(Book) Michael Michael - You Can Learn to Sing

First Published by ICMA, 1995 P.O. Box 1749, Gallo Manor, GAUTENG, 2052, South Africa Reprinted 2003

Copyright  ICMA, 2003

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This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. The reader is advised to consult a medical doctor before trying out any exercises outlined in this book and by reading this book, agrees that he does so of his own freewill and choice, and will not, in whatsoever manner, hold the author liable, for any damages, failure, illness, loss or whatsoever consequence, deemed, rightfully or wrongfully to be caused, directly or indirectly by the use, exposure or influence of the material in this book.

Printed and Bound In South Africa By: ICMA

APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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CONTENTS CONTENTS .................................................................................................................................................... 4 PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 WHAT IS APEL?............................................................................................................................................ 8 A Fresh Start .............................................................................................................................................. 8 Wisdom of Planning ........................................................................................................................... 9 Two Hunters ................................................................................................................................... 9 A Meek Approach to APEL .......................................................................................................... 9 The Most Unique Musical Instrument ............................................................................................. 9 What Voice Are You?................................................................................................................... 10 Conventional Singing .................................................................................................................. 10 What People Think About Voice Training ............................................................................................... 10 Natural Singing?................................................................................................................................ 11 Not All Roads Lead to Rome ........................................................................................................... 11 Cultural Variations .................................................................................................................................. 11 The Serious Way of Singing.............................................................................................................. 11 A Short History of Singing............................................................................................................... 12 APEL — The Art of Playing the Larynx.................................................................................................. 12 A Living Instrument ......................................................................................................................... 12 The Classical Voice ................................................................................................................................... 13 Phonation ........................................................................................................................................... 13 Resonance........................................................................................................................................... 13 Classical Articulation........................................................................................................................ 13 The Language of Singing .......................................................................................................................... 13 Medically Speaking................................................................................................................................... 14 Dissecting Your Instrument..................................................................................................................... 14 Chamber ............................................................................................................................................. 15 Structure ............................................................................................................................................. 15 Pitch Manipulation............................................................................................................................ 16 Your Instrument Is Fragile ............................................................................................................... 16 MY STORY.................................................................................................................................................... 18 A Young Man’s Dream ............................................................................................................................ 18 A Small Seed of Hope................................................................................................................................ 19 A Talent Denied................................................................................................................................. 19 “Your Singing Is Wrong” ................................................................................................................. 19 Light at the End of the Dark Tunnel............................................................................................... 20 Who is Going to Teach Me?...................................................................................................................... 21 To Sing or Not to Sing ...................................................................................................................... 21 The Playback Debut ..................................................................................................................... 21 The Hunt for a Cure ..................................................................................................................... 22 Inventing a Teacher...................................................................................................................... 22 A Blind Man Leading Himself.................................................................................................................. 22 A Lot Of Research — A Lot Of Practice................................................................................................... 23 Two Years To Find A Cure....................................................................................................................... 24 The Day Of Reckoning ............................................................................................................................. 24 The Cat Out of the Bag ..................................................................................................................... 24 The First Performance In Two Years .............................................................................................. 25 Teach Us To Sing Like You Do................................................................................................................. 25 A Tutor Learning To Teach Others................................................................................................. 26 Night School....................................................................................................................................... 26 Behold Once I Could Not ................................................................................................................. 27 A ‘Prophet’ in his Home Town ................................................................................................................. 27 APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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Thirteen Years To Refine APEL ............................................................................................................... 27 EXCUSES ...................................................................................................................................................... 30 Succeeding at APEL ................................................................................................................................. 30 Literacy ............................................................................................................................................... 31 Not Educated? ................................................................................................................................... 31 A Matter of Confidence .................................................................................................................... 31 The Right Voice ................................................................................................................................. 32 Creating Originals Out of Simple Things ...................................................................................... 32 The Uglier the Voice, the Better Apel Works ................................................................................ 32 Lack of Experience ............................................................................................................................ 33 The Talent Excuse.............................................................................................................................. 33 God-Given Talent? ....................................................................................................................... 33 God-Given Gifts............................................................................................................................ 34 God's Gifts Are For All ................................................................................................................ 34 Running Out of Breath............................................................................................................................. 35 The Opinion Excuse.................................................................................................................................. 35 Common Problems.................................................................................................................................... 35 A Good Cough................................................................................................................................... 36 Hot Water With Glycerine ............................................................................................................... 36 The Crutch Mentality........................................................................................................................ 36 Legitimate Ailments.......................................................................................................................... 37 Acute Laryngitis ........................................................................................................................... 37 Chronic Laryngitis........................................................................................................................ 37 Benign Lesions .............................................................................................................................. 37 Inflammatory Conditions............................................................................................................ 38 Vocal Cord Concavity.................................................................................................................. 38 Tumours......................................................................................................................................... 38 Neurological.................................................................................................................................. 38 Haemorrhage ................................................................................................................................ 38 Personality Challenges.............................................................................................................................. 38 Personality Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 39 Popular Sanguine .............................................................................................................................. 39 Positive Sanguine Traits .............................................................................................................. 39 Sanguine Weaknesses .................................................................................................................. 40 APEL and the Sanguine............................................................................................................... 40 Powerful Choleric ............................................................................................................................. 40 Positive Choleric Traits................................................................................................................ 40 Choleric Weaknesses.................................................................................................................... 40 APEL and the Choleric ................................................................................................................ 40 Perfect Melancholic ........................................................................................................................... 40 Positive Melancholic Traits ......................................................................................................... 41 Melancholic Weaknesses ............................................................................................................. 41 APEL and the Melancholic.......................................................................................................... 41 Peaceful Phlegmatic .......................................................................................................................... 41 Positive Phlegmatic Traits ........................................................................................................... 41 Phlegmatic Weaknesses............................................................................................................... 41 APEL and the Phlegmatic............................................................................................................ 41 Temperament Combinations ........................................................................................................... 41 UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES............................................................................................................ 44 Man Is A Spirit Being .............................................................................................................................. 44 Spirit, Soul And Body ....................................................................................................................... 45 We Are Not Containers — We Have Containers.......................................................................... 45 Opening the Container ..................................................................................................................... 46 The Difference Between Soul And Sprit ................................................................................................... 46 Synonyms of the Human Elements ................................................................................................ 46 Original Text Dictionary................................................................................................................... 47 The Relationship between the Mind and the Soul .................................................................................... 47 The Nature Of Our Person............................................................................................................... 47 APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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What Makes You Good or Evil? ...................................................................................................... 48 Returning to God...................................................................................................................................... 48 Who Wants to be A Christian? ........................................................................................................ 49 Man Imprisoned for Life ............................................................................................................. 49 An Optional Sentence .................................................................................................................. 49 Serve your Own Term in Hell — or Accept the Term Jesus Served...................................... 50 The World Had a New lord ........................................................................................................ 50 Bridge Between the Spiritual World and our World ................................................................................ 50 The Heart Is In The Spirit................................................................................................................. 51 THE SPIRITUAL CONNECTION ............................................................................................................. 54 The Reality of the Two Worlds ................................................................................................................. 54 Lucifer — the Music Idol.......................................................................................................................... 55 The Singing God....................................................................................................................................... 55 The Power of Music .................................................................................................................................. 56 City Walls Fell Down Flat ................................................................................................................ 56 Prison Walls Came Down ................................................................................................................ 56 Positive In Adversity.................................................................................................................... 56 Neighbours with God .................................................................................................................. 57 Army Ambush ................................................................................................................................... 57 Stop Worrying?............................................................................................................................. 57 Therapy in the Asylum..................................................................................................................... 57 God's Glory Manifesting .................................................................................................................. 58 A Stream of Songs .................................................................................................................................... 58 Various Kinds of Melodies............................................................................................................... 59 The Spiritual Song ............................................................................................................................. 59 A New Language............................................................................................................................... 60 Music that Cuts Like a Knife ........................................................................................................... 60 Managing the Heart .......................................................................................................................... 60 Two Ways of Defilement.................................................................................................................. 61 Pouring Out The Music ........................................................................................................................... 61 Refilling the Container ..................................................................................................................... 61 Giving Life to Your Words............................................................................................................... 62 Life in the Spirit ................................................................................................................................. 63 Skill versus Talent .................................................................................................................................... 63 Voice Training in the Old Testament.............................................................................................. 63 Index ......................................................................................................................................................... 65

APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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PREFACE What you now have in you possession, is a little 70 page booklet which will give you all the reason in the world why you WILL be able to sing within a few weeks. This is part one of three booklets, the complete series can be found at www.voicetraining.biz: ƒ ƒ ƒ

You CAN Learn to Sing Essential Music Theory for Singers The Art of Purification and Enunciation of the Larynx

The ability to sing belongs to ALL of us and I guess at one time or another, you also have had a desire to sing and especially all those times you listened to a singer whose voice you really admired. If your dream (or wish) to sing came true, your life would become different. People tend to believe that you can only become an excellent singer if you were born with the talent. On the other hand, almost everybody that believes this myth also contradicts himself or herself by encouraging would-be singers to sign up for singing instruction. Well if it is true that you cannot become an excellent singer other than through hereditary means, what good could the suggested training do? Most ridiculously, the suggested training teaches little or nothing about how to become a singer — instead, it teaches how to improve the supposedly already existent talent, i.e., not accommodating those who CANNOT sing. APEL changes all that by offering you and me, the untalented singers, a simple TECHNIQUE to acquire a beautiful and professional singing voice. APEL is THE ART OF PURIFICATION1 and ENUNCIATION2 OF THE LARYNX3. It is a unique technique developed over a period of two years4 by one Michael MICHAEL (the author). Thereafter, it took a several years to compile an accompanying training manual, which you now have in your hands. The training manual is accompanied by audio material containing reference recordings5; it contains the foundation upon which you are going to build your exercises. Your life is about to change for the better. This time around, if it does not, it probably never will. It is up to you WHETHER you fly or not, but up to the wind HOW you fly — APEL Truth.001 Your wind has just started blowing. Michael MICHAEL Johannesburg, South Africa (January 1995)

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cleaning by getting rid of impurities an improvement that makes something more agreeable a cartilaginous structure at the top of the trachea; contains elastic vocal cords that are the source of the vocal tone in speech and perfected over more than ten years the original concept was to provide an audio CD with all the exercises and demonstrations, but over the years, a this option resulted in an increased practice of mimicry of the author by students, to a frightening precision.

WHAT IS APEL? You have made the right decision. You might not realize it now, but by the end of the APEL6 program, you will know it. Your friends will know it — it will be obvious. Let us discuss one important matter before you start. It is very important. I want to warn you, this is different from anything you have ever encountered before. APEL is based on nothing you have seen or heard before unless you have been in one of my classes before or know somebody who has. For this reason, your feathers might be ruffled a bit as you continue with APEL studies, unless you are prewarned. It is not about me getting your money; in any case, the fact that you are reading this book means that I already have your money (unless of course you obtained the book illegally). I will not loose the money if you fail, but your failure in this matter is as much a loss to me as it is to you because the whole idea of this process is to build you up, not to build my bank account (which fortunately is unavoidable). Listen to me carefully; you might not have appropriately understood what it is you are getting into. It is good and powerful — but unless you are willing to walk the weird and unusual road, you might as well turn around now. If this method were ordinary7, the early music teachers would have implemented it 200 years ago. However, it is not conventional; in fact, it is crazy and unheard of. APEL was largely developed in the bush, in the dark8 and in isolation. It defies most conventional ideologies — APEL wages war against conservative singing principles, behaviors, and tradition. Most importantly, APEL works! Acceptability and norms do not hang me up — I am naturally very defiant, and you will learn that in this book. I do not apologize for my innovation or ideas. No, I am not a professor of music and I am not an academic — I am just a person who dares the impossible and thrives on swimming upstream, hence this book. I am giving to you in this book, what I learned over a period of more than 13 years9 — I made all the mistakes you can think of, and I experienced various stages of adjustment that occur when you undergo voice training, and I am still learning, and hoping to learn a lot from you as well.

A FRESH START Forget everything, FORGET WHAT YOU THOUGHT SINGING WAS. I want you to switch your logic off until you finish reading the book, then I want you to do everything I tell you without asking questions — only then do I advise you to challenge the APEL technique. If you can, reinvent APEL; and you will see what new ground you will break. You are welcome to refute the teaching in this book, criticize it, challenge it and test it against every imaginable standard — but as I entreat you, wait until after you have read it and also applied it to the letter. 6 7 8 9

the ART of PURIFICATION and ENUNCIATION of the LARYNX APEL was solely and independetly invented by the author and this is the first formal publication of the technique this is not a reference to occult darkness, but time of day 1981 to 1994

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I am assuming that you would not have bought the book unless you were serious about learning how to sing. So, let us do it. In the book I use analogies and illustrations, and give you many facts — there will be exercise10 pointers, but they are not as important as the UNDERSTANDING part. Your greatest skill will be to comprehend everything I am teaching you. Remember that practice in this method makes only 15% of the course. The other 85% is all UNDERSTANDING11 and remembering the facts.

WISDOM OF PLANNING You will need a plan before you proceed, the plan will revolve around time and relationships. Embarking on APEL means that you will spend an awful lot of time alone, and this will affect your family. You cannot study APEL in public; you require solitude and privacy. Leaders are inspired in public, but built in private — APEL Truth.002

Two Hunters Two men went out hunting; the first (Tom) was very pompous and very energetic. He told all his neighbors that he was going to catch a big animal. He was of strong physical build and everybody thought he was an expert hunter because of the manner in which he boasted about himself. The community also held him in high esteem. He went out with his friend (James), who he laughed at and mocked quite often, because of the evident physical disadvantages he had. Nevertheless, his friend had determined in his heart that he also wanted to catch an animal for his family. However, he was meek and reserved. He did not say much, but he knew that he had to have a plan that would work. The two men went away together on a journey to go hunting. Tom was very pushy and demanding and when the first animal walked by, he suddenly got up and started chasing after it with an axe. He ran for hours after the animal. After hours of chasing, he lost the animal and was tired. He returned empty handed. James had been studying the animal's trail and behavior all along; he had discovered where it grazed and drank water, where it slept, and all its other habits. After hours of watching the animal from a distance, he knew when and where to set a trap in the path where the impala would walk past. Later in the day when the animal would have to drink water, it would walk the same trail — he went and lay under a tree at a distance, and when the time came, the animal walked by and was caught in the trap. He returned home with the animal and was not tired at all. A simplistic, yet educating story. Without a plan, life becomes a fruitless expenditure of energy — APEL Truth.003

A Meek Approach to APEL As I will remind you in the complete training guide., do not flaunt your APEL studies — do not attempt to measure yourself against people's comments. Think about it, it is harder to notice the improvement on one's effort if you see that person daily. For example, a person might be on a weightloss program, but because you see them daily, you might not readily notice that they have in fact lost weight — but it is very easy to notice the weight loss if you had not seen them for three months — because the change amounts to a noticeable difference. At the end of this manual, we would like you to experience the joy of saying, "Once I could not sing, but now I CAN." In a few weeks12, you will be saying it because you can — not because you wished people would say so. When you say it, people will already have noticed the difference, unless you had irresponsibly been flaunting your efforts gasping for and craving13 their applause.

THE MOST UNIQUE MUSICAL INSTRUMENT In defining APEL, we must lay down a foundation first: † The foundation has everything to do with how your voice works. †

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That foundation refers to your voice box as an instrument that produces a voice. As you might have already noticed, we will refer a lot to the voice, meaning your voice or sound produced when air from your lungs passes through the larynx and cause your vocal cords to vibrate — vibration

exercise references will be made in footnotes like this one the technique is behavioural, hence the need to have a fresh and radical understanding of APEL. it is possible to complete the APEL programme within 28 days with complete results pride is one of the biggest downfalls for aspiring singers

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occurs in the area of your mouth (your nose too) which is the equivalent of the air chambers in acoustic instruments.

