In-Depth Final Blog Post

Here goes nothing!

Welcome to my In-Depth final blog post! And that’s probably going to be the motto of this project’s finale – because this has been pretty daunting and very scary. My In-Depth topic this year is singing, and over the course of the last few months, I have tried to improve my singing voice in areas like the clarity of my voice, phrasing, and vowel sounds. I have also gained lots of peripheral skills and perhaps courage because I set up a YouTube channel, learned to use a microphone, learned about vocal mixing and more! I chose this topic because I’ve always been passionate about singing since I was little and even did choir in middle school, but really wanted to hone in on those skills required to be a good solo singer.

I have learned tons of new singing techniques from my awesome mentor. In this wildly inappropriately named “How To Improve Your SInging voice in 5 Minutes” video, I spend 7 minutes and 40-something seconds imparting my gained knowledge on you. Pro tip: Settings cog > playback speed > 2x!

Once you’re done laughing at my influencer arc, check out my “fun” little online concert! I tried to vary up the genres and styles and apply the techniques I talked about in my earlier video. Try to see which techniques you can apply to the footage (if any…) and in an alternate universe, I would give you candy as a reward.

Pro-tip #2: Skip to after the dance break to get to the good stuff.

This video was very emotionally draining, and while I’m not exactly satisfied, I learned so much from it! I understand a lot more about what goes into being comfortable and charismatic near a camera, mixing vocals and audio in general, and even more about singing. Who knew I was bad at keeping time AND key?! Wild. Improvement is cool though, and I’m glad I made so much!

Thanks for reading/watching and have a wonderful rest of your In-Depth night!

Comments

cquach May 31, 2021 - 10:03 pm

Thank you, Bana! I really appreciate how you divided up your final presentation into a technical and then a performance piece! Massive credo for embracing this new skill with such conviction and vulnerability. You sold the songs and the styles.

There is a fundamental difference between knowing what to do and then actually doing it. Between poster, breathe, consonants, vowels and tonality, which was most challenging to you?

Thanks for this mad race through 6 genres of music…which felt most natural to you and which felt like it was really stretching you?

Great job…you took risks and I appreciate it. Love the humor and personality..made your presentating engaging!
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 2:25 am
  
  Thank you so much!
  
  I think the skill I struggled with the most was one I didn’t even include in the video – which was keeping time! I have alright rhythm but I often get carried away, and I didn’t talk about it in the video because I probably shouldn’t be giving advice, haha.
  
  The most natural genres for me are the more pop-sounding ones since I grew up singing nearly exclusively what could be called “Taylor Swift-adjacent” music, so basically Taylor Swift and everyone that sounds like her. I struggled a lot with the melodic dubstep song and eventually gave up on making it sound nice, but that was likely because it was out of my range. I surprisingly enjoyed the bossa nova song, and I would like to try singing more jazz in the future!
Kira June 1, 2021 - 2:13 am

bana! i can really see the improvement on your voice! i love the little concerts that you did, it made the presentation very enjoyable :))) really really good job
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:12 am
  
  Thank you so muchhh!!!
Natalie June 1, 2021 - 2:16 am

Amazing job!! Loved the songs you chose to sing! Do you have a favourite genre to sing? Anyways, hope you continue to sing!! 🙂
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:15 am
  
  Thank you! That’s a tough one – honestly I haven’t sung enough to know for sure, but I am most comfortable with pop and I’ve been enjoying all the Jazz/Bossa Nova I try.
Clara June 1, 2021 - 2:24 am

Wow, Bana that was so cool!!! Your Cornelia street was so amazing. Are there any songs you’re interested in learning next?
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:13 am
  
  Is it bad that I want to learn Taylor Swift’s entire discography? I’d also like to challenge myself with some jazz songs and a couple of rock songs I’ve had my eye on but didn’t have the skills for. Thank you so much!
qmtk June 1, 2021 - 2:35 am

You do not hesitate to take risks and just going for it. Learning by doing (experientially). You have a strong ability to reflect and think about your thinking and doing. Thanks for giving it your all. Your enthusiasm and engagement inspire us to take risks and go outside of our comfort zone. Where is this going next?
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:18 am
  
  Thank you so much! This means a lot, as the just-going-for-it of this project took a lot out of me, and I really learned a lot from it. As for what comes next, I forgot to mention it in my blog post, but one of my main motivations to learn about singing is to continue working on my path to becoming a singer-songwriter. My mentor and I worked on my original music together and I want to write a few more songs about the experience of jumping into music this way next.
Kalayla June 1, 2021 - 2:36 am

Bana!!
You’re so cool!! clapclapclaps to you for putting yourself out there, your performance was amazing and your song choices were top tier (:
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:19 am
  
  Thank you sooo much!! You’re so kind ahh, comments like these makes me think putting myself out there was all worth it! I tried my best with the setlist (:
Dylan June 1, 2021 - 3:23 am

Great singing, Bana! I also learned a lot from your video about what you learned during In-Depth, and it was very interesting! Great job!

Dylan
125-mbettauer June 1, 2021 - 3:33 am

You have a really pretty voice! Such a cool In-Depth project, you did amazing!
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:20 am
  
  Thank you so much!!!!! I’m so glad you enjoyed my presentation 😀
Adrian June 1, 2021 - 3:40 am

Interesting In-depth project, I like how you formatted this blog post as well. I never knew how technical it is to learn how to sing, rather than just “having a good voice”. Great work!
-AJ
- Bana June 1, 2021 - 5:21 am
  
  Thank you so much! Yeah, it is pretty surprising just how much there is to think about, especially for a very emotional perceiver of music like me. Thank you for your kind words 😀

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