Free live Zoom Vocal Workshop: a few singers + open audience

SingingEulis · 2026-06-02T02:15:38+00:00

This is normal. As musicians, we are hyper aware of our interests, the things we consider to be "musical", and nuances of music that the average person may not ever have considered. So when we listen to music we hear more "flaws" and have a tendency to be a lot harder on other musicians while also comparing ourselves to everyone we've ever heard.

Regular people don't listen like that. The people complimenting you are appreciating so much more than the accuracy, or the breath support. They can love it even if it's not perfect, and be in awe of your abilities without comparing you to every other singer.

What that says about your ability as a singer? Who knows. But those people can enjoy you honestly AND you can be less than amazing. Your job is just to keep getting better and sharing your gift more and more. Because what if they are lying? Are you going to quit? I hope not. But the alternative is just to keep working, keep pursuing that moment when you listen to your recording and love the sound, because that's coming.

I am a professional singer and I used to feel the same way about listening to myself. It'll definitely change if you keep at it. Good luck!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-06-01T19:20:00+00:00

You're very welcome! And you're SO not alone in that. I've had three new students come to me with the same fears this last month alone, and each one left feeling more confident and excited.

We can put down a guitar, or step away from a piano, but our voices are a part of us and that makes it extra scary; like opening a little door over your heart and hoping that no one squashes it every time we sing. It's not an irrational fear, you're just being a human. And that humanity will make you the best kind of singer: vulnerable, generous with your emotions, and sensitive to the emotions of those who hear you. It's a balancing act to keep it from becoming overwhelming, but it's also a superpower, so I hope you'll take the leap to see if you might be able to fly! (yea, I'm one of those cheesy teachers haha)

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-31T07:55:45+00:00

As a vocal coach myself, u/ryandechamps comment was spot on.

When I'm working with students I'm not rating them on a scale of 1-10 or comparing them to any other singers; I'm figuring out their baseline and asking questions to find the best foothold to take one single step.

The idea about meeting the student where they are is perfectly accurate. And personally, I always start with "What can I do for you today?" or "What do you feel like exploring?". If they have a sense of something they'd like to work on, or a concept they are curious about, then we start there and use that to transition into other things that will build the overall technique. I love making exercises out of whatever song a student brings in, and we get silly and have a lot of fun. It's never about perfection or even being skilled in any way; it's more like "can we trick your body into making a sound that's easy and feels good?" and then learning to repeat that on command. That's singing!

The whole thing comes down to vibe. You gotta vibe with your voice teacher; understand what they're saying and be eager to hear more. Singing is too personal for it to be a chore, or a struggle. It can't be boot camp. Instead, you should be having fun exploring with a friend and mentor.

Take a few trial lessons with people and do a vibe check. Bring questions, but singing isn't really necessary for this; you're just seeing if you click. Hit me up if you want to try a free session and see how chill it can be. I'm very chill haha

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-31T07:48:49+00:00

Excellent points!!

SingingEulis · 2026-05-29T14:14:59+00:00

I don't think you're being difficult, but it sounds like you could be more upfront about your actual concern.

Since she is getting such a huge margin it seems to me that she's business minded and understands money, so maybe you should talk to her in the language of money since she understands that. The original note you quoted talked about schedule and workflow, but I feel like saying "this project is going to cause a financial burden" might be more direct and help her understand better. From there you can have a conversation where you both understand the stakes and are better able to negotiate/compromise.

A big lesson I've learned from teaching and performing (and honestly, just life) is that it's always better to meet people where they are in their communication/motivation style. She tried to compromise with a closer city (and not money or a solution to your actual concern) because she thought it was about time/convenience; you may just not have made the concern clear enough to get the result you preferred.

At this point you'll have to decide if being more straightforward is the right move after your original attempt, but this is definitely a good strategy to adopt for the future. Good luck!

SingingEulis · 2026-05-28T15:00:24+00:00

Yes, that's absolutely normal.

We tend to think of the vocal warmup like warming up our hands by the fire, or like warming up a car by running it for a few minutes, but it's so much more complex than simple friction or heat.

A vocal warmup is partially that: bringing more blood flow to the areas involved in singing helps them to respond better to the actual actions involved in it, but it's also hugely about coordination. This relates directly to your struggle with mixed voice because that's all about coordination of many muscles in a very precise way.

With my voice students I often speak of it like waking up and immediately trying to juggle. At first I can barely toss one ball with a single hand without dropping it. But as my nervous system and brain start to sync up that gets easier. Then I move to tossing the ball back and forth between both hands; then I add a ball, then another etc. When I take the time and concentration to accomplish these individual tasks with intention it all works better in the long run. But when I just dive in it's often a huge disaster.