What Voice Are You? People have a tendency, legitimately so, to categorize voices into vocal parts or roles (more accurately referred to as vocal ranges) — and among men, those are bass, baritone, and tenor. We will have plenty of time to define and illustrate all of these. Do not worry about not understanding some of the concepts at this stage — the idea at hand is to show you what a unique instrument your voice is. Like any other instrument — YOU CAN LEARN TO PLAY IT. This is what this book is all about, LEARNING TO PLAY YOUR VOICE BOX. If you can just learn to see your voice as a musical instrument, you will find the whole technique outlined in this book easy to follow. Most of the traditional inhibitions will suddenly cease to hold water. Female voices can be categorized into contralto, mezzo-soprano, and soprano. Your voice should have an average of about two octaves14 — which will be discussed in the complete training guide.. As you know, men's voices are lower than women's voices — by about an octave. A man's falsetto will be in the same range as a woman's real or natural voice — but a little higher and thus categorized as an alto. While a boy's voice will be equivalent to the soprano voice. You may also know, that a boy generally sings in the same range of voice as a grown woman — that is, until the boy's voice breaks15 into a masculine tone or range. Although there are six conventional vocal ranges — they are generally reduced from soprano, mezzosoprano, contralto, tenor, baritone, and bass — to soprano, contralto (or alto), tenor, and bass. You may already have categorized yourself into one of these voices. The bottom line however is that, whichever voice you might be — you are an instrument and we must teach you how to play that instrument, and in doing so, do it such that you excel and not only excel, but also excel beyond your wildest expectations. THAT IS WHAT HAPPENED TO ME — and is about to happen to you.

Conventional Singing There are major differences between this training manual and the conventional forms of singing — it is perhaps important that we briefly take a look at the other accepted perception of what singing is; which has become a world standard and an academic convention. When you sing, you utilize your voice in the creation of song. Breathing is the primary generator16 that causes sound to be produced through the same vibration mechanism that occurs when acoustic instruments are played, especially wind instruments, in which sound is produced by blowing through a pipe of some sort. The sound becomes louder by the manner in which it resonates in the chamber — i.e., the cavity in your mouth and nose. Although hard to believe, all cavities above your shoulders play a role in the production of the sound of your voice. You are an acoustic instrument, and the bigger your chambers17, the better. Not only must the voice be produced, it also needs to be articulated18 to create recognizable speech for communication and expression. For animals, to which speech does not play a part in the creation and performance of music, the songs are complete without the additional use of the lips, teeth, tongue, and palate. Human beings are the only known species whose music is lyrical and verbal19.

WHAT PEOPLE THINK ABOUT VOICE TRAINING Conventional voice trainers believe that vocal training is for the development of better control over breathing and the regulation of relaxation degree, body tension and resonance and articulation. I agree with that, but I also I believe that training should and can, go back further than developing what is presumed to be an already capable singer, but initiate talent in those who are not already accepted as singers. Teach the novice how to sing, and the expert, how to grow — APEL Truth.004 Most voice teachers will not take you in if they thought you could not sing. Does this not make you wonder — what is the use of training a person if you can only train those already capable? The world 20

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an octave is one series of notes either ascending or descending to the next similar note when a boy’s voice tone changes into a man’s tone the source of music people with big heads have bigger cavities, like a boom box bringing articulatory organs together so as to shape the sounds of speech relating to or having facility in the use of words this is no way despises the wisdom of formal education, it merely highlights the short-comings

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has not yet accepted that all human beings can sing — if they did, they would have made provisions for them; and not only for the talented. Many of the incapable among us, may be the giants we should have been inspired by — APEL Truth.005

NATURAL SINGING? Besides training, every culture21 has a natural art of singing particular to them and that for me, is a sign that singing is a natural right. From whichever direction you approach it, there is enough natural instinct in us to awaken the talent or the ability. Most low-voiced males can naturally produce a falsetto22 tone by partially vibrating their vocal cords — it is a technical and precision art, but they do it without academic training. Who told them that by partial vibration, their tone would be higher? Nobody — but it is naturally there to be discovered, BECAUSE SINGING IS ALREADY IN EACH ONE OF US.

NOT ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME An acquaintance of mine, after training overseas as a singer and voice tutor, found the APEL singing technique bothersome in that it sounded contemptuous towards all that she had been taught to believe in. People do not take kindly to their philosophy being proved fallacious. Although that is not what we 23 were doing — that is how it is sometimes perceived. If all roads lead to Rome, then the N3 route would 006 cost you a lifetime — APEL Truth. I say, "Literally, you can't get to Rome on the N3!" If you believed all your life that was the way to Rome, it would be hard for you to hear me out, or even accept that I may be right and you may be wrong — it would be even harder for you to see my directions bringing results.

CULTURAL VARIATIONS Every culture has a unique quality of tone and approach to singing. There are always variations in tone, color, physical tension, and acoustical intensity of cultural music and style of singing. Some cultures use extensive melodic ornamentation, some light, and others none. The most noticeable of these is the classically trained, resonant, well-projected tone of opera24 singers. There are probably very few styles as popular or expressive as the relaxed, subtly ornamented, robust singing of black folk musicians; it is often enhanced with coarse, throaty effects. It can be tense and electronically distorted like rock — but it is not academic, yet very effective. It was developed instinctively. These people developed their styles not through some standing academic institution, but through inner instinct, a substance we all have. Instinct is the substance at the foundation of APEL — APEL Truth.007 This inner ability, resident and inbuilt in all of us, should not be spoiled by people like me with thick training manuals. We should leave the true art of singing to the individual, while attempting to enlighten the path with principles — which should more guiding than demanding; this can be very difficult for the teacher to achieve. The line between confidence and obstinacy is very thin — APEL Truth.008

THE SERIOUS WAY OF SINGING The high and clear-toned male voices were, and maybe still be favored in classical circles — Luciano Pavarotti being the well known example. This results in a vocal quality that is believed to help the listener hear the interwoven melodies of multipart vocal music. The bel canto25 style dominated Western singing between 1650 and 1850 — it is believed that this style was developed sometime in the 16th century. Around the 18th century, the castrato26 voice was used in opera and became very dominant in the 18th century. The bel canto era used breath extensively, to control the strength of sound — and is probably responsible for most of today's academic singing's emphasis on breath control. Other things contributing

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think of the African harmonies which seem to be hereditary and not academic a tone produced by a male voice when they mimic a female voice freeway in South Africa from Johannebsurg to Durban a drama set to music; consists of singing with orchestral accompaniment and an orchestral overture and interludes meaning beautiful song a male singer who was castrated before puberty retaining a soprano or alto voice

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to style development were concert halls and perhaps various artistic goals, which prompted and inspired singers to want to modify this technique. Some examples of standards and milestones in the history of singing are perhaps the Polish teacher (and tenor), Jean de Resize and the Spaniard Manuel García (1805-1906) who developed new techniques to put more effect of resonance. Richard Wagner is known for his use of vocal colors — the vocal categories such as 'dramatic soprano' and 'heroic tenor.' This was only the beginning of what is today known as 'serious' singing — to an extent that although serious music is more popular and preferred by some cultures, the new and independent cultures feel a certain amount of obligation to conform to this style.

A SHORT HISTORY OF SINGING27 The 20th-century music increased in operatic singing techniques. While opera was gaining ground, the microphone was responsible for more expression instead of power; this innovation produced a fresh art of singing, like Bing Crosby28 and Morgana King. The late 20's and early 30's gave birth to Afro-American vocal colors that had become prominent through jazz and blues. White singers, however (through the 1940s and '50s) continued to reflect European classical roots — believing this to be 'conventional.' This trend continues today, where generally, Caucasian29 singing tends to conform more to the bel canto tradition than does African singing, if at all. American and British pop styles were flavored with Afro-American traits by the 1960s. Composers began experimenting with intoned30 speech and melodic contours (whispers, shouts and rough sounds) and other vocal colors formerly excluded from Western art singing. The inner instincts were taking precedence over conventionalism. This is indicative of the variety of manipulations possible when using the voice as an instrument. You are about to learn how to do this.

APEL — THE ART OF PLAYING THE LARYNX Your voice is the only instrument you can learn to play without having to go out and purchase it. If you wanted to learn to play the saxophone, you would have to fork out at least $300 before you could start. Of all the instruments or ways of producing music, this is the only one that God decided to include in the “creation package” — how do I know that? It is a bold statement but it is true. Is this not evident in the fact that this instrument is already built within us? My body does not have a stringed31 instrument like a violin, or a percussion32 instrument like a tambourine — it has a built in wind33 instrument, namely, the larynx. This is the only instrument that is manipulated remotely through the mind and instincts; and above all, the heart. I always said that my voice ONCE MADE PEOPLE LAUGH — and after APEL, NOW MAKES PEOPLE CRY. I have never played my guitar in such an expressive manner that somebody cried, but I have sung and seen people's tears. That tells me something about the power of the voice — IT IS A LIVING INSTRUMENT; it has spiritual dimensions that I believe extend deeper than any known acoustic or electronic instrument. IT IS HUMAN — it has the Creator's touch. It is also, the most misunderstood and misused instrument. It is easy, and very easy to use — but tradition has failed it, and clouded minds from mastering it.

A LIVING INSTRUMENT I believe that the voice is the most SPIRITUAL and most POWERFUL instrument, made by a Superior Craftsman34. Very few solo instruments have the appeal and influence of the voice, or the ability to SAY SOMETHING with such precision. As we indicated, animals can sing, but they cannot say anything verbal, while human beings can both say something verbal and above all, communicate at a spiritual level through their music.

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courtesy of Microsoft Encarta 97 formerly Harry Lillis Crosby (1903-77), American singer and songwriter, born in Tacoma white person speak carefully, with rising and falling pitch instruments which have strings that are plucked to produce a sound instruments which are struck to produce a rhythmic sound instruments which are blown into or through to produce a sustained sound the Creator being God

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THE CLASSICAL VOICE In an attempt to understand the classical voice, we must look at some definitions in the classical context.

PHONATION Classically speaking, voice, or phonation, is the sound produced by the expiration35 of air through vibrating vocal cords. Voice is defined in terms of pitch, quality, and intensity, or loudness. † Optimum Pitch — the most appropriate pitch for speaking, and varies with each individual. †

Range of Pitch — the range covered on the pitch register by the voice. Both optimum pitch and range of pitch are fundamentally determined by the length and mass of the vocal cords; within these limits, pitch may be varied by changing the combination of air pressure and tension of the vocal cords. This combination determines the frequency at which the vocal cords vibrate, the greater the frequency of vibration, the higher the pitch.

RESONANCE After voice is produced, it is resonated in the chest, throat, and cavities of the mouth. The quality of the voice is determined by resonance and the manner in which the vocal cords vibrate; intensity is controlled by resonance and by the strength of the vibrations of the vocal cords.

CLASSICAL ARTICULATION Articulation refers to the speech sounds that are produced to form the words of language. The articulating mechanism comprises the lips, tongue, teeth, jaw, and palate. Interrupting or shaping both the vocalized and 'unvocalized' airstreams through movement of the tongue, lips, lower jaw, and soft palate articulates speech. The teeth are used to produce some specific speech sounds. The manner, in which you speak, is the manner in which you should sing. This truth is the greatest truth in this book. For all it is worth, the entire revelation of APEL was 100% influenced by this. It is not until you have learned to speak through your singing, that you will master APEL — APEL Truth.009

THE LANGUAGE OF SINGING Language is a system of symbols agreed upon by a group of people to communicate their thoughts and feelings. Italians share a common language because it is an agreed set of sounds and expressions that is commonly understood to mean certain things. Symbols may be verbal or nonverbal, that is, either spoken or written; additionally, nonverbal symbols may be gestures and body movements. In spoken language, the skills of articulation are used; in written language, spelling is substituted for articulation. In singing, there is a deeper level of communication that cannot be documented, the language of the heart that is heard and understood from heart to heart. True singing is generated by one heart and communicated into another — APEL Truth.010 Both auditory36 and visual skills are essential to the comprehension and expression of language. A singer can add a dimension to their singing by employing visual gestures, whether facial or manual37, the emphasis must remain on adding. Rate and rhythm also should be considered in the discussion about speech. Normal speech should not be so rapid, or so slow that it interferes with comprehension. What about singing? Rhythm is judged mostly in terms of fluency. Here is another fundamental truth about APEL — I asked myself a question at the beginning of my search for the truth about singing; the question was simply an attempt to understand what it is that makes singing either good or bad. At its most fundamental, singing can be reduced to pitch and rhythm — APEL Truth.011 Good or so-called normal speech, cannot be exactly measured or described. It can however, be judged, essentially only as it seems to be suitable to the sex, size, age, personality, and needs of the speaker. Good singing cannot be exactly measured or described either, but it can be judged fundamentally only 35 36 37

the act of inhaling of or relating to the process of hearing involving the hands

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as it seems to be suitable to the intended audience — singing is, for the same reason, a giving and a receiving language.

MEDICALLY SPEAKING Oftentimes, potential voice students are turned away from attempting APEL because of myths and tradition. For example, certain speech disorders such as stuttering or stammering are perceived to be a definite hindrance to singing. That is not true. While APEL is based on speech, it is much simpler than speech — APEL Truth.012 Singing, in fact, is easier than speaking, because in singing, most of the content is rehearsed; while in speech, most of the content is created as one goes along while the person is busy communicating. How often do you run through your full thirty-word sentence before you start speaking to someone, that is, unless it is somebody who makes you nervous? Is this not the reason why we sometimes often pause and utter an occasional um or er? Because speech is a learned occupation, any intrusion over one's learning ability might be perceived as a singing impairment. While this may sometimes be true, it is rare. Some of the common conditions capable of interfering with one's learning abilities are neuroses38 and psychoses39, mental retardation40, and brain damage, whether congenital41 or acquired. Vocal expression itself may be impaired by such physical disabilities as cleft palate42, cerebral palsy43, or loss of hearing; it may likewise deteriorate because of paralysis of any part of the articulating mechanism. Therefore, unless you are suffering from any of these medical conditions, you have no excuse to even think that you are entitled to an excuse. On the other hand, if you are suffering from any of these ailments, you still stand a more than 50% chance to become an excellent singer. It is your heart and not your head that produces the music — APEL Truth.013 All you will really need to learn is to permit your heart to flow through your mind and body.

DISSECTING YOUR INSTRUMENT We already told you that the larynx is the instrument of focus here, and it is therefore important to understand the physiological makeup of this instrument. When you take up guitar lessons, your instructor usually gives you a background of the guitar, a little history, and detail about the instrument.

Figure 1: Larynx and Larynx Cross Section44

There are really only two important things about your instrument — the larynx itself, and the skeletal structure thereof. 38 39 40 41 42 43 44

a mental or personality disturbance not attributable to any known neurological or organic dysfunction any severe mental disorder in which contact with reality is lost or highly distorted lack of normal development of intellectual capacities present at birth but not necessarily hereditary; acquired during fetal development the upper surface of the mouth that separates the oral and nasal cavities loss of the ability to move a body part Pictures courtesy of the Voice Center at Eastern Virginia Medical School

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CHAMBER The larynx is the hollow chamber in which the voice is produced, it is situated at the front or upper part of the windpipe of mammals, frogs, and toads; it is also called the voice box. In mammals, it leads from the lower portion of the pharynx45 to the trachea46 and is situated in front of or ventral47 to the esophagus, behind the skin and connective tissue of the throat. The larynx is supported by ligaments from the hyoid bone, situated at the base of the tongue.

