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Core Confidence Unveiled Cultivating Your Voice’s Hidden 67%
EPISODE 04 - March 26, 2024 - TRANSCRIPT
Host: Philippe Hall
Guest Speaker: Dottie Todman
Chapters & Time Stamps
00:35 Diving into Dottie Todman's Journey and Achievements
02:38 Dottie Todman on Empowering Children Through Music
04:34 The Magic of Ventriloquism in Education
08:27 Understanding Vocal Empowerment Coaching
13:12 The Holistic Approach to Singing and Self-Expression
21:10 Navigating Challenges and Stress as a Professional Singer
23:17 Harnessing Your Inner Power Through Breath
23:57 The Importance of Diaphragmatic Breathing and Emotional Connection
25:20 Waking Up Right: Avoiding Cell Phones and Embracing the Morning
25:50 Building a Strong Mental and Emotional Foundation for Singing
27:40 Techniques and Exercises for Vocal Mastery
29:14 Addressing Mental Health and the Power of Singing
31:29 Overcoming Resistance to Inner Work in Singing
38:11 Introducing 'Breathe Into Your Vocal Power' Book
42:42 Closing Thoughts and Invitation to Connect
Welcome to the Voice Vibe Podcast with Special Guest Dottie Todman
Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Voice Vibe Podcast. My name is Philippe Hall. I'm your host, and I'm excited today to welcome a special guest on the podcast, Dottie Todman. And Dottie Todman and I go way back. We reconnected after a long time of working as professionals, but we were actually students together, and I totally forgotten that I did a musical that she wrote.
And, uh, so we really enjoyed reconnecting and having a good laugh about our experience as students.
Diving into Dottie Todman's Journey and Achievements
Let me tell you a little bit about Dottie and what she's done since I knew her a couple of years ago. The Dottie's recognized as a forerunner in vocal empowerment. as the world's original celebrity vocal empowerment coach.
She's also a singer, certified teacher, and speaker, passionately guides voices for over 25 years now. She has degrees in theater, psychology, and music, and her trajectory was profoundly shaped after a severe personal medical accident. This led to the creation of core vocal power, a method that merges metaphysics with vocal mechanics.
enhancing emotional well being through voice. Now Dottie's been highlighted on platforms like NBC, MTV, and Idol. Her clients have graced stages from Broadway to the Grammys and appeared on hit shows like American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, and This Is Us. Recent career highlights included sharing the stage with Bobby McFerrin, and starring in her own sold out one woman interactive musical.
At the heart of Dot's work is her mission, to empower voices, one heart at a time, radiating global harmony through vocal transformation. She also enjoys writing children's music and ventriloquism, adding a playful touch to her multifaceted talents. Yes, this lady is extremely talented, very diverse, and so much fun to work with and to know.
And I'd like you to welcome together with me, Dottie. How are you today?
Hi! I'm great. Thank you so much for having me and for reading that introduction. It's so special.
Of course, of course. It's really a pleasure. Always a pleasure. Always a lot of fun.
Dottie Todman on Empowering Children Through Music
Um, so I introduced you a little bit, but tell me what's going on currently.
I know you're always involved in a lot of things. But what is, what are you currently passionately working on?
Oh, wow. Well, actually it's funny you ask because right now, uh, I'm working with one of my little friends here. This is Fluffy Puppy. Uh, and Fluffy Puppy is Hi, I'm Fluffy Puppy. is a little tool that I use to work with children.
And I've been, as a certified teacher, I've been doing that for well over 25 years. And what I do is, we write music, and we interact with kids. But at the heart of what I do, what I, What I do is try to help them build confidence and, um, and not, you know, how they say, kids are so pure, right? And, and they're so special and they're natural artists, but then we throw this music at them.
That's like, I mean, I don't even get me started. I heard a kid, a six year old kid that was singing some horrible stuff about getting intoxicated and bumping and grinding. And I'm thinking. What are we doing to our kids? So, uh, I just am working on a children's project right now and in concert with Uh, everybody deserves love which is a non profit that I enjoy donating to and supporting because they're all about teaching mental wellness and mental emotional wellness and And and self love and and basically survival in a in a thriving sense to everyone really.
