I’m a vocalist who has always loved musical instruments. I play the piano more so because it was the instrument that was at my disposal from a young age. Vocally I would be classed as a bass/baritone & I’ve always loved the bass guitar, yet I don’t play it & I’ll always wonder if, had I been a young boy with the opportunity to learn bass guitar, that would have been MY instrument.

It’s been said before that every person out there can find their instrument. An instrument that they resonate towards & simply by picking it up, they realize that this is the one for them. I often wonder in South Africa with immense amount of musicality I see in the less affluent areas how many great musicians there could be if they had the opportunity to discover what musical instrument fits them the best. Most will never play an instrument in their lives. It is my great hope that in the future years, this will change.

I spoke to my right hand man, multi-instrumentalist, producer & musical director Chad Alexander about finding your Instrument. Considering how it seems like he has found the ability to play not just piano competently but sing & play guitar & bass too (& he could be a drummer & a trumpet player too with a little work), I thought his insights into this would be best.

Chad began by saying “I don’t think everyone is born with that ability, however I do strongly believe that even if you’re not born with the ability, if you put your mind to it, you certainly can find the instrument that fits your personality”. Based on my experience I asked him how one would go about finding their instrument.

He said “listen to all types of music, feel which genre moves you. Purchase yourself a few CDs, take risks, don’t go for the conventional Then I would advise going to see live shows of the music you’ve purchased so as to bring to life the music you’ve now grown accustomed to & believe me, live music will change your life!”.

I was curious about his ability to play many instruments unlike us mere mortals. “I discovered that how I taught myself to play the very first instrument, piano, I could simply use the same principles & discipline to play any instrument!” says Chad. It takes great discipline to play an instrument on singers not being able to play an instrument, Chad went on to say “playing an instrument will help the singer decipher music much better, especially when having to adapt to many genres. Singers have a bad rep when it comes to instrumentalists because they tend to ignore all the hard work of having to compose, play & arrange music. By playing an instrument, it will allow you to understand how music functions as a whole. Singers often find they can do more vocally & understand when to do less & they can communicate better with instrumentalists.

Lastly I asked asked about new technology in music: “Anything that can be used to make sound could be used as an instrument, but simply because the person uses the instrument, doesn’t necessarily make them musicians. As long as there’s sound music will prevail, whether it’s good or bad!”

I’ve spoken about my thoughts on tone in blogs gone by but I’ve always been curious about what other people think is more important for a vocalist. The reason why I got thinking is because a vocal student brought me a singing program by a guy named Brett Manning from the US. Nothing wrong with the course at all other than it possibly being too advanced for people ordering it over the internet. What did bother me was the massive focus on range. Yes it is important but in my opinion not as important as tone quality. I’d go as far as saying they go hand in hand but what good is a singer with 7 octaves if they sound like “crap”?

I started researching singers with large ranges & it’s quite amazing how high some women & men have gone! Off the piano in fact, wow! But looking at some of the greatest recording artists they certainly don’t have the biggest ranges of all time. For the most part 3, pushing 4 octaves. The odd few aka the Mariah’s have 5 I would hazard to guess but when last did you hear Mariah going that high…or low?

So my question to you is what do you think is more important for a singer, a big range or great tone? If you’re unclear on what tone is, it’s simply the sound quality of the voice.

As I’ve grown older, yes I realize I’m still relatively young, I have seen & experienced the importance of tone quality. I will always consider voice as my main instrument & with all instruments the more you work your instrument, the more you realize that creating your own unique tone is probably the most important technical pursuit.

Firstly, what is tone? Well, simply put it is the unique timbre that distinguishes one sound from another whether that be musical or otherwise. If we are more specific, in music, it is vital that each player creates a distinct tone that gives them a uniqueness & in turn a long standing career. As a vocalist, It’s very important that when my song is played on radio, television or any other medium, that people recognize my sound & eventually know instantaneously that they are listening to RJ Benjamin. All the great singers can be recognized immediately, think about people like Beyonce, Aretha, Frank Sinatra, Elvis, Michael Jackson, Louis Armstrong & many others. The list is long but guaranteed from the second you hear the voice, you know who it is. Read the rest of this entry »