STRUCTURE The skeletal structure of the larynx is made up of three large cartilaginous structures, the epiglottis48, thyroid49 cartilage, and cricoid cartilage, and of several pairs of small cartilages, the most important of which are known as arytenoid cartilages. † Epiglottis — the first (the epiglottis) is a broad cartilage attached in front to the top of the thyroid cartilage. The epiglottis is the lid or cap of the larynx; it swings over the opening from the pharynx into the voice box. When you swallow, the larynx is raised to press against the epiglottis and root of the tongue, preventing food from entering the air passages. It is actually not possible to swallow and breathe at the same time. †

Thyroid Cartilage — just below the epiglottis is the second structure (the angular thyroid cartilage), composed of two vertical plates that join in the front of the neck. The intersection of these plates causes the projection commonly known as the Adam's apple50.

†

Cricoid Cartilage — finally the third structure at the rear portions of the thyroid cartilage grip (the circular cricoid cartilage), which keeps the laryngeal passageway open at all times. On each side of the rear upper border of the cricoid cartilage is a small, movable arytenoid cartilage.

Figure 2: Larynx Support Sysytem

Animals such as frogs and toads have a voice box that leads directly from the pharynx into the lungs. Frogs have auxiliary vocal sacs that, when inflated, serve to make the voice more resonant. The size of the chamber adds to the resonance and quality of the tone produced. To understand this, simply compare a double bass51 and a violin — besides the fact that the strings are of different sizes and diameter, the size of the chamber is largely responsible for the differences in the sound produced. Analogies of such resonating chambers are found among mammals in the hollow hyoid bone of the howling monkey and in the sac leading from the larynx of a gorilla virtually to its armpit. Think of this and relate it to the sound of a charging angry gorilla and you will see a clear correlation.

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the passage to the stomach and lungs; in the front part of the neck below the chin and above the collarbone membranous tube with cartilaginous rings that convey inhaled air from the larynx to the bronchi nearest to or facing toward the axis of an organ or organism a flap of cartilage that covers the windpipe while swallowing located near the base of the neck so called because of the legend, referring to Genesis 3:6, of the apple that lodged in Adam's throat a huge bass violin

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In birds however, the voice is produced in an organ known as the syrinx52. Incidentally, a syrinx is also a primitive wind instrument consisting of several parallel pipes bound together. Lower animals use other methods to produce sounds. In the human larynx, there are two pairs of vocal cords. They are made of elastic connective tissue covered by folds of mucous membrane. One pair, the false vocal cords, extends from the epiglottis to the angle of the thyroid cartilage; these cords narrow the glottis (the pharyngeal opening of the larynx) during swallowing. It is impossible to utter (a sound) and swallow at the same time — APEL Truth.014 Below the false cords are the true vocal cords, extending from the arytenoid cartilages to the angle of the thyroid cartilage. Vibration of this pair of cords by air passing out of the lungs causes the formation of sounds that are amplified by the resonating nature of the voice box. The bigger the voice box, the deeper the sound — APEL Truth.015 This is how your instrument works — you blow air through this pair of cords and they vibrate and resonate in the chamber.

PITCH MANIPULATION There are two main movements in your biological musical instrument that control the nature and quality of pitch. The pitch of the sound is voluntarily controlled by muscles53 that rotate the arytenoid cartilages toward the center of the body. † Lower Tones — through the slackening and lengthening the cords one can produce low tones Higher Tones — toward the sides of the body, the shortening of the cords and pulling them tight will produce high-pitched tones. In this context therefore, if one were to show you how to manipulate your vocal cords and the arytenoids cartilages, you would have mastered the art of playing this instrument. Most people believe they are singers because they were born with a voice54. It is not the type of voice you have that determines your talent, but the technique of breath and muscle manipulation, and this, is a simple art — APEL Truth.016 If you disagree with this statement, you are in fact saying that because the flute has a mellow and soft soothing voice; it is a better 'singer' than the tenor saxophone, which has a blasting and coarse voice. The extent of the angle formed by the plates of the thyroid cartilage determines the depth of the human voice. The angle decreases in males at puberty, causing decreased tension of the vocal cords and a consequently deeper voice, and increases in most females at puberty, causing increased tension of the vocal cords. On a guitar, the thicker strings produce the lower notes, and they are less tight than the thinner strings, which produce the higher tones. In a human larynx, the thicker and less tense cords will produce a lower tone in males while, in females, the thinner and tense cords will produce higher tones. The combination is that of chamber, size, and tension — you cannot use the thin string on a bass guitar, because no matter how low the tension, they just do not have the capability to produce a deep slow vibration loud enough to produce bass. On the other hand, attempting to use the thicker strings on higher notes results in a muffled high tone, which lacks the treble of a normal high note — besides, the thicker string will break if pulled too tightly. The chamber of your voice box is the acoustic power of your voice; manufacturers of speakers have used this theory for hundreds of years. The chamber of your speaker has more to do with the sound produced by your speakers, than most people are aware. Car speakers sound better when mounted on the resonant body of a car than on thick rubber padding. Remember then, the tension, size, and chamber characteristics of your voice. Any technique that manipulates the tension, size and chamber characteristics of your voice will elevate the singer to new dimensions of singing — APEL Truth.017 †

YOUR INSTRUMENT IS FRAGILE The most common affliction of the human larynx is inflammation, or laryngitis55, which often accompanies colds, and usually comes with a temporary diminution or complete loss of voice. Other diseases commonly attacking the larynx include croup56, diphtheria57, and cancer58. Laryngeal cancer may be caused by cigarette smoking and by the intake of large amounts of alcohol. 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

the vocal organ of a bird remember that muscles can be exercised everybody, or almost everybody is born with a voice inflammation of the mucous membrane of the larynx; characterized by hoarseness or loss of voice and coughing a disease of infants and young children; harsh coughing and hoarseness and fever and difficult breathing marked by the formation of a false membrane in the throat and other air passages causing difficulty in breathing any malignant growth or tumor caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell division; it may spread to other parts of the body through the lymphatic system or the blood stream

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Alcohol and smoking are injurious to singing — APEL Truth.018 Being a non-smoker and non-drinker I have never been able to appreciate the need to smoke and drink. On the contrary, there are millions of good singers who smoke and drink. These habits will not hinder you from singing, but you could do better without them. Persons who smoke and drink excessively run an especially high risk of developing cancer of the larynx. It can be treated by X-ray therapy, especially if diagnosed early, and by surgery. Surgical procedures include partial or total removal of the larynx. In instances of total removal, the patient must learn a new method of speech that involves, in part, swallowing air and bringing it up again. Various other surgical techniques have been developed to replace the removed tissue and restore speech of near normal quality; for example, insertion of a prosthetic59 device through a tracheoesophageal puncture (tracheotomy60) has shown a promising rate of success in test patients. Methods of looking after your voice in particular (and not the instrument itself) will be discussed in the complete training guide..

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an artificial substitute for a missing part of the body of humans or other animals is called a prosthetic device, or prosthesis emergency operation in which windpipe is cut and a tube inserted to permit breathing when air passage is obstructed

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MY STORY I grew up on a farm. My dad was the principal of the only high school in the area. The area in which I grew up was very isolated — to the north, there was a range of mountains, to the east, and south and west were rivers. Most of the children in the area did not have the same advantages as I had. My dad being academically inclined endeavored to expose us to as much privilege as was practically possible then — at least that is how I saw it. We had encyclopedias and many other reading materials, and although there was no television in South Africa back then (in 1969 through the early 70's) we watched a movie at least once a month on average. The point therefore is, I had nothing but the farm to occupy my entire thought life (of course, education was part of the normal activities); and besides the fantasies about cinematic61 unrealities which I was exposed to, the only other thing I had going for me was my imagination. I dreamt a lot, I developed a very strong vision about my future.

A YOUNG MAN’S DREAM That is the place where I learned to believe in the impossible. I did not know the difference between what was possible and what was not. It should not surprise you that in that period, I 'manufactured' cars for the local teenage community; I was in fact a toy factory, because to me, if it could be imagined, it could be done. My elder brother and I constructed a movie projector, or the closest we could get to a movie projector — and composed mini cartoon62 animations and charged the local boys one to ten cents to come and view. The cartoons were more static than animate, but we did it. At one time, we started on a 'helicopter project,' and then there was the karate and boxing tournament. There were hundreds of projects, or inventions if you wish, that we embarked on — because as far as I knew, everything was possible, ALL YOU NEEDED WAS TO FOCUS YOUR MIND TO IT. Nothing is impossible to a believing heart — APEL Truth.019 What I am trying to tell you is that there is no height unreachable, and no goal unattainable — and if it were not for this attitude, I would not have discovered this miraculous technique of training wounded voices.

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of or pertaining to or characteristic of the cinema a film made by photographing a series of cartoon drawings to give the illusion of movement when projected in rapid sequence

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A SMALL SEED OF HOPE When I was in Standard 9, I had grown into a very sociable character, and everybody in my high school knew me and had actually spoken to me (At least once or twice). By then, we had moved into the urban area of the country away from the farm. When opportunities of school activities and trips arose, I was always available to participate; and this one time, a trip was being planned to the then capital of South Africa, Pretoria, to visit an Afrikaans high school as part of the public relations program63. The excitement about the trip was very tangible and in fact, intoxicating. It had then become difficult to even pay attention in the classroom. I remember when the English teacher came for her class once; we could not get into the spirit of the lesson. A friend of mine, who I guess was just as crazy about the trip as I was, got up and started to sing an old traditional Gospel song called 'Telephone to Glory'. He was the most musical of our bunch in class. In the excitement of the moment, I got up to join him. I started to do what I then thought was singing a harmony part to his tune — when the class shouted me down, it dawned on me that I was probably not singing right, to put it mildly. At that moment, fellow students (assuming that I was mature enough to take it like a man, and not emotionally thin-skinned), started hurling truthful but harmful accounts of what they had just witnessed me do. One fellow, echoed by the rest of the class said, "You are a whiz kid, you are very intelligent, but don't just assume that God has given you the talent of singing as well!" Painfully truthful!

A TALENT DENIED The fact that I did very well with my schoolwork, even without much studying, was not going to be a comfort to me in and at that moment. I had just found out that I had a horrible voice. Believe me, I had always been outstanding in most of what I did — some kind of a child prodigy64 if you please, because I was used to being the best at everything. Except for the fact that, the previous year was the first for me to take a mere pass position — instead of the usual first or distinction in my class. Since primary school, I had always been first in class. The year before this epic, I had fallen off to number eight65, and I was beginning to think that not everything was possible. So then, the 'truth' kept throwing itself in my face after my infamous rendition of a capella66 harmony. In that class of about 38 students, almost 36 of them were convinced that I was not born to sing. Not only did they believe that, but also that God probably would be upset if I attempted to sing — they were convinced that I could not sing even if I wanted to. That God had not seen fit to bless me with the singing talent in addition to the many things I supposedly did extremely well. I heard them say it, and it tore me into shreds in that short span of about two to five minutes. Deep in my soul I was saying, "I shall rise again!" The big question was, "How?" In addition, I had no answer to that question. The more they screamed out their assessments of my horrible singing, the less I believed that I could arise out of that situation. I was about to close the book in my pain and invisible bleeding that oozed from my heart, rent by the 'honesty' of my classmates. Mind you, the more they spoke out, the more I remembered how my mother and relatives used to laugh each time I sang — needless to say I was beginning to realize that they did not laugh and smile because I sounded good. It was becoming obvious that there was another reason for it, and I did not care to consider it then, I wished not to. I LOVED MUSIC, and I loved singing — but I could not sing. Your passion for music and singing is a good sign of how great a singer you are about to become — APEL Truth.020

“YOUR SINGING IS WRONG” It also brought to my mind how one day when I was taking a walk with a friend of mine who was a respected young musician in the community; he had labeled my singing as 'wrong.'

63 in those days it was unheard of, for a black school to visit a white school 64 an unusually talented or intelligent child 65 on a school reporting system where students with the highest marks in class are 66

at the top

vocal music style unaccompanied by musical instruments

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Wrong? Wrong? Did he not know he was speaking to a 'genius' that can do anything? I had been raised to believe I was some kind of a genius you see. However, my friend had just said I sang wrong. What did he mean wrong? So, I asked him, "What do you mean wrong?" He answered adamantly67, "It does not sound right, everything!" I did not like that a bit. Wrong? On top of that, he could not point out the "... probably one or two MINOR mistakes I had made," but he so insensitively thought that my whole singing was wrong. That is what went through my mind to ease my pain. It hurt. I was not accustomed to criticism then, I still do not take too kindly to criticism, but I have learned to accept it. Anyway, back to my story in my class, I was about to close the book on my future. Deep down I believed I could do it — but if the whole class believed that it was God Himself who deliberately disabled me, how could I even dream about defying his grand plan? I wanted to defy their faith, but I feared the 'truth' that God might also have been reluctant about my desire to sing. PROVERBS 13:12 (UNASB)68 Hope deferred makes the heart sick, But desire fulfilled is a tree of life.

Suddenly, from my left, an innocent observer69, who hardly ever spoke in class — one of those that came to school only to study and nothing else, started to say something about my singing. And as I was about to both close my book on the subject and recoil further from what I feared was another utterance of criticism, she began to say, "He sounds horrible, but his voice is beautiful, if only somebody would train him, he would make it!" One TIMELY good word can change the world far more than a thousand sermons — APEL Truth.021 O! O! O! Music to my ears — the silent woman had spoken words of wisdom, words I was dying to hear! Sometimes, a kind word is the only hope a desperate soul in order to pick up the pieces — APEL Truth.022

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE DARK TUNNEL "What? If only what?" Somebody had said the magic words. I had just been liberated — it was my license to sing. There suddenly seemed to be a possibility that God might not be opposed to my desire to sing. Maybe He would not mind a teacher teaching me how to sing. Maybe it was not God that had handicapped me from singing. Maybe I could do it. Let me pause for a second here and repeat how one good word spoken at the right time can change the world, and how in the same context one bad word spoken arrogantly and carelessly, can damage the whole world. MATTHEW 12:36 (UNASB) "But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment."

You should have seen how my heart leapt for joy when one innocent human being had one small good observation about my voice. Suddenly, the noise of the 37 seemed to go silent. I could not hear their heartless rave anymore. I could now hear only one thing in my mind and my heart, "... he would make it!" I leapt for joy on the inside. I thought she had set me free, but she did not give me everything I needed; she implied that I needed a Voice Tutor.70 Wait a minute! This would have been great advice if that were possible in my area of residence during that period. Mind you, this was in 1981. Where on God's green beautiful planet would I have found a voice teacher in the far north? The only teachers I knew existed were the Biology and English teachers. Voice Tutor! My mind was thinking, "What in heaven is that?" I suddenly started speculating about an experience with a voice teacher, what it was he would teach me and whether it would actually 'heal' my vocal wounds.

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inflexibly; unshakably Updated New American Standard Bible Irene Matamba — I don’t know what happenned to her since, but I’d sure like to thank her if I ever met her again a teacher who teaches singing

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Knowing my expectations, I did not want to be an average singer, of course, I wanted to excel. How was the teacher going to teach me? Would he stand in front of me and start to beat to the metronome, or would he hold my hand and pray for the talent to fall on me like ripe cherries? I kept wondering. Before I knew it, my fantasies and newly found vision had kept me busy the whole of the remaining school day. Nothing else mattered that day except the one little matter of me and God and singing — and of course, the infamous and unknown voice teacher.

