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Roger: I don't mean anything very fancy, although the ways we protect ourselves, our self-concept, can be complex. I just mean that particularly when we're performing for others, it's the most natural thing in the world not to reveal ourselves and our emotions fully. Not just because that's a stupid thing to reveal too much too freely, but because we hide from ourselves too. It's an emotional task getting past that, or accepting it.
Dave: I love the emotional power that voices can have, and the rare times I really experience that singing. If it takes getting uncomfortable to do that, I'm ready.
Roger: Okay. Maybe before we get started I should let you know where I've gotten my ideas. My training and interest in voice came from acting as well as singing - and philosophy of music, and some physiology and neurophysiology, believe it or not. My ideas will sound different, some of them, and a few of them may be quite different than what you've been told so far, but I'm not really asking you to believe them, or believe anything. The idea is to give them a fair shot, and see if they can help you.
Dave: Good. Instant Soul, that's all I want. I've been studying singing technique for years now, and it's not that I haven't learned, but now I keep finding myself thinking, who doesn't have technique? I mean, it's nice, but I don't want to be a polished lounge singer, I want some feeling in there, or something unique. There aren't many singers that really stand out, that can't be replaced. I need to get that something extra. I'm at the point where I don't think more polish is going to help. It might even hurt. Where's the feeling?
Roger: Well it's there, for everybody, but it's not trivial to get at, there are psychological consequences, too, to going there. We spend a lot of time and effort keeping our most private feelings from ourselves, never mind anyone else. It's not easy getting there. You can't very well display your real feelings in your voice without experiencing them yourself, so you do have to expect emotional results you'll have to deal with.
Dave: That's where the Heroin comes in I guess...
Roger: You're joking, but substance abuse, alcohol, drugs, whatever is pretty high amongst actors and musicians, and maybe there are a lot of reasons for that, moving around, losing relationships that way, trying to boost yourself up to perform, sure; but I have to think that the psychological difficulties of revealing yourself are a big factor too.
Dave: But that sounds like self-indulgence. Like a bad teenage singer belting out their shallowest emotions, and choosing a song like feelings to do it.
Roger: Right, I should have said, the joy of voice is that it can actually reveal your unconscious feelings and thoughts - what you're consciously feeling isn't very important. If that was all that mattered we'd all be Ella Fitzgeralds.
Dave: Unconscious sounds abstract. And messy. And mystical and ungraspable. Do I really have to deal with that?
Roger: Not if you stick with technique. Candy boy band singers aren't wracked by self-discovery after every performance. You could stick with that. Mediocrity often leads to a happy and placid life.
Dave: Billie succumbed to all the crap, but Ella didn't. And I don't think she was the second Freud.
Roger: Sure, I agree it can be handled, it just isn't always. Meditation helps.
Dave: I'm looking for a more practical path than a mystical one.
Roger: My path to a more meaningful voice is practical, but it does involve a lot of talk, good practical talk I hope, but lots of theory, lots of talk. But the truth is, there's no easy way there. If you can get there on your own, great. There certainly are singers who have felt their way there without a single word, all on their own. There are just never enough of them.
Dave: I don't know if we're going the same way here. I want to get to more emotion, less technique. Fewer words and more feelings.
Roger: I agree. And there are certainly purely mechanical tips I can give you, also believe it or not meditation or self-attention to subtle body-feelings, or something like that is very practical too, for artists, however you do it, even if you're just doing it while you're quilting. It keeps some of the psychological pressure off, and helps with the some self-discovery you need. But I can't avoid talk entirely. Sometime you have to know why you're doing some weird damn thing, or you won't be doing.
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