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48 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 Complete program to use with voice lessons Dec 04, 2003
By L. Power
"nlp trainer"
The principles behind this book use exercises which educate you to sing without the larynx rising up which actually interferes with good singing, and to sing with a connected voice from chest voice into head voice, without breaking into falsetto.
The content is good, though too much space is given to testimonials, and more space should be given to explanation and theory.
The CD's are very well laid out with instructions from the author, a singer demonstrating the exercises which are on different tracks, which makes it easy to skip to the essential bits. You can practice while driving for example.
As I have been getting speech singing vocal training for over a year, I can testify to the value of the method.
Unless you are already a well trained singer with good technique, you really should not use this type of course without also getting lessons. A vocal trainer can identify how to improve tone, breathing etc and point out technique errors such as overblow or too much air pressure, which you might never identify by yourself. It is so easy to damage your voice by using incorrect technique or overdoing the exercises.
After using this for a few days and then applying the technique to sing along to a recording, I was able to do so without straining and hitting higher notes than usual with much less effort, which was amazing. I am now on my way to a voice that I did not dare to dream was possible.
The second CD is more about applying the exercises and producing the speech level singing tone, and runs through song examples using those passage areas with very useful tips to avoid splattering your sound.
For less than the cost of a voice lesson this is a great investment, which I highly recommend. You can imagine how helpful this is. The more you use this method, the more you will improve to the point where you will have the voice you have always dreamed of having. I wonder if you found this helpful.
Since writing this review originally, I met a woman, a singer songwriter from Australia, who sung the wrong way. As a result she damaged her voice. She was told by doctors that she would never be able to sing again. Her only hope would be if she stopped speaking for a year. She did this communicating by notepad. She lost some of her social skills. She did get her voice back, and then learned the speech singing method being taught personally by Seth Riggs, and became a speech level singing instructor.
The American idol people put out a product using this method American Idol Singer's Advantage - Male Version (DVD Entertainment Size Package), and among Riggs clients was Michael Jackson, and you can hear some of this on youtube.
82 of 90 found the following review helpful:
Could have been easier... Feb 10, 2003
By C. Fletcher
This is the first voice book I've read, but I'll probably end up reading some others. I have a musical background, have played guitar and piano for years, but just recently decided to make an effort to improve my singing.I found this book helpful in some ways, but I felt it could have been easier to understand. The book essentially details the speech level singing method, in which the chest voice and head voice are successfully bridged. As a newcomer to singing, I found some of these concepts a little difficult to understand, and felt the book never really explained things very clearly. It reminded me a little of a instruction manual that assumes you have certain parts that have not been included. Also, I felt it was a little odd that there was so much ink spent on celebrity testimonials. If the method is really that good, it should be able to speak (or sing) for itself. It's been a couple of months since I read the book and listened to the CDs, and I can say that my singing has improved considerably (that's why I'm giving the book four stars). Although I don't feel I came away with a full understanding of everything the book was trying to teach, I feel I must have osmotically picked up some concepts that have been helpful.
43 of 45 found the following review helpful:
 Good but flawed Mar 11, 2005
By James A. Holland
Having gone through both Brett Manning's "Singing Success" and this course, I must say that this is the better course for the ADVANCED student of speech level singing.
As has been noted in previous reviews, the book portion of this course is little more than a fawning, start-studded, tribute to Seth Riggs.
There are a few helpful and educational sections, but not enough to provide the uninitiated with any real understanding of the how's and why's of this technique.
Granted, the text is very simple and easy to read, but it almost seems like the author wrote it assuming that it's all too simple and easy to possibly NOT understand.
In that regard, the book is too simple.
The CD's are good; however, not free of flaws.
For one, no pitch ranges are given. So unless you know music by ear, you'll never know if you're singing a high C or a middle G.
Then there's the problem with the scales only being played ascendingly, thus providing the student with essentially only half an exercise.
The sound is also of mixed quality, sounging as though it was recorded with a basic dictation recorder as opposed to a professional studio.
The vocal demos are also a bit of a distraction in that the featured singers are classically trained and, as such, have a distinctly operatic delivery. Again, not something the beginning or even intermediate student can identify with. Unless, of course, they are studying Opera, in which case they should be training with a qualified teacher anyhow.
The exercises are HARD!
This is the part I like about the program.
Since I've been working with this course for some years now, I actually found "Singing Success" too easy and unchallanging and sent it back.
This course however is a permanent part of my vocal training tools simply because even after a few years of owning it, I still find the exercises difficult to execute.
All in all this may still be the best course for SLS but only if you're well advanced and already have years of experience singing. Otherwise this course will leave you, as it has me for years, frustrated and occasionally disinterested in the whole SLS thing.
Good but could definitively be much better in it's entirety.
34 of 36 found the following review helpful:
Not a user friendly book but a great technique Mar 24, 2002
By Pádraig D'Arcy
When I first saw that term "Speech Level Singing", I didn't think I could learn to develop a strong or powerful voice because the term itself SUGGESTS a technique designed for a thin and easy voice. The truth is that SLS is designed for all singers and all genres from Opera to Pop and all the in between styles as well. So don't judge a technique by it's name. The reason I've been using this book is because Billy Purnell recommended it for further study in his program "The Ultimate Voice Training for Singers", also a Speech Level Singing based home-training program. I've occasionally gone back to 'Singing for the Stars' as it's jam-packed with information on the technique and it did help me at times when I felt I was going wrong in the other program. The average singer should be able to get through the first CD within a few weeks (practicing about 4 times a week) once a good effort is made and you understand the "head voice" concept. Your voice will sound like a girls voice....unless of course you ARE a girl (: in which case it will sound..well, weak and wimpy.
You've got to get used to that and accept it. The second CD is where you are likely to experience some challenges to say the least. You'll feel like you've hit a wall and there's no way around it. I've hit a lot of walls and I've somehow been able to get around them and move on. I'm still hitting them but now I can see the last one or two. This is why I advise a few lessons at this point. It will put a smile back on your face and you'll be nearing your speech level posture as Seth calls it.Even if you keep it a mix of 75% your own home study with the program and 25% lessons, then you're still bound to save a lot of money. Overall I would like to say that this book could have been a lot more user friendly. The author should have anticipated problems, the student is likely to have with the exercises, and given solutions on how to overcome the problems. Instead it is presumed that you will have no problems which is very wrong. If you want to try go it alone then I recommend the Speech Level Singing programs: `Singing Success' or `The Ultimate Voice Training For Singers'. These programs are far more user friendly. However, you've still got to practice a lot and stay positive.
40 of 45 found the following review helpful:
Clear, To the point, Helpful May 08, 2001
By Bruce
I studied classical voice for years but when I found a teacher certified in Seth Riggs speech level singing technique I made progress I hadn't thought possible! I got this book as an adjunct to my lessons and I found that it was clear, precise, easy to understand, and above all-- very, very helpful! The excersises will help you sing through your bridges easily and confidently. Your voice will thank you!
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