This free introductory course is a prerequisite to my paid course, the Five-Minute Singer. It gives you all the background material you’ll need to use this course, but this is also information that can help you along your singing journey even if you can't commit to the larger course right now. This shorter, more general program includes how singing works as a whole, my methodology, how to practice, and special considerations for certain groups of people.
I created this course because traditional voice instruction doesn't agree with my brain. I started taking voice lessons as a teenager. Through the next decade, I studied with half a dozen extraordinary voice instructors at some of the best music schools in the country. But there was a disconnect—there was something wrong with me. The normal ways of teaching voice didn’t click with my brain. I may be a performing artist, but I’m not exactly artsy fartsy; I think logically and like specific, clear instructions. This is at odds with how voice is usually taught.
Traditionally, voice teachers rely on images, sensations, and ideas to communicate. Instructions like “imagine a blowhole in the top of your head” or “feel roots coming out of your feet” worked for me sometimes, but not all the time. Even when they worked, I didn’t understand why; I just knew I sounded better. And when the magic trick stopped working, it left me with no real knowledge about what was going wrong. I felt lost. Even after years of the best vocal instruction available, I felt like I knew nothing.
The turning point came during my master’s program at the University of Michigan. There, I studied with a fantastic teacher who, along with using images and sensation, focused heavily on anatomy. Finally! Anatomy was something logical something clear. Here was something I could work with.
Thrilled, I seized that concept and ran with it. I started getting really technical, breaking down the main body parts associated with singing and learning to isolate each one as best I could. I completely changed the way I practiced, focusing on anatomy-based habit building instead of rote repetition.
My singing transformed in one semester.
My singing isn’t perfect now, and it never will be. But now, when something goes wrong, I don’t feel lost. I understand what the problem is, and I know what steps to take to fix it. I am finally in control of my own instrument, and it feels amazing. You can do the same.
Through this book and the accompanying video course, you will learn to use the senses of sight, sound, and body awareness to objectively observe your singing. You will learn to isolate body parts associated with singing and gain control of these parts one at a time. You will learn to understand why you have the issues you are having, down to which body parts are causing the issues, and you will ultimately learn how to fix these issues.
If you’re worried about taking instruction from a classical singer, don’t be. This course is completely genre agnostic. I am a crossover singer, and I regularly perform genres ranging from pop and folk to punk rock. I believe the basic tenants of singing are the same whether you’re a rock star or an opera diva. While I do point out a few differences here and there, the vast majority of the advice in this course is not directed at a particular genre. After all, we’re all working with the same body parts.
An artistic, image-based approach to voice teaching has been the standard for hundreds of years. It works spectacularly for many students. If you aren’t one of those students—if your brain prefers concrete, specific instruction, or if you crave true understanding of the vocal instrument—I have a feeling we’re going to work very well together.
About The Five-Minute Singer: I designed my video course for logical thinkers who like concrete, tangible instructions and a real understanding of the mechanisms they're working with. The Five-Minute Singer teachers students to use the senses of sight, sound, and body awareness to objectively observe and transform their singing. If you choose to sign up for the full course, you will learn to isolate body parts associated with singing and gain control of these parts one at a time. You will learn to understand why you have the issues you are having, down to which body parts are causing the issues, and you will ultimately learn how to fix these issues via a habit-based, physical therapy-inspired approach.
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Elaina Robbins is a Fort Wayne singer and voice teacher who specializes in crossover singing and Japanese music. She often appears as a classical and musical theatre soloist, and her anime tribute band, Spirit Bomb, performs frequently throughout the United States. A passionate teacher, Elaina has been on the faculty of the Purdue School of Music since 2018 and teaches private Fort Wayne singing lessons and online singing lessons.
Recent classical and musical theatre engagements include soloist positions with the Bach Collegium, LanSING Out, and Heartland Sings. Notable operatic roles include Le feu and Le rossignol in Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges, Erste Knabe in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, and Cleopatra in Victor Herbert’s The Wizard of the Nile. Oratorio experience includes the soprano solos in Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Requiem, the Rutter Requiem, and various Bach cantatas.
Elaina has shared the stage with internationally acclaimed artists of various musical styles, including J. Mark McVey (of Broadway fame), Japanese metal band Hanabie, and renowned Swedish a cappella ensemble The Real Group. For over three years, she was principal soprano at Heartland Sings, a Fort Wayne vocal production company, where she performed pop, jazz, a cappella, and other small ensemble compositions along with soprano solos in masses, choral works, and opera and musical theater scenes.
Elaina holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Michigan and a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts from the University of Southern California. Now composing some original music, Elaina is on Alibi Music's roster. An active member of the Fort Wayne performing arts community, Elaina founded the city's Opera on Tap chapter in 2019 and continues to serve on the board.