Wow. That's so cool.
That's very inspirational.
The Magic of Ventriloquism in Education
How did you get into ventriloquism?
Oh my gosh. Well, it's a good question. Um, actually when I used to back in the day, I used to work at Sylvan Learning Center. And so Sylvan Learning Center is Uh, a place where kids that are either like, I want to say autistic cause they're not autistic, but they're either, some of them are gifted.
They're just challenged. They're, they're kind of like me. They learn differently and they basically need to catch up in school. So I was an administrative, uh, director there and associate director and a lead teacher. And so. What we had to do was we had three kids at the table, one here, one here, and one in front of us, and we would basically get about an hour to get them caught up.
So if they were at a second grade reading level, we have to get them to a third grade or whatever their goal was, reading, math, science, any subject. And so to get the kids to pay attention, We would offer them a little reward or a token. And I would use this little thing, which actually is not, it's not up here, it's in another studio.
But basically I would use this little thing, this is over 20 years ago, to give kids a token. And I would have him, and then I'd say, You know, you're not doing your work! And, uh, I, I basically used it to connect with the child and give them a voice. So a lot of times I would get the kids that had the behavioral issues or the kids that just weren't focusing in class because they couldn't handle the way that the teachers were teaching.
So it was basically a bridge between me as an adult. And what it did was, it helped them, it brought them out of their shell. So, I don't know if that makes sense, or how well I'm explaining it. Yeah,
no, it makes absolute sense. Just a wonderful tool, working with kids, obviously. Some adults, it could be very fun.
It is fun because you can make the puppets say, like, sometimes I'd make the puppet not as smart as the child. So I'd have the puppet struggle. Like he couldn't read. So it'd be like, you know, and then the kid would be like, right. And then the kid would, would teach the child. I mean, the kid would teach fluffy puppy, which really wasn't fluffy puppy.
It was pork chop from a happy meal. And then eventually someone gifted me this. And then before you knew it, but I wasn't bringing this to work. This was just sort of on the side. She's still working on her ventriloquism. Yeah, I'm still working on my ventriloquism. Oh
my gosh, that was, that was really good.
Your lips didn't move at all. That was amazing.
Oh, thank you. I've been working on it, but, you know, usually, like, I just would talk. I wouldn't even try to. It was just about really allowing that kid to shine and know that they can shine. Who they were. And that's kind of the same thing that I've integrated into singing and helping people sing better, even though I don't use puppets with adults, but sometimes like if they start acting up, I start doing this and then they go, okay, okay.
Cause you know, we really all have that child inside of us. Right. It just wants to be heard. We want to be understood. We want to be accepted. And. Somehow this crazy world comes in and goes, Oh, you're bad because you hit a note wrong. And I think it's ridiculous. I think that people's self-esteem has gotten way out of whack and we're all just suffering for no good reason.
We need to bring back the love, baby.
Amen to that. Amen to that.
Understanding Vocal Empowerment Coaching
Hey, tell us a little bit. What the difference is between a vocal empowerment coach compared to a vocal coach. So you're very specific on that. And I know you have a specific angle. That you help people with. So just educate us a little bit on this subtlety.
Sure. Yeah. So I do, I call myself a vocal empowerment coach because I actually, um, , it actually organically happened and it's really more about the person. So my approach is what I, what I realized as a singer, as a professional singer. Is I wasn't really tuned into my whole instrument. And what happened for me was when I moved to Los Angeles, my singing career started to blow up and every time I had a really big opportunity, I would get super sick.
I would get super sick. My body couldn't handle it and I would self sabotage. And I don't know if any of your listeners can relate. But this is really, um, this is kind of a big thing that I think we do to ourselves. A lot of people do this to themselves so that they finally get the opportunity of the dream and something just doesn't pan out.
And I couldn't figure out what was going on. Why? Why am I sabotaging? Um, why is it that I just can't get past this, even though I'm a professional singer, like I could hit the notes, there are other parts of me that were missing. And this, this kind of bleeds into what I want to talk about today anyway.
