Tom Waits Quotes

It takes a big voice a long time to develop properly; the bigger it is, the harder it is to develop the technique.

You have to get to know your voice and its strengths and play on those. It took me quite a long time.

As singers, we're always taught to sing forward and place everything in the front of our resonating chambers. Donna Summer always sang in that space and had it naturally. Her muscle memory, the way she was built - she was a natural singer.

People often ask me how I developed my vocal sound, and the answer usually disappoints them: 'It's just the way I sound when I sing.'

Vocally, I have learned to find my strength, and my voice has developed a lot since 'Be Here.' I learned to sing with all of my body.

You know, your speaking voice comes back, but your singing voice you use in a different way.

I thought everybody had falsetto. And since I wasn't a schooled singer who studied with anybody, I just thought anybody who had a voice could do anything they wanted with their voice.

Speech lessons probably did more for my singing voice - they teach you breathing, resonance.

My son is in a band, and he's a singer, and his vocals... they're screaming-growling stuff... and he's got a pretty reasonable voice. Yet he practices really hard to get the screaming-growling thing without losing that voice every five minutes. So I'm, like, 'Hats off to you.'

For singers, our singing voice is our natural voice, not the speaking.

Maybe I was just born with a little bit of vocals or natural talent, but I feel like I taught myself. I just started taking vocal lessons to just work on my breathing, my vowels and stuff.

As I am a lyrical singer, I really have to work hard. I'm still really training on a daily basis on my vocals. Because of the lyrical training, it never really ends.

I don't push my voice; I try to keep a good technique, a natural way of singing, to sing from the breath, which is the main thing.

Everything I'd taught myself about screaming is basically a big no-no for singing. Your posture, your airflow - you're just pushing all the air out. When you start out, you're fast, heavy and loud but you're hiding behind it in a way. When you stop screaming, that's when it gets hard.

I think I've learned a lot on the vocal side of things.

The biggest thing is to just keep your voice in shape so that when the emotion hits, it's there to have the colors to paint those pictures with the lyrics as well as the sound.

As luck would have it, my voice is best when it's kind of blown out.

There are some sounds that English singers find quite difficult to manipulate.

I don't believe in singing lessons. You can sing or you can't.

The human voice is the most perfect instrument of all.

The better voice doesn't mean being a better singer.

When I was young, my voice was so strong, and I would annoy people because I had such a loud little voice. And then it changed, and I thought I wouldn't be able to sing again, because I thought you had to sing like Christina Aguilera to be a singer.

Singing is incredibly physical.

When I sing full-on I use my whole body. I open my throat and let it fly out.

My singing voice isn't like my speaking voice.