By Fred Swegles Sun Post News
It's the bane of every novice Karaoke singer, the scourge of many a would-be Barbra Streisand: Striving to hit an ultra-high note without sounding strained. Thomas Appell, a voice teacher who lives in San Clemente, believes he's developed an easy way for singers-beginning or advanced- to learn to break their own personal sound barrier.
He has written a book entitled Can You Sing a High 'C'-Without Straining? The 122 page book comes with three compact disks that contain vocal exercises and vocal examples. Appell says his method, a combination of vocal exercises and explaining how the voice works- can be understood by anyone. He doesn't promise a high C, but he does say his method is a ticket to dramatic improvement. And it appears to be winning converts.
"It totally redefined how I sing," says Bob Hull, an aspiring but once-frustrated nightclub performer from New York. "I couldn't do things vocally that I wanted to do. I knew changes had to be made."
Hull contacted Appell and flew to California for an extended weekend of voice lessons. Hooked, he moved West just three months later, settling in San Juan Capistrano.
"It's not that hard," Appell said of his method. "I have, like, sixth graders understand it in three minutes. I think just by the grace of God I was able to find this little tidbit of information. It works."
One man from Japan read the book and flew to California to train with Appell-others from as far as Mexico City, Oklahoma, and Mississippi.
Appell attributes his "find" to a dual background in music and science. He graduated from Cal Poly Pomona in 1979 with a major in engineering and a minor in music. Taking up teaching voice in 1982 he began doing research into the human voice.
Appell, who operates Vocal Dynamics Voice Studio in Irvine, California, said his book appeals to all sorts of singers. "Some of them are very serious wannabes. Some of them want to be famous and make records. Some just want to sing better at church. But they all want to improve their voices."
The book alone is no substitute for a voice teacher, Appell said, but most people extend their range a note or two on the first day. One student-Hull-improved his range 15 half-steps in four days of training. Another student, struggling in a recording studio one day, took a lesson and returned the next day to hit the same high notes with ease.
"Sometimes it takes a couple of weeks," Appell cautioned. "It can take a long time to apply it to a song. Hitting a high note in full voice without going to falsetto is the first step. When you add consonants and harder vowel sounds and stuff like that, that can take time to incorporate. But gosh, if you've got the note, that gives you the light at the end of the tunnel. You go, 'I know I can do this!' And then your hooked."