WHO IS GOING TO TEACH ME? That had become Mission Impossible 171, 'To Find a Voice Tutor.' Goodness, I knew I was kidding myself. I knew I would not find a voice tutor in my area, because if there had been one, I would have known about him, because everybody knew everybody. It was a small area where even your flu is public knowledge. If I could not find a tutor, what would be next? I walked home alone that afternoon, still bothered by the question of my singing, God and a voice tutor. I quickly decided that if I could not find a voice tutor, the least I could do was approach God, the only other party who mattered in the case. You see, I had been taught that you could ask God for anything, and He would grant it. JAMES 1:5 (UNASB) But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.

When I got home, the first thing I did was go and lock myself up in the toilet. In there I could not be disturbed, you see, I shared a bedroom with my brother ... and if I needed to talk to God, I did not want anybody interrupting. So there we were, me on the toilet seat and God, well, somewhere in the room. So I started out, "About this matter of singing, couldn't you like … just make me a singer somehow, and maybe then I could like … sing for you the rest of my life?" Who was I kidding; even the toilet knew that the 'sing for you' bit was bait for God. However, I knew He was listening, He heard me — and what I knew about Him was that He was always ready to give good gifts. MARK 11:24 (NASB)72 "Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that YOU HAVE RECEIVED THEM, and they SHALL BE GRANTED YOU"

Guess what? I believed that God had answered my prayer, so I dashed out of the toilet and went straight into the living room. We had a Blaunpukt73 vinyl record player. So I took out one of Jim Reeves' old singles, this particular one was 'This World Is Not My Home'. Talk about believing that you have received and acting on your faith!

TO SING OR NOT TO SING Now, this was the great proof — to confirm whether the Lord had answered my prayer. I guess there was one little part about faith that I had missed; just because God had answered, my prayer did not mean that the answer had already materialized. Just because somebody has posted a letter to you does not mean you have taken delivery of it — APEL Truth.023 Just because a cheque has been deposited in your bank account does not mean you can immediately draw against it. There are rules governing the process of materialization of requests from the spiritual world to the physical world — and it all takes great patience.

The Playback Debut So then, I went ahead and I also pulled out a tape recorder, I was now going to sing along with Jim Reeves and hear if I sounded just as good as he did. As far as I was concerned in those days, Jim

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reference to a Tom Cruise movie New American Standard Bible a popular Hi-Fi brand in South Africa in the 70’s

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Reeves and Elvis Presley were the best singers on earth. So, I figured, if I could sound like one of them, I would have made it. I played and sang along while recording my voice and his in the background. At the end of it all, while I was rewinding the tape, I 'knew' that it had finally happened. The singing talent had fallen on me like ... shall we say cobweb from the toilet roof. I stopped the tape and pressed play ... and I heard it, the grim and brutal truth. Jim Reeves was sounding good as usual and I, well — I did not like what I heard. I was the worm on Jim Reeves'74 voice. Therefore, I was immediately discouraged. I had asked God nicely in the toilet and look what I got — NOTHING! So I thought. I later figured that maybe that was not how God worked. So, there had to be another way, and the only other way left for me to explore was the Voice Tutor bit. With dread in my mind, I slowly determined to resort to that last option. "Where does one find a voice tutor in an area where there are no voice tutors?" I wondered.

The Hunt for a Cure Eureka! It dawned on me that there was a public library in the area and there had to be at least one book on singing. So, I ran to the library. I went through the music section and what did I find? The total music selection consisted of a couple of books on how to play the guitar and five or more tiles on classical music. And guess what my definition of classical music was back then, "… slow and boring music played with old musical instruments by old guys who could not speak English, who are either already dead or about to die." Was this library going to give me the miracle I had been waiting for? No! So, what was next? I realized that as much as I had assumed that God was on my side, I was the only tutor I was ever going to find. There was only one small problem with that, I did not know what to teach myself, nor did I know anything about music.

Inventing a Teacher "Well," I thought again, but slowly this time — "who compiled the first curriculum for the first University degree. Certainly not a university graduate, because there were none. How did they make the first straight ruler? They certainly did not use a ruler." The supernatural is at the beginning of a thing and the spectacular, at the end thereof — APEL Truth.024 So I figured, if ever there was a voice teacher, he would have to have been taught by a 'non-voice teacher' in order for him to become the first voice teacher. There had to have been one self-made teacher in order to produce the first student teacher. I had just decided to become that self-made teacher. Because the answer was clear — the first teacher must have trained himself. Well, if he could do that, what was keeping me from training myself to become my own teacher? So I decided, I was going to teach myself how to be a voice teacher, and after that, I was going to teach myself how to sing! Problem solved. At least, so I thought.

A BLIND MAN LEADING HIMSELF My first assignment was to 'quickly' establish a curriculum. Therefore, I went to my musician friend and asked him, "When I sing, what things do you feel need improvement?" The answer was, as I had been told before, "Everything!" Therefore, my friend was not very helpful. I needed a list of twelve things or seven things I could make a curriculum from. I went to another 'friend' and another, until I figured that I was in it on my own. When anybody I spoke to wanted to know why I was asking the questions, I told them about my great plan — and they were 'kind' enough to inform me to "… drop it!" That did not sound good to me either. They figured that I needed to hear one more time again that "... God had not given me that talent!" Stay away from negative people — APEL Truth.025 I DID NOT WANT to hear that I was born without the talent, or that I could not possibly have everything, or even that I was wasting my time.

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a popular singer some of whose folk Gospel albums were very popular prior to his death

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I was hurt. Therefore, I figured again, that I was all-alone in this. I made a resolution, "I will do it quietly, and I will come back with a bang and shame them!" Well, wrong again, that was not going to work either. Yes, I went away for a couple of weeks; at times I spent the odd night hour in the street, practicing, other times I went to the bush. I would break off a short stick from a shrub or tree and hold it as a microphone and start to sing and scream and jump and dance. As you might have guessed, I was spotted in the bush during my famous training sessions. Rumors went rampant — I had lost it, they said! And people now started to look at me with that prying eye, like they were scanning me or something. That did not stop me. I kept at it for around 14 days. At that time, I was seventeen and was pastoring75 a local church. Therefore, I figured, what better platform than to sing in my own congregation. I figured, who would dare stop the pastor from singing just before the sermon. Let them try if they dared! So that Saturday morning76 before my sermon I thought I would just 'come back with a bang and shock them' with a song called Precious Lord (needless to say, one of Jim Reeves' songs). I sang, and I sang, and I sang — they looked at me with big eyes! Moreover, in my soul I thought, it had happened. They could not look at me like that other than from the shock of how great a singer I had miraculously turned into, or so I thought. Well, when I finished, they were in shock all right: not the shock of the extent of my singing talent, but the shock of the lack of it. I did not know until after the service that I had done something horribly wrong. I preached that day from cloud nine, ecstatic about my newly found 'talent'. Well, the decisive moment came soon after the service as we were walking home (I was only a part-time pastor you see — I did not have the luxury of owning a car). I was carrying the piano accordion that I used for musical accompaniment. Man, it was the debut performance of my life. One of the sisters from the church started to laugh and said, "It was so hilarious, and you will never make it! I nearly burst out laughing in church." Guess what, the rest of the people now joined in and echoed her 'wisdom' — I just acted as if all was well. Nevertheless, I could not hide it any longer. In my heart I said, "I have had it — I will just throw this accordion away and stop with the music and singing thing!" That is how I felt. I wanted to sing so bad, that any failure I experienced hurt like cold needles through my spine. They must have read my mind when they responded, "No! The playing is perfect, it's the singing that is so hilarious!" That shut me up. The great self taught voice singer had made his debut and failed. So, what was next? I had tried prayer and failed, or least so I thought. I had tried the library and failed. And I had tried me as tutor, and also failed. So, what was next?

A LOT OF RESEARCH — A LOT OF PRACTICE There was one more thing — study singing until I could tell right from wrong. If nobody knew what I was doing wrong, I would find out myself. It was going to be Mission Impossible 2: Judge and Jury. So the project started: I read everything I could find on music — much to my disappointment, the local library kept books about music, and not on music itself. This kept me back at the start. I read everything in the newspaper, magazines; I absorbed every bit of information from television that I could get hold of. Slowly, the mystery began to unravel. I began to see the elements of music that required my focus — and I was then able, or rather eventually able to structure my curriculum. Now that this was taken care of, I began to analyze my singing and to point out my errors, I found out that truly, it was everything about my singing that was wrong. Fortunately, I was also able to narrow it down to a tangible list77. In addition, this list became the focus of my research. The teacher had uncovered the truth; it was now time to put it into focus and application. I still did not know that finding out what I needed to train myself on was not the entire solution to my problem, but at least I knew where I stood and I knew that what the people had said about my singing was true — without excusing their insensitivity. I understood their opinion. Attitude is louder than words — APEL Truth.026

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presiding head person authorized to conduct religious worship and manage a congregation I was a Seventh Day Adventist Pitch or Melody, Time or Rhythm, Texture, Dynamics, Harmony and Timbre

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The research now initiated many experiments. It was the only way I was going to find out the right way to solve my problem. As much as I now knew where I was supposed to be going, I did not know how to get there; I had to try out a number of paths. Many … many paths. On a journey to success, one deceptive detour might be the end of your dreams — APEL Truth.027

TWO YEARS TO FIND A CURE I continued to spend time in isolation, without attempting to display my achievements, if any. I was afraid of finding out that I could be on the wrong track and, I wished rather to complete my journey before subjecting myself to public opinion. If the route to success were obvious and acceptable, everybody would have taken it — APEL Truth.028 It is important to flock with the right birds when incubating success. Get away from the ordinary man and his familiar approach, lest you sink back into the abyss with him — APEL Truth.029 I liked the night, because when you sing in the night, in the dark, there is nothing but your voice and the echo of nature, with the special effects of insects and other distant sounds enhancing your projection. If ever you needed to hear yourself, the night was the time to feel the richness of your tone. Besides, all the lazy and negative people are asleep then. I was beginning to believe that I was sounding better and better by the day. I began to focus on much finer details in my research and practice — I began to feel what I was singing, and not merely airing the sound of my voice. I knew I was stepping onto the road of the talented ... so I needed to find out how well I was doing, I could not evaluate myself, I just could not be sure that I was really sounding GOOD, because previous self-assessments had revealed otherwise. I needed to be ratified.

THE DAY OF RECKONING By then I had moved from the school where I was doing Standard 978, to another where I was now repeating Standard 10. When I passed Standard 9, I lost focus on education. There were two things on my mind, and they were obsessions, first my faith and relationship with God and second, my Voice Training mission. I did not care about education any longer. When the time came to write exams, I did not study, I did not write any exams — I went into all the exam sessions, I wrote my name and waited for the mandatory 30 minutes to expire so that I could leave and go home. When the results were issued, I had not obtained any marks. This was because I did not write any exams, I suppose. It sounds safe to assume that you have to write the exams in order to pass, and not only to write, but to study before you write the exams. So my father was terribly disappointed in me: the genius that I think some people had assumed I was, had failed and shamed my father, who had become school inspector by then. So, I was 'shipped' off to a school that I hated, but in a perfect location: in the middle of the bush. It was so remote that you had to drive through a long stretch of the wilderness to get to the school. This was the perfect location for me: I could steal off to the river, sit on a rock in the middle of the water and sing. I could sing so loud and hard that the birds would gather around to watch. I had grown to love my moments of solitude, because in the two years they had given me a maturity I could not explain.

THE CAT OUT OF THE BAG I started to sing in season and out of season. I was always singing — from the moment when I woke up to the time I went to sleep. I only let up in situations where singing was not permissible. And one day somebody overhead me (accidentally because my voice was still a 'secret prototype') — their remarks about my singing indicated that it was possible that my assumptions about the improvements may have been correct. The person, who was a stranger to me then, said she had never heard anybody sing as I had just done. Please understand me, for a vocally wounded 'wobbler' who had received nothing but remarks 78

equivalent to Grade 11

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of pity, criticism and discouragement, this was music to my ears. I had found a pair of ears that thought I sounded as if I was talented; would the other ears of the world share this opinion, for once in my life?

THE FIRST PERFORMANCE IN TWO YEARS At that stage, the approval seemed more important than the purpose. Approval is never more important than purpose — APEL Truth.030 So I thought, it was time I tried the 'prototype' out. Take a test drive if you wish. Being a devout Jesus lover, I was part of the Student Christian Movement. So in one of the weekly meetings, I submitted a notice to sing. I was anxious, wondering if I was going to be faced with the same kind of reactions as I had received in the past. My turn came and I slowly made my way to the front. As I stood there, it had begun to rain hard outside. We were under a tin roof, the hall we were in was larger than the universe. I opened my mouth and started to sing my old favorite, the Jim Reeves 'Precious Lord' standard. The key was too low, so could not hear myself singing, and the audience could not hear me, either. I had to find a solution or my prototype would go down the drain and this time it would have been the last. Limit the number of opportunities for failure if you wish to persist long — APEL Truth.031 I remembered that in my training programs, wherever I was, the bush, the night or the toilet — I rarely sang anybody else's songs. I sang my own songs, I sang whatever came out of my heart at that moment, and I had grown very comfortable with impromptu79 performances. Therefore, finding that my song was of a low key and could not be rescued, I immediately changed gears and switched into an impromptu with a slightly higher and more comfortable key. The eagle lifted off the ground, I forgot about the audience and flew off, and I closed my eyes and was swallowed up by my song. In my mind, I was seated on a rock in the middle of the river, and the birds were gathered around me listening to my voice, and the trees were applauding me with their green and innocent leaves. Eventually I had to open my eyes and round off my song, and when I did, the audience was sitting there just looking at me. They were frozen, and bewildered. You can guess what went through my mind, "They are doing it again, shocked at my lack of talent." At least I thought so. However, I sensed a different spirit in the hall, that of absorption of the song rather than that of repulsion. When your heart flows with issues of life, you will feel every sip of the drinking audience — APEL Truth.032 Moreover, as I gazed around in that split second, I noticed that some were wiping traces of tears from their eyes and mumbling Pentecostal whispers of worship and adoration to God. This was the same God I had spoken to in the toile. He had just confirmed my prayer — it took a while, but it happened, and I had just sung for Him. He had given me the talent I WAS NOT BORN WITH. Two years previously, I had prayed, and only now did I open the mailbox to find my letter. The atmosphere in the room was thick with moisture of heart and awareness of God. It was not possible for me to jump up and down and rejoice at my confirmation, nor was it possible for the audience to applaud me for my rendition, you can understand why.

TEACH US TO SING LIKE YOU DO After the meeting, four people immediately came up to me and echoed a remark similar to the one I had received from the stranger before I decided to sing to prove my two-year talent craving. For me, this was not the end, but the beginning of a long journey. I had found the secret — how to become a talented singer when you do not have the talent. What was I going to do with this truth? I wondered. Minutes after I had asked myself the question, the four people that had approached me asked me for a favor. "Brother Mike, do you think you could teach us how to sing like that?" Imagine rising from a shunned singer to a desired tutor in ten minutes. When success breaks through, it may fall in the quantities of your efforts and the sums of your consistency — APEL Truth.033

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You should have seen me; I was still wondering about the two-year curriculum full of experiments; and, which of the hundreds of experiments had actually done the trick. I did not waste any time deliberating about the request. My answer was immediate. "Yes, yes of course we can do that; we must just set up the times and get on with it, I'd be happy to do that!" That was my overjoyed heart, speaking. I did not need time to think about it. I did not need to be paid for it. I knew that I had something that was greatly valuable and I so much wanted to give birth to it. It was less than two years old — but it had worked. I wanted to share it. From being shouted down for lack of talent to being asked to teach singing — that was somewhat highly encouraging. IT HAD HAPPENED!

