actually, this series should be called ‘saving energy’ or something similar because that’s what it’s about, but anyway. if you have problems being able to sing for hours without passing out, throwing up or just losing the voice, it’s not about more strength or power or more training, it’s mostly about saving energy. of course, if you live a healthy life – sports, healthy food etc. – it helps a lot in many ways. and if you have strong powerful lungs and lots of stamina, that’s great as well. but this here is about making the best of your current situation. i’ve yet to have a student that doesn’t waste huge amounts of energy in the beginning, so this is a good thing to do at the start. i already told you about efficiency here and here, to open your mouth (read it here) and to check out how much energy you can save before your performance suffers without any other adjustments (here and here).

the next point would be to develop a strategy for a song and for the whole gig for that matter. that’s quite an easy one. notice that some songs give you a hard time while others seem to sing themselves – energywise. this depends on the whole song, not just on how high the notes are for instance. the feel is important here. once i had the problem of not being able to sing the songs i loved the most. after suspecting the devil himself to work against me, i thought it might be wiser to use a more scientific approach. the answer was easy, i used to dig into those beloved songs too much which resulted in some kind of small burnout. the next mistake was to think i needed to become stronger because digging in any less was out of the question. the real answer is strategy. no matter how strong you are, there will always be a song that sucks you completely dry. by strategy i mean finding out how and why the song really works and using that to your advantage. for example, maybe you forget to use the guitar solo as a break for yourself to relax a bit because you dig it so much. or maybe you don’t have a regular breathing rhythm for this song because you just get carried away. it’s easy to throw some techniques overboard when you’re into it but you should fight this urge – at least while you’re developing a strategy. try to get to that song as cool as possible so you can have a clear look at it. discover the moments in the song that really eat up your energy. when you’ve found them, decide if it’s possible to save some energy there without sacrificing any of the feel (hint: it usually is!)

another trick: doing the opposite can work ridiculously well, meaning try to whisper that one word you would usually scream – this can make it way more powerful. it can, not does always.

imagine a ‘suspense curve’ (if that term even exists – you know, like in a drama or something…) for the song and notice where power is important and where it’s not needed. for many songs, it’s not a good choice to start from the top of your lungs because then there’s no room to build up from there. save this for the climax, where it belongs…

and a rather general trick would be: if you reach your climax too early, just start softer. come to think of it, this might also work in other situations :-)

it’s not about getting into it so much that you crash along the way, it’s about making it sound and feel good. there will come a time when all those techniques work automatically – then you really can let go because mr. subconscious will take care of it. but until that time….well…..you know……it just sucks to suck, right? :-) but don’t panic, with a little work on that, you’ll get over it quickly.

once again mess around with all of that and have fun…