Voice in Singing, Acting, and Writing. Learn Technique, Find Your Voice.

I can’t remember if I ever told you I was an opera singer and voice teacher in my younger days.

Lately, I’m beginning to sing again as a hobby, and it’s got me thinking.

As a singer, one of the hardest things to do is discover your own healthiest voice and use that without trying to imitate someone else.

Usually what singers (of all kinds, not just opera singers) do is listen to who they admire and manipulate what they hear coming out of their own mouth to try to sound as much like that person as they are able.

This is not going to work. There are two reasons.

The first reason is that when you are listening to yourself sing, you are not hearing what everyone else is hearing. So you are manipulating your sound in a way that you’re hearing it the way you want it.

If you’ve heard yourself on recording and wondered why it sounds the way it does, the bad news is, the recording is showing you what everyone else is hearing. That is what your voice sounds like outside of your head.

The second reason it doesn’t work to listen to yourself and manipulate your voice to sound like the singers you like is that you are not them, and they are not you. You aren’t supposed to sound like them. You are supposed to sound like you.

The good news is, you can improve what you’re hearing on the recording, but not by manipulating your voice.

You can improve it by learning what it feels like to sing correctly. Healthily. Like you.

When you learn healthy singing technique, you produce the optimal sound for you. You sing with the voice God designed and gave you.

Obviously, there are variations depending on what style you’re going for: opera, rock, soul, musical theater, but the core of good singing in any style is the same.

Align your body

Breathe low

Relax your throat and jaw (no tension)

Make space

Raise the soft pallet to avoid singing through the nose

Use your air

If I want to sing opera, I’ll open up my throat in a way to lower my larynx and add some snarl on top of it.

But in no way do I want to add tension to any part of that process.

If I’m singing pop, I won’t lower my larynx. But everything else is the same. Good singing is good singing is good singing.

Now…what does this have to do with writing?

Well, it’s about “voice.” Your voice. Your writing voice.

I’m a ghostwriter for a living, and even if I am trying to write in someone else’s voice, I have to somehow also write in my own.

Btw, I saw this in acting too. When we act, we pretend to be a character. If a performance is good, we call it “honest.”

Why?

Because there has to be something of the actor in the character or we won’t believe it. Even when we know we’re seeing a performance, we still want to believe it.

When we don’t believe an acting performance, there is a word for it. “Bad.”

When I act, I have to act with my authentic voice.

And when I sing, I need to sing with my authentic voice.

I don’t need to imitate someone else.

I need to use good technique — breathing, relaxation, moving air, open throat, high pallet, etc.— to make a sound that is uniquely me and as perfect as I can make it without trying to sound like anyone but me.

And I don’t do that by listening to myself to manipulate my voice.

I do that by learning what it feels like to sing well, healthily, and as beautifully as I’m able. And then do that.

What it sounds like is what it sounds like.

When I’m writing, it’s the same as acting and singing. I can’t pretend. I have to be authentic (even if I’m ghostwriting) or it’s not believable. If it’s not believable, it won’t resonate.

I need to know the technique and do the technique, trusting what comes out is the right thing.

So what is good writing technique? How will you sound authentically like yourself to the reader, getting the best voice you’re capable of. Here are five things to think about:

1. Tell the truth more specifically. Vague writing is often protective writing. Instead of saying “I struggled,” describe the actual struggle. Instead of “we had a hard season,” describe the slammed door, the hospital hallway, the unpaid bill, the silence at dinner. Specificity is resonance. Generalities rarely move people.

2. Read great writing out loud. Singers train their ears constantly. Writers should too. Read sentences from writers you admire aloud slowly enough to feel the rhythm, breath, pacing, and emotional movement. Don’t imitate them. Absorb musicality, clarity, courage, and structure the way singers absorb phrasing and tone.

3. Cut the tension from your prose. Just as singers carry tension in the jaw, tongue, neck, and throat, writers carry tension in overwriting. Unnecessary adjectives. Complicated phrasing. Constant qualification. Trying too hard to sound intelligent. After you draft something, ask: “Where am I straining?” Then relax the sentence.

4. Write things that make you slightly uncomfortable. Healthy singing requires vulnerability. So does good writing. Usually the lines that resonate most are the ones the writer almost deleted. Not because they are shocking, but because they are honest. Practice saying the thing underneath the polished thing.

5. Develop consistency instead of intensity. Great singers do exercises daily, not occasionally in moments of inspiration. Writing works the same way. A thousand honest paragraphs written consistently will shape your voice more than waiting for lightning to strike. Voice is not discovered in one dramatic moment. It emerges through repetition, attention, and practice over time.

What are some of your favorite singing, acting, or writing exercises.

And if you are a fellow singer, say hi in the comments.

Jeff

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