Watch Your Tone

Have you ever wondered how to get the right “feeling” into your song? Feeling is portrayed in the dimension of TONE. 

Recently, while working with a group of young actors/singers we did workshops on portraying our feelings and emotions with tone. The kids soon discovered that some emotions were easier to recognize in a singer’s voice, such as happiness, anger, and sadness. But when we explored more complex feelings such as guilt, mischievousness, loneliness, etc., not only did they have a harder time recognizing them in others’ voices, but also in portraying them as well. 

Here’s a fun way to play with your song: randomly pick three emotions, or have someone pick them for you, and try to sing a part of your song with this feeling, even if the words don’t match up. As you begin to explore various sounds of your voice through implementing an emotion/feeling, you will also be exploring the different tones of your vocal instrument! 

This is why a mother, father or teacher can say, “watch your tone, young man!”, or “don’t use that tone with me!”. We are incredible listeners for tone and also portrayers of emotion with our vocal instrument. As you get to understand this dimension, through practice, you will have more access to getting different feelings into your songs and performances. 

Sing On!

AUTHOR: AMI GENT