My Story

Short Version
I’ve loved singing since very early in my life. But because of extreme shyness
when I was young I never did it.
Finally, when I got to college I felt determined enough to pursue my desire to
sing.
I learned that I had talent but I had no control over my voice. I couldn’t get it
to do what I wanted.
That began what has been almost 30 years of discovering the pieces of the
puzzle that we need to learn to put togethrer in the right way.
Figuring out the voice and the functions of the body that make it work has
been a long-term labor of love for me.
It has been a struggle, but it has been worth it. Because that experience
makes me better at helping others to figure out their voice.

One of my earliest memories is of sitting in Church listening to the choir sing

the Doxology. Then at the end the tenor soloist would sing the “Amen” up an
octave on a high G. It always thrilled me to hear that.
From that early time in my life, I have always loved singing. It gave me a
feeling inside that I could express myself in ways that I couldn’t otherwise.
Even with how singing affected me and my Mother and Grandmother singing
in the choir every week in Church, I never tried to do it myself. At least not
publicly.
I did plenty of singing in my room by myself. But I was too shy to do it where
anyone else would hear me.
Things went like this for my whole childhood. Once I was in high school I
would constantly sing in the car, whether I was driving or one of my friends.
I think it drove my friends nuts.
Finally as a Senior in High School I sang in public for the first time. As part
of Spirit week we had a talent show and a Battle of the Bands.
So a friend and I did “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay”. I sang and he played
Guitar. Then he and I along with a few other friends had a band compete in
the Battle of the bands.
Singing in front of others was difficult but I had a lot of fun and was glad I
did it. I think I probably had some kind of social anxiety when I was young
because making myself do that felt like facing the executioner.
But once I had done it I couldn’t give up the thought of doing more. Our band
played a Junior High dance a couple months later. That was fun but
unfortunately that was the last gig we had.
My friends later formed other bands and still play to the day. My next step
took a little more time.
When I went to college the next school year I entered as a Physics major with
the idea of maybe going into the study of acoustics eventually.
Unfortunately my Physics major lasted about two days, until my first class of
Fortran programming. To be honest, I still don’t really know what that is.
From what I’ve been able to gather it was an older programming language
that was used in the sciences.
This was before computers were common and pretty much only people that
were into computers had one. So I had no experience with them and couldn’t
grasp how programming worked. It was one of the only times in my life I
actually felt stupid.
At the same time, because I had been interested in singing all of these years,
I finally decided to actually do it. So when I registered for fall classes my
freshman year, I included freshman chorus along with my regular classes.
This was my first experience singing in any sort of way that resembled what I
do now.
After the difficulty I had with the computer class, I dropped that and decided
I wasn’t going to be able to continue with the physics major. I focused on
general classes while I started to think more seriously about singing.
The rest of my freshman year I continued to sing in the chorus and added
voice lessons. At the end of the year I auditioned for acceptance into the
music department as a voice major.
I was accepted to be a music major, but I was not accepted into the vocal
performance emphasis. So with my sophomore year I began taking music
major classes, including theory and ear training.
This was my first experience with any kind of serious music emphasis. As you
may imagine I had a lot to catch up on. But I kept working and at the end of
each year I auditioned again to be accepted into the vocal performance major
emphasis.
Finally at the end of my fourth year in college I was accepted into the vocal
performance track. This basically meant I was going to need two more years
to complete the degree. It was actually during my fifth year that I started
teaching voice as part of my degree program.
The whole process seemed to take forever, but I just kept going. Trying to
learn and figure things out. The unfortunate reality was that even though I
had been studying for so many years now I still couldn’t sing in a comfortable
or satisfying way.
After I graduated I looked for any teachers I could find that might be able to
help me continue the process of figuring out my voice.
I went to undergrad at one of the smaller campuses of the State University
system, which was in a different part of the state from where I lived. While I
was home for winter break my last year I went to the main University
campus and visited the School of Music.