So what, what happened was even though, so I have my degrees, I'm all trained in everything and here in Los Angeles. And then the next thing, you know, um, I, I mean, I'm, I'm in these plays, I'm doing well, but I just, I just don't, I'm not feeling it. And so I decide maybe I should start instead of just teaching part time, maybe I should teach full time.
So what I do is I start doing that. And then I realized. The feedback I'm getting from people that are successful is they're telling me, you know, Dot, you're, you're giving me confidence. And I'm thinking I've given them the best vocal drills, the best tools. And what are they talking about confidence for?
And then I realized that I actually, that I actually, myself wasn't, Like mentally and emotionally. And so this is where I got the term vocal empowerment coach. And I have to give Arthur Joseph. I don't know if you know who he is, but he's the guy that coached you. Remember Annie from way back in the day, the sun’ll come out tomorrow.
He actually worked with this little girl and he worked with some other. Hollywood people and he, um, also works with a lot of news broadcasters and those types of people, so speakers. He trained me and, um, he used to talk really slow and he would - and he was 400 an hour, and that was back in like 2005, okay?
Luckily, I had a scholarship. That's besides the point. The point is, I wanted to strangle him because he talks so slow, and I was in a hurry to realize my dream and to get, you know, I wanted to realize what I needed to realize and express my talents and show the world and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And this guy was talking slowly, and he's supposed to teach me, blah, How to sing.
And what I learned from him was something I will always credit him for. And that is the “gift of presence and alignment” and, and being in your body. And at the time I did not know what that was. All I knew was, I, I gotta hustle, I'm in LA, and I gotta make my dreams happen, and I gotta do this, and I, I wanna discover my voice, even though I already thought I discovered it.
Something was off. And so what it helped me to do, is it, it, he helped me to, um, well at the time I didn't appreciate it. Like over time after I realized, I was like, Oh my gosh, this guy's doing something different than like the Seth Riggs and the other people in the industry that I've been working with.
They're, they're really, he's really coming into his alignment. So then I had this thing where the doctors nick my bowel, cause I'm sick all the time. And then they made a mistake and I had all this stuff happen.
The Holistic Approach to Singing and Self-Expression
And to answer your question, well, what is a vocal empowerment coach? What I realized, and I do want to share this, but before, um, we put it up on the screen, I'm going to, I'm going to say, um, if I ask you this question, Philippe, if I say to you, Hey, you know, if I'm a piano player, what's my instrument, right?
It's my piano, isn't it? That's easy, but most singers don't know what their instrument is. But if I ask you, okay, sing, like just put you on the spot and you sing, right? Let's say any of your listeners. They're singing and they're like, and then, and they're singing in front of me. And then maybe you've experienced this, like you could tell they didn't really enjoy it, right?
Like the, say the first time you meet them, right. And they're singing and they're just like in their head the whole time. Right. And then you say, okay, on a scale of one to 10, don't even rate how well you sound, but you tell me “How much did you enjoy that? How comfortable was that for you? Like really comfortable.”
And the answer I usually get when I ask people this is they're like, they say like three or four, right? ‘Cause it's the first day. Like I do this to people. They like four or as they might say six or seven, if they're, if they're more comfortable in like, they're used to being put on the spot, but nine times out of 10, it's going to be way under seven.
And then I asked them, what do you wish it was? And most people say 10 or 12. They're like 12. Some people go, well nine. And I go, okay, why is it nine? And they're like, well, I know I can't be perfect. Okay. Well, here's what my 10 is. What if a 10 was. I know I sound pretty dang good, but I also really feel awesome.
I'm in my message. I'm in the story of the song, right? I'm, I'm expressing through, I'm expressing myself as a vessel and creating music that other people are hearing and enjoying and, and it's, it's happening in this moment. I'm so present, right? That's a 10th. And then they look at me and they go, Oh, and it's like, yeah, And that's empowerment, that's empowerment.
