Explore the Michelle Ostrove Blog

Your attitude will determine your altitude in life. In business, people would rather work with someone with a good attitude and personality. If someone is very talented and they are hard to work with, or come across as a know it all, most people do not want to work with them. They leave no room for other opinions, thinking their way is the only way. When you work with individuals that are uplifting, loyal, positive and do what they say…

Every singer and musician have a story of how their path lead to success and no two are alike. Justin Bieber was discovered on Youtube and Arianna Grande started singing the national anthem for hockey, basketball and football games, did a Broadway musical “13.” Arianna was hired for a role in the Nickelodeon TV show “Victorious,” from that point her career blossomed. Brittany Spears Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake started on the Mickey Mouse Club, but they all have their…

No one likes the word failure, but everyone experiences it and no one likes to fail. You can fail at something small or large; it doesn’t matter but failure drains your ego and self-esteem. Whether it’s singing a song or playing the piano and getting negative response, it hurts. No matter what the scenario, small like mean comments or large, like losing a job or getting turned down for something you really wanted. You have to let things go and…

Every singer strives to sing with control and power in their voice, very few start out that way. It’s important to create a consistent sound from top to bottom when singing. It’s important to learn how to bridging the gap between registers. The powerful voice sounds full, yet released (not forced). The full and healthy sound (with ease) has a lot to do with three techniques that we will be discussing today. If you fail to use good technique moving…

It’s easy to identify which students will go the farthest as a singer or pianist. It’s not always the one with the most talent, it’s the students who enjoy the process of learning how to sing or play the piano. There is a real interest in understanding, learning, and enjoying the practice. Have you ever worked on a song or songs, over and over, perfecting your technique and realized that you’ve been working on these songs for an hour or…

The vocal onset is how you approach a note when you sing. It’s described as the way you start singing a note. It’s about the breath and vocal cords (folds) come together at the start of a note. One of the first things I tell a singer as they begin a song, is to capture the audience’s attention with the first word(s) that you sing. Don’t start on a limp, wishy washy note. Start on a solid, strong (diaphragm and…

Rhythm is the most essential element in a song. You can mix together any sounds you want, but without a rhythmic backbone to the sound there is no music. A rhythmic musical instrument is used to provide a strong beat to a piece of music. The bass guitarist (John Entwistle) in “The Who” would play bass guitar as a lead guitar, which gave the band a unique and different sound. There are 5 types of Rhythmic Patterns in music and…

The voice box is also called the larynx which controls your breathing, swallowing and singing. The voice box is a tube-shaped organ in the neck. The voice box (larynx) controls and actually houses the vocal folds (cords). The larynx houses the vocal cords and that is why it is called the voice vox. When you sing, you want the air to flow freely through the voice box and not be restricted by muscles trying to close the airway. When you…

It’s important to develop the skill of matching individual notes with your voice. It takes time and practice to learn how to listen to yourself and make sure you are on the notes. If you’ve heard the expression “you are pitchy” that means you are not singing on the note, you could be under the note (flat) or above the note (sharp). Most people think that they have a terrible singing voice, but most likely it’s not the voice that…