1 - Work within your vocal range (people can tell when a vocalist is straining)

2 - Vocal exercises (gotta keep the cord loose)

3 - Enunciation (doesn't have to be perfect but can't be a bunch of mumbling either)

4 - Harmony (you need to find a voice that compliments yours on the harmony front, unless you're the only singer like Greg Lake was)

1. Be a band member:  Sing WITH the band, not in spite of them. Be an instrument, not a soloist. If your melody sounds out of place when played on a keyboard or violin (while the band is playing), then it IS out of place. Don't make the band fade to the background playing chords and vamping every time you step up to the mic -- unless it's for an occasional solo consistent with the composition.

2. Don't try to show off:  Avoid unnecessary runs, modulations, or other vocal theatrics. They don't make you a better singer. Use them thoughtfully and sparingly.

3. Control yourself:  Don't be overly sappy, whiny, or emotive -- we're not your girlfriend. Don't be overly angry, shouty, or abusive -- we're not your enemy. A sprinkling of well-placed emotional expressions is better than being clobbered over the head with it for the whole song.

Think of Jon Anderson's vocals in Gates of Delirium. He sings with the band, and is only occasionally the focus. His melodies complement the instrumentals. He is not known for doing runs or other gymnastics. And while the song is emotional, it spans that gamut of anger, fright, confusion, and peace -- and we're not drowning in any of them for the duration.

But don't strive to sound or sing like Jon. Be yourself, but try to adapt the underlying features of his vocal performance that makes him great (items 1-3 above).

Hi,

I hope you do not mind the comments ... but if you are "looking" for some tips, I recommend that you stop doing prog and go do top ten hits.

IF, a comment is needed, all you really have to do is look at the mirror and then find a way to express yourself ... and NONE OF THE DETAILS have anything to do with anyone's opinion, with one exception ... these days people are convinced that "sales" are determined by how you sound like someone else ... let me tell you a secret ... no one that has EVER made it, in prog or otherwise, made it because they sounded like someone else ... you have to be YOURSELF ... NOT SOMEONE ELSE.

I pray that you re-evaluate your ideas of "prog rock vocals" ... which will end up having you sounding like the guy that substituted for Jon Anderson in Chris Squire's last tour (around there) ... and he knew the lyrics, but I seriously doubt that he understood them or knew what they were about ... and all he did on stage was use hand expressions that are at least 500 years old in theater ... and even in a film you would think they are stupid! It really killed the whole thing for me!

Be yourself ... no one else can do that! Think about it! Or you can buy my book on IMPROVISATION which is mostly for theater, but also tackles music and painting!

Hi,

Hmmmm ... but then, if I'm blind, I can still do prog and progressive ... without the baseball ... of course, if I do per some crazy chance hit the ball, everyone will say it's luck!

I prefer chances that do not require "others" to define it for me. But, yeah, that's me!

Hi,

... and never forget the light show! The hobo costume is not as favored today ... so something different other than flowers ... might be interesting!

Prog rock is all over the place.  Even the classic phase itself encompasses so many styles and, in turn, so many different types of singing and singers.  Jon Anderson is nothing like Ian who in turn is nothing like Gabriel or Hammill.  And so on.  

Just tell a story.  That's the basic role of a prog rock singer.  I would say it is the role of a singer in general but other genres like pop or soul can give you a little more leeway to show off your technical skills.  But in prog, you must fit your showboating into the structure of the music.  You can't just be singing runs and melismas because you feel like.  There is a lot of music happening in prog, so you as the singer need to anchor it and help the listener make sense of the music.

Hi,

Within acting in theater, it is about how you "interpret" the character and make it BELIEVABLE to an audience. The difficult thing here is in new actors and singers simply using stock emotions and expressions and thinking that it adds to the story or the song, or the music, and many times it doesn't.

IF YOU FEEL and KNOW what it is you are singing/acting or saying, then "interpretation" is not necessary since it is already in your feel and know! But somehow, I think that many of us get attracted to the video of this or that, and think that I have to incorporate that, and it is best that we don't do that, since that expression was for someone else, not necessarily yours or your interpretation.

KNOW and FEEL your material is all that can really be said about it all! When this happens the "singing" is just a follow up, and here is one other problem. You may have to adjust the music to fit your feeling and that is good! Makes your feeling stronger!

Hi,

Interesting bit ... I did, for the Ygdrasil Journal of Poetic Arts an audio issue of a lot of poetry and the folks that wanted to be in it, was a problem ... I had too many. Recently, 20 years later I have redone the issue, and aside from my material, all the others were re-recorded and cleaned up ... I still had the cassettes ... that was amazing by itself!