That doesn't mean you did perfect. It means whatever happened. You're okay with it. And then they go, Oh, and then I say, in order to get that 10, you need to know what your whole instrument is. And most people don't. And now I can ask the trick question. We're not going to show it yet, but now I can ask the trick question as a singer, what's your instrument.
If my piano player, my instruments, my piano.
Yeah, what you said is, is, is wonderful because when I look back on my career of singing, I don't know how many thousand performances there's always, there's always, uh, a few, maybe a dozen that I considered 10 out of 10, perfect. And there's not one of those, would I say I didn't feel was perfect.
Like I was absolutely communicating the message, the story. So it's this alignment. You can't have, you could have a very boring, perfectly technically sung performance. I would not consider it a 10 out of 10 and I would consider it much higher, a nine out of 10 if I had vocal mistakes, but I was still very aligned.
With that performance, feeling it, communicating, that's so much more important and so much more powerful than just the technique alone. Technique alone can be cold, you know, having this alignment usually makes the technique better all by itself.
Exactly. That's exactly right. So what's your instrument then?
What's the instrument? I mean, what do you think most people say?
They're going to point to their larynx and say, it's right here. Exactly. It's my voice.
And then I give an example that I give, you know, everyone. I'm like, okay, let's say you're singing a song, right? And I say, listen, because your voice is less than one third of your instrument.
So I'm singing a song, Mary had a little lamb, my favorite song, ha ha ha, and all of a sudden the thought pops in my mind, oh my gosh, I don't think that sounded good, and oh my gosh, I, there's a high note coming, and suddenly from that thought in my mind, I feel anxiety in my soul and then the last thing to have happen is my body tightens up and then the voice cracks or it just feels smaller.
It feels smaller in front of people, when they're there, than when I was by myself. What on earth is going on? And now we bring up the instrument. Let's, let's show the whole instrument now and talk about. Because this is what is different. So, we have our mind, which we know is so much more than the right brain, which is the creative, and the left brain, which is the analytical, right?
But just for the sake of singing, if we can understand those two parts of our personality, Left brain. Okay. I'm trying to control then right brain. Oh, I'm free. I'm allowing, we got to find a balance or a cooperation between those two, the thought was in the mind then I felt something in my soul and Lastly my body responded which includes the voice So when you look at it this way, you see how small the voice is.
Yeah, it's just right. Yeah. So Philippe, um, my approach to singing is I'm going to look at all of it. And when people, when I say warm up your instrument, I want them to warm up their mind, which is, that means you got to get your mind really present and then you got to get your soul in a place of like. At least, I mean, peace is, it is a peace sign, right?
Just to kind of help people understand, like, I want to feel peace, but if they don't feel peace, at least can you feel okay? And then if you can get that 67 percent to work for you and create favorable conditions in your thoughts and feelings, then your body and voice. We'll, we'll go to a whole other level and we're not ignoring what we don't like.
We're not, you know, trying to make ourselves sound like, we're not just pushing ourselves in a way that's manipulative or controlling, but we are literally okay with what's happening in this “now” moment and using that to train the voice. So it's more of an unconditionally. supportive approach to singing.
And that's, that's the difference. Vocal vocal coaches, um, they're going to give you the technique and that's great. And of course they're going to do the other stuff. Like I know you do the, you know, you, you help people emotionally too. It's just the way that. that I work in what sort of has organically happened over the past 30 years is that it's, as I've worked on myself, it's given me more tools and, and I can kind of see where people are messing with themselves in their head.
And sometimes, and almost all of the time, I found that the vocal issues that they have, the root of it, or the core Is something mental or emotional? And that's, that's part of why the technical issue is there, you know, example of nerves, right?
Navigating Challenges and Stress as a Professional Singer
Let's talk about that because I've been a professional singer for a very long time, I'm coaching a lot of people, and it is something that everybody is dealing with and it happens all the time. It's like, it never really completely goes away, right? So there's this element of how do I manage myself? I just had an experience a couple of weeks ago. I was singing a concert and it got into this space.
And there were some sound technicians I hadn't ever worked with. And this is just a really weird space. And I said, I don't want to use the mic and they said, Oh, we have to use the mic for the recording. So he started doing, I started doing the mic in this space and it was such, such strange acoustics. It really made me feel uneasy because I couldn't, I could not use the mic.