A TUTOR LEARNING TO TEACH OTHERS It was hard enough to teach myself, but now I had to figure out which of the things I experimented with did the trick, and then teach others. I would also have to learn how to teach, because I did not know how. You may not be able to imagine the difficulties I had. When I was training myself, I did not need to have a formal curriculum. There was no need for words; it went from the heart to the mind and then to the mouth. Now here I was, faced with four believing students who wanted to know the how. I was the 'great teacher' — it took a couple of months to actually get my students going in some sort of direction. I was still as confused about what to teach them as I was the day when they asked me. We all began to see results, and three of them were willing to stay at it, but one was not. He left while the remaining three went further with me until we ran out of time. It was now the middle of the year and as the holidays were coming up, I had to leave the 'bush school' and go home for a while. Home where the whole community knew me as an 'untalented but ambitious' joke. But I had found the truth and I was going to unleash it.

NIGHT SCHOOL The first thing I did was to sing for my friend who had thought I would never make it, because I was not born with it. He was the respected musician who had originally told me that everything I sang was wrong. Imagine, I WAS NOT BORN WITH THE TALENT, BUT I SUDDENLY RETURNED FROM THE BUSH WITH THE TALENT. When he heard me sing, he froze in amazement. You can imagine that I made sure that I used every effect and trick I had acquired in singing, so it was a wellembellished performance. You can guess what his reaction was, "How did you do it? Can you show me how to do it?" Fortunately, I had had time to figure out which of the techniques I used on my own training had done the trick. Therefore, I started to explain to him, and being new to the idea of teaching people how to sing, I was very sure and satisfied with myself. I was just about to learn one of the greatest lessons of my life. The lesson was that no matter how good you are; you should not regard yourself better than your fellow man. You will never reach the end; if you do, you have failed — APEL Truth.034 I remember very vividly when my friend and I went through this session. It was at night, almost towards midnight, and we stood at the corner of one of the main streets in our area. The talk was accompanied by short demonstrations and explanations. He immediately started to try some of the things we had just discussed and I remember how enthusiastic he was when he realized it would work for him too. Today, he is a successful recording artist who travels all over the world singing. Perhaps the most encouraging thing to him was that he knew me BEFORE and AFTER. As in those 'lose weight fast' programs, you see a picture before the person lost weight, and then another after the person lost weight. In those ads, you wonder to yourself if the person really was that fat before, since you never got to see them for yourself and remembering at the same time that people can exaggerate things just to make a sale. He was my friend and he knew how bad a singer I was before. He knew how many times I came to him with endless questions. He knew that as far as he could remember — there was no way I could ever be able to sing. But here I was, in front of him, singing. If one man can, then all men can — APEL Truth.035

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BEHOLD ONCE I COULD NOT Now, almost all the people that were interested in music knew who I was — they remembered the times when they laughed at me, and the times when I tried and tried unsuccessfully. That had to be the most telling sales pitch. There was a national Christian conference going on, and as is usual, those that could sing submitted singing items. My friend belonged to a prominent local music group and I happened to be with them one day when they were rehearsing. They thought it would be a good idea if I joined them. I was flattered and happy.

A ‘PROPHET’ IN HIS HOME TOWN The time came, one evening they had to sing, and I joined them. I sang along from the beginning and they had given me a solo piece in the middle — the perfect debut performance80. When singing along with the group the packed hall could not single my voice out since I was singing a backup part, but when the solo came, they could hear every breath and word. I can almost imagine what went through the minds of those that knew me — knowing I could not sing, they probably thought that it was going to be the greatest embarrassment of the year. I remember a year later; I listened to a recording of that performance which a friend's wife had made. She had hung onto to it with passion. My solo turn came and I sang, and sang and SANG ... as usual, I got carried away and I closed my eyes and started jumping up and down in my excitement. This time I did not come to find out if my singing was right — and that would have been wrong in any case; I came to show them that I could sing — which was even more wrong. I finished, the crown exploded with applause — I was satisfied, and that was wrong. They saw the miracle, "Behold, once I could not sing, but now I can!" After the meeting, you should have seen the number of people that came to me, with one particular question, "How did you do that, I didn't know you could sing? In fact, you couldn't sing, so what happened?" Now, among the people that started to tell me how talented I now was were those that had told me before how untalented I was. Those that told me that God had not given me the talent were now saying just how God had given me a special talent. THOSE WHO HAD SAID THAT I WOULD NEVER BE ABLE TO SING BECAUSE I WAS NOT BORN WITH IT WERE NOW TELLING ME HOW I WAS BORN TO SING. I stopped and thought about it when I was alone. I realized that singing had nothing to do with talent. It had nothing to do with being born, and it had nothing to do with how many other talents you had. It was a miracle to those who knew my former state. I was going to teach the whole world how to sing. That is what this book is all about.

THIRTEEN YEARS TO REFINE APEL Since then a lot has happened; I have taught and taught and taught and TAUGHT. I saw many people it worked for; I saw many that it did not work for. I now know what makes it work. I now know what makes it fail. I have seen all sorts of people81 and taught them. I mean all sorts of people. Some were only eight years old. Some were close to sixty. Some were professionals. Some were academics. Some were students. Some were Black, some were White, some were Indian and some were Colored. Some were male and most were female. I have explored this technique and I have shared it with many people. During that period, I have answered all sorts of questions. I believe in it. I believe in what I teach — I teach this not only theoretically, but by example as well. I have a vision to teach people this, and as long as I am alive, I will teach it. Many believe me, some do not — some dispute my methods, others feel intimidated, some are skeptical, but those that have followed my instructions have seen it work — and that is all I care about. I grew through the stages, at I first I was unsure of myself, and then I was too sure of myself at one stage, and after both stages, I grew beyond singing to impress my audience. To defeat your purpose in 80 81

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life you only have to border on misplaced zeal — APEL Truth.036 I used to sing for people, then I sang for myself — now I have grown, I sing out of myself. I must apologize, there is no way I am going to be able to capture thirteen years of experience into this few pages. Maturity is the ability to put others first and still be self-centric — APEL Truth.037 I could have made the book much longer82 and I doubt if I would have served the purpose. In this attempt, I may not be able to capture the whole essence of the story. However, I know what I will do — I will teach you the basics, and I will trust that you, like me, have the capacity to discover the rest83 for yourself. Your future is in your heart, you have the only key to your heart — APEL Truth.038 You must unlock it, and only you can. If you receive instruction with meekness, you will receive your talent. If you grow further by yourself, you will receive your miracle — APEL Truth.039 You may be wondering about miracles, but you should not. Miracles are not earned, they are received — APEL Truth.040

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the material had to be condensed to fit into fewer pages students are advised to continue building APEL on their won

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EXCUSES The title of this chapter is not an overstatement; I discovered that over the years in my classes. I spent more time in 'therapy sessions'84 than in actually teaching APEL. People have to first change the way they think, before the program can do anything for them, because for the program to do something for you, you have to pay the price of persistence and consistence, through discipline and focus. You cannot change your life until your self image has matured — APEL Truth.041

SUCCEEDING AT APEL Please take this seriously; in order to succeed at APEL, you will be required to have the following four qualities without exception: † Persistence — simply put, this is effort over a continuous and connected period. It means CONTINUING WITHOUT INTERRUPTIONS. †

Consistency — the property of holding together and retaining shapes. It means that you must MAINTAIN THE AMOUNT OF EFFORT; it must not be reduced, if anything, it should rather increase, but never decrease again. The difference between CONSISTENCE and PERSISTENCE is that the later deals with the amount or value of the effort, while the former deals with the continuation or connectivity of the effort.

†

Discipline — I feel it is necessary to explain this in detail, discipline is the ability to train by instruction and practice. In simple terms, it means STICKING WITH AND TO THE RULES, with no deviations and variations or shortcuts, or even improvisation — just simple adherence to the rules.

Focus — this is my favorite; it refers to the concentration of attention or energy on something. Once you have put your sight on a goal, nothing should detract your attention or energy until you accomplish that goal. That is something you cannot do if you still have skeletons in the closet regarding your own perception of what APEL is, or your chances of succeeding at it. Therefore, I felt it was necessary to relate some of the excuses that have come up over the years, for you to work through, before you even get started. I know how it must bother you — will this work for anybody? What is required of you? Without giving away the contents of the training program, I will endeavor to explain to you what it takes to make it, and if you have it, then you will have your answer. You will face many problems when embarking on this unusual study of learning how to sing. I know there are many obstacles because I have been through them personally, or have seen my students go through them. In the end, I have found that there are only so many basic hindrances. I have devoted a full chapter to hindrances against learning how to sing. †

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LITERACY People have been taught to think that formal education is the only way to success. I disagree. Formal education is a way to success, but not the only way. Formal training is not the path to success, but knowledge is — APEL Truth.042 People were successful before public schools were invented. In addition, because of this mentality, people that have education have despised those who do not have it. They have regarded the uneducated as inferior.

NOT EDUCATED? You do not have to be highly educated to succeed with this method, all you need is to be able to read — and even if you cannot read, somebody else can read it for you. The teaching method here requires one simple thing: listen to what you are being told and do it without hesitation exactly as you were instructed. People that had the ability to trust me as their teacher, have done well in singing. And when I say well, I mean they have crossed the seas, they have recorded albums, they have appeared on TV, they have started their own groups, they have joined renowned choirs. They have taught others. They have made it to the heights of their dreams. Just the other day I went to a hotel theatre where there was a big musical show, which was widely advertised in the national papers. While sitting there marveling at the genius of one of the singers in particular as the performance went on, I suddenly recognized the singer as one of my graduates from about seven years ago. He was doing exactly what I had taught him to do almost to the letter. You can imagine the fulfillment in my heart. I had become a paying audience to one of my own students. I remember him as a very attentive and determined student, who argued nothing, but practiced everything. You too can do it. There is no reward greater to a teacher than the maturity of his students — APEL Truth.043

A MATTER OF CONFIDENCE Then I had other students who came to me, but did not have enough confidence in me to listen to me and do what I told them to do. Guess what? They achieved nothing. Guess what? They went nowhere. I know why — some people have an ego the size of Mount Everest, and what bothers me is that even after years of flaunting their empty ego, they still do not realize that it is misleading them. In fact, they are too proud to notice how proud they are. The worst kind of pride is the kind that blinds you from seeing your own vanity — APEL Truth.044 Success is a choice — APEL Truth.045 If you become successful accidentally, by winning or inheriting or through some other fortunate thing, you will soon be unsuccessful, unless you learn to stay successful. Success is maintained by the same skill with which you attained it — APEL Truth.046 Statistics have shown that most of the people who win huge amounts in a lottery end up losing most, if not all the money. Why? Success is a habit — APEL Truth.047 So take my word for it: you do not need education for this method to work for you. I had a student who took my classes who did not go far in school. He was a carpenter, because that is the best he could do in life; he did not have a million choices to pick from. He was very committed, attended every class, and paid his fees on time. It must have been half his weekly wages, but I had more respect for him than the smart-mouthed yuppie with a fancy car and a big cell phone. Of all the students I had, the less educated had the most respect for my principles and were very committed to their goals. You can argue that they looked up to me and did not have much experience with which to challenge me. I can live with that, but they succeeded and exceeded the supposedly 'educated and prone-to-success elite' — unfortunately it also stands that the former were less able to fund themselves through the course — the course used to run for about six months and in those days they paid R100 — R20085 a month. Most people just do not have a spare R600 or R120086. It always hurt me when somebody dropped out because he or she did not have money, but when one dropped out because of laziness, I did not complain. I would rather have a student who cannot afford to pay, but is willing to work, than one who can afford to pay, but is lazy.

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THE RIGHT VOICE This is the most common excuse. People seem to think that you have to be born with it in order to succeed at it. No. I was not born with it, and I succeed at it. If you were not born with it — I can show you how to succeed. Believe me, I WAS THERE! I learned a lot when I was teaching singing those thirteen years or so. I found out that of my students, the ones that came to me just to put some finishing touches on their voices where the most pitiable. They did not make it. They came to me already molded, and they wanted me to add another mold, which would mold their mold into perfection. Sorry! I cannot mold — I have carved shapes with a sharp instrument. Usually the results are a total remake of the original.

CREATING ORIGINALS OUT OF SIMPLE THINGS You cannot mold a shape which exists and is already dry. However, you can take a chisel and a hammer and chop it up and down until it becomes smooth. When you carve somebody's voice, you will not produce an image similar to the rough original image. It is impossible and it is not necessary. In the end, the sculpture is at the mercy of the shape of the raw wood as much as it is at the mercy of the sculptor — APEL Truth.048 I do not want you to sound like me; I do not want to sound like somebody else. Therefore, I do not want to mold you. Molding produces identical images, carving produces creative images — APEL Truth.049 If singers all sounded the same, you would not need to listen to all of them, you would only need to listen to one good representation of them all and you would be satisfied that you have heard them all. This is sometimes how I feel when I watch TV, sometimes I cannot tell the some of the new teen singers apart, never mind the songs — some of it all sounds the same. Do you not wonder why people never stop going to art the galleries?87 They are going to see the same colors — most artists use less than 256 colors on their paintings. Blue is blue, green is green; there is no question about it. However, it is their strokes and combination of the colors that make a creation, and no matter how well you know all the colors, you will always want to see one more combination of those same colors. Your bad voice is like a log of timbre found in the bush by a carpenter — he looks at it, and sees many possibilities. If your voice is perfect, or near perfect, it cannot not be carved into anything creative. Maybe we can try, and end up with something monotonous. The best would be to chop it off seriously, in order to be able to create the desired shape.

THE UGLIER THE VOICE, THE BETTER APEL WORKS I have always preferred awful voices — they are full of possibilities. I was always reluctant about 'good' voices. When I say good voices, I am referring to a person who believes that they have a good voice. If you have a good voice, that is, if you believe you do — why go for training? Perfection does not need improvement — APEL Truth.050 I had students who came to me thinking they were perfect, and hoping I would send them away and tell them there was nothing to teach them. When I pointed out what they could do to improve their singing, they were very disappointed, as they had been hoping for a little endorsement of their supposedly infallible voices. I have been there and I have craved approval. I could never carve anything out of them. If I believed that my singing was perfect, I would have stopped long ago with training. But because I knew I was lacking in many ways, I went for it. I will always be lacking something in my voice until the day I die. This means I will never stop training. Having found the way to improve one's singing, or create singing when there is no talent, does not mean I will be the best. There are people that have never been trained and they sound 200% better than me, and similarly there others whom I have taught from scratch who sound much better than somebody who studied at university level. Art is not about better and best, but about creative potential — APEL Truth.051 If my best is half your best, then great — I should be as happy for you as I am about having reached my full potential. If your best is half mine, then you should be as happy for me as you are about having reached your full potential. Being the best is competitive, but being your best is relative — APEL Truth.052

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LACK OF EXPERIENCE Welcome to the club. When the little boy went to swimming classes for the first time, he said to the teacher, "Madam, I have never done this before." Well, you and I know he was afraid of the water, but the teacher said, "Well, Johnny, that is why you are here, TO LEARN TO DO WHAT YOU CANNOT DO!" As we said before, never having done it, or never having done it right makes you the best candidate. Those who know not learn a lot, and those who know a lot, learn not — APEL Truth.053 Your capacity to learn is directly related to your admission of insufficiency of knowledge — APEL Truth.054 I am not stupid; I will not learn to do what I think I already know how to do. Goodness, why on God's green earth would I take a 'walking course' — I know how to walk, I have been walking ever since I was a baby. I might however want to learn how to bop. Because I think I know how to walk, it would be impossible for anybody to teach me how to walk. If I did not know that I was walking wrong, and that I must improve the way I walk, there is no way I am going to learn or agree to be taught how to walk. If you feel that you know how to sing, I cannot teach you anything. This may be because you have arrived, you have made it. It may be because you are deceived, and you think you have arrived, you think you have made it. The choice is the student's; he knows how much he needs to learn. The greatest of all people, are those who will learn from the most ignorant. The ability to learn from the ignorant88, is the first step towards the impossible — APEL Truth.055 What I am saying is that you have done well by realizing that you lack experience, and you lack knowledge — you are the ideal student, one with the most potential of all.