I met a student there who happened to be going to a lesson with one of the
teachers there. He invited me to come along and sit in and meet his teacher.
It seems like Kismet because I thought at the time that this teacher may be
able to help me. So I studied with him over the summer and continued the
next year after I graduated.
I auditioned for acceptance to graduate school at the University that the
teacher was at.
Unfortunately I was not accepted. I auditioned again at their second date.
Again I was not accepted.
I continued to study with this teacher through the summer. I auditioned one
last time in August, only weeks before the start of the next school year.
Finally, I was accepted into the graduate voice program.
I suspect it was probably because only my teacher and the baritone on
faculty were present at my audition.
I remember later during the school year when one of the female faculty
members saw me at the weekly Department class, and asked my teacher
“when did we accept him into the program?”
Hearing that really reinforced my feeling that I wsn’t as good as other
singers. All of the failed auditions in Undergrad and then to get into Grad
school just made me feel I wasn’t good enough.
But it also hardened my resolve. I was determined to figure out my voice and
understand what made it work.
Through the two years it took to do my Master’s degree I had some
improverments. But in general I still didn’t feel comfortable or confident in
singing.
Basically I was a tenor who couldn’t sing tenor music. What I have since
learned is it isn’t really possible to do so without the ability to use the high
register, which I was never taught.
But I took a pedagogy sequence of three classes my first year. I learned a lot
of the basics about the vocal instrument. But the biggest thing I learned was
I had a natural knack for sensing what was going on in other singers and
identifying what they needed.
One of my friends that was in the class called me a prodigy because I just
seemed to automatically know what was happening. No one else in the class
could understand how I just seemed to know.
I didn’t have a lot of teaching experience at this point, although I did have
some. It was like all the difficulty I had in making my own voice work was
flipped in my ability to intuitively know how to help someone else.
After struggling through and completing my degree I kept searching every
possible avenue to learn what I needed to figure out my voice.
After a couple more years without much progress I pretty much gave up on
teachers. I had tried just about every one in the metropolitan area.
I resigned myself to needing to figure it out on my own.
It was at this time I came across David Jones and his articles online. He was
talking about concepts that made sense to me but were things I never heard
from any of my teachers.
So I contacted him with a few questions that addressed issues I was working
on. His answers seemed to make sense and gave me hope that I could still
figure this out.
After a few more questions back and forth I made the decision to go to New
York for some lessons, which seemed like a huge step. Not to mention
expensive.
I had five or six lessons that first trip. There was no miraculous and sudden
improvement like we might wish for, but I definitely noticed progress and
learned some things that I was not thinking of correctly.
So I made plans to go back again a few months later and again a few months
after that. After each week I could tell I was making more progress. But at
the same time there was some kind of block remaining keeping my singing of
repertoire difficult and uncomfortable.
After this third trip my wife and I decided to move to New York so I could
continue my studies. As a dancer and a singer as well she looked forward to
the opportunity to get advanced training in both.
We flew to New York with two large suitcases on Labor Day, Sept. 3rd, 2001.
No apartment, no job and knowing no one.
The next week 9/11 happened. I have written about that experience in the
blog here.
Our four years in New York were tough, but satisfying. I always say it can be
summed up by the saying, “It’s a great place to visit but you wouldn’t want to
live there.”
I learned a lot and had experiences I would not have had if we weren’t there.
I sang in a bunch of operas with a few small companies that exist for the sole
purpose to give aspiring singers oportunities to perform.
I saw a lot of operas as well, going to the Met and NY City Opera many times.
Even saw Pavarotti’s last ever performance.
A fun experience was working as a Supernumerary at the Metropolitan
Opera, I was in over 100 performances in 8 productions.
Being onstage at the Met was exciting and I got observe the top singers close
up. And I met a lot of great people. The stage managers there are probably
some of the best anywhere.
Even with all of the great learning opportunities, I still didn’t feel
comfortable doing the things I felt I should be able to do. But life keeps
moving ahead, and we had plans for a family. Which did not include raising
kids in New York.
