American vocalist, pianist, composer, educator and sonic therapist, Darlene Koldenhoven used recent travel to foster the sonic ideas for her new album 'Traveling The Blissful Highway'.
It's a new age instrumental album featuring 12 tracks of colourful timbres and nature sounds that'll keep you balanced, focused, refreshed, and joyfully relaxed."After being cooped up so long in Los Angeles, I ventured to London, Las Vegas and Denver during the spring this year for some appearances," says Darlene, "and was so excited to travel again that when I came home, I started writing to process my emotions from it all and I just couldn't stop.
"I hope the listener will enjoy the musical adventure and immerse in the sonic benefits from 'Traveling The Blissful Highway' with me."
Darlene has had an extensive career that has seen her receive a Grammy Award (in the early '80s) as the lead soprano in Clare Fischer's vocal quartet 2+2.
Darlene is best known as the featured soprano in 'Yanni, Live At The Acropolis' 1994 album and as the tambourine-waving choir nun in both 'Sister Act' films with Whoopi Goldberg.
Here, Darlene shares 5 aspects about the ear and the voice that assist with singing.
1: Singing and speaking starts in the ear
You only get a fixed amount of cilia in the cochlea that tell you about pitch and once those get blasted out from too loud of volume, they just lay down and die out – done!You also have two of the tiniest muscles within us that are in the middle ear and need to be exercised properly for good muscle tone in order to transmit and regulate how all sound messages get sent to the brain for processing.
Singing stimulates the brain. So take care of your hearing. It is the ear that is the master controller of our brain and bodies. Nurturing sounds only, please. Sing well and sing often.
2: Listen, listen, listen
Hearing is automatic and a matter of survival. Listening is a conscious choice of paying attention to sound. What we listen for in our voice, the sounds, the timing, the frequencies, tone color and so forth will determine what sounds come out.The old adage, 'you are what you eat' also applies as 'you are what you listen to'.
3: Your skin listens too
You have two kinds of cells within your skin, especially in your face, hands, neck, that conduct sound to the ear/ brain. One set is for high frequencies and one set is for low frequencies.4: The tone of your voice is perceived by others even more than the words you say
So choose your words carefully and keep check on your emotional tone coming through your words. In other words, listen to yourself.5: Singing is a learned skill
The perception that one is born with it, so called natural ability, only holds true to a minimal certain point and here's why: The fetus at about 24 weeks has a fully formed functioning ear and can hear the voice of the mother through bone conduction.You're lucky if your mother sang in tune and sang often because that's where you pick up the art of singing first, in the womb. Sound vibrates the bones and starts sending messages, developing new neural pathways in the brain; thus, the beginning of consciousness.
I like to say it is the whole skeleton that sings! The rest is a matter of learning, practice and enjoying the art of singing.
