Yes, I said it. I meant it. Singing with too much emotion will not give you the result you hope for. Over-emotional singing might be fun at the moment, and many singers think that is what they are supposed to be doing. But this is not the case.

As singers, we do LOVE to sing with our emotions out in front. It’s fun! It adds drama and makes our performances so much more believable, right? Wrong.

Have you ever been at a concert or watching a ‘talent’ show and a singer is doing ‘impressive’ things with their voice and their performance is just drippping with emotions? Maybe you were a bit impressed by this performance but you were’nt moved by it?

But why weren’t you moved? If this singer is pumping so much emotion into their singing we will all be sucked into it and feel it too right? Probably not. When the singer is packing so much excitement into a performance and it’s coming at us like a wall of sound, there is no room for us. It’s all about them at that point.

And more than likely there might not be much in the way of dynamics as singers we must start in a light small place in order to be able to add more energy and dynamics and take our listeners on that journey with us. Don’t start out at the finale.

When singers start out at that big place, the performance becomes more of a specticle to behold than a performance that iwll move us and take us on our own emotional journey.

This requires more artistry than having every trick thrown at u sform the beginning. It also requires more vulnerability. To really ‘say something’ as a singer we have to believe the words that we’re singing. After all, we are telling a story. We have to give this story to our listeners from one person to another. One frail human to another. How do we do this? We cannot feel the emotions of the song we’re singing.

This will choke our tone. Our words need to flow out of us and not be forced. Believe me, the only reason I can write and teach about this subject is because it took me a long time to get a hold of this concept. Luckily I had a patient coach who didn’t give up on me.

As singers, we love to feel like we’re really working. Like we have to contort our faces and raise our volume to really get our story across. But singing with too many of these things will ultimately just alienate our listeners. Let’s discuss the 3 main reasons why you should leave your emotions OUT of your singing.

#1 Tension

Singing emotionally will cause tension. Period. And tension anywhere in the body while singing will not result in a great performance. This took me a really long time to learn. I ldearly loved to sing with big emotions and big volume! But until my coach told me over and over to reel in the emotions I didn’t know that it was even an issue.

Because I was initially a self taught singer, and this is what we think we see when we watch our heroes sing. But in reality they know how to make it look like they’re really emotional and working very hard, but they are really singing effortlessly and using emotional sounds.

What does this mean? It means that our goal as singers is to sound emotional but not BE emotional. Sounds counterintuitive, but it’s true. 

#2 We Must Leave Room for Our Listeners to put Themselves into the Song

If we are on stage all wrapped up in our emotions and delivering a song to our audience they might think wow! “What a great singer”. But they will probably not be emotionally invested in themselves. Why?

Because we’ve left no room for them. We’ve made it all about ourselves. I first experienced this when I went to the concert of an International superstar singer. It was an amazing show, but I didn’t know why I wasn’t really emotionally involved. Thier singing was amazing, but I didn’t care. 

I told my coach about this at my lesson the next week and he explained exactly why I didn’t feel anything. There was no room in the song for me. It was more about the spectacle. It was quite a revelation to learn this. When singers make it all about themselves and their feelings, there not room for their listeners. 

This probably sounds a little out there to some people and I understand that. Like most things that make great art, it’s subtle. None of this is blatant or completely obvious.  It’s much more nuanced than that. 

Kind of like when we like something but we’re not sure why, we just know we like it- that’s how I feel about this concept. It’s there but it’s not blatant, but IYKY. (If you know, you know.)

#3 Singing is Much Easier without Heavy Emotions

After all, we are just the storyteller, not the start of the song. That is reserved for our audience. If we get lost in our emotions while singing our song, there is no room for their emotions. It’s not all about us. 

It’s easy to sing with too much emotion. It’s fun!  

As singers, we love to do lots of stuff. And I’m speaking from experience here. I used to live in big volume and emotions. I love to over sing and add lots of effects!

Most singers do. Because if I may reiterate…it’s fun! It’s much more difficult and honest to just simply tell out story in a more vulnerable way.

Not that there is never a time or place for big emotions in our singing. There’s always going to be a time and place for big emotions and bombastic singing, but most of our singing will be in a more neutral mode. More like speaking.

But we don’t want to stay in neutral mode all the time, we need to throw in some bells and whistles for our audience but if we do too much of this, it will just exhaust them.

How to Keep Your Emotions Out of Your Singing: The Takeaway

So what is a singer to do? How do we learn to sing without our emotions? Be the storyteller. We have to be responsible for the words we are saying. We have to mean the. not feel them. We have to know exactly what we are saying and truly believe it. Be accountable for it. 

That’s when it is real for our audience. To practice this, take your song in sections. Learn the melody and the words and sing them simply. On the pitch and a neutral mode. No effects or big volume. Just simply tell the story. 

When you can do this, you can then start to add rhythm and the details of the song. Give emphasis to the words you feel give the best details of the song. Know what you are singing and believe it. Again, you are doing this without using big emotional singing. 

In Conclusion

It doens’t mater what style of music is being performed! When you sing your song, know what you’re saying and just say it. Don’t feel it. Definitley use emotional sounds, but don’t be wrapped up in your own emotions. We have to give the gift to our audience, not ‘feel’ it for them. Having said this, does this mean we will never show our technique and do riffs and runs and look as though we’re absolutely lost in the emotion of our song? Abolutely not! This is all part of being a singer, but at the core of all we do we are just telling a simple story. Not getting lost in our own emotions. Again, it’s not about us!

At the core of every song we are saying the words, one person telling a story to another to enable them to put themselves in that song. It’s not all about us. We are always in service to our listeners. We must leave room for them to put themselves into our stories.

You will create a more intimate experience for your listeners and a more effortless singing style for yourself. They will be much more moved and drawn into our performances.

These concepts can really feel foreign at first but trust the process and see what happens! Share your experience with us below!

Best,

Amy

PS. If you would like to book an online voice or guitar lesson with me, please visit my website and click on the services tab.

www.amyhailstone.com