I pray that future clients of mine are reading this. I've been coaching professionally since 2004. Prior to that I myself was a professional singer, lyricist/vocal choreographer and recording artist. Although I didn't achieve the kind of success I was originally shooting for early on, God made sure I absorbed all the knowledge and experience I needed to pass on to my future clients. For this reason I'm able to relate to just about every issue a client brings to me whether it be stage fright, not feeling well before a show, selecting the right music, lack of confidence, struggles with hitting notes or even entertainment law or music production related issues.....I've been there and I know exactly how to help you. I'm well rounded to every area of music biz and entertainment thanks to my real life experiences, mentors like producers and managers I've had along the way and yes! Plenty of reading and research. God has blessed me in the greatest way. And though times have changed since I was pursuing a professional career as a singer back in the late eighties and nineties, I simply had to adjust to the latest trends of today in order to help today's singers and artists. My young clients and my children keep me young so that helps a lot for sure! I try to stay informed about the latest music trends and am pretty good with technology and social media. While some young folks have old souls I'm an older gal with a young soul lol...The point in telling you all this is....I know what the hell I'm doing! Don't get it twisted just because I'm not famous or because I manage my business out of my home vocal studio. I'm a different kind of famous. I'm undercover famous Lol. I'm Hollywood's best kept secret. I know the right people, I'm a great teacher, I'm not shady, I care about my clients and I have the information my clients need. At the end of the day that's all that really counts. God didn't bless me with the skills to boost myself to superstardom. He blessed me with it to boost YOUR chances of success. Now that I know all this I can pursue my purpose of helping my clients become the BEST version of themselves. What do I get out of it? I get the gratification of seeing you succeed. I don't promise to make you famous but I do promise you'll be more prepared for whatever life throws your way after working with me....maybe famous too...but that depends on you. Your success is my success but many won't be able to take full advantage of future opportunities after working with me. Why??? Because they're so damn HARD HEADED!
Two Things My Hard Headed Clients Do That Block Their Success
So this is a blog so I don't want to make it too long. I've selected just two out of many of the the poor choices my clients have made AFTER I've warned them of the consequences.
1. Let's say you have an audition coming up. You hire me to help you prepare. Typically that service involves me helping you select the right music, coaching you and helping you choreograph your performance. Sometimes I'll throw in a complementary music edit if it's not too much work. I love helping folks any way I can if time permits....otherwise I may charge a little extra for my time for the music editing process. I also take care of other tasks as needed such as doing research about your audition and/or music to insure you are fully prepared and then I go over all those things with you. Usually a client ends up getting more of my time than they paid for but that's because their success is more valuable to me than their money. So really the ONLY thing I ask the HARD HEADED CLIENT to do is learn their song lyrics and melody BEFORE we meet for the session. If a client is paying me for a three hour PERFORMANCE/AUDITION prep package that time is filled with our hourly face to face session time but if I must add in the task of helping you learn and memorize your assigned song lyrics and melody....well first of all that's absolutely a waste of my time and yours as well. If I spend three hours helping you memorize your own song then what are you going to do when your session time is all used up and you still haven't been coached? I'll tell you what the inconsiderate and hard headed ones would do. They'd be mad as hell that they spent all that money and didn't get the help they needed and of course I'm the BAD GUY. I've had many clients show up to sessions unprepared and when the end result didn't turn out the way they wanted it to they had the nerve to say something like "Well you're the voice coach. Isn't it YOUR job to teach me the lyrics and melody?"....WTH? LOL...Um...that answer would be NO. As a singer you also have a job to do. Ultimately it's your job to be prepared for your performance. I'm not the one that will be standing before the judges or a live audience. That would be YOU. I will do my part but if you don't do yours don't blame the voice coach. Bottom line: Follow my instructions, rehearse daily and show up to my sessions on time and fully prepared. This will increase your chances of success.
2. So lets say you have a pitch problem and you are anxious to record and release music. You come to me for pitch and vocal training for one month even though I've recommended 3 months because you have a pretty bad pitch problem. I warn you that you should NOT begin your project if you are not prepared to present a great vocal. I'm so tired of seeing aspiring singers & music artists that are so impatient that they go ahead and record a song and put it out sounding pitchy as hell. Even though the producer tries to cover up their mess with effects like auto tune, I know better....and before long the public will know better because you'll need to sing it live if you're really trying to pursue music biz and all your dirty little secrets will come out of your mouth in a pitchy melody. Nope...you won't have auto tune to back you up this time. Then the singer posts their music on social media and their friends show public support through LIKES and comments...which is great BUT is it really? Of course your friends and family will say the kindest things about your music even though they secretly are embarrassed for you. The truth hurts but you really need to know the un-sugar coated truth from those who can give it to you straight no chaser.....LIKE ME. That's how I got better at what I do. I had to get in my feelings a few times and reevaluate what I was doing. Sometimes reevaluating meant that I had to invest in myself and then reinvent myself once I was better prepared. It meant I had to be patient and restrain from promoting under developed projects. TRUST THE PROCESS. So that client, the one who worked with me for one month before meeting with a producer, comes back to me once he/she realizes the producer was shady. You pay them to produce and not to judge. A shady producer will take your money and record your voice pitchy or not. Don't expect them to advise you to go to a voice coach and come back when you've corrected your issue. And hey....we really can't fault them for that either. They're just doing they're job and usually producers don't know how to teach a singer the proper way to produce sound or how to correct pitch BUT from time to time, if you are fortunate enough, you will come across a producer who does. Moral of the story is to stop putting the cart before the horse. Get yourself together. Invest in great voice training and realize perfection doesn't happen over night. Depending on the singer's skill level and the time they invest in practicing the techniques they learned, it can take anywhere from one month to one year or longer if there are other areas of your artist development that you need to upgrade. Some of the most famous acts of all time were in development and training for quite some time before you heard them sing their first note on the radio....like the famous pop/hip hop singing group TLC for instance. First impressions are the last. Present yourself as a professional by making professional decisions about your music career and/or singing goals. This goes for developing music artists, singers in bands and pageant contestants or anyone who is planning to perform or release audio of their performance.
I've got a lot more where this came from. Stay tuned!
Yours in music - Voice Coach, Sally b.