The Power Punch Vocal Workshop - Instuctional Book

The Power Punch Vocal Workshop is a vocal program that I developed over 30 years ago. In a nutshell it incorporates the operatic technique to produce a pop/rock sound! A little history might help you to understand why I developed this system! 

In 1983, at a time when I had been gigging 6 nights a week in smokey clubs, I blew my vocal cords out. This did not happen overnight! It took about 6 years of singing 30 to 35 songs a night, incorrectly and in smokey environments. The symptoms I felt were, throat pain, loss of range, raspy sound and loss of control. I knew I had an issue and I finally got the nerve to visit a throat doctor to hear what I already suspected. I had multiple nodules on my vocal cords! The doctor prescribed a medicinal spray that I had to apply to the back of my throat three times a day. I was also ordered to stop talking for 3 months and stop singing for a year. My follow up appointment would determine if I needed surgery! Fortunately my nodules melted away and I was given a fresh start. I remember as I was leaving the specialists office he warned me that if I didn’t figure what I was doing wrong as a singer the problem would return much quicker than the first time. That’s when I decided to study opera!  

At first, my opera professor tried to teach me about yawning and relaxing my throat as I sang.  I just couldn’t change my bad habits. It was very frustrating! I slowly started to break things down to simple little exercises like faking a yawn while singing a single note for 8 beats. As I got better at holding one note with a yawning sensation I moved on to major scales using Do Re Mi, etc.  To make a long story short I eventually determined what muscles were squeezing in my throat and learned to relax them. 

Over the next 4 years I realized that my new vocal approach had significantly improved my range, tone , projection and endurance. I decided to put everything I discovered in a book and try it out on my vocal students at the Conservatory. I fine tuned my new method on my own students and threw out what didn’t work while discovering new things that did work. Over the course of 6 or 7 years I reworked and re-edited the book until it finally arrived at the form it exists in today. Here we are 25 years later and I’ve trained over 1000 vocal students (many who are now professional singers).  

Through all my research, testing and teaching, I have discovered that there are precise, easy to understand explanations and checkpoints on the body to enable you to see if you are implementing a technique properly. For example, putting a finger on your Adam’s apple to feel if it’s rising in your throat when it shouldn’t be or placing your hand over your stomach to feel the expansion of a proper inhale. This book is full of easy to understand checkpoints and exercises that will take your voice to another level as it has for me!  I hope you enjoy this and stay motivated on re-programming your vocal technique! Good luck!  

Included are the .mp3 vocal and ear training recordings that go along with this book in a downloadable format!