THE TALENT EXCUSE This is probably the most classic. People were brought up with the belief that ability is more a product of talent than it is of training, especially in those areas that seem to require artistic or intellectual potential. I find it odd though that we do not seem to think that you have to be talented to be a student — you know, before you can go to normal academic schools. Everybody who can afford a car seems to think you can just go and take a driver's license without having to be talented for driving. You can also just go and get married without having to be talented for marriage — but you have to be talented to sing. Among these, are those who claim that it is a divine order, where if "…God has determined your singing fate," there is nothing you can do about it. I was told the same thing — "…God had predetermined." Well that cannot be true because if God had decided, I would not have made it this far. I could not have succeeded against God no matter how crafty I was. That for me rules out the possibility that God had decided that I was not supposed to be able to sing, which is what everybody thought.

God-Given Talent? Then there is the classic tendency where arguments are based on the Book of Matthew89 to excuse one from having to do anything about one's singing — claiming that it is up to God. Let us look at that passage from the Bible and see what is says: MATTHEW 25:15 (LITV)90 And to one indeed he gave five talents, and to another, two, and to another, one, to each ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY. And he went abroad at once.

The word talent is the real cause of the confusion. People immediately say, "There you have it; God has to give it to you!" Look at what the Bible says further on about the same talent. Actually, if talent is singing, we might as well rephrase it for the sake of clarity: "And to one indeed he gave five talents of SINGING, and to another, two, and to another, one, to each ACCORDING TO HIS ABILITY. And he went abroad at once." Does it make sense? The talents he gave them were numerable, per individual. You cannot argue and say the number property is representative of quality instead of quantity, because then the whole parable will have to be representative. That is to say, the talent will also have to represent something other than talent, because we would be regarding everything as a type of another. 88 89 90

those perceived to know little or nothing first book in the New Testament of the Bible Literal Translation of the Holy Bible

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Furthermore, if you think about it, how could he have given them the talent of singing according to their own ability, if the talent was the ability to sing? It would mean that he gave them according to what they already possessed — and that would take the talent excuse away anyway; because I will suddenly think, that if you increase your ability to sing, you will receive more talent accordingly, because it is given to you according to YOUR OWN ABILITY. I hear someone saying, "Michael91, you are taking it too far." However, if you read on, you will begin to realize that the Bible is not talking about singing talents as we know them. A talent cannot be 'taken to the bank' — which means it must have been something monetary and not musical. In fact, if you look at the subsequent passage, the master calls it my money. I must be right to think that these talents were money and not divine ability to sing, as some will have us believe. "But Michael, this is a parable, and surely you should know that!" Yes I do, but I also know that a parable is either fully a parable or not at all. Parables are never part typed and part actual. MATTHEW 25:17 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.

Remember also that the Greek word (New Testament period) for talent in this passage actually means 'a sum of money weighing a talent and varying in different states and according to the changes in the laws regulating currency.' We assume here that the talent referred to is an Attic92 talent, which was equal to 60 Attic minae or 6000 drachmae.93 Depending on the metal, a talent of silver in Israel weighed about 45 kg, while in gold it weighed about 91 kg — the same measurement may have been the equivalent in Israel and Greece.

God-Given Gifts Does the Bible speak about special gifts that God gives to man? Yes, of course! Look in the book of Acts. ACTS 8:20 But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.

Now if you check the Greek word for gift you will realize that God can give special abilities if he chooses. The synonymous Greek word is doma and it refers to what God confers as a possessor of all things. "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen" (1 Peter 4:11). All you have to really do is look at Daniel's situation and you will understand that about God — and in all occurrences, God's gifts are directly related to His plan. DANIEL 1:17 As for these four children, God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom: and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.

God's Gifts Are For All I fully believe that. The real point I am making is that, the Bible tells us that God gives gifts, and it never tells us that He refuses people gifts. So, if you have an argument that it is God who gives gifts — you are right as well, but then what makes you think that He refuses people gifts such as singing? Actually, the opposite is true. PSALM 84:11 For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.

Believe me, God is not against you at all. God is not against your singing at all. Some of you who know that God is not opposed to you gaining a talent which you were not born with might think that 91 92 93

reference to the author ATTICA was a district in central anciet Greece silver coin of ancient Greece and the monetary unit of modern Greece

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this section is overly extended. No — I know the frustration as I told in my story; it can stop you from even trying. If, as you claim, God has not given you singing talent, THEN ASK HIM FOR IT. If, indeed, you were not born with it, then just ASK HIM FOR IT. If singing requires some special inherent ability not present in all of us, what is keeping you from just ASKING HIM FOR IT?

RUNNING OUT OF BREATH Some people have a problem with breathing94 — and for that reason, they might think it will hinder them from singing. To an extent it might, if it so serious that you cannot speak. Nevertheless, if you can speak without the breathing problem hindering you, then it is not going to be a problem at all. As much as I do not want to let the cat out of the bag yet, I want you to know that anything that you can do with your speech, you will be able to do with your singing. There is very little difference, if any, between singing and speaking — and when we come to that section, I will prove it to you. As I said before, you will make it if you do as you are told. I will be encouraging you a lot through the course — you can count on that!

THE OPINION EXCUSE People will tell you that you cannot sing. People said that to me once. Now I can say, "Once I couldn't sing, but NOW I CAN!" It feels great. "Michael, you are so arrogant!" No, I do not think I am! That is not proud, that is confident. People with a low self-esteem fail to tell the difference between confidence and pride — they feel that proud people and confident people intimidate them the same. When you believe in who you are, you will not be easily intimidated. I am relatively a strong person, but two years of battling with controversy95 and resistance is a bit too much for any person to handle; unless you have somebody helping you out, you can get to a place were you want to give up. You are not learning to sing for people's sake, but people are the largest part of your audience. Therefore, you need to learn how to handle them and the things they say. Come to terms with criticism at the beginning of your journey so that your journey does not end because of it — APEL Truth.056 People are not interested in how you deliver, but what you deliver — APEL Truth.057 So be warned, and be careful — do not assume that even your closest of friends will be supportive of you. People do not like to see, believe or even hear of a person who is learning to sing; they hate to see your slow progress — they want to see you go out the door and return with the goods a moment later. If they know that you are trying to change, they will focus on your weaknesses and mistakes; once you have proved them wrong, they will be on your side, even to the extent of telling you how supportive of you they were when you were still battling. It is pathetic when your attackers claim to have been your protectors because you have become somebody. I do not understand why people are like that — but, welcome to the club, you are about to find out for yourself. By now you are beginning to notice that my approach to your training is going to be made up of therapeutic lectures as much as it is of musical knowledge. You need to understand about music — and the spiritual, psychological and practical aspects.

COMMON PROBLEMS Your voice is delicate, and no matter what anybody says, do not just drink or eat anything people recommend to be good for the voice because it can lead to irreparable damage. I remember what I used to do; each time after a good gulp of red pepper powder, my voice would sound husky and dry,

94 95

when they sing a possible view others might have about your wanting to use APEL to learn singing

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and rather jazzy, so I liked it and got into the habit of red pepper dosages. God forbid if I ever do that again. Here you are, learning to sing, who knows what ideas people will put into your head, especially in that the learner has a tendency to trust any 'self-declared expert' who is prepared to pump the desperate learner's ego sufficiently. I do want to warn you against common practices I have seen among student singers.

A GOOD COUGH People tend to cough excessively in an attempt to clear the throat, but I find it funny that it is done only when we are about to go formal, be it in speech or singing. Any other time, we do not seem to bother about clearing the voice, and yet, we do not have problems. I hardly 'clear' my throat − and I cannot remember when I last had a 'froggy' phrase. All that coughing on a vulnerable pair of vocal cords can have negative results, if you do it long enough you will notice that your voice tends to become softer and itchy, and soon it will become very painful. For your information, the vocal cords where not created for coughing, coughing is just a way of 'kicking out' dirt, cleaning out the passage way. The thrust of a sneeze or a cough is very powerful and should be used sparingly if at all.

HOT WATER WITH GLYCERINE A friend of mine had become quite keen on the habit of drinking glycerine with hot water, because it 'changes the voice.' That is exactly where we go wrong; we tend to feel that our voices are not good enough in their natural states and quality, and need to be 'changed' into something heavenly and exotic so that we can sing. The most beautiful houses are built from the same dirty rocks and soil that we tread on — APEL Truth.058 The house may look shiny and lofty, but the soil it was built from was not. It is not what voice you sing with that matters, but how you sing with it — APEL Truth.059 Glycerin, or glycerol, is actually an odorless and sweet alcohol. Just because it softens your voice, does not mean you should use it. This leads me to my next crusade. I advise people not to use it — but the decision is yours to make.

THE CRUTCH MENTALITY If you use crutches for support when you walk, you will need the crutches every time you want to walk. Is this correct? Of course! This same condition also occurs in singing. I grew up on a farm and we used all kinds of techniques to tame animals, one that was very common and effective in 'domesticating' animals was tying them to a post (you do not have to call the SPCA96 on me here, we did not harm any animals). I always noticed with interest that after being tied to a post for a while, that chicken, dog or cow would presume it impossible to walk away from the post, because it had been tied to the post for so long. The funny thing is that, EVEN AFTER UNTYING IT, it would stay tied to the post in its mind. I have seen this in many students who have been singing with a crutch for as long as they can remember. They need to drink something, or stand in a specific manner. They feel a need to tilt their head a certain way, or form their mouth in a particular manner, or have a certain instrument. The list goes on. It takes a third person to see the invisible chains that restrict our development — APEL Truth.060 This I call the CRUTCH MENTALITY: a condition of the mind where the victim believes he needs something to help him along. I have the deepest respect and sympathy for physically disadvantaged people — but none or very little respect for advantaged people who use crutches as a means to an end. Obviously I will throw in a coin or two if I thought you were carrying those crutches legitimately, but the moment we discover that you are a fake, we will take our money back and a little bit of your own too. Avoid any form of dependency unless your voice is medically indisposed — APEL Truth.061

96

the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

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LEGITIMATE AILMENTS The one common disease known to affect the larynx is laryngitis. Laryngitis is the inflammation of the larynx, or the voice box, as it is commonly known. There are two kinds of laryngitis conditions, namely acute and chronic.

Acute Laryngitis This condition is infectious but short lived. It is normally painful or at least uncomfortable. This condition is normally caused by a viral infection and there is very little people can do wrong to contract it, besides exposure. When a person has been in a hot environment and they suddenly move to a very cold environment, it has been known to cause acute laryngitis, although this is not a confirmed medical opinion. But to be on the safe side, I would avoid such sudden changes in temperature without adequate protection. Similarly, I would avoid the use of hot and cold liquids immediately following each other — this is merely my opinion. Acute laryngitis is best treated by resting and even sleeping; incidentally, sleeping is the best medicine for your voice. You must also get into the habit of drinking lots and lots of healthy liquids such as water and natural fruit juice if you are going to be a serious singer. Good singers drink lots of water and sleep many hours — APEL Truth.062

Chronic Laryngitis Although some people are prone to contracting this kind of laryngitis, it can easily be avoided. Chronic laryngitis is usually a result of emotional stress or strain. Improper singing or speaking habits will cause chronic laryngitis. Sometimes exposure to smoke or dust will also cause this condition. If you experience this condition, you can get immediate relief by gargling with marigold97, myrrh98, raspberry leaf, sage99 or thyme100. Garlic capsules are also very effective in preventing this condition. My favorite is Vitamin C, found in most fruits, particularly oranges — now this is the kind of 'crutch' you can lean on everyday. Singers should stay away from dust and smoke and noxious fumes. In general, singers should try not to strain their voices. Most of the time we speak, once in a while we shout and on the odd occasion we scream. So should it be when we sing — APEL Truth.063 The following extracts are included courtesy of Richard Stasney (MD, Laryngology Advisory Board — extracted from The Texas Voice Center).

Benign Lesions †

Prenodules — prenodules are swelling on the vocal folds in the area where nodules are formed. These are often seen before the vocal folds form calluses101 known as nodules. Speech therapy can resolve these and prevent their progression.

†

Nodules102 — nodules are calluses on the vocal folds that occur with improper voice use or over use. They are most common in children and females. They prevent the vocal folds from meeting in the midline and thus produce an hourglass deformity on closure resulting in a raspy, breathy voice. Most times these will respond to appropriate speech therapy. Occasionally (about 20% of the time), these may persist after intensive speech therapy and require meticulous micro laryngeal surgery.

†

Polyps — polyps103 are benign lesions104 of the larynx, occurring mostly in adult males, which are usually located on the phonating margin (edge) of the vocal folds and prevent the vocal folds from meeting in the midline. Polyps can interfere with voice production and may produce a hoarse, breathy voice that tires easily. These may respond to conservative medical therapy and intensive speech therapy. If the lesion fails to respond, meticulous microsurgery may be indicated. One of the cofactors in the etiology of these lesions may be laryngeal reflux disease.

97 any of various tropical American plants of the genus Tagetes widely cultivated for their showy yellow or orange 98 aromatic resin used in perfume and incense 99 aromatic fresh or dried gray-green leaves used widely as seasoning for meats and fowl and game etc 100 any of various mints of the genus Thymus 101 an area of skin that is thick or hard from continual pressure or friction (as the sole of the foot) 102 small rounded wartlike protuberance on a plant 103 a small vascular growth on the surface of a mucous membrane 104

flowers

any visible abnormal structural change in a bodily part

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†

Laryngoceles — laryngoceles are dilated areas of the larynx that result from increased pressure over time. They may interfere with phonation or respiration. Some may require surgical treatment.

†

Cysts — Cysts are lesions within the vocal folds that often impair their vibration.

Inflammatory Conditions †

Laryngitis Sicca — laryngitis sicca is caused by inadequate hydration of the vocal folds. Thick, sticky mucus prevents the folds from vibrating in a fluid, uniform manner.

Vocal Cord Concavity †

Presbylaryngis — presbylaryngis is a condition that is caused by thinning of the vocal fold muscle and tissues with aging. The vocal folds have less bulk than a normal larynx and therefore do not meet in the midline. As a result, the patient has a hoarse, weak, or breathy voice. This condition can be corrected by injection of fat or other material into both vocal folds to achieve better closure.

Tumours †

Premalignant — leukoplakia is a white growth on the vocal folds. If not treated, it can develop into cancer. Smoking, alcohol use, and reflux are all believed to be factors in the development of this premalignant condition.

†

Cancer — a cancer type may develop, in which lesions grow on the vocal folds. If the lesions are detected early, they can be treated with either radiation or surgery, with a cure rate approaching 96%.

Neurological †

Paralysis — vocal fold paralysis has many causes, and leaves the patient with a very breathy voice, and sometimes with no voice. Thermoplastic is a surgery to correct the gap and restore usable voice.

Haemorrhage Vocal fold hemorrhage is a very rare occurrence that usually is caused by aggressive or improper use of vocal folds (e.g. cheerleading, screaming and similar activities). It is a result of rupture of a blood vessel on the true vocal fold, with bleeding into the tissues of the fold.

