Vocal Tip: Don’t Be A Back-Up Singer

Inevitably, I’ll assign a song for a student to learn for the next lesson.  They get to the next lesson, we sing through the song once and they can’t remember the melody.  It’s not because they didn’t listen to it or try to learn it.  It’s because they learned the song by singing along with the original singer.  They can sing it perfectly with the recording. That is not a bad way to start to learn a song.  But the problem comes when you take away the lead vocal and you realize you’ve been just following the vocal.  When you always sing along with the recording, you always end up being a back-up singer.  When you are learning a song, once you feel you have the melody and song learned, take away the lead vocal.  Sing with a piano track, a cappella, or with karaoke accompaniment.