The end result was excellent, until I had to redo my own 2 pieces. Due to my early years with no English and problems with learning the language and applying it, I was not able to do any acting, because it was very difficult to discuss things and find out what it meant. So I turned "inside" ... and guess what happened. I became a director that did some magnificent things on stage, for many actors ... somehow I had the knack for helping folks find, not only "their center" but also their placements, and what is weird is that I was never one of those directors that tells people what to do ... I always let them find it on their own, and only once or twice did it cause an issue with a lead that said ... you never tell us anything! And 5 folks in the cast immediately shot him down ... and he did admit that some of the things I had done were strange, but they were neat.

Now comes the hard part ... hearing it again, and having to redo it, is .... hard for me. I don't like my voice, although I can relate to it if the moments are emotional, when it gets very strong. So, instead of concentrating on the piece ... I write a new poem!!! ... I was not happy, but it was interesting. My 2 pieces had some music  in the background by a well known musician, and I wanted to sound "good" at least, and in the end, the 2 pieces I did, sounded fine ... but I turned on the emotional feel, and forgot the words, and it came off better than I thought it could ... better than the original even, or the poem, because all of a sudden the "voice" could live those moments ... AND THAT WAS THE BIG DIFFERENCE ... living through it ... and all of a sudden, your voice is not an issue.

Folks like PH, probably the best example, LIVE INSIDE THEIR WORDS and they are "natural actors" for their material, and we have a tendency to think of them as just singers doing notes ... and "notes" is not what they do ... I like to say ... "they do themselves", something that drives a lot of folks nutz here, because that is nearly impossible to define, but it explains PH, and even Jon Anderson for things like TFTO ... something that a lot of folks dislike, and yet, there are not ... IN ANY MUSIC a whole lot of pieces that shine because they are 100% pure to that person's heart, mind and soul!

I'm not sure you can ask for more.

BTW, Greg Lake once stated that he is not quite a singer, more like an actor. I like to quote Meatloaf here ... I'm an actor that happens to sing some!

All that's left? Finding yourself ... stop listening to others. Listen to your own voice and how you say things instead ... you'll learn a lot more!

I have always found vocal parts to be the most challenging when composing, both melodic content as well as words, prog or otherwise.  

Musically speaking you could approach it in one of two ways:  Either turn off the brain and just sing what feels right; or use a common songwriter's trick and utilize the notes that make-up the chords you are singing over to create a vocal line. 

Good luck.

Hi,

Good methodology helps a lot ... as long as it is focuses in the right place, in your case the chords , or the words ... which for me is OK, but sometimes a bit of an issue. We are making an assumption here ... that the music itself is THE RIGHT INTERPRETATION for those lyrics, and that's asking for things to go wrong.

Simply taking lyrics on their own ... a perfect example is Mick Jagger ... and he can sing without the music! Which tells you that he works on how he wants something to come off, and in the end, I think that a lot of the music is adjusted to his feel, because it is very strong! 

In general, for 9 out of 10 bands, the singer has to adjust to some music that his inner feeling has to justify, and if you are a deep feel and think person, that is going to get difficult ... the lyrics will likely not fit quite right, and your ability to find something to make it work gets really hard. The best suggestion I would make is adjust the lyrics a wee bit, so you can bend them around the notes a bit more ... instead of simply defining a sort of melodic adjustment to the notes, which for all of us here, is horrible and boring and at least 100 years old, and the reason why we don't like operas. We like stuff that stands up and out, and is different from the music on its own ... but here is the pot of gold ... when you take that voice out, guess what your mind hears ... that same voice, and a substitute won't work very well at all! It's sort of like watching a band at the Red Lion circuit doing The Rolling Stones, and sounding horrible, because their singer has no idea what this is all about at all, and how the music is accenting the words themselves. In general, most bands will NEVER help a great singer, because the guitarist and everyone else is the star before the singer is even considered!

So, you either stand out bigger and better than the band, or you're done with that band, because the guitarist is not going to give you the "time" that is taking away from his solo, and other crap like that, and a strong singer that takes people away from the band, needs to have a lot of respect for their singer and their ability to get attention on the stage to the band's music ... without creating inner issues for the band!

Prog is no different than anything else in music when it comes to singing. However, it is easier to think that a lot of the lyricism in prog is further out from the usual design of lyrics for the past 75/100 years, and one great learning lesson is to go check out that history ... and then find out how the heck can some of those jazz folks do things, that are not lyrics, but come off as lyrics ... try Flora Purim, or even Gilly Smith (Gong) for the stuff they did that made their music greater. I'm not sure that there are many "men" that do a lot of that, although in the heyday of theater and film voice experiments (late 60's and early 70's), this was done to an incredible degree ... but if yo think this took away from Roger Chapman, Joe Cocker, eventually Peter Gabriel, Fish and many others ... then you are not quite hearing or getting what they were about ... it was a lot less about the notes, than it was about the massive theatrical expression, and this was even more so for Roger Chapman (Good News, Bad News) whose incredible performances blew out a lot of folks off the stage ... but his band gave him so much space, while he himself had one of the best guitar sounding bands ever!

So, what is the "norm"? Is it definable? If so, then by simple set theory, you've defined prog.