I got into singing as a kid. It was something that made me feel grounded in myself, and gave me a sense of control. When I sang it was like I had a superpower of expression and I could connect with others. My sisters and I spent countless hours singing together discovering harmonies and creating fun. Of all the things I miss most in my childhood, those hours singing on the swingset were my favorite.
I sang in church, in school, in small groups, choirs, even musicals. Although we couldn’t afford voice lessons and lived in an isolated place, I knew I had to keep singing. At the end of high school I raised money to join a European concert tour with other high school singers, and somehow got the scholarships and loans I needed to go to college. I’d thought I was a good singer, but I’ll never forget the rejection I felt standing in the Music department realizing my name was missing from the list of students who’d made the cut for the Colbyettes audition.
My plan to sing in Colby’s most esteemed female a capella group was not happening. I realized I needed to learn how to sing better, because I didn’t feel confident or secure in my voice anymore.
I was in luck, there was a scholarship offering free voice lessons to music majors. Only issue was, I was studying biology. But I wanted those lessons. So, with a lot of hard work squeezing lessons and labs into my schedule, I was able to do the vocal training I’d always dreamed of.
Working with opera singers wasn’t easy, but the training profoundly boosted my vocal skills and abilities. After a few years of work, I was shocked at hearing my own voice doing amazing things, and the best part was how easy it felt once my voice was in shape. It was worth it, but I definitely paid the price for my transformation.
Understanding what I was supposed to do was excruciatingly tedious and difficult. Each teacher had different ways of explaining things, and very few of them really understood vocal anatomy or could explain to me what was happening inside my body to change the sounds. I just got vague notions of ‘closed’ and ‘open’ and told to make vowels ‘brighter’ or notes more ‘speaky’. I learned by asking way too many questions, copying my teachers, and emulating other singers. Much of my progress was from trial and error, and took many hours in the practice room each week for years.
Fast forward to graduate school at Penn, where I started teaching voice. Suddenly, confronted with the task of helping others develop their voices, I thought through my own training and realized how confusing that path had been. So few of the exercises had actually helped me and so much of my training made no scientific sense. I went back and studied vocal anatomy, I read vocal pedagogy literature and poured through scientific studies. I streamlined the old materials, experimented with new materials, and collected data on what was actually working for my students in their lessons. That's how the vocal profile was born -- as a measurement of my students’ voices -- so we could measure their progress with hard numbers.
With knowledge of vocal anatomy, and with the ability to measure the vocal profile, it turns out training doesn’t have to be complicated or mysterious. The voice is a system, like a car. There are a limited number of basic things about how the voice works that you can hack to easily and systematically develop any voice. Any part of the working system can be improved, and there are only so many of these parts. If you can improve one of them you’ll hear a difference. Improve them all and your voice will shine. And yes, I did say any voice can be developed, because just about everyone can benefit from vocal training if it’s done correctly. Which brings me to the next point:
I can’t tell you how many hundreds of times I‘ve answered questions from people finding out that I’m a vocal coach having to do with this one horrible myth:
“You’re born with a good voice or a bad voice, and you can’t really do much to change it.”
The idea that we are born with our voices has some truth - there is a physics to the larynx, or voice box, that determines our voices will have a specific kind of sound. Our voice also resonates through our faces and our sinuses, so each person’s voice does sound different from the next person’s voice. And there are some sounds that we prefer over others.
However, for the most part, voices are developed over time by using them... similar to bodies. There are many different body types, some of which are celebrated by some people more than others. However, almost anyone can get fit, feel great, be strong and look their best with training. Same thing goes for the voice - anyone can make their voice better with training, no matter where you start out. Just like some people respond faster to exercise, some people respond more quickly to vocal training. But anyone can get vocally fit with training, and there’s definitely PLENTY you can do to make your voice strong, healthy, and beautiful.
So why is this myth so deadly to vocal potential? The myth tells you there’s not much you can do about your voice, so it’s an excuse to do nothing. To sit and let your voice languish undeveloped and weather the effects of time while you do nothing. This is like vocal kryptonite. No wonder people who ascribe to this philosophy can’t sing! It takes effort, real work practicing, actually SINGING to develop your voice and protect it from the ravages of improper use, vocal neglect, and aging. Just like going to the gym improves your body, vocal training gets you on the path toward having a strong, healthy and beautiful voice now and for years (and decades) to come.
There are a lot of teachers out there who give you bad or incomplete advice like: “Breathe from your belly,” “Use affirmations to feel confident,” or “Use more air for high notes.”
These teachings might get you part of the way there, like a crutch, boosting your sound a little, getting you to do something that gets you closer to proper technique. But these partial fixes are not going to take you all the way to finding your best voice. There’s just so much more you can do on all of these fronts to improve your breathing, your pitch, your range, your stamina, your intensity, your resonance, and your ability to move your audience emotionally when you sing. Likewise there’s more to dealing with stagefright, and so much more to vocal training than “fixing bad habits.”
These voice teachers aren’t trying to dupe you. They just don’t know the scientific reasons why some of their material works, and why a lot of it doesn’t. If they studied vocal pedagogy in school, they probably know lots of great techniques but weren’t taught the science behind how it works. They can’t teach you what they don’t know. If they had a career as a singer, they may never have done any vocal study at all and just have a knack with getting people to sing better.