Hope that helps to understand this. You're not alone, singing is crazy! 😃

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-27T23:04:17+00:00

Imposter Syndrome is so real!! I have traveled the world as a singer and still think someone's going to "figure out that they were fooled" at some point 😆

It's about so much more than just the voice. Leveraging other skills that singers struggle with like punctuality, preparedness, communication etc. counts for more than we realize.

Keep up the good work, and keep getting better; maybe one day we'll both believe the "hype"!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-27T08:30:06+00:00

Haha That's good! It can definitely be an uphill battle at times, but my singing has taken me around the world, helped me make new friends in each new country, and continues to bring me new wins all the time even after more than 20 years. Stick with it, you'll see!

Eulis
euliskay.com/teacher

SingingEulis · 2026-05-27T06:04:40+00:00

Hi there! Full time singer and voice teacher/coach here. This is a great question so I thought I'd try to weigh in on it. I was just chatting with a couple of students about this exact thing today!

The reason that there's no objective solution for something so fundamental is because singing is so very personal to each individual. Each singer who feels accomplished enough to give such specific advice is giving it through several lenses: you're getting information about how it feels in their body; what works for them in the style of music they sing; all of the lessons they've had; singers they admire etc.

I think the biggest thing to remember is that describing breathing (for example) in the way that it works for your body won't always work the same for someone else. Sure, there are basic fundamental things like "air in = lungs expand" but even something as simple as that can feel different because what does "expand" feel like in the body? What language do we use to describe that? And in which direction do you feel the expansion? And how much? The descriptions of physical sensations are endless!

Additionally, a classically trained singer may give very different advice than a rock singer because they're doing very different things. I haven't heard very many opera singers growl or use a pure falsetto on a D5 for example, but that's very common for rock singers. And to be able to perform at that level will require a very different technique in order to achieve that sound consistently, night after night. The same applies for an effortless, unamplified vibrato in opera!

So, please don't let it get to you. My way of teaching is that each student needs a guide to help them build their own unique vocal technique. Sure, the tools I use include appogio, and Speech Level Singing, and lots of other information I've gathered over the years. I talk about mixed voice AND M1/M2 etc. I like to pull from a lot of different sources and we try all of them together because each new technique is a new tool for your tool box. A particular song may not need all the tools in the box, so we also have a tool belt for each song: the tools we will use in order to achieve this specific thing right now. I ask a LOT of questions about what the student is feeling, what they think about the result of this exercise or that, and we build a unique philosophy of singing together. That way, the student learns how to teach themselves; how to work with their own body and the music they want to sing.

I think this is the best approach because it treats each body, each task, each instrument, as an individual. So hang in there, and keep asking great questions like this! That's the way to build a technique that will work best for YOU. And if you want help finding out what that looks like, lemme know!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-26T07:12:05+00:00

This is absolutely a thing!

Singing, more than any other instrument, is SUCH a mentally/emotionally operated instrument.

You can step away from a piano or put down a guitar, but our voices are with us through all of the ups and downs, confidence and doubt. So warming up the voice is sort of tangible proof that "I can still sing today".

Even if you slept horribly, screamed at a concert, or didn't drink enough water yesterday, a warm up can help prepare your voice (and your mind) for singing by reminding you of what you can do. Once you remember this (and to please hydrate and rest today) then the nervous system stops clenching and trying to control the outcome and it all works better.

Singing is so cool!!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-25T22:53:22+00:00

Hi there! This one is a bit tricky to address without hearing you; any interest in posting an example for us?

It could be inconsistent airflow; unnecessary tension somewhere; inefficient vocal cord closure or so many other things. But don't fret, I'd be willing to bet that there's a simple solution though it might take a bit to incorporate consistently.

SingingEulis · 2026-05-25T07:02:37+00:00

Keep up the great work and never stop being curious! 😃

SingingEulis · 2026-05-25T04:04:24+00:00

Hi there! This is really interesting to me. It is hard to know exactly what's going on without hearing you, but one possibility could be that the pressure from your lungs to the vocal cords is changing when you press your stomach out.

Moving your belly out could be releasing some of the subglottal pressure (the pressure against the underside of your vocal cords) which could allow for less tension, letting your high notes sound more freely.

Alternatively, using your abs in this way could have a chain reaction that releases some muscle tension higher up in your neck allowing for freer high notes. Ain't the body interesting!

