Adam Lambert's voice teacher talks about him
Filed Under (article ) by Admin on Friday, June 18, 2010
Posted at : Friday, June 18, 2010
Adam Lambert's voice teacher tells how he keeps singers in shape while on tour.
There is a lot of pressure for the artist on tour. Large amounts of money are made or lost based upon the singer's ability to perform. Cancellations quickly become logistical and financial nightmares. Dave Stroud is a Los Angeles–based voice teacher who has been called to rescue many a tour or recording session. He has worked with such stars as Adam Lambert, the Cheetah Girls, and Jordin Sparks. Stroud blends expert vocal technique with an uncanny ability to figure out the situation quickly and get the entire support staff working together.
The Village
Stroud believes there are three elements to getting a singer through a successful tour. The first is the idea that the team must work together. "When you have an artist out there struggling and possibly canceling shows," he says, "the first thing you have to realize is it takes a village. There's no way one person is the key to this."
In order to create this harmony, Stroud very carefully defines his role and avoids some of the pitfalls that can plague big-name voice teachers. "You've got a manager, a road manager, a music director, a doctor, and a voice coach—and everyone hates the voice coach!" he says. "Either the voice coach accepts that they're only one cog in the machine, or that voice teacher walks in, thinks that they're God, causes havoc, and leaves."
Stroud has strict professional rules for working within the team: "Don't try and be something more than you are. Don't step in and make the musical director feel threatened, or the tour manager. Don't walk into a recording session and make the producer feel like you are now the vocal producer. You end up shutting down the people you need the most."
Strategy
Once Stroud is working in harmony with the team, he goes to the next part of his three-step plan: strategy. "Without strategy, giving vocal exercises doesn't mean anything," he says.
He explains his approach with Adam Lambert's tour: "Adam can do extreme things with his voice that most singers will probably never be able to do, but he can't do it endlessly." Stroud started by going through Lambert's set list. "Adam's tour right now is around 14 songs, of which three are at 11 on the intensity scale," he says. "Going all out on those songs, it makes it more difficult to pull off the subsequent songs. The fact is Adam is so amazing that he doesn't have to overdo it. I work with the music director to look at the peaks, where they happen in the show, and where he can recover from that."
Sometimes Stroud will suggest changing the order of the songs or even making slight key changes. "Sometimes just dropping one song a half step or a whole step can change the whole dynamic of the night," he says. "The artist is no longer worried about that one note."
Form
The final part of the puzzle for Stroud is form—working on the actual vocal technique. He is always careful to maintain an artist's signature sound while rebalancing the voice. "I can't always have someone sing completely technically correct, because sometimes their sound is more aggressive," he says. "Otherwise management will say, 'What have you done to our artist?' I work on getting better vocal balance while allowing the artist to feel like they're still selling their product, but it's not costing them vocal health."
Stroud has different ways of working the voice, depending on whether it's a show day. "It's the difference in working out when training for a marathon and then going in and warming up just before the marathon. That's how I approach the voice," he says. "I do a 20-to-30-minute warm-up, just easy cord closure exercises and transitions through their vocal registers. It's not a big workout. I just want them to feel ready and agile with their voice when they hit the stage."
Stroud changes the specific exercises he uses based upon the singer. "With Adam Lambert, I will work to get easy cord closure and I will vocalize him to G above high C. He has climax notes at E's above high C, so I need to give him that extra range," Stroud says. "Jordin Sparks has a really exceptional voice. I just want her to feel mentally that everything is in her comfort zone." He feels that half of the process is psychological: "I physically prepare the cords for singing, but I also want their minds to say, 'Okay, I'm good. I feel good.'"
Dangerous Shortcuts
Stroud says there are times when even the best singers may need medical help to get through a show, but this can have a downside. "Steroids are very much like shooting up a football player with anesthesia when they have a torn ligament or broken bone. They're able to go out and run, because they don't feel it, but they do more damage," he insists. "These medications need to be combined with good technique."
Stroud warns that singers can use these treatments as an easy out: "They think, 'Wow, I didn't have to do any work for that—give me some more of that.' You keep accumulating bad habits and damage that you don't really realize until after the tour has ended. It can end a career in the long run."
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14 comments:
A very interesting article. I am so glad Adam has the proper people around him, to see that he takes care of himself.I had no idea it took so much staff, I knew he has had a voice teacher for quite a few years.(of course all these people have to be paid)Wasn't aware he traveled with a doctor, amazing info. I feel a lot better about this tour, and also why he changes things up, which we all have noticed.
