Singing for the Stars: A Complete Program for Training Your Voice (Book & Online access code )

I found the book a great tool for singers to develop their craft. As a singer myself, I could profit from the technical tips as well as from the exercises. One aspect that I particularly liked is the fact that the CD brings real examples with both, male and female singers, which can be really helpful when it comes to understanding your range and defining how high or low you can go.I would mostly recommend this book for those who already have a good control of their voices and command a good range of techniques. Although the author gives clear explanations and examples, if you do not know your voice well you might damage it by trying to sing 'right'. If you are a beginner, you could use this book together with a voice teacher. The testimonial bits from the artists/students are a bit disturbing, not so much because of its content but more due to the fact that they are spread all over the pages through the book. It would have been better to have a section designed only for them.To me, the best aspect of the book is his concern to make us singers perform at our best without straining our voices (especially in the high notes) by using the Speech Level technique and using our middle voice (head-voice). This is something that I was aware of, but I am still trying to improve and I reckon the book has been helping me indeed.

The principles behind this book use exercises which educate you to sing without the larynx rising up which actually interferes with good singing, and to sing with a connected voice from chest voice into head voice, without breaking into falsetto.The content is good, though too much space is given to testimonials, and more space should be given to explanation and theory.The CD's are very well laid out with instructions from the author, a singer demonstrating the exercises which are on different tracks, which makes it easy to skip to the essential bits. You can practice while driving for example.As I have been getting speech singing vocal training for over a year, I can testify to the value of the method.Unless you are already a well trained singer with good technique, you really should not use this type of course without also getting lessons. A vocal trainer can identify how to improve tone, breathing etc and point out technique errors such as overblow or too much air pressure, which you might never identify by yourself. It is so easy to damage your voice by using incorrect technique or overdoing the exercises.After using this for a few days and then applying the technique to sing along to a recording, I was able to do so without straining and hitting higher notes than usual with much less effort, which was amazing. I am now on my way to a voice that I did not dare to dream was possible.The second CD is more about applying the exercises and producing the speech level singing tone, and runs through song examples using those passage areas with very useful tips to avoid splattering your sound.For less than the cost of a voice lesson this is a great investment, which I highly recommend. You can imagine how helpful this is. The more you use this method, the more you will improve to the point where you will have the voice you have always dreamed of having. I wonder if you found this helpful.Since writing this review originally, I met a woman, a singer songwriter from Australia, who sung the wrong way. As a result she damaged her voice. She was told by doctors that she would never be able to sing again. Her only hope would be if she stopped speaking for a year. She did this communicating by notepad. She lost some of her social skills. She did get her voice back, and then learned the speech singing method being taught personally by Seth Riggs, and became a speech level singing instructor.The American idol people put out a product using this method American Idol Singer's Advantage - Male Version (DVD Entertainment Size Package), and among Riggs clients was Michael Jackson, and you can hear some of this on youtube.

But the contents make sense. Since I have not done all the exercises so I cannot tell whether they can help our singing. But I believe in what the writer is saying as it is quite similar to what my teacher said. A shame I cannot benefit from the exercises.(22.5.2012) Yesterday I heard my son listen to exercises after the 4th one and I felt it was good so I tried to copy. I believe I can do all exercises, maybe not too well, after the 4th one. Since then I feel my singing gets better.What I like most is about the breath - be natural, there is no need to use any muscle. Every other teacher told us we had to use either upper abdomen, or lower abdomen and (my own singing teacher who is an opera singer) the lower back and the back of head. How I love to be natural! As I found all other ways make my upper back strained. And I found I could still sing even though giving up any strength in the abdomens or lower back! When I did some old songs,I could tell I could reach the higher note more easily, without trying to force my throat to be open (as taught by another teacher) or to make my abdomens bigger or to harden my lower back and I also found my voice gets more sweet.I also like the exercises, very clearly laid out in a good system, except the first 4, as I admit I cannot do them.So I believed I had to re-write my review. And I will re-do it again in future to see how I get on, if necessary.

I bought this book a few years ago after joining a community choir. I noticed an improvement in range and control in a few weeks. In a few more weeks, I found that I could sing longer without tiring and my singing and speaking voice didn't crack as often. Learning to move smoothly between head and chest voice took much longer -- about 2 years to really start to get the hang of it.Pros: The CDs are great for warmups and review without excessive lecture between lessons. It teaches a safe and effective method of learning to move between upper and lower vocal registers. It has exercises to isolate and correct muscular tension, incorrect larynx positioning, breathing problems, etc. so that you can sing without stress or injury to your voice.Cons: It's a little light on technical explanation. It could use more examples of what things sound like when they are done incorrectly.Overall, it is a very worthwhile book and a solid technique. It could be used alone, but progress will be faster if used in conjunction with a voice coach to make sure you're on the right track and to answer questions.

I've been following the approaches in this book for almost a year, and I do experience a great change or correction to my singing habits. Be patient, and spend some time on it every day. Stay focused on the sensations and movements but not the tone. This book is certainly bare bones and I'd strongly recommend to check out Seth Rigg's videos on YouTube to get a better hold of what the text of the book is talking about. Wish you a success!

Ich mache die Übungen seit 2 Wochen und habe damit schon einen echten Durchbruch gemacht - ich singe entspannter und besser und erreiche mühelos Töne, die davor außerhalb meiner Reichweite lagen. Ich bin begeistert.

Really helpful book if you are committed.

Easy to understand instructions

Got recommended this book by a professional making money in the industry. Amateur singer, who's just discovered there might be a hope that I can sing. Seth takes you through the whole gambit of science behind his method and how he's helped loads of big names. Warm caring characters comes through his voice and has been a real help so far. If you like singing, it's well worth your time and money. Comes with 2 CDs and was dispatched on time and well packaged.