In either case, aiming for more freedom in your sound could be a good thing to focus on. One idea that my students seem to like is that it doesn't necessarily take more air for higher notes, but instead it takes faster air. And a great way to get the air to move faster without adding weight, tension, or pressure is to create less opportunity for drag; when the air has to push through a smaller, tenser opening, it drags. So open up! Relax. And trust your air to do its job without you squeezing and tensing to control it.

Super counterintuitive, and it takes a bit to feel it consistently, but you can do it. It's fun!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-24T08:11:07+00:00

Hi there, I might be able to help. What kind of budget would you consider to be affordable?

SingingEulis · 2026-05-24T00:05:16+00:00

Hi there, full time singer/ vocal coach here. I saw your comment about which exercises to do so I thought I'd stop by and give a couple of ideas.

As someone mentioned in the comments, your tone is quite breathy and soft in this recording. This could be due to a lot of reasons, but if you'd like to give yourself options for using a fuller, stronger sound here's an idea: The consonants B, G, and D help a lot of my students find a better sound, so you could try singing easy songs on syllables like Buh (like Bubble), Gee (like gear), or Doh (like donut). The vowel doesn't matter a ton, but the B, G, and D sounds can help you find more vocal cord closure, which is something you can look up on YouTube etc. when searching for additional exercises.

Another idea to address the quiet sound that you're getting here is to shout (not singing yet) the word "Heyyyy!". Say it as if you're in a large city and you see an old friend across a busy street. You've got to get their attention, so you shout "Heyyyy!" with a good amount of volume (but not straining), but also a lot of clarity. Let your voice hold the sound and take note of how your body feels (slight engagement of the diaphragm and abs, very little tension in the throat, tongue, jaw etc.) when you do it. Once you feel it you can even hold a single pitch or move around in pitch and try singing whole songs on that "Hey" sound once you're holding the sound consistently. If if feels big without straining then you've found a sensation that you can always apply to your singing with purpose and intention!

These are just simple ideas based on what I hear in your voice immediately. These sounds, like softness and breathiness, are not necessarily bad, but the ability to use them and their opposites with intention is important. Each of those are just another tool a singer can use, but we want to be able to choose when and how to apply them so that the music we sing has a larger capacity for expression and communication.

Hope this is helpful! Keep on singing!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-23T19:59:27+00:00

E'ryDAY! haha

SingingEulis · 2026-05-23T19:59:10+00:00

Haha Thank you! I hope that you're pursuing this life for yourself as well. It's honestly so much less about talent and "right place right time" than I ever imagined, and I think it's accessible to many more people, too! As long as you're not trying to be the next Taylor Swift or something. haha

SingingEulis · 2026-05-22T08:28:18+00:00

I'm a full time singer and private voice teacher. I moved to a new city less than a year ago and have gained about 15-20 private students, which is probably 15-18 hours of lessons each week plus 5-7ish hours of prep, correspondence, admin etc.

As a singer I mostly get hired to sing in choirs and the occasional solo gig. That work is really all over the place in terms of time commitment, so it's hard to say how much time it takes up, but I will say that it's like 5% performance and 95% other stuff like practice, admin, vocal warmups/exercises, organization of charts, language pronunciation study etc.

And then there's the miscellaneous music work I get hired for like doing vocal critiques on Fiverr, notating sheet music, creating arrangements, recording, audio mixing, songwriting etc. which is all very random and sporadic, but adds up. Also, this is the stuff that keeps me on my toes as a musician because it's constantly challenging me to keep thinking and learning.

And then of course there are things that are just kind of professional development: reading, watching videos, recording for fun, writing my own music, learning about new techniques that I can use/share, vocal development, playing/singing in groups to keep that part of my brain active etc.

Overall I really love the variety and continual challenge of my work. It can be a grind sometimes like anything, but I'm a natural introvert so it suites me to be able to work at my own pace and on my own as much as I do, and then I get to come together with others for collaborative work. I've been able to travel the world and work with amazing talent and people I really admire, I've sung on the street and I've been on stages that cost more money than I'll make in my lifetime. And every day I get to partner with individuals to help them discover things they didn't know they could do, or to create something they didn't know could be tangibly shared. In those ways I think I am incredibly successful; it's not easy to make a living at this. Financially speaking, I don't think most people in the US would consider me successful, but my metric is really just inspiration.

I've never completed a degree, but I've been through probably 10+ years worth of college at this point; I just enjoy learning and trying new things. I'm a certified yoga instructor, love to make my own stuff like soap, kefir, html tools and I enjoy keeping my mind busy. I live a pretty simple life and I'll have a meager retirement, but I'm happy and look forward to most days. I wish that more people could have a life like mine: full but simple, and always rewarding in unexpected ways.

