[tigger]

yeah like with BPlenty's drumm!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nik, you're more than welcome to sing with us. We're not the best in the world, but we do sing the songs correctly including knowing the words/translations, and we don't sing on the beat like a lot of drums this way do If you want, I can make a tape of some Lakota songs with words to help you with your practice. Just get in touch with me. Scott

[itokasniye]

I sing in my car whenever I drive around. When I drive to powwows I stick in a cd and play it over and over. I learned the whole Siksika Ramblers cd in two days. sometimes I just ramble on nonsensicle sounds to see how my voice reacts. If you were driving next to me you would think I was having a seizure or something.

I also have sinus problems and allergies (pretty much alergic to everything) when my nose is clear i sing alot better so I have to use nose spray and menthol drops. (a lil pickin dont hurt either, c'mon, you all do it)

[tigger]

hey mike,
didn't know you guys in NJ could sing

keith

[HighsNLows]

anyone know of any way to make your voice less nasal? Most of the guys I sing with sing a little too nasal for my taste, including myself. I think it comes from trying to sing to high. Just wondering if any of you have any suggestions.

[OnTheRoad]

Gentlemen,
Its all about mechanics fellas. Sing from your gut, using your diaphragm to push the air out. This increases volume and gets rid of the nasal sound. Also, when using your diaphragm, it keeps your throat from getting all scratchy and hoarse. Scott is right, the only way to improve singing is to sing, a lot. Hope this helps.

OTR

[nik harvey]

i was just wondering if anyone knew of good excersises for northern singing. i have been doing it for a while but wish to be better. any suggestion would be appreciated.
thanx

nik

Singing is the best exercise I know of. You can work on scales to warm your voice up, but actual singing is the best way. I only drink water when I sing as I've found that drinks like pop, gatorade, etc. leave this sugary coating to my throat which makes it crack often. Water doesn't do that. Also, if its a cold or particularly windy day and you're singing you might want to put something around your throat to keep it warm. You might want to get with a group that sings northern well and sing with them a lot so that you can learn to blend your voice with theirs. Hope that helps, Scott

[footslider]

Hey, I just found this site. I really like it. Very nice to meet you all. About practicing in the car, dont make this mistake. Some one that I use to sing with would practice in the car also. He would drum on the steering wheel with his stick while he drove. One day he got it stuck in the spoke and he ran right into the ditch. He just sings in the car now.

[Nagi]

Hey guys ::waving:: I'm female so don't sing on any drum (I occasionally sing behind a Southern youth drum). I'm inputting here because I was a double-major in college (Art & Music Education). The music major was composite instrumental and vocal. I would think that some of what I learned there would apply here and hopefully it might help. Here goes.

Another drink/food group to avoid is anything with milk in it (milk, ice cream, etc.). Milk products also put a coating on your throat and can cause "cotton mouth" for singers. We were taught to teach our choral students to avoid milk products the entire day of any performances, even if they were late in the evening.

Scott is right about keeping your throat warm. Athletes keep muscles warm between sessions. Your throat is a muscle and can "cramp up" just like it was in your leg or arm. The scarf on cold days is good. Drinking hot drinks between sessions can help, too - tea, coffee (if you HAVE to sweeten, use honey versus sugar and add a little lemon). If you're anti-caffiene, try hot water with a bit of lemon. Also ... even if it's sweltering outside, don't finish a session and go straight to the iciest water you can find!! That will only "shock" the muscles. Go to tap warm water for the first 15-30 minutes, let the throat "cool down" slowly and THEN go for the popsicle, ice water, etc.

Scales are used to warm up those throat muscles SLOWLY. There's a second good thing about scales, especially for Northern singers. By practicing scales and constantly "pushing" the high end, you re-train your voice and extend your "range." In other words, you keep pushing the limit on how high you can sing. You can extend your lower range doing the same thing.

Now you're going to laugh it me, but this WILL help stretch that range. Get out your oldies collection (or go buy some) and sing along with those fellas that made a small fortune singing in "falsetto" (you know - Cher ..eh eh ... eh eh ehr ehreeee ba ya beeeee). While falsetto isn't exactly what a Northern singer is doing and isn't exactly as strenuous on your throat as Northern singing, it is good warm up and it does help "loosen" the muscles to make the throat more ready to sing way on up there.

Last ... and especially on a weekend if you're playing multiple sessions/days... "save" your voice between sessions. A gold-medal contender doesn't run the quarter- and semi-finals, then "jog to the store and back" before the finals. You can't either. Cut back on the gab sessions and do a lot of nodding, head shaking, etc. instead of talking. Definitely avoid hollering at someone across the room/site. Keep your throat warm between sessions, too.

One more thing. Avoid those sprays/lozenges that "anesthetize" sore throats. You won't be able to feel it if you do some serious damage. IF you strain your throat, concede that you strained it and back off pushing it, or you could really damage it seriously. It IS a muscle and can tear. Find a spray or lozenge that "sooths" but doesn't numb.