Like I would normally use a mic because it would give me like a double triple bounce back And it was like it was it's like my voice was almost delayed It was it threw me off so bad and I was just trying to you know Calm down, sing, sing according to the feeling And I wasn't, I didn't really enjoy the experience as much as I've enjoyed other experiences.
And I don't think, exactly because of that, that I was able to sing the way I wanted to sing. And I've been doing this for a very long time. You know, maybe if I had had more time in that space and rehearsed a little bit longer. But this was like, okay, 30 minutes before, sing your songs. And let's do a mic check.
And I'm like, this is not, not conducive. So it threw me for a loop. So this is, I'm totally on board with this and it's very important, but what do singers need to do and what do we need to do as professionals on a day to day basis? to deal with the reality of there's going to be things that stress you out.
Yes. Okay. That's a wonderful example. And, um, absolutely.
Harnessing Your Inner Power Through Breath
So, and, and everything you asked is so important. So I'm glad you asked it. What do we do so that maybe there are, maybe your automatic response, like you actually have some go to tools. So one of the things is getting your brain on board with you in a way that is so that you can get yourself so that you're okay no matter what happens.
And this is like, I'm not gonna, I'm not saying this is easy. But it's part of, like, what I say is the way we sing is the way we do everything, the way we live our life.
The Importance of Diaphragmatic Breathing and Emotional Connection
And it starts with the breath. And, like, people think diaphragmatic breathing is just like, oh, like, I have to, you know, everyone knows you gotta.
Breathe from here, right? But if you're nervous, like I'm sure when this thing happened, you were like, all the energy went up and then it's like, Oh crap. And then you're singing like this and you're more in your head. So one of the first things I have people do is what I call drop in. And you, you literally like, there's different ways to get there.
You know, I, I, everything I do is, uh, individualized. So I look at how the person's brain works and if they're really logical and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Like there's. Many different ways. But one way to drop in is to get people to think of something they really love. Like, I'm not just talking like, oh, like, I really like this crystal someone got me for my birthday.
I mean, I do. It's really cute. But something that's going to make you go, aww. Like for you, maybe it's like when your little daughter was a baby. The way that you breathe, if there's a way, like for me, look, I'm going to show you my new one. It's Phoebe. Remember Phoebe. Okay. So, or my dog or just something. Um, some people, it's a sunset, it's a car, okay?
I don't care what it is, but it gets you to breathe lower in your body.
Waking Up Right: Avoiding Cell Phones and Embracing the Morning
So you want to do that when you first wake up. I also have people not look at their cell phone when they first wake up. I have them literally freaking get an alarm clock. Remember those? Because our minds are being so hijacked by these phones.
And when you wake up, your brain is in that hypnagogic state. You, you're telling yourself, you're not important. This outer thing is more important. What other people think is more important. That does not work well when you're trying to sing, does it?
Building a Strong Mental and Emotional Foundation for Singing
No, so your, your body, your soul, there's a part of you, I believe there's a part of all of us that just knows it just knows we're special.
Like there's this untainted part of us that knows that, but the world and the world that we live in is going to make us feel like caca because that's what we live in. We live in a world. It's like, you're not good enough. You've got to hustle. You've got to do this. And it's all this energy. So if we wake up in the morning.
And the first thing we do is we say, okay, since my subconscious is, um, really blown open right now and highly suggestible, instead of looking at my cell phone, Where I can really get my amygdala to go nuts right now something crazy is on my phone I'm gonna spend a little bit of time and I'm gonna just drop in and reassure myself I'm gonna fuel up and so there's certain exercises I have people do And, you know, they're in charge, like you get to be in charge.
I also encourage journaling, stuff like that. And then as you do this over time, what happens to you is when you walk into these situations where you're like dealing with, you know, what we think are big people in the world or whatever, you know, we realize, you realize that I actually am here like my, my diagram with the mind.
