Simone Niles and Kathy Alexander share tips on how to sing with authenticity.
SIMONE NILES
Vocalist | Transformational Coach
Music Teacher | Vocal Coach | Co-founder of Singdaptive
This week’s Tips from the Team are all about authenticity! We all want to sing authentically and with authentic emotion, but how do we get there? We’ve asked Singdaptive instructor and transformational vocal coach, Simone Niles; and singer, author, vocal coach, choir director, and Singdaptive co-founder, Kathy Alexander to give us their tips on singing authentically.
Simone on Singing Authentically on Stage
Tips from The Team Transcript: I love the topic of authenticity. One of the things I would say is really important to do is to make sure that you are as prepared as possible with your material beforehand. This way, when you’re on stage, you can get out of your head, and into your heart and the expression that you want to bring forward to the audience. Everyone in the audience knows when someone is just being themselves on stage, and they’re just comfortable in their own skin. Often it’s not easy to do that when you’re constantly thinking: what’s the next line? Or, where do I come in? Or whatever those challenges for you might be. So if you can be really prepared and really know your material well, then that’s half the battle won. Because then all you’re having to do is tap into that part of you that we all want to see. Just be your beautiful self on stage and let that shine through.
What is the Best Way to Sing Authentically On Stage
Kathy on Singing with Authentic Emotion
Tips from The Team Transcript: Well, I think this can be kind of a lifelong process of growth as we challenge ourselves to really bring authenticity to the art that we do. And it does come more naturally to some people than others. So, there’s a lot I could say about this, but let me say that what I try to do is to place myself in the song as if I’m really singing those words. To the point that I could actually say those lyrics to someone and conjure up a real situation in my mind where I would actually say those lyrics.
So for example, there’s a U2 song that I sing with my cover duo, and it’s called Stuck in a Moment. And so, there’s a lyric that says, you’ve got to get yourself together. You’re stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it. I find it hard to imagine myself saying that to someone else. So when I sing this song, I actually imagine that I’m speaking to myself because I think I’m actually the harshest on myself. I give a lot of leeway to other people, but I’m a bit of a perfectionist. So, I say to myself, “Kathy, you’ve got to get past this. You’re stuck in a moment and you can’t get out of it. You got to get yourself together, Kathy.” That’s my way of finding a really authentic way to place myself in the song and deliver those lyrics.