Discover Your Voice: How to Develop Healthy Voice Habits

Okay, like everyone else, I cringed at the price. I still can't quite understand how a little book and a CD of recorded exercises can be this costly. But, I have noticed that that's just par for the course with college textbooks, and I imagine this specialized text is the same kind of thing.You know what? In THIS case, I'm actually happy to have spent the money. I recently took a one hour voice lesson with someone who is allegedly "the best around" in my area. It was a one hour lesson and cost 1.5x as much as this book/CD. I was given a recording of the lesson as a "customized for me" vocal exercise CD. But, I left the lesson feeling that I hadn't learned very much, that the exercises had not brought out any new quality in my voice, and that the teacher didn't think I had such a great voice to begin with. I felt a little heart broken and discouraged.The beauty of this book/CD is that the teacher's voice (it comes through even in his writing style) is gentle, encouraging, and faithful. He has faith that we can all sing, and that it's a practical matter - finding a way to relax and DISCOVER your VOICE.For some people, like me, singing is really important. It's emotional and, it means something about WHO you are. I feel like it's something I want to be able to do ... well. More than anything. I bring a pretty large degree of vulnerability to the table when I go to a teacher and say, "I really want to be able to sing."Somehow, Oren Brown's writing style and his speaking on the CD are comforting and reassuring. The material is extremely informative, but more than that, it seems like he has enough faith for both of you, that your voice can be found. For me, that made this book worth the hefty sticker price.

It's no secret singing is a personal universe of mystery that somehow remains unveiled no matter teachers, discipline, technique, etc. With all other instruments you can actually SEE what's going on in the process of learning. With the voice, everything is how "you feel" about it. You can not see your vocal chords to realize you have a good or bad habit...The secret is then how to LEARN to recognize if what you feel is right about the way you sing or not. It shouldn't be so hard; you either -for example- feel exhausted after singing an aria or whatever, or feel you can keep on singing for the rest of the day without fatigue. That should indicate something! But the problem is to be able to reproduce great singing sensations in an everyday basis. That can certainly be a lifetime challenge. This book helps pointing out towards sensations associated with freedom and flow of a natural voice; Brown is all about this, in search of a more "primal" sound, connected to the way we speak. Not everything is as simple as that, and singing, depending on the repertoire, etc, etc, needs to a certain extent, some kind of artifice beyond the speaking natural sound of our voices. But this book will put you on the right track if you have been wondering about tensions with the way your vocal production occurs. Highly recommended for connecting singing with a more mundane experience in which emotions need to be part of your singing. Great simple exercises can reveal so much, and in that respect it is a fantastic book. Highly recommended.

I've read a couple of books and hundreds of articles that have to do with the voice as a prime subject. SO far this book is my favorite. It starts from the vary basics and it goes all the way to advanced facts. Just beware that it is not a book full of exercises, it's a book that is going to let you find and understand your voice from the medical and artistic point of view. Although a little outdated, this books is full of great facts back guarded with an extensive and interesting bibliography. It has many clear and precise diagrams to help you understand what's going on inside. It explains how the voice is affected from the physical point of view, to the mental one. If you are interested in posture and breathing it also has written some exercises to nail them with no problem. Mr Brown teachings are based on Bel Canto, and he will mention many singers that may be a little (or more) unknown to the contemporary singer. His CD has very good audio to explain many sounds and a few exercises that need to be heard instead of being read, which is a great add-on to any singer or voice professional. Overall, this book will not teach you to sing step by step. But is a great resource for anybody who wants to know more about his or her voice. If you want a systematic program to teach you how to sing, I recommend Singing Success by Brett Manning,NOT a book. This book is well worth its price and friendly written, a must have for all vocal teachers, students and even physicians.

I have been wanting to teach myself to sing for several years, since I can't afford voice lessons, and have tried several books on the subject. This one is by far the best. I first tried books by William Vennard and Richard Miller and found that they were meant for advanced students, not beginners. There are other books for beginners, but they aren't usually meant for classical singing, more for pop (and I find that the authors don't really seem to have much of an understanding of the human voice). I don't know how he does it, but Brown manages to make normally difficult concepts easy to understand. Part of that is because of the CD that comes with it. It helps give a better understanding of what he's trying to explain. I would highly recommend this book for anyone trying to learn how to sing classically.