So after four years we moved back to our home area of Minneapolis in June
2005. I didn’t have the resources here that I had in New York. So I felt like if
I was going to figure things out I was going to do it on my own.
Since then I have continued to experiment and research concepts on a daily
basis. This has gradually led me to a deeper understanding of how the body
works to be a musical instrument.
I would describe the process as being like wandering through an unknown
land in the dark. Without being able to see you just take what information
you have at that moment and decide on a direction to go.
After following that path for a time you assess the results and decide if that
path makes sense to continue following or to start over and try a different
path.
The difference for us is sometimes the correct path appears to be wrong and
the wrong path appears right. It takes diligence and awareness to figure out
when that is the case.
The guiding principle is how it feels. Do things feel more comfortable or less?
The surprising thing is often trying to be more comfortable doesn’t give us
that result. And what we think would be more work actually ends up being
more comfortable.
These unknowns are what makes it a hard and lenghty process to figure out
things on our own. With me as your guide you can take advantage of my
experience for your own benefit.
Sign up to download my Cheatsheet at the bottom of the page and get a
jump-start on learning what I have to offer. Then you can contact me with the
form at the bottom of the Home Page when you are ready to do some work
together.
Thanks, and I look forward to your journey!
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我的故事

简短版本

我从很小的时候就热爱唱歌。但由于小时候极度害羞，我从来没有真正去唱过。

终于，到了大学时，我下定决心要追求自己唱歌的愿望。
我发现自己有唱歌的天赋，但我无法自如地控制自己的声音。我无法让它按照我的想法发声。
从那时起，近 30 年来，我一直在探索这个拼图的各个部分，我们需要学会以正确的方式将它们组合在一起。
弄清楚声音以及让声音正常发声的身体机能，对我来说一直是一项长期且充满爱的工作。
