella. They can tell right away if the singer is singing on pitch and there is nothing for the singer to hide behind, like the accompaniment. So, my point is that when you want to sing a song, only sing along with the artist until you learn the song. After it is learned, then you need to find backing tracks without the artist singing and sing in your own style and not the artist's style. You need to make the song your own.