Voice Coaching for Singers

Welcome to the voice coaching service of the baritone Sam McElroy, international opera singer and specialist in voice production for singers, actors and public speakers

1. WHY CHOOSE AN OPERA SINGER AS A VOICE COACH?

The reputation of the opera singer as the ultimate authority on reliable vocal technique is universally recognized.

Microphone technology is NOT used on the opera stage, therefore the opera singer must undergo years of training to master the purest art of using the voice as the ultimate musical instrument, capable of projecting over a symphony orchestra for hours at a time, while expressing a full palette of colors and dynamics throughout the whole vocal range.

Sam McElroy is one such singer, having trained under David Pollard at London's internationally celebrated Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where his contemporaries included some of today's most established opera singers, as well as list of Hollywood actors admired and respected for the standard of their British schooling, most notably Ewan McGregor, Daniel Craig, Damien Lewis and Joseph Fiennes.

The level of expertise that Sam McElroy offers as a voice coach is therefore a result of the Guildhall's world class schooling combined with the invaluable practical experience gained as a principal soloist in many of Europe's great opera houses and concert platforms in an ongoing career which began ten years ago at the Paris Opera, France.

Click here to listen to Sam singing "The Impossible Dream"

2. WHAT CAN I EXPECT TO LEARN FROM AN OPERA SINGER?

Breathing. Put simply, the essence of good singing is the ability to breathe correctly and to control the rate at which the breath is released during singing.

Many coaches will use the term "singing from the diaphragm" without being able to articulate and demonstrate clearly what that really means in practice, often because they have not been required to use those principles in a career situation.

The opera singer relies entirely on the principles of correct breathing to build a voice capable of meeting the demands of the modern opera house, and is therefore best qualified to educate any singer in the practical art of singing from the diaphragm.

Sam McElroy's coaching is therefore based upon the notion that the singer should educate his or her body to become an efficient musical instrument using well established, classical techniques, whose foundation is the controlled use of the breath.

The beauty of sound itself. Singing is ultimately the musical expression of words, and with words we can express the whole range of human emotions.

The art of the opera singer is to produce a core 'sound' which he or she applies directly to the words being sung in order to enhance their emotional impact as much as possible.

Sam McElroy therefore teaches that a vocal exercise should never be presented as a simply 'muscular' exercise, carried out robotically without any consideration of the essential sound quality.

Like the violinist, whose controlled bowing can produce the most beautiful sound on just one sustained note, a singer should be educated to consider the musical quality of every sound he or she makes, so 'technique' and 'art' never become separate and unrelated goals.

Musical dynamics and vocal range. Most aspiring singers complain of not being able to sing high enough, or low enough, or to control how loudly or softly they sing in certain areas of the voice.

The opera singer's ability to control the body as a musical instrument maximizes his potential to CHOOSE the dynamic quality of any note he or she needs to sing, on any given vowel, and in any area of the voice. Simply put, the more the singer masters the body, the more he or she masters the music itself. And, after all, that is the goal!

Under Sam McElroy's teaching, the singer learns that the ability to sing freely is directly related to the ability to know his or her body, and to control it with confidence in any given musical situation.