You'll see it behind me. I'm here. So I'm mentally here. And then the soul, I'm okay. And then lastly, I'm free. And you, you literally program yourself in this way. I'm here. Mine. I'm okay. So body, I'm free. And when these things come up, you're actually more able to deal with it because you've had the tool of dropping in.
Techniques and Exercises for Vocal Mastery
Like I talked about in my book, “Breathe Into Your Power.” Um, so that's one thing you can do. And then there are other little breathing exercises and little tools that you can just immediately execute that will reset your brain. And you're just like, ah, I'm in it anyway. So when, when people come to me, I do a lot of, um, I rewire their nervous system.
Really they're doing it. I just facilitate it, but, um, it's, it's, it can be, it can feel a little uncomfortable or weird, but the more you get comfortable with the weirdness that you can't control, you start to realize, you know what, it's a lot easier to allow things to happen versus try to control them.
When I try to control my voice, this, these tiny fleshy flaps that do this. 2000, right? 200 to 1200 times in one second. My vocal cords are going like this. I can't control that. That's something beyond my, that my brain can even comprehend, but I can hold a space for it. And this is what, you know, we can call it the feminine energy, right?
It allows. And when you balance that with the masculine. Yeah. All of a sudden, instead of just air and muscle balancing in the vocal cords, which is what we want to control as singers, right? We want to make sure we got the air muscle balancing, right. And my vocal tract to shape, right. And all those awesome things happening.
But I also want to know that I'm supportive. And this is the part that the mental emotional part that's been missing.
Addressing Mental Health and the Power of Singing
It's been missing in our schools. It's been missing in our curriculum. And that's why I believe there's so much of a mental health crisis because we haven't been taught to even get on our own team.
We're already doing this. I have to sound perfect. If I don't sound like Beyonce, I shouldn't even bother singing. Like how many times have I heard that one?
This is so, so important. You know, I'm just thinking there's people listening. There's going to be people watching and listening to this in the future as well.
And my experience is most people are just not going to take it seriously. They're like, ah, that's not going to help me sing better. It's not going to help me sing better. I need to learn technique. I need to learn this. I need to learn breath control. I, I want to sing high. I don't care about, you know, being in my space, you know, it's, it just doesn't seem like there's a lot of people that can't grasp this, you know, and I can say very clearly that I don't control my voice.
I guide my voice. But the more hands on I am with my voice, the worse it gets. The more I guide and let go, the better it gets. And there is, you know, of course I've studied all kinds of things and have a lot of techniques and worked on this and that and this and that. But what you're talking about is so, it's, it's so important because no matter what you do, You're never going to get away from the fact you're going to do this in front of other people and your body and your internal programming subconscious is not always your friend because you put in some patterns there that are not friendly.
You, you, they're stupid, right? I mean, I've, I've got some things, patterns I'm recognized in my life right now. I'm going, these are ridiculous. They don't even make sense. They don't even make sense, but I'm in the loop, right? And it's like, okay, well, there's another loop. I need to unhook. Otherwise I'm going to be stuck in my life.
And progress and singing is very similar to that.
Overcoming Resistance to Inner Work in Singing
So for people that are resistant to this idea, How can you comfort them that it's not a waste of time? Because a lot of people just don't do it because they think I got to do this. I got to do other things. These are my tasks. If I do this, I'm not doing that, and I'm wasting my time. So how? How do you help people wrap around?
Wrap their heads around this that if I just do it on a little consistent basis Things get so much better over time. Oh, okay. That's
a great question. So first of all, like, like you're saying, right? The people that are like, well, show me the technique. Like I show them, it's like, okay, you want to, um, make your voice higher.
And then I can show them that in like five minutes. And so then they're like, oh, and then they're shocked that they did it. And then they're like, well, I have to practice that. I have to do that. But then it's like, then we get to the root of. What's actually going on in their nervous system and why was it blocked in the first place?
And once they realize, Oh my gosh, I actually did that to myself. I, I, my throat closed off or you give them a situation or a thing. Where you recreate the drama to where they can't do it. But two seconds ago, you could, why is that? And then, yeah, there's a lot of little things I do to help people, but you got to meet people where they're at.