这是一场艰苦的斗争，但一切都是值得的。因为那段经历让我更擅长帮助他人找到属于他们自己的声音。

《》 G 上高八度唱出“阿门”。每次听到那个声音，我都激动不已。
从生命中的那个早期阶段开始，我就一直热爱唱歌。唱歌给我一种内心的感受，让我能够以其他方式无法做到的方式表达自己。
尽管唱歌对我产生了如此大的影响，而且我的母亲和祖母每周都会在教堂的唱诗班唱歌，但我自己却从未尝试过，至少没有在公开场合唱过。
我在自己的房间里独自唱过很多次。但我太害羞了，不敢在其他人能听到的地方唱歌。
整个童年时期，事情都是这样的。上了高中后，无论我是开车还是和朋友一起，我都会在车里不停地唱歌。我觉得这快把我的朋友们逼疯了。
终于，在高中的最后一年，我第一次在公开场合唱歌。作为校园精神周活动的一部分，我们举办了一场才艺表演和一场乐队对决。
《》
在众人面前唱歌很困难，但我玩得很开心，也很高兴自己做到了。我想我小时候可能有某种社交焦虑，因为让自己去做这件事感觉就像面对行刑者一
样。
但一旦我做到了，我就无法放弃想要更多尝试的想法。几个月后，我们的乐队在一场初中的舞会上表演。那很有趣，但不幸的是，那是我们最后一次
演出。
我的朋友们后来组建了其他乐队，并且直到今天还在演出。而我的下一步则花了更多时间。
第二年我上大学时，我选择了物理专业，想着也许最终能进入声学领域学习。
不幸的是，我的物理专业生涯只持续了大约两天，直到我上了第一堂 Fortran 编程课。老实说，我到现在都不太清楚那到底是什么。据我所知，
那是一种曾在科学领域使用的较老的编程语言。
那时候电脑还不普及，基本上只有对电脑感兴趣的人才会有一台。所以我没有任何使用电脑的经验，也无法理解编程是如何运作的。那是我一生中为
数不多的几次真正觉得自己很笨的时候。
与此同时，因为这些年来我一直对唱歌很感兴趣，我终于决定付诸行动。所以，在我大一注册秋季课程时，我在常规课程之外还选了大一合唱课。这
是我第一次以类似于我现在所做的方式唱歌。
在经历了电脑课的困难后，我退掉了那门课，并决定不再继续学习物理专业。我专注于普通课程，同时开始更认真地考虑唱歌这件事。
大一剩下的时间里，我继续参加合唱团，并增加了声乐课。在学年结束时，我参加了音乐系的试音，希望能成为声乐专业的学生。
我被音乐专业录取了，但没有被声乐表演方向录取。所以，在大二时，我开始学习音乐专业的课程，包括音乐理论和视唱练耳。
这是我第一次真正专注于音乐方面的学习。你可以想象，我有很多东西需要补习。但我一直努力学习，每年年底我都会再次参加试音，希望能进入声
乐表演专业方向。
终于，在大学的第四年年底，我被声乐表演专业录取了。这基本上意味着我还需要再花两年时间才能完成学位。实际上，在我大学的第五年，我开始
教授声乐课程，这是我学位课程的一部分。
整个过程似乎花了很长时间，但我一直在坚持。努力学习并弄清楚各种事情。不幸的现实是，尽管我已经学习了这么多年，但我仍然无法以一种舒适
或满意的方式唱歌。
毕业后，我四处寻找可能帮助我继续探索如何掌控自己声音的老师。
我在州立大学系统的一个较小的校区读本科，那个校区在州里的另一个地方，和我家不在一处。在我本科最后一年的寒假回家时，我去了州立大学的
主校区，并参观了音乐学院。
我在那里遇到了一个学生，他碰巧要去上一位老师的课。他邀请我一起去旁听，并认识了他的老师。
这似乎是命运的安排，因为当时我觉得这位老师也许能帮助我。所以我在那个夏天跟他学习，并在毕业后的第二年继续跟他学习。
我参加了这位老师所在大学的研究生入学试音。
不幸的是，我没有被录取。我在他们安排的第二次试音时又去了一次，还是没有被录取。
我在那个夏天继续跟这位老师学习。在八月，也就是下一学年开学前几周，我最后一次参加了试音。终于，我被该大学的声乐研究生项目录取了。
我怀疑可能是因为在我试音时，只有我的老师和一位男中音教师在场。
我记得后来在学年期间，有一次一位女教师在每周的系里课程上看到我，然后问我的老师：“我们什么时候录取他进入这个项目的？”
听到这话让我更加觉得自己不如其他歌手。本科时所有失败的试音，以及后来进入研究生院的种种波折，都让我觉得自己不够优秀。
但这也更加坚定了我的决心。我下定决心要弄清楚自己的声音，理解让它正常发声的原理。
在攻读硕士学位的两年时间里，我有了一些进步。但总体来说，我在唱歌时仍然感觉不自在、不自信。
基本上，我是一个唱不了男高音歌曲的男高音。后来我才知道，如果没有使用高音区的能力，根本不可能唱好男高音歌曲，而我从来没有学过如何使
