PopRock Blog
Unlock Your Voice: Transform Your Singing!
By Paul Kwo
Whether you love or hate reality singing competitions, the one thing we all learned from these shows are our often delusions of our own voices. Though many hopefuls often over-estimate their own abilities, thinking all they need is a moment to shine, the opposite is also true. Many people are fearful of their own voice and thus in terms obstructing their own development.
We hear amazing singers and we either have a delusion thinking that's who we already are, or that we can never be because of our innate talent. Those who start out before taking any lessons with a solid voice because they have been singing on their own for a long time. They were not born with a better voice. They only grew up continuously singing. But even the greatest raw talent is still raw, and a professionally trained ear can hear so. The truth of the matter is no great singers become so without the help of vocal teachers and coaches. We all need another ear to take us to the next level. I say if legends like Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Stevie Wonders, Mariah Carey and many others.
For those who have been singing for years before beginning training with a teacher, the answer to whether their voice is any good may seem obvious. But for those who have not had the confidence in singing on their own prior to training, it may sometimes seem hopeless. However keep in mind that training takes years, upwards of 10+ or more years. Most student enter instrumental lessons such as piano or guitar with the understanding that it will take them 10+ years to be well training. Most students began with zero understanding in and ability to play the piano. They start from scratch. But singers assume that they should be able to sing a well complete song in a matter of days. Such expectations then breaks down confidence as students with less vocal history when they progress slowly in lesson, thinking their voice is just not good enough. But the truth is simply they haven't been singing enough on their own.
CLASSICAL VERSUS CONTEMPORARY POP
I often tell students that in contemporary Pop music (and I include all genres such as Rock, R&B, Country, Pop, Hip Hop etc. under the Pop umbrella) there is no such thing as a voice that's good enough. It is entirely based on a speaking voice and how unique the voice is. Success is only a matter of being in the right place at the right time and have near nothing to do with skill level and how beautiful one's voice is. Certainly there are great singers out there with great voices, but there are also plenty others who do not have a classically beautiful voice yet still have great success.
Nurturing a Balanced Approach to Performing Arts Education!
By Paul Kwo
“That's Great!” Says Tony the Tiger. I remember this commercial from my childhood promoting a cereal brand that is supposed to be well-balanced. It gives the child the right amount of fun as well as the right amount of nutrition that's needed. The same really goes for a teacher in the performing arts.
Certainly many children and teens begin their studies in the performing arts with positive attitudes, enjoying the fun that these performing arts bring to them. But over the course of a year or two, the majority of the students begin to grow tire of the constant practice and the nagging of their parents to practice. Many parents push their kid so as to not waste their hard-earned money paying for the weekly lessons. But quite often to the detriment of the student's enjoyment, these aggressive pushes often turn the students away from the art that they once enjoyed or even loved.
But the opposite is not any better. Some parents believing that the arts should be fun and that the child should simply enjoy their time spent studying the art decidedly not to ever push their child to strive for some form of excellence. Some of these child end up, with the help of incompetent teachers, studying for years with little to no advancement in their skill level. Thus wasting valuable time the child has and the money the parents spent.
So how do we find this balance between pushing a child versus maintaining the enjoyment?
1. Foster an environment friendly to practice. (Do NOT replace fun time with practice time.)
So often do I have students telling me how they simply don't have time to practice. I have heard so many excuses in my life ranging from homework to family obligations to bizarre tasks or chores they had to do, the underlying issue remain: A child does not know how to properly manage their time.
A parent's job is NOT to yell at a child to practice and to demand the child perfection in their practice. It is the teacher's job to demand the perfection and to help a child understand the importance of practice. A parent's job is to help a child manage their time so that they can actually be freed to practice. But so often I see parents instead of managing their child's schedule, they simply replace a child's existing free fun time with practice. If a boss replaced their employee's break time with more work, the employee would certainly build up resentment about the work they are to do over a long period of time. Why would we think a child would behave any differently? Do not replace a child's fun time with practice. Rather schedule out your child's time outside of school to equally balance fun time and work time including homework and practice.
The Power of Performing Arts!
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the amount of research out there on every imaginable topic. With just as much research to prove one side right, there seem to be just as much evidence to prove the opposite is true. So my faith in the performing arts really comes back to my fundamental need to express, and my own experience of how it has shaped me to become who I am today.
ACTING
Linda Morgan, editor with ParentMap and author of the book Beyond Smart says “acting and drama can helps kids develop emotionally and academically.” It makes simple logical sense. In acting, students work on memorization of lines, timing and following cues. It also improv their public speaking skills. The material present can lead students to learn about history and authors while having fun at the same time. Furthermore, acting helps students develop better understanding of human emotions, and their abilities to connect, interact and collaborate with other individuals. It helps build confidence in the students in a fun and positive atmosphere.
DANCE
In today's obese culture of fattening foods and overweight children and adults, any opportunity we have to foster a healthier, exercise based lifestyle in our next generation is a plus. Dance is one of the ways students can enjoy exercise in a fun and team building environment. It also carries similar benefits acting classes has when it comes to helping student build emotional understanding and of student's confidence. But beyond the obvious physical benefits of dance, Massachusetts Institute of Technology student's after-school program uses dance to improve math skills. This is just one of the many programs out there that believe dance and music has a direct benefit for student's development in mathematics.