Some people aren't ready. It's like, if you're not ready, you're not ready to, to, to like really see that stuff. But the people that work with me, right. They're at a point where they already know they've tried everything else. They're like, or they're just like, I just want to, I want to be free. So every week, you know, it's like, okay, so they're ready and I only give them little tiny steps, but they see the progress.
Like, you know, so the, the progress that people make, they're like coming to me in tears. They're like, Oh my God, my, my whole life's changing now, because what happens is, and this is why I say singing is one of the most amazing spiritual tools that you can have. Learning how to sing and train your voice.
Can bless your life beyond what you could ever imagine if you do this inner work because look inner Right. I'm using my core Literally and of course it's an acronym. It's and that's how the corporal power program is made But even if you don't know about corporal power and you're just like, oh my diaphragm Why aren't people singing from the diaphragm?
I've had people with master's degrees in pedagogy that literally have studied voice for years and they can't get to their diaphragm. And in one session, they're breathing from their diaphragm because they were willing to be present and let themselves, through the tools I'm giving them, unlock their nervous system.
So it's a balance, right? Of course, I'm going to show you the technique, but are you patient enough to like, how's your way working for you? Right? They're like, okay, show me the techniques. Like, okay, do it. Okay. How's that working for you? Right? This is what's going on. You're doing this. Do you know why you're doing this?
If I show you how to fix it, you're still going to do it wrong. And that happened for years. That's the thing. I've been doing this for so long. I've had so many thousands and thousands of people, right? And it's like, okay, I showed all these people, like the first 10 years, I was just doing all technique.
I'm like, these people aren't getting it. Oh, why aren't they doing it? And neither was I, but for me, technique was easier. It was natural. There were some technical things I was actually doing wrong, even though. It was trained not to, and it was, that was also because of emotional stuff, you know, we forget who we really are.
And then it's like, I can push even further, but I only do this. I go for, as a coach, I do it as people want it. But with you, I just want to say this, why do you even want to sing in the first place? Like, what are you trying to prove? Are you, are you trying to, like, are you saying that you're nothing if you can't hit these notes?
‘Cause some people really believe that belief, like I'm sure you've experienced that. I don't know if it's as intense. I'm here in Hollywood where people are coming here to realize their dreams, right? But it's like, do you get that you're bigger than all of this? Like can I just offer this to you, when you step into knowing.
How amazing you actually really are. Even if you missed the note, like remember when you were five, did you really base your whole self worth on how many likes you had on Instagram? And, and like what, you know what I'm saying? It's nuts what we're doing to ourselves right now. And voice is a big part of this.
What's happening is people are showing off, showing off with their voice, and they're, they're posting these videos, and they're, look at how many, like, I can do an 18 point run, and, and, and everyone's like, oh, I want to do that. Why? Why do you want to do that? Why? Oh, because then I'll be great? I work with people that have realized their dreams, they've gotten their Grammys, they've gotten everything they want, and guess what?
Once you get everything you want, you realize There's still more to get and there's more and that becomes your God. Yeah,
like, yeah, it's like you get once often when you get what you thought you wanted, you get it. It's great. You are very happy for about 48 hours. Yeah. And then it becomes the descent.
I mean, after every big promoted production, after every opening, after every big show. It's this major workup and it's so exciting. You put everything into, you work for maybe four years at a time and all of a sudden you get it, it's done. Here's the celebration. And now you're home in your hotel or your home at your apartment the next day.
And it's like, you still have, you got it. If you don't have your core at that point. You are in free fall, right? Because there's the big relaxation after that. The big exhalation. So that's really important. To grab on that look, um, you this is fantastic.
Introducing 'Breathe Into Your Vocal Power' Book
I'd love to keep talking to you about this. I know we have had a couple little glitches on the internet, but I want to Show people and talk to people about your book. Yeah, so let's jump into that real quick.
Um Talk to me, talk to me about the book. You've written this amazing book and it's kind of like a, it's kind of like a guide. It's a step, things you can do to get on top of what we've been talking about…
Tell me about “breathing into your vocal power”. What are these five steps? And I know you prepared a special offer for our audience.