Of course it’s possible for an “expert” to get someone to sing better without understanding how his material works, but from the singer’s perspective on the other end, it’s a heck of a lot faster, safer, and more empowering to know exactly what you’re doing and exactly why you’re doing it. Being without that knowledge is like walking around with your eyes closed. You can do it if you want to and you’ll probably eventually get where you’re going in one piece. But if you do have your eyesight, why would you not use it to arrive at your destination faster, safer, and with a fuller experience?
It’s the same with singing. If you understand your vocal anatomy you can use something called ‘body mapping’ to find and use parts of your voice in order to control it better. Since you understand how these vocal motions affect the sound, you know what to shoot for and can use that knowledge to shift your sound in whatever direction works best your songs.
For instance, I’ll show you the exact method I use to get vocal adduction, something that eludes a lot of singers, but is the most important aspect of singing needed to achieve a clear sound, good vocal health and a sustainable voice. It’s the key to increasing things like projection, intensity, and even range.
Singing is more than controlling pitch. You’re also controlling your posture, air flow, adduction at the vocal cords, vowel shape, and resonance when you sing. Improve one of these elements and you’ll feel a difference. Improve them all and your voice will start to achieve its true potential.
What I’m not going to do is tell you to sing a specific style of music - “classical“ training doesn’t mean you have to sing opera. A strong, healthy beautiful voice can be used to sing ANY style. In fact, I can show you an amazing tool to become a more versatile singer. I personally use this all the time to learn from other singers and get a more authentic sound for myself.
I’m also not going to tell you we need to “fix bad habits.” Instead I show you how to create good habits by laying a solid foundation from the ground up. For example, you don’t need to “support your breath” by squeezing your belly if you’ve trained your body to inhale bigger breaths. By strengthening your diaphragm in several specific ways, you can easily and quickly grow your air intake capacity so you won’t ever have to worry about running out of air again.
That’s what I offer at AoV. No hocus-pocus, no half-baked advice, no random time-wasters. Just tested, step-by step systematic training and personalized 1-on-1 support that gets you results in the real world.
Focus on the work that will massively develop your voice and keep it going strong for the rest of your life, and you’ll never have to worry about annoying vocal limitations again.
“I have made more progress with her in just a few short months than I made with all of my other vocal teachers/coaches combined over the course of several years. Her ability to convey complex technical ideas about voice production in a way that is easy to understand and apply is astonishing… My technique has grown by leaps and bounds. When I sing, I can feel all the parts working, doing what they should and if they aren’t doing what they should at any moment, I have tools she has given me to bring everything back to center.”
“When I began lessons with Emily Anna Bridges, my primary goal was to be able to use my voice in my performances. In addition to playing the violin, I felt it was important to be able to sing during some of my performances. I enjoyed every lesson and that goal was accomplished... It was a wonderful opportunity to learn proper vocal techniques and enhance my performances.”
“Dr. Emily Anna Bridges is a fantastic voice teacher. It felt almost magical to be able to sing, unabashedly, for the first time with her warm and patient guidance. I also found many of Dr. Bridges' techniques useful in the workplace. I found myself better able to calm and clear my voice before important speeches or presentations, and to better pace and project my words. If you're looking to find, or develop your voice, Dr. Bridges is an excellent teacher and friend who will help you accomplish whatever you're trying to do.”
"Four years later, I continue to learn and grow, have joined two choirs, have increased my vocal range and learned to bridge the gap between my lower and upper registers. I’ve explored singing music in other languages, and worked to perfect the pronunciations of my chosen pieces. I have a greater sense of the mechanics of my instrument now, and a confidence in my self to know how to care for it, when to reach or pull back, how to create my sound by utilizing breath, posture and resonance... I am so grateful to Anna for her guidance through this process."
When I started voice lessons with Anna, I was a 30 year old attorney with a bachelor's degree in music composition, but no formal training in voice. I was hoping to have some guidance to get a bit more polish on some vocal tracks I was recording for my own songs that I compose as a hobby. I definitely got that with Anna, and a lot more. Building from the foundation of breathing and articulation, we were able to improve my voice control to the point where I even noticed that my speaking voice was stronger, which has benefited my career. I now feel that I have the technique and the tools to be proud of the vocal tracks I record for my own projects, and I have a lot more confidence singing (and even speaking) in front of an audience.
“Now I rehearse twice a week with full-scale, very loud rock bands, singing with control without getting hoarse. I sound better on recordings (especially of the same songs) more in tune, and more professional because I'm singing more cleanly. I can hold notes much longer, and blend in better on harmony. Oh, and though she never promised it, I can also belt higher as a result and I have much surer falsetto that I can actually use in performance... Essentially, my time with Emily Anna Bridges was worth every penny and second I spent.”
“In the three years I've worked with Anna, she has completely changed my life. I hadn't tried to sing - at all - in something like fifteen years; everyone always told me I couldn't... Now I can sing operatic arias, and I've had random people compliment me on my voice. This would never have happened without Anna. I could tell that she genuinely cared and wanted me to do well - and that she thought I could. That's a very powerful combination.”
“Throughout my career I received feedback that I didn’t speak with enough volume, to the point I felt it was impeding my career… Dr. Bridges helped me establish goals and create a plan to reach them. The experience was great and I can’t thank Dr. Bridges enough for her professional and thoughtful lessons. I would highly recommend (AoV) to any other professionals with similar goals!”
Finally sing when, where and how you want to. What’s your dream for your own voice?
