Pop/Rock coaching from the classicly trained

I am putting more focus on singing these days and have taken lessons from 3 different teachers. I think finding the right teacher is huge for voice.

My most recent teacher is a member of a vocal teaching organization and seems to have the most experience in the field. She talks about 12 vowel sounds and says our jaw swings. She gave me a great intro to the anatomy of the instrument.

She explained the the vocal chords go down when the pitch goes up and we have lots of teachers the have us think up into our head when when go for the higher notes. She says this is confusing the instrument.

The 3 teachers i worked with have very different approaches. I have listened to Seth Riggs and Shelly Kristen tapes and I have to say it is really hard to sort out all of this info. My gut tells me to have the process be relaxed and educated. I think this last teacher is the right one I will try to add more to my experiences. I really glad Harmony Central has this forum

Bunch of good people on this part of the forum. Welcome aboard!

I started singing about three years ago. Took lessons from a classical teacher. That helped, but like you said, it is all confusing. Lots of information to take in.

I always sing the praises of this book/cd (pun intended)...Sing Like the Stars by Roger Love. It is $20 at Barnes and Noble. The CD has a warm-up track for men and women. The last track is the Male Warm up excercises. It lasts about 20 minutes. I mention this because I fronted a 3-piece band for the last two years, and when the band called it a day I started woodshedding. Part of that was to sing to this warm-up CD every day. I did this for two months straight, every morning on the way to work. It took a month and a half before I finally started figuring out how to sing with middle voice. Where to bring it in, and where to go out of it. Not only did this CD help me with that, but it helped my pitch and it helped me to keep relaxed and sing with my throat open. For $20 and a bunch of practice, this thing is completely worth what I have gotten out of it.

Lots of great info on the forum as well.

Is middle voice the thing I have major trouble with? I mentioned in another thread that I'm ok on lower notes, but then for the majority of my supposedly comfortable range, I just sound dead, with no power or resonance/ring. Then when I get higher, I go ok again.

I dunno, possibly. You might be using too much mix and not enough of each separately as you get closer to each range.