Oh, yes, indeed. So this is just available on my website. And what I did is there's also an audio book because I don't even like reading.
I can't pay attention. But, uh, my book is more like a, um, it's kind of like a guidebook and it's, uh, interactive. So there's exercises, these exercises that I was talking about that can help you to really drop in. And get basically all of the things that are going to help you be able to sing through your mixed voice or not be in your head while you're seeing and connects your diaphragm and all starts with the breath.
And just real quick, see how I'm doing this with my hands. Let me see how you get a picture. Like if I'm doing my day, like I got to do this, I got to do this. I got to do this. I'm pushing that energy out and I'm going to get tired. And people think that's what singing is. But if I do this, this is allowing me to Align my energy and the, the, that's the feminine energy, right?
So I can receive, or I can push out. What if I had a balance of both? So what this book does in its own, in its own right, is it's going to help you go through these awesome steps. to allow your voice to open up and sing with presence and power. And you can use it in conjunction with any training program.
But what I did in this volume, because it used to be called, um, Connecting Breath to Soul, I started writing this book in 2009. And over the years, I just keep adding more yummy stuff to it. So I learned new stuff. And so what, what you basically will learn is if you have anxiety or like these self sabotaging patterns or all of these things that come up for you in addition to trying to train or learn technique, then if you do the steps in these book, then it will, it will help you.
And it says five steps, but within each of those steps, there's like a whole bunch of other steps. So honestly, it would take like, If you can, you can, my clients, they love to just read through it. Like you can, it's going to suck you in because it's easy. It's an easy read, but I really encourage people to take their time.
Like with each chapter, like spend a month on one segment and just like dive in, or even just two weeks of focused breathing, you drop in, drop into your body, you feel the expansion. You learn how to get clear, and then there's three different ways to send the exhale. Once you learn that, you learn how to connect your tone in a way that won't make you tired.
And then finally, you learn about how to do that integrated. So, um, that's kind of my answer of what are the five steps, but yeah, you'll see when you read it, it's, it's, it's not, there's more than five steps, but I had to break it down somehow.
Oh, no, it's great. It's great. This is a very valuable tool and I'm actually looking forward to going through it myself.
So if you go into the description of the live stream video or just the description of the podcast. Um, the show notes, you're going to find a promo code, a discount code, and you will save 40 percent off of the breathe into your power book by Dottie Totman.
Closing Thoughts and Invitation to Connect
And I'd also like to invite all of you who are currently listening.
And if you're listening later and you want to join a live zoom call with me and my co hosts, Then check out the link in the YouTube description and in the podcast description or visit singingrevealed.com. So what we're going to do now is we're going to end this podcast and we're going to hop into a private Zoom call where we're going to interact with singers one on one, answer their questions, give them some coaching, and it's really so much fun.
You guys have heard of masterclasses. But this is, this is, uh, more personal than that, you know, and it's not a bunch of people getting up and just performing for each other and getting some feedback from a teacher. This is real interaction, connection, and we need connection. As artists, as singers, as human beings.
So come and connect with us in the vibe live, following this podcast and every podcast Tuesdays at 12 Eastern standard time. Thank you so much for listening and thank you Dot D. Toppin for being my guest today.
Thank you.
Interested in some personal feedback and guidance? Connect with Philippe, his guest speakers and a vibrant growing community of like-minded singers personally during our 1 hour long private zoom call directly following the livestreams, Tuesday at 12:00 [EST]
During this call we'll answer your questions and provide you with valuable personal feedback and guidance. Join us on “the ViBE Live” Q&A Coaching call and get your answers! Join the ViBE private singing community.
Our purpose with the Voice Vibe podcast is to:
Inspire - Listeners will be inspired by what they hear to take action.
Guide - Provide clear instruction on an actionable technique or tip.
Reward - Listeners will be able to apply what they've learned and benefit immediately.
Connection - Listeners will be able to join a private zoom call with my guest speakers, interact directly with us, ask questions and receive feedback.
For more information please visit:
https://www.singingrevealed.com/vibe-singers-community
