Communicate, Kate!

Ok.

The moment is here.

The lights have just been turned down low.

You're onstage.

The band has laid out the intro to the first song and you're about to start singing.

The only question now . . . what are you trying to say?

Think about that for a moment. The question isn't about whether or not you know the lyrics to the song, it's much deeper than that. Singing is more than simply opening your mouth and hitting a bunch of high or low notes. Singing is about expression and conveying a thought, message or idea to your listeners.

As John Farnham said "You're the voice, try and understand it; make a noise and make it clear".

Your message isn't the words you use but rather how you use your words. In the iconic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", Dorothy sings of bluebirds flying over a rainbow and a fantastic land where dreams come true. But is that all there is to it? If you listen, I mean really listen, you'll hear that this song is about hope and longing. She's trying to find herself and where she belongs in the world. The thing that makes this song so powerful is that we all, at one time or another, have shared those same thoughts. Ms. Garland's delivery of the song spoke to each of us, tugging at our heartstrings, causing our minds to wander to the realm of "What If?"

Sure, it helps that she has a beautiful voice and is very talented but, is that the primary reason we listen to her sing? I think not.

Let's use a few scenarios as examples. For the first, have you ever heard a singer who was technically proficient - huge range, incredible flexibility, great timing, good vocal tone - but their performance was lackluster and left you wanting more?

On June 2, 1990, one of the biggest singers of our time began her incomparable Billboard chart career. Her very first single went gold - meaning sales of over 500,000 units. That song was Vision of Love and the artist was Mariah Carey.

Mariah Carey - Vision of Love. Courtesy of YouTube

To say Mariah is an impressive singer is truly an understatement. She's the only artist in popular music who has established a legacy using "whistle-register" - that high-pitched, piercing sound that is difficult to create and even rarer to master - greater than that of the legendary Minnie Ripperton (listen - Lovin' You). She's known for her stunning five octave vocal range, clever melismatic style, colorful tone, pitch-control and the skill to use staccato, vibrato and even crescendo while soaring through her upper registers. Her mastery is truly awe-inspiring.

In the early 2000's she ran into personal problems that began to affect her sound. If you listen to songs from this time period, you'll notice that the connection she once had is gone. She still has much of the same control but it's like she placed a wall between her voice and her listeners. It was as if she were singing to herself, making sure she could still do it, as opposed to singing to us. More than ever before, her songs became bogged down with vocal riffs, runs and embellishments, or, as I like to call them, vocal acrobatics. Unfortunately for her, when a singer gets a "case of the runs", the audience suffers; with enough suffering, they leave.

Our second example is Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009), formerly a member of the acclaimed music family group The Jackson 5 and, later, a solo artist.

Dubbed the King of Pop, Michael Jackson was one of the most popular entertainers in the world and, at the time of his death, the best-selling music artist of all time.

Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror. Courtesy of YouTube

Interestingly, if we disregard the uniqueness of his sound for a moment, and compare him against many of the contemporary artists of today (Usher, Jamie Foxx, Brian McKnight, Justin Timberlake, etc.) we'd see that at best, he was a good, but average singer. What, then, made him such a prolific artist that we all know and love? It was his ability to use his performances to speak to us, not at us. He was inviting and including us in the music he made - evidenced by the fact that it's hard to hear one of his songs and not want to sing along.

What it all boils down to is this: technique should never exceed communication.

No matter your vocal abilities, if you don't decide to say anything with your songs, your audience will stop listening. And remember, riffs are not fundamental, they're ornamental. Use them sparingly and only to enhance what you're trying to say.