MUSIC
Music is probably one of the most studied discipline when it comes to its correlations to academic benefits. The Mozart effect was one of the best known that links listening to classical music can benefit infants brain development. A 2005 University of North Carolina at Greensboro also report that several academic studies have found overall increases in test scores across academic disciplines for those who are in music programs or play a musical instrument.
All performing arts carry the same fundamental idea of building confidence, and we want to help students achieve their full potential here at PopRock Academy in Alhambra.
PopRock Academy is conveniently centrally located in the West San Gabriel Valley. We are 5 to 10 minutes away from Pasadena and San Marino to our north, San Gabriel, Temple City and Arcadia to our east and Monterey Park and Rosemead to our south. Stop by our studio to find out more about what we have to offer.
Mastering the Piano: How Long Does it Take?
By Paul Kwo
There is a saying that it takes 10,000 hours to be the master of anything.
Granted most people coming to piano lessons are not trying to become grandmasters of the instrument. They just want to be able to play the piano and play it well enough to entertain themselves. So how many hours does it really take to learn the piano?
Piano is probably one of the most difficult, if not the most difficult instrument to learn. Granted that every instrument has its own challenges, but the piano presents one of the toughest simply for the fact that aside from vocal music, there's more music written for piano than anything else. There are so much variety of music that one can learn, it's simply mind boggling.
I'll break it down for you.
A typical student (between age 8 to 12 taking an average of 30 to 45 minutes of lesson the first year) in a year can learn to play a simple song consist primarily of one note at a time between the two hands, with an occasional chord. Basically by the end of the year, a student should be able to play a relatively simple version of Happy Birthday to you where both hands may occasionally play one one in each hand simultaneously.
Then during the second year, most student should move to 45 minutes to 1 hour private lesson. By the end of the year, they should be able to play something a little more challenging where the two hands may have different things going on at the same time. An easy folk song or a simplified rendition of a pop song with easy accompaniment should be accomplishable.
Then on the third year, a student whose been taking 1 hour lesson should be able to play simple Bach pieces and do some basic fake book music with chords going on in one hand and melody in the other.
By the forth year, a student then should be able to play an easy Beethoven Sonatina or other pieces in that level of difficulty, and read medium difficulty pop music.
So at the very least, a student really needs 4 years to be able to play basic Classical pieces and do a descent job faking a pop song or reading a simpler version of one. But of course some students practice more and some are just more naturally gifted in playing the piano. But for most people after 4 years of piano, you should have enough basic skills to keep you entertained as long as you keep on doing it. But if you stop playing, chances are you will slowly forget most of what you have learned unless if you have taken over 10 years of piano. Then you can afford a few years of non-practice.
Paul Kwo teaches piano as well as voice and runs PopRock Academy in Alhambra, CA, near San Marino and South Pasadena in the San Gabriel Valley.
The Truth About Musical Versatility!
By Paul Kwo
No one can guarantee stardom.
But a career in entertainment is not the same as a desire to become a star. There are an enormous amount of people working in the entertainment business, and more specifically as performers who are not famous stars. They work on a regular basis as working actors, dancers and musicians at a wide variety of gigs, making a good sustainable living.
The road to becoming a performer or even working in the entertainment business is full of challenges. It is fun and exciting, but filled with obstacles to overcome. But with hard work and consistency, it is an achievable goal.
Being in Alhambra in the San Gabriel Valley, competing with the best of the best in the world in Los Angeles, the quality of talent is the highest in the world. It doesn't get any harder than this in Los Angeles. So to be competitive, it is vital to keep up our training and keep up our chops in whatever area it is that we are interested in working in. Every new skill puts us at an advantage over other people who are competing for the same jobs.
Whether it is in music, acting or dance, a good network of people is important. As a former coach of mine, Joe Hacker, always said, “Nobody does it alone in this industry.” It is vital that we acknowledge that we need to build up a good support team for ourselves. It isn't just knowing people who can get you work, but also know people who will give you the emotional support that you need to keep you going. We all need people to keep encouraging us as this industry is ruthless and will tear people down without the proper perspective.
With solid continual training and a good network of people in our mix, it is just a numbers game. Keep putting the numbers out there and eventually someone will bit. Something will happen. A career as a performer is a business, not a job. Every performer needs to understand what their brand is, what their business and sell that product with consistency. Keep tugging at it little by little until people start to take the bait. Eventually something will happen, and things will pile on and it will gain momentum.
Finally the career is a rollercoaster ride. It will have its ups and downs. It is not a continual climb upwards. There is no corporate ladder to climb. It is just a journey that requires patience and flexibility. It requires an adaptive spirit so that you can navigate the turmoils from the enormous amounts of rejections. And even the biggest stars can and will fall. It is all a matter of preparing ourselves for the times when we do fall so that we can get back up and pick ourselves up again and again. It is through this perseverance that performers shine through the rubble and become stars in their own right, and recognized among our peers.
PopRock Academy serves the San Gabriel Valley. We are located in the city of Alhambra, conveniently located near San Marino, South Pasadena, San Gabriel, Temple City, Arcadia, Monterey Park, Rosemead, El Monte, Highland Park, Eagle Rock, Montebello, Monorovia, Altadena and downtown Los Angeles.