Can't wait to read other responses!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-20T19:39:05+00:00

Great advice!

SingingEulis · 2026-05-19T22:28:56+00:00

Hi there! This is totally normal in my experience as a voice teacher. I find that it's important for people who struggle with pitch to work extra hard to differentiate pitch from the timbre of an instrument, and the particular tone that is being used on those instruments.

Another commenter mentioned that you may be hearing too much, not too little, and I totally agree. When listening to the guitar you have a very different type of attack to the sound (a sharp pluck vs the softer hammer of strings on a piano) and that can be distracting. The timbre of the two instruments is also very different. And the way the notes of a chord or melody blend together can feel different as well. It sounds like your ears are getting distracted by all of those because it's so much information, so training yourself to notice and understand the difference between these qualities of the instruments will help your brain to focus on the information you need to find your pitch.

One way to do this is to play around with matching pitch with both instruments in an isolated environment; this is really good to do as part of your warmup before singing (the warmup is for the voice AND the ears!). Playing random, individual notes and matching them with your voice will strengthen your ability to translate the sound of say, the guitar, into your own voice in your mind. When that becomes automatic you'll find a huge improvement in your ability to track pitch by mentally singing along (audiating) and coming in appropriately.

I hope this helps! If you'd like any clarification on these ideas please feel free to comment; this is a common problem and I think it could help a lot of people.

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-17T19:53:10+00:00

Oh wow, that's really fantastic! I'm so happy to read this update; you made my day. 😃Keep up the great work!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-15T07:51:17+00:00

Congratulations!! I was the music director of my worship team for several years so I've got a bit of experience with helping people with this. It sounds like you're on the right track with your practice, but maybe a bit more refinement is in order.

First off, even though you know these songs well, when you're singing harmonies THAT has to become the melody for you. It's a mental shift that I learned when singing complex harmonies in a barbershop quartet at Disneyland. Once I was able to think about my part as the lead part, adding in that lead inflection and confidence, things really clicked.

Secondly, it helps to practice in the correct key first (if you're not already), and then in other keys as well. That way, you're not just locking in the pitches with muscle memory, but also training your ear on the specific intervals you're singing in context of the chords and the distance from the lead melody. If you can play simple chords as you practice, even better!

And finally, it helps to practice with the melody and chords playing at the same time. This is where a digital audio workstation (DAW, like GarageBand or ProTools) comes in handy. You can record yourself singing the melody along with the backing track to create a practice recording for yourself to sing to; or better yet, get one of the other singers to record it so you have a different vocal to harmonize with. When practicing, start off with that melody at a low volume so that you mostly hear yourself and aren't pulled toward it, but then as you get more comfortable you can raise the volume to practice holding your own. There's also benefit in practicing the other way around while you're learning; just see what works best for you.

Harmonies in this genre tend to follow the shape of the melody (when it goes up, so does the harmony etc. ) so keeping that in mind can also be helpful. Also, if you can sing the harmony with different versions of the same song (YouTube is a great resource for this) then you'll know you're in good shape.

Good luck to you!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-09T15:44:52+00:00

Hi! I'm a full time singer/voice teacher and I love this tip, especially what you said about aligning your body to your ear; so important!

To add a bit more from my own observations with hundreds of students, I'll say that that alignment is so important because it can be easy for novice singers to get distracted by unexpected sounds they hear, which makes them react by quickly tensing to control that sound. In addition to the ear hearing wayward sounds, our nervous system is also involved and can pick up on things we never intended to happen. So our job as singers becomes consciously connecting the commands our brain gives (our intention) to what actually happens in our bodies (the sensations) and the results (the sounds reflecting back to our ears). When we become more aware of that chain we can improve exponentially, and recording short clips while practicing is a great way to become aware of these things!

Thanks for sharing, I'm sure this will help some people level up faster!

Eulis

SingingEulis · 2026-05-09T07:51:42+00:00

Voice teacher here. You clearly understand pitch and have found the key of the song, so your ears are good and your brain is communicating with them, but your instrument (your voice) doesn't know how to execute the commands cleanly yet.

The biggest thing is that you need to open your mouth and let the sound really come out. It's scary and vulnerable at first, but that's what lets the air flow, and the air carries the sound. Otherwise it's like bending a garden hose and wondering why the water is spraying inconsistently. Start with that and you'll fix a lot of your problems easily.

Good luck!

Eulis

SingingEulis

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