用高音区。
但在第一年，我上了一系列三门关于声乐教学法的课程。我学到了很多关于声乐发声的基础知识。但我学到的最重要的一点是，我有一种天生的能力
能够感知其他歌手的问题，并确定他们需要什么。
和我一起上课的一个朋友称我为天才，因为我似乎自然而然地就知道发生了什么。班上的其他人都不明白我为什么似乎就是能知道。
在这个时候，我没有太多的教学经验，尽管也有一些。就好像我在让自己的声音正常发声方面所经历的所有困难，都转化成了我凭直觉知道如何帮助
别人的能力。
在艰难地完成学位后，我继续寻找各种可能的途径，以学习我需要了解的东西，从而弄清楚如何掌控自己的声音。
又过了几年，没有取得太大进展后，我几乎对找老师这件事放弃了希望。我几乎试过了大都市地区的每一位老师。
我只好听天由命，决定靠自己弄清楚这一切。
就在这个时候，我在网上看到了大卫·琼斯（David Jones）以及他的文章。他所谈论的概念对我来说很有道理，但这些东西我从来没有从我
的任何一位老师那里听到过。
于是，我联系了他，问了几个与我正在研究的问题相关的问题。他的回答似乎很有道理，也让我燃起了希望，觉得自己仍然能够弄明白这一切。
在来回问了几个问题之后，我决定去纽约上几节课，这似乎是迈出了一大步。更不用说这还很昂贵。
我第一次去纽约上了五六节课。并没有像我们所期望的那样出现奇迹般的突然进步，但我确实注意到了一些进展，也学到了一些我之前理解有误的东
西。
所以，我计划几个月后再去一次，之后又过了几个月再去了一次。每次上完一周的课，我都能感觉到自己有了更多的进步。但与此同时，仍然存在某
种障碍，让我演唱保留曲目时感到困难和不自在。
在第三次去纽约之后，我和妻子决定搬到纽约，这样我就可以继续学习。她既是一名舞者，也是一名歌手，她很期待能在这两个领域都接受高级培训。
2001 年 9 月 3 日，劳动节那天，我们带着两个大行李箱飞到了纽约。没有公寓，没有工作，而且在那里也不认识任何人。
接下来的一周，“9·11”事件发生了。我在[这里的博客](此处原文未明确具体链接，故保留英文)中写过那段经历。
我们在纽约的四年很艰难，但也很充实。我总是说，这可以用一句话来概括：“这是个很棒的旅游胜地，但你不会想住在那里。”
我学到了很多东西，也有了一些如果我们不在那里就不会有的经历。
我和几家小剧团一起出演了很多歌剧，这些剧团存在的唯一目的就是为有抱负的歌手提供表演机会。
我也看了很多歌剧，多次去大都会歌剧院（Metropolitan Opera）和纽约市歌剧院（NY City Opera）。甚至还看了帕瓦罗
蒂（Pavarotti）的最后一场演出。
一个有趣的经历是在大都会歌剧院做群众演员，我在 8 部作品中参演了 100 多场演出。
在大都会歌剧院的舞台上表演很令人兴奋，而且我还能近距离观察顶级歌手。我也结识了很多优秀的人。那里的舞台监督可能是世界上最优秀的一批
人。
尽管有这么多很棒的学习机会，我仍然对做那些我觉得自己应该能做到的事情感到不自在。但生活还得继续，而且我们有了组建家庭的计划。而这并
不包括在纽约抚养孩子。
所以，在四年后的 2005 年 6 月，我们搬回了明尼阿波利斯（Minneapolis）的家乡。在这里，我没有在纽约时那样的资源。所以我觉
得如果我要弄清楚一些事情，就得靠自己。
从那以后，我每天都继续进行实验并研究相关概念。这逐渐让我对身体如何作为一种乐器发挥作用有了更深入的理解。
我觉得这个过程就像是在黑暗中漫步于一片未知的土地。在看不见的情况下，你只能根据当下所拥有的信息，决定一个前进的方向。
沿着那条路走了一段时间后，你评估一下结果，然后决定是继续沿着这条路走下去，还是重新开始，尝试另一条路。
对我们来说，不同之处在于，有时候正确的道路看起来像是错误的，而错误的道路看起来却是正确的。要弄清楚这种情况，需要付出努力并保持敏锐
的洞察力。
指导原则是感觉如何。事情是感觉更舒服了，还是更不舒服了？令人惊讶的是，通常试图让自己更舒服并不能达到预期的效果。而我们认为会更费力
的事情，实际上最终却会让我们感觉更舒服。
这些未知因素使得靠自己弄清楚这些事情成为一个艰难而漫长的过程。有我作为你的指导，你可以利用我的经验来为自己谋利。
在页面底部注册下载我的“秘诀指南”，快速开始学习我所提供的内容。然后，当你准备好与我合作时，可以通过主页底部的表格联系我。
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