PERSONALITY CHALLENGES It is possible that your personality will stand in the way of, and prevent you from attaining your goal. To deal with the personality issue, let us lay down a brief foundation. This book is not about personalities, but having observed the effect of various personalities on singing or studying to become a singer, it is necessary to deal with this matter, in as brief a manner as possible. There are various ways of understanding human personalities, the most common was created by the ancient Greek philosophers. In particular, Hippocrates105 and his co-workers contributed a lot to this model. In observing patients, they found that there were certain common behavioral patterns among people — this does not imply that any two people are identical though. They divided personalities into four groups, viz., Sanguine106, Choleric107, Melancholic108 and Phlegmatic109.

105 106 107 108 109

the father of modern medicine confidently optimistic and cheerful easily moved to anger characterized by or causing or expressing sadness showing little emotion

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PERSONALITY ANALYSIS The reason why I chose this model is that it is based on two aspects that are integral to singing: EMOTIONS and EXPRESSION. † Emotions — by analyzing the impact of your Emotional Quotient, one is able to both statistically and psychological derive behavioral patterns which are caused by this very property of our essential makeup. Most of what we do seems to be molded by the intensity of our emotional self. Expression — our level of exposure to various environments also determines our behavior. You can be introverted, extroverted, or in between The Sanguine is the popular type, the Choleric is the powerful type, the Melancholic is the perfect type and the Phlegmatic is the peaceful type. Generally, there are four basic types of people, the popular Sanguine (emotional, influencing, socializing and expressive), the powerful Choleric (volitional, domineering, directing and driving), the perfect Melancholic (rational, cautious, thinking and analytical) and finally the peaceful Phlegmatic (personal, retrieving, relating and amiable). †

NATURAL BLENDS Energized By People Outgoing Optimistic Outspoken

ST UN RO EM N OT G IO -W N IL AL LE D

LEAD

ANALYZE

IC L ST NA TI IO AR OT EM

ST UN R EM O O N T G IO -W N IL AL LE D

POPULAR POWERFUL Decisive Witty SANGUINE CHOLERIC Organized Easy Going Not Goal Goal Oriented Oriented PEACEFUL PERFECT PHLEGMATIC MELANCHOLIC

COMPLEMENTATY BLENDS Task Oriented

IC L ST NA TI IO AR OT EM

COMPLEMENTATY BLENDS Relationship Oriented

LEAD

ANALYZE

Introverted Pessimistic Soft-Spoken Drained by People NATURAL BLENDS

Figure 3: Temparament Summary

There is a quick way to quickly identify your general self, which we shall discuss here.

POPULAR SANGUINE This type normally wears bright clothing and given to expressive fashion. Their personalities are generally intriguing and very lively. When they speak they are a bit louder than the rest and speak without inhibition, usually saying whatever comes into their heads. You will notice that they also tend to speak a bit more rapidly than normal, with a lot to say. We said they are very expressive, you will notice this in their grand gestures. They will generally not speak without using some expansive body or hand gesture. Their living and working style is also somewhat casual, they do not seem to be uptight about anything. For them, life is visual, and they enjoy communication.

Positive Sanguine Traits On the positive side, Sanguines love people and make friends easily, they are exciting and have a good sense of humor. They are very charming and have little or no problem finding a job. They are APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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creative and colorful; they thrive on activity, and they enjoy story telling. Is this you? If it is, let us look at the weaknesses as well.

Sanguine Weaknesses The Sanguine's primary weaknesses are being driven by their emotions and hatred for schedules. They feel guilty when they say no; they get bored easily and have no sense of time. They are easily distracted and have little or no focus.

APEL and the Sanguine How will APEL affect you? If this is you, you will probably want to give up the program before you complete it. You will find it difficult to stick to the schedule.110 People's comments may distract you from focusing on your goals and either derail or delay your progress. The program will be very exciting to you, and this is a good thing. You will approach it with more energy than most people will, and once you have completed it, your expressive nature will be a great complement to your singing life111.

POWERFUL CHOLERIC Most Cholerics work and walk fast. They are very strong even in their conversation gestures. They tend to arrive late and leave early at social gatherings, and during the time they are there, they are busy, even using a cell phone or some other gadget. Cholerics tend to focus on the here and now, are very task driven and sometimes missing the small detail. They love control; they are attracted to things they can control. They exhibit strength and power more than anybody does.

Positive Choleric Traits On the positive, they are fearless and can fix almost any problem. They love challenges and they are very decisive. They are strong leaders and can organize quickly. They thrive under pressure, are very confident and usually right.

Choleric Weaknesses If this is you, let us check your weaknesses. You have few or no friends, you are opinionated and over-confident. You have a problem relaxing and tend to become a workaholic. You expect complete devotion from others. You are nervy; you usurp authority and have difficulty showing emotions. You are arrogant and manipulative. You have a problem apologizing. Above all, you are afraid of two things, losing control and not being liked.

APEL and the Choleric How will APEL affect you? You have the greater potential of succeeding at it than others. You will need to exercise patience because you tend to expect instant results. You may misuse your talent because of your arrogance, but with focus and persistence, you will make a great singer. Your discomfort with emotions may hinder your live performances; you may even avoid performing because you cannot handle compliments and emotional reactions.

PERFECT MELANCHOLIC These people are the embodiment of perfection; they make you feel judged when you are in their presence. You will notice them by their conservative clothing and perfect posture. They are not the jump-up-and-down-and-scream types. Their work and life are extremely well organized. They tend to be slow and are concerned with balance even if it takes a while to obtain it.

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APEL requires you to stick to a fixed daily practice schedule there are lots of spiritual principles that affect your life

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Positive Melancholic Traits On the positive, they work very well on their own and are good at planning. They love numbers and facts. As we said, they are organized and given to accuracy. They analyze things always and try their utmost to be fair. They adore beauty and quality.

Melancholic Weaknesses If this is you, let us look at your weaknesses. You are easily depressed and lack spontaneity. You idealism tends to be naive and you are thrifty to extremes. You cannot handle pressure and you need too much time to get anything done. You are a difficult person to please because of your excessive perfectionism.

APEL and the Melancholic How will APEL affect you? It will take a while for you to get to the end of the program. You will be very skeptical and critical of the program and you will waste time analyzing the material. You may discourage yourself by setting too high a standard for yourself. On the positive, your ability to work alone will make this an ideal project. You can organize your life to fit the program and you can appreciate the beauty of the art with intensity.

PEACEFUL PHLEGMATIC Phlegmatics are very peaceful and they tend to take things easy. They are the unexcited speakers with a low monotonous tone, evenly paced and seemingly well thought out delivery. Their work and life are also peaceful, and they can blend in to the point of almost not being recognizable. They are usually in no hurry.

Positive Phlegmatic Traits On the positive, they are very calm and balanced. They are witty and reliable. You can count on them to be steady and consistent. If you need a peacemaker, you have found your person. They are likeable and will make good administrators. Another strength of theirs is their ability to listen and to delegate.

Phlegmatic Weaknesses If this is you, let us look at your weaknesses. You are stubborn and aloof. You have a problem with procrastination112. Your life and work is generally without enthusiasm. It is difficult to get you to move along. You are careless. You need to learn to follow things through and get used to change — which you do not like much. You avoid conflict even when it is necessary.

APEL and the Phlegmatic How will APEL affect you? You are difficult to predict, your type tends to be lazy. Nevertheless, the positive thing is that you can be steady and consistent once you are sold to the program. You must use some of your motivational skills on yourself. Do not be too careless with the practice. Try to be passionate about the program.

TEMPERAMENT COMBINATIONS113 People are generally not confined to one temperament type; it is common to be a combination of two temperaments. A Choleric might be any of three combinations, that is, a Choleric Melancholic, Choleric Phlegmatic or a Choleric Sanguine. Similarly, the other temperaments will take the same flavors. A Choleric Melancholic will tend to exhibit power and perfectionism, while a Choleric Phlegmatic will tend to be a strong person who is extremely calm. The reason I am telling you this is so that you must watch the weaknesses of both your temperaments once you have identified them. You will also notice that you will rarely be 50% of each temperament, so whichever temperament is the strongest, will have to watched more carefully. If you

112 113

putting the actions off until a later and undetermined time hybrid temparaments resulting from crossing into two or more defined temparaments

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are 60% Choleric and 30% Sanguine, you will have to focus on the more glaring weaknesses, which in this case will logically be Choleric weaknesses. As I indicated, the idea is not to discuss temperaments in full detail, but to give you an idea of the impact your personality will have on you while you engage in APEL. If you wish to gain a deeper understanding of temperaments, I suggest you conduct your own research.

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UNDERSTANDING OURSELVES One of the first things in learning how to sing properly is understanding your architecture114 at a spiritual level — what you are and how you are designed. If you wanted to train a dog, you would need to understand about dogs a lot more than you already do. It is impossible to train anything to do anything without a lot more than just an elementary understanding of that organism. It is impossible to drive a car without knowing what the controls are and what they do. It is impossible to plant any seed and cultivate it through to harvest without understanding about its seasons, patterns of water intake and pattern of germination. It is impossible to raise a baby to a full grown adult without understanding about human beings. If you think life is elementary and requires no understanding, try keeping a goldfish, and see how many you kill before you get the hang of it.

MAN IS A SPIRIT BEING Most human traditions teach that man is a spirit being — all the talk about witches and ghosts confirm this. If man is a spirit being, which part of him is spirit and which part is not? How does each part relate to the other? By now you will have gathered that the Bible is my final authority115 and is part and parcel of this training program — I base all my spiritual truth on the teachings of the Bible. GENESIS 1:26 - 27 26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created He them.

God created man in His own image, that has something to do with the way man was composed, does it not? He was made in the image of God — man resembles116 God, that is, in more ways than people realize. For man to be in God's image, man has to be similar to God — do not get me wrong, not in God's fullness, but only to extent that God measured and determined when He created man. Man is not equal to God. Perhaps we need to understand a little about God. Is He flesh and blood? What is God?

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the manner of construction of something and the disposition of its parts reference for life philosophies appear like; be similar to

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JOHN 4:24 (NASB) God is SPIRIT, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth.

Is this not wonderful? God is spirit, the Bible says. However, man is made in the image of God. Simple logic has it that if A is like B and B is like C — then C is like A. Man is fundamentally spirit. Man is not a ghost. He is made of spirit. He is not a spirit, He is spirit. His body is flesh, but the living part of him is spirit. The Bible shows in the passage above, that man is a spirit being, but if you go back to the beginning to Genesis, you will notice something different — or rather, something that seems different. GENESIS 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his NOSTRILS the BREATH of life; and man became a living SOUL.

Man was formed with soil, with clay or with substance from the ground. Therefore, man's physical part is from the ground. However, it says that for this clay product to become alive, God breathed into it, something from inside Him — and that is what made this soil substance come alive. Look at it again. There was a physical body, and into the physical body went God's breath of life and the physical body, now with the breath of life inside it — became a living soul. I see the BODY part (the soil part of man), I see the SPIRIT part (the life from God) and I see the living SOUL part (a bridge between the spirit and the body). Let me run this by you again. There was a body formed from the soil, and then there was a breath from God, which is what transformed the soil body into (man 'became') a living soul. Let me ask you a question: Was the soul a replacement of the body, or the breath, or was it something that was formed because of the combination?

SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY Next, we must understand how these three elements of man function together. We have now seen that the source of life is the spirit — the body, it seems, is just a container.

WE ARE NOT CONTAINERS — WE HAVE CONTAINERS The container came from the soil — it cannot be of as much worth as the other elements. If you think about it, why is it then that we seem to identify more closely with our containers (bodies) than with our real self (spirit). Are you spirit or body? If you think that all you are is a container (the body), how can you possibly play yourself (the larynx)? — APEL Truth.064 You are not just all body; you are a spirit with a soul (the soul has possession of your body, including the larynx or the voice box). In fact, the Bible says something about man's part that came from the ground. David, the Psalmist says, "My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth" (Ps 139:15). Look at this passage again, but this time focus on the word my. If it is his substance, then he cannot be that substance, can he? Listen to this one more time — 'the body is not the you.' You are far more intricate than cells and blood. You are life, and that life part of you is designed after the nature of God. The majority of our limitations are just perceptions — APEL Truth.065 If we knew and were convinced that we are spirit, we would overcome most of the problems we encounter, because suddenly we would realize that they were in fact, not even real threats. ECCLESIASTES 12:7 Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Watch how the dust (body) and the spirit are kept as two distinct elements — in fact, they each return to where they came from. The dust part of you returns to the dust, as we said, it is a temporary container. The spirit part, which came from God, returns to God (unless there is a problem — Satan might have taken lordship117 of the spirit; and in that state, it cannot go to back God, it is no longer His). The body is a house, do not forget that — it is an asset, and this is the asset on which we find the voice, the musical instrument you are going to learn to play. Your vocal instrument is not part of you; it is a fixture on your container — APEL Truth.066 117

referring to a state where one is not submitted to God through a consious decision or by default after the age (12) of accountability

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OPENING THE CONTAINER The Bible is very clear about the role of the body, "For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle118 were dissolved, we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens" (2 Corinthians 5:1). The life that is in the human body comes from God. Job also said, "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (Job 33:4). 1 THESSALONIANS 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole SPIRIT and SOUL and BODY be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

We never say, "Now and now." At least we do not sanely say that. Because now and now are the same thing. If I said, "Peter and Grace arrived," — then Grace and Peter must be two distinct and different people. Spirit and soul and body are three different elements — all of them are part of man, or are man. Inside this body, we find two real resident elements, the SPIRIT and the SOUL. Let us throw a curve ball right here, do you think that the MIND is in the SOUL? We will answer this as we go along. We are now very certain of how man is composed — what we still need to figure out is what part of man does what, or is what. We have touched on it a little, but we must look into it deeper.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SOUL AND SPRIT The Bible clearly distinguishes between the spirit and the soul of man. To see this difference more clearly, one needs to find out which other Greek or Hebrew words meaning the same things are translated differently. For example, the Hebrew word ruwach, is largely translated spirit — used both to refer to God's Spirit and, the spirit of man. The AV119 translation uses ruwach as Spirit or spirit 232 times, 92 times as wind, and a few other smaller variations. However, the Bible also speaks about man as having an architecture. Look at the following passage. LUKE 10:27 And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself.

At a glance, this seems to have omitted the spirit element of man. Instead, we see a new word: heart. Could the heart be the same as the spirit?

SYNONYMS OF THE HUMAN ELEMENTS Luke 10:27 speaks about HEART, and SOUL and STRENGTH and MIND. Either, these are additional components in man, or they are equivalent meanings for the elements of man we have already established. The HEART of man is part of his spirit. The STRENGTH of man is clearly a result of his physical element, the BODY. However, the MIND and SOUL are represented here as two different elements of man. We see the HEART (spirit), the STRENGTH (body) and the MIND and SOUL which we have not yet clearly defined — or rather, seen a definition of in the Bible. This was Luke's account of what Jesus said when a lawyer or scribe tested Him. How did Matthew give his account?120 MATTHEW 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy HEART, and with all thy SOUL, and with all thy MIND.

Matthew did not mention anything about the strength part of the subject — but that does not mean it is not part of the account. Notice however, that he also makes it clear that MIND and SOUL are not the same, and that HEART (or SPIRIT) and SOUL are not the same.

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a Jewish place of worship Authorized Version of the Bible the Gospels in the New Testament have several common references to some events

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The words Jesus spoke, as quoted by the disciples, are actually quotations from the law that Moses gave his people in the Old Testament, obviously directed by God — let us also see how the original account is presented in the Bible. DEUTERONOMY 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine HEART, and with all thy SOUL, and with all thy MIGHT.