Just two-cents worth from an almost-choral teacher who also loves Northern songs and started out as a descant soprano a hundred or so years ago!!

Nagi

[CoharieKid]

I totally agree with OTR. You gotta sing from your gutt. You get a better sound and your voice doesn't go out so quick. When I sing I like to drink water or lemons work great too. But practice makes perfect. I like to just sing all the time. I'll kick out leads over and over just to adapt my voice. I listen to cd's and tapes all the time too. It works!!! I've learned some things from tapes before. You guys give it a try. Later!!!

S*

I have been fortunate that singing is an integral part of life at home and along with being apprenticed to sing in round dances, tea dances, sundances, horse dances, chicken dances, ghost dances, menorials, sweat lodge and other ceremonies, there is pow-wow..because I live so far from home, I attend and sing as I am a recognized lead singer, but here I sing 2-3 times in sweat cereonies each week, I practice with agroup once a week and as mentioned I sing to tpaes all the time or one will hear me humming songs or what I ma most well known for is composing songs for all occasions. Then I can be heard singing perhaps 50-100 songs each onth, some which come and I remember, others which over a period of time come or go...practice all the time..35 years of singing Northern style is a great way to learn obviously, being taught by ones who compsed the songs in the first place or passed on the rite of the song to you is even better....asking these people is a great asset.


Kahkakew

[Singing Otter]

Here's something else but it's kinda nasty but I swear it works. I learned this a few years ago. If you have allergies or something along those lines and you have continual phglem... take a little salt water (not too much salt) put it in a straw and put it in your nose, allowing it to run down into the back of your throat. Sick? Foot yeah!!! But it really works to clear some of the gack away.

[OnTheRoad]

I realy could have done without that dude.

OTR

[tigger]

i'm with you OTR i could have done without that, and the bad thing is i got a mental picture and i'm getting ready to eat dinner.


keith

[Singing Otter]

Sorry guys. I was posting to help. I'm a vocalist. By the way it's dude-ette. I'm very much a woman.

Really sorry about that vivid image...



[This message has been edited by Singing Otter (edited November 08, 2000).]

[questor517]

Hahahaha. The image of the straw thingy in the nose didn't get to me, but the image of somebody reading about on their way to dinner did. hahahaha.

[terence, AISC Director]

Wel, I feel a little stupid replying as I feel I have not much business in this topic but here goes:
I have had classical voice and dance training and doing both at the same time is one of training and especially endurance.
Your diaphram is a muscle. It is your friend.
Barf! I got so tired of hearing this, but it is true.
Your diaphram looks kind of like a mushroom. If you do not breathe correctly or if it is not strong it will invert. The top muscle will literally turn over and no oxygen will get in, thus that feeling you get when trying to catch your breathe (your chest feels hard and you can't breathe all the way down to the "gut" as mentioned) and get light headed when singing. The diaphram pushes oxygen into your lungs--if it cramps you are full of dioxides (that stuff that makes balloons float!) I guess that could make your voice higher, but I don't recommend it!
Just as training any other muscle--the secret is strength and endurance.
Its pretty simple, as most of you guys are familiar with athletic training. Broadway singers and dancers do what is called "half court training". Find a basket ball court or simulate one. Run half court and then sing with your arms above your head as if you are ready to "shoot".
If you are not out of breathe, run full court and sing. The secret is to run back and forth until you are out of breathe and try to sing.
Holding your arms straight up pulls the blood and oxygen away from your heart and diaphram. Unless you are feeling breathless, this will not work!!!
When running and singing gets easier for you carry hand weights or water bottles and then raise them above your head while singing.
This will give you a diaphram from hell. Believe me, it will also increase your range!
Also, when warming up, raise your hands above your head and sing.
If ya don't believe me, just try and sing for two minutes with your arms straight up.
Don't forget to breathe from your belly button! Practice starting breathing from the very unused depths of your lungs. That is the center of your body and where the good stuff is!

[nik harvey]

yeah, i can totaly see a whole drum warming up at a pow-wow, singing with their hands in the air, hehe,that sound funny! but i know it to be true, i have heard of that to. thank you for the help.

nik

and about the straw, wouldent that burn like a mother???

[Renegade]

I was talking to some of the guys on our drum about practicing 4 hours verses 2 hours since our members have quite a drive to get to practice. Some of us were wondering if the 4 hours would strain or stress the voice too much. I thought that perhaps this could be a good thing.

I lift weights at a local gym and the serious lifters all say that they intentionally want to over stress a muscle, break it down, to make it grow, get stronger and improve its performance. They lift to the point of muscle failure on each rep, especially the last. Then allow a day or more for the muscle to repair and rebuild. The diaphragm and vocal cords are muscles. Can anyone tell me if the same principles apply. Is a strenuous 4 hour practice session with rest days better than a two our session?