Adam is amazing, and so gifted.
Adam has an amazing voice, but he has one of, if not the biggest tour of any other Artist or group. It's well over 50 concerts,and they keep adding venues. I have worried about him wearing himself, and his voice out. It's a comfort to know he has someone to lookout for him while he is working soo hard to Entertain us.
Adam is no dummy. He knows he needs to take care of his instrument or the game will end too soon and he'll be looking at what could have been. Good to know he has good help all around.
After checking AdamOfficial, Adam has 70+ events where he will be using that voice. This figure does not include the recent European/Asia adventures where he continually sang. Plus, he has upcoming tour of Europe. That is tremendously demending in every respect. We all know that Adam doesn't give a half-a** performance, so he puts everything into his music. Glad that they are tweaking the key of some of the songs. He doesn't need that type of extreme singing night after night.
Thanks for this article. Hope this guy knows what he's doing.
I think ADAM got the idea of how much/far he can push his vocal chords when he was on Idol tour. He has said that the Idol tour prepared him for what came next in his career. I don't think he would take any foolish chances with his voice. ADAM is too music savvy for him to do that!! Good to know he has a pro watching out for him!!
I just remember seeing Joan Armatrading in concert in Boston when she was doing a world tour and her voice was totally played out. They piled on speaker after speaker, but it didn't do any good. She couldn't hit the notes. Adam does have a very unique sound and if he doesn't take care of his voice, it will end up being a serious problem for him, because often, when you lose parts of your voice, you don't get it back. On the other hand, the voice is like a muscle and you really have to use it to keep it in shape, so there is a tough balancing act going on. Again, I'm just glad he has staff going along with him on this tour who will help Adam protect his vocal assets which we all value so greatly.
I don't think a doctor or manager etc travels with Adam on the road. I suspect they are just available as needed. Monte is his music director and every tour would have a road manager & it appears he has wardrobe and makeup help but I doubt he is making enough yet to have a huge entourage with him all the time. I have been watching the tapes and have noticed that Adam's tone is much better than ever. He used to get either excited or nervous and would lose the extreme notes once in a while, (though he recovers so quickly that most people think that he is doing exactly what he meant to do).
I am so glad he has a vocal coach to help him as I don't think he could sing any better than he does now with someone to guide him. He trys harder than anyone out there and could really strain his voice- His range is unbelievable, which requires taking care of, right?
He vocalized to a G above high C??? What??? That's astounding.
A review on the Detroit concert also highlighted Adam's amazing vocals, which I think is awesome to have pointed out, cuz at the end of the day, that's what matters. Don't have a link for the review at the ready, but it should be easy to find if you're interested - I think the reviewer's name was Adam Graham.
Thank you for that anon at 7:33. I found it and here's the link:
http://detnews.com/article/20100619/OPINION03/6190355/Adam-Lambert-glams-it-up-at-Royal-Oak-Music-Theatre
:)
This is the main reason why i do believe possibly the greatest male vocalist (Steve Perry of JOURNEY) just up and quit after 10 years of touring pretty much night after night. Back in the 70's and 80's when JOURNEY was the BAND, Perry and Journey would tour 10 months out of the year, 2 to 3 hours a night, 4 days a week and then go record their next album. This was repeated for 10 years untill Perry just up and quit. Retired. Why would someone with possibly the greatest rock voice (Technically) call it quits. Maybe we know now. He's has always doged the question some 30 years now.
This is the main reason why i do believe possibly the greatest male vocalist (Steve Perry of JOURNEY) just up and quit after 10 years of touring pretty much night after night. Back in the 70's and 80's when JOURNEY was the BAND, Perry and Journey would tour 10 months out of the year, 2 to 3 hours a night, 4 days a week and then go record their next album. This was repeated for 10 years untill Perry just up and quit. Retired. Why would someone with possibly the greatest rock voice (Technically) call it quits. Maybe we know now. He's has always doged the question some 30 years now.
Another reason to love this site, such good, interesting info. I was concerned also about the strain on Adams voice with such a grueling schedule and possibility of vocal chord nodules and permanent damage. So glad he is so diciplined and recognizes and protects his magnificent gift. Seems like he has a good, knowlegeable vocal coach that also understands the importance of Glamily. funbunn40
Adam's voice coach was Jenifer Patterson.
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