Do you see that? Only the HEART, the SOUL and the MIGHT are listed. You do not have to be an expert to know that might and strength are synonymous. The missing development here is that of mind and soul.

ORIGINAL TEXT DICTIONARY Take note that the HEART is consistently presented, however, the body is alternatively presented as MIGHT and STRENGTH, or as MIGHT alone. Another way to understand this better is to analyze the meanings of the original Greek or Hebrew words. I would love to know what the original Hebrew words for these two words are. The Hebrew word for soul is NEPHESH and is defined as that which breathes, the breathing substance or being, soul, the inner being of man — and living being or with life in the blood; and the man himself, self, person or individual. It also describes the soul as the seat of the appetites, emotions and passions. It is also the activity of mind. What about the word used for mind? The New Testament account of this uses the word mind in addition to soul as well. The Greek word for mind is DIANOIA and it means the mind as a faculty of understanding, feeling, desiring and understanding — also means mind, i.e. spirit, way of thinking and feeling and thoughts, either good or bad. Can you see what this means? The mind is part of the soul. My own interpretation of this is that the MIND is that part of the soul, which is seated in the body, i.e., the brains, while the rest of the soul is that part of man, which resides in and is permanently joined to the spirit — and the two create a bridge or connection with the body. If you unplug the brain, the mind is disconnected and the soul, together with the spirit, will depart. Stay with me on this, you need to understand this before you get into APEL.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MIND AND THE SOUL The mind is seated in the soul. In fact, the mind is such a major and distinct part of the soul that it is a different sub-part of the soul. Remember that in the soul there is more than just the mind. You saw how the emotions and desires are part of the soul. Emotions are both spiritual and mental. Spiritual emotions come from the heart — from the spirit. Mental emotions come from the soul — from the mind. The soul is the GATEWAY between your body and your spirit —APEL Truth.067 If you were a spirit, you would need a soul in order to affect the physical dimension. That is why demons need a living soul, such as a human being, or even an animal (such as a pig) to manifest in the natural realm. Satan needs witches and mediums to operate in the physical dimension. Therefore, he is not all that powerful, is he? He needs help in order to be a real devil.

THE NATURE OF OUR PERSON The spirit, as we saw, was created to have the nature of God. Nevertheless, its current nature ensues from the spirit it belongs to. If it belongs to God, it will have the nature of God; if it belongs to Satan, it will have his nature. ROMANS 8:9 (UNASB) However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, HE DOES NOT BELONG TO HIM.

It is possible not to belong to Christ, or God. Moreover, there are only two potential owners. Either God owns you, or Satan does. If you have been obeying God all along, then you have made yourself God's slave121 and He owns you.

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slave in a positive way — that is voluntary submission

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If you have been obeying Satan, then you made yourself his slave, and he owns you. Either God or Satan owns you. You do not have to sign a paper contract, you simply have to present yourself to either of them and say, "I am yours!" With Satan, there was no need to make any verbal commitment because you were born into his system, or you died into his system when you reached the age of accountability. EPHESIANS 2:3 (KJV) Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and WERE BY NATURE THE CHILDREN OF WRATH, EVEN AS OTHERS.

We were born dead according to Colossians 2:13, "And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Obviously you where not accountable to God for your state of deadness until you reached an age were you could choose or reject God for yourself. At which time, if you did not choose God, by default, you reverted to Satan's kingdom122. ROMANS 6:16 Know ye not, that to whom ye YIELD123 yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?

Whom do you obey? Satan or God? You are already a slave — one way or another. We are all slaves, either to good or to evil — APEL Truth.068 There are no gray areas; we merely need to establish whose slave we want to be. It is like being a child — each of us has a father, but we do not all have the same father.

WHAT MAKES YOU GOOD OR EVIL? Being God's slave is voluntary, but being Satan's slave is not — he is an unfair, deceptive and domineering master with no respect for your will and decisions. Even when he owns you, he still wants to kill you, to destroy you and to steal from you. He even wants to steal you from God if you belong to God. Forces of good and forces of evil are undeniably part of our destiny, but the choice is here and now — APEL Truth.069 JOHN 8: 44 Ye are OF YOUR FATHER THE DEVIL, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

Jesus pointed out to these people that they belonged to their father, the devil — which is why they had his (Satan's) nature. The people who are born again124, belong to God; He is their Father and they have His nature, in their spirit. They are not perfect, but they are still God's children and that is why they die and go to heaven — because they are his children. His children make mistakes, sometimes mistakes more gross than even the children of Satan make, but they get up and wipe their backsides off, and stagger desperately into their Father's embrace — and He forgives them. The heart of man is the source of his behavior. Your basic nature is a direct result of who you truly are, in the heart. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth, good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth, evil things (Matthew 12:35). Even the simple act of love is an act of the heart — loving your fellow human being is not an emotion. The end of the commandment is charity OUT OF A PURE HEART, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned (1 Timothy 1:5).

RETURNING TO GOD I believe it would be unfair to point out to you that you may belong to a superior spirit being you would rather not belong to and not give you direction on how to make an correction. Would I not be a

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the world system and any ungodly lifestyle give in, as to influence or pressure the act of first accepting that Christ died on your behalf, to prevent you from being eternally separated from God or banished for the sinful nature you were born with; and secondly confessing verbally that He has now become your Lord (or master and owner), and you His servant (whenever one complies with these two things, one is miraculously, but not necessarily spectecularly, BORN AGAIN in his heart or spirit).

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criminal to deliberately omit the mention of this wonderful experience to you? I received it and I am enjoying it.

WHO WANTS TO BE A CHRISTIAN? The story is simple. God created man in His own image and made him whole and without sin. God gave man dominion over everything, the whole world in fact. GENESIS 1:28 (NASB) And God blessed them; and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and SUBDUE it; and RULE over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

So, if man had full authority over everything, how did things get so bad? Look around you — disease, fear, death, crime, rape, murder and all sorts of sufferings! Where do they come from? They DO NOT come from God. Because everything that God made "… WAS VERY GOOD" (Genesis 1:31). Unless God thinks HIV-AIDS is good, something or somebody interfered and messed up real good. Believe you me, it is not God. JOHN 3:16 (NASB) For God so loved the world that HE GAVE His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Why would God give His Son to save man? For many years, I heard this story as a child and did not quite understand it. Why in heaven would, God have to resort to such a complicated and 'risky' process — and who out there, can make God give in to barter? It is simple. After God had created man and given him the will to choose right or wrong, man was susceptible to being stolen and taken over. And in playing by the rules of justice and fairness, Satan took lordship over man and everything man was lord over.

Man Imprisoned for Life This happened when man chose to obey Satan instead of God. When a woman chooses to sleep with somebody other than her husband, she is in fact denying the previous relationship in favor of the new one. So man committed sin and was transferred into the kingdom of Satan. The eternal punishment for man's sin (death or separation from God) was pending and had to be carried out in full. Man's sentence had to be carried out in full to serve justice. How could man serve a life sentence or be executed for his sins, and still live forever with God as was his original purpose? Man had to face the consequences of what he had done. ROMANS 6:23 (NASB) For the wages of sin is DEATH, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If the wages of man's sin were death, how could man both be dead125 or separated126 (as sentence and for life) and still be returned to God at the same time? I do not think that God wanted a billion dead souls joined to Him or wandering around in the throne room. Imagine being in quarantine but not infected, yet surrounded by infected patients. There was no solution unless someone who did not deserve it paid the penalty. It is like this: Johnny owes De Nacho $1m, Grazer decides to pay De Nacho $1m on behalf of Johnny. Does Johnny still owe De Nacho?

An Optional Sentence So if you were sent to prison for a crime you committed and it was possible for a person who did not commit the crime to be punished in your stead, then you would not have to be punished. If that were to happen, the proxy127 would have to return from exile128 because he would not have been rightly disowned anyway. Nevertheless, after being punished, the punishment would require to be allocated to one who duly deserved to be banished.

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having lost the life and nature of God in your spirit because in a sinful state, they cannot be one with or united to God acting as substitute for another expelled from a community or group

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It is like you owing the mafia a million dollars and me paying that debt on your behalf. The debt is settled and you do not owe the mafia any longer, but you owe me! If the mafia kept you locked up, I would have the right to bust in and set you free you. I think Satan thought after he got Jesus down in hell that he had Him, but the fact was He was still God's Son and God still had the right to bust Him out, irrespective of whether He was locked up in hell on our behalf. I am glad Jesus did it, because if He had not done it, I would not be able to bust myself out of hell, and God would not bust me out because I would have been locked up justly and legitimately. God sent His Son, who had no sin; Satan detained Him for the sins of others. Satan could not keep Him in hell, and neither can he keep in hell those whose sins Jesus took. I think Satan saw Jesus on the cross with the whole world's sin and said, "I got Him now!" He forgot that getting Him meant letting the others off the hook — he forgot that getting Him did not mean keeping Him either, because He still was God's Son.

Serve your Own Term in Hell — or Accept the Term Jesus Served Therefore, anybody can say to Jesus, "You died on my behalf, you took my sins. Instead of making your death of no value, I would like to claim it as a substitute for my pending eternal death sentence which I am destined for by being Satan's slave. I want to do this so that I can become your servant instead — I want to be transferred back to your family. Please be my new Lord forever!" ROMANS 10:9 (KJV) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Jesus will say something like, "You are welcome, since I died for you, you no longer have to remain dead — I will raise you up from the kingdom of death where you are, into my kingdom of life. I will translate you from that area of Satan's dominion bring you over into my life — just remember that in order to stay with me, you have to allow my life to embody you, I have to be your Lord!" If you agree, it becomes a sealed translocation. Is that not simple? All you have to do is to SAY IT TO HIM. You do not have to see Him; He can hear you wherever you are. Just say, "I accept your death as mine, and your victorious arising as mine — please be my Lord!"

The World Had a New lord Satan, nicknamed Lucifer129 by Bible translators, came and took over and tricked man into submitting to him instead of God. ROMANS 5:12 (NASB) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.

When man submitted to Satan, it meant that everything God had given to man now belonged to Satan. Satan would inherit the offspring of man, at least until they reached the age of accountability. The principles governing the earth were now under Satan's control. Satan being a spirit, could not have direct influence over the physical world even if he was lord over it. He DOES NOT HAVE A PHYSICAL BODY. He therefore needs a host to speak to the spirits of his earthly subjects and influence them, sometimes to act and sometimes to seek an agent to unleash his (Satan's) power on the planet.

BRIDGE BETWEEN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD AND OUR WORLD It is not easy for a physical being to hear from a spirit being130, it takes a lot of discipline and adjustment. One has to subdue the body to a subservient131 level, and allow the spirit to become dominant and more active — this can be done as a lifestyle or through a temporary period of fasting. The connection between your soul and your spirit is permanent, the connection between your soul and your body will last until the day you die. However, the connection between the spiritual world 129 130 131

it is believed by Theologians that the name Lucifer, was added by Bible translators and does not appear in the original scripts we believe that the spiritual world is very real, distinct and parallel to the physical world compliant and obedient to authority

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and this world is weak, it needs to be cultivated and nurtured and grown. We are forever connected to our souls; we must nurture our connection to the spiritual world — APEL Truth.070 So, what happens after you have said these things to Christ? When you have made a decision for translocation? JOHN 1:12 (KJV132) But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

What happens afterwards is, He gives you the right to become His son or daughter. Is that not simple? Since this book is not about how to grow up as a Christian, I will not spend time in describing the process of how Christ manifests Himself through you after your confession133. The transmuted owner of the larynx has internal power from his Master — APEL Truth.071

THE HEART IS IN THE SPIRIT The Bible talks about the heart as the spirit — not the Spirit of God, but the spirit of man. The Bible also talks about the mind of man as the spirit occasionally, but the context of the passages will be selfexplanatory. The spirit is the real person. You are not your MIND or SOUL, you are your heart, your SPIRIT. A mind is something you have and utilize. It permanently belongs to you and will always be with you. James says to us, "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that BELIEVE TO THE SAVING OF THE SOUL" (Hebrews 10:39). There would not be a need to save the soul if it was dispensable. Is that not the reason why the body will not be saved, but be discarded and replaced with a new one? The Bible clearly says that Christ will "... change our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him even to subject all things to Himself (Philippians 3:21 — RSV). The soul, as we said, is the seat of your natural life — I like to look at it as the bridge between the spiritual and the natural. Remember that your will134 is in the soul, not the spirit. If your will was in the spirit, you would not sin. The spirit would be willing, and that would be it. However, the battle as Paul puts it, is between the two me's, the "me" of the spirit, and the "me" of the soul. ROMANS 7.15-25 (RSV135) 15 I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I DO THE VERY THING I HATE. 16 Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17 So then IT IS NO LONGER I THAT DO IT, but sin which dwells within me. 18 For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I WANT TO DO RIGHT, EVIL LIES CLOSE AT HAND. 22 For I DELIGHT IN THE LAW OF GOD, IN MY INMOST SELF, 23 but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members.

Paul is battling between the heart (verse 22) and the body (verse 23); the will is obviously not spread between the two parts of him that are fighting. If his will was in his innermost self, he would have done right long before the battle started. His mind battles to choose right because it is confronted with his body. The body had controlled his mind all the time before Jesus became his Lord. EPHESIANS 4.22-24 (RSV) 22 Put off your OLD NATURE which belongs to your former manner of life and IS CORRUPT THROUGH DECEITFUL LUSTS, 23 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and put on THE NEW NATURE, CREATED AFTER THE LIKENESS OF GOD in true righteousness and holiness.

Paul was not able to do right until two things happened. He had to RENEW HIS MIND — retrain his mind to think different from the way it was trained by the former lord and father who is Satan. Then, he had to PUT ON THE NEW MAN136 — accept by faith137 and doing, the quality of the new

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man, think in line with the new principles of his new Lord and Father, who is Jesus and Jehovah. All this is for him a shift from body-mentality to heart-mentality. The greatest men on earth are those who think with their hearts and not with their minds — APEL Truth.072 I do not want to spend too many pages on this subject because there is a whole lot more I must cover in order for you to complete your training. The purpose of this chapter is to show you that: YOU ARE A SPIRIT, YOU HAVE A SOUL AND YOU LIVE IN A BODY. This truth will change your life — you will not be able to complete this course unless you remember and understand this statement.

132 133 134 135 136 137

King James Version the verbal act of accepting Christ as Lord and personal Savior the seat of your being where you make decisions Revised Standard Version the part of you that is born again acting according to the reality of things not yet come

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THE SPIRITUAL CONNECTION "I thought this was a singing manual," somebody will say. Yes it is. If you want to learn to drive a car properly, you will have to understand about the parts of the car that you will be using to drive it. A man who refuses to hear anything about the steering wheel, the clutch, the accelerator and the gear lever — clearly has a problem. It is important to take the first preliminary138 steps in order to successfully master anything. To jump farther you must retreat farther — APEL Truth.073 That is, unless you want to fall into the ditch Guest what? I am teaching you how to drive your voice and I want you to know the controls — ALL OF THEM. I told you where all this comes from and how it was developed. I told you why I think it will work for you. I told you what you are made of, so that you can understand how to 'use' yourself. And in this chapter, I want you to know the connection that will make it all supernatural. I did not say magical — I said supernatural. Miracles are supernatural, but not always spectacular — APEL Truth.074

THE REALITY OF THE TWO WORLDS We live in two worlds, the PHYSICAL and the SPIRITUAL. The physical world is just a mimic of the spiritual — I do not know to what extent. God made man in His own image and gave him a little environment to live in, and He called that little home the universe. At the end of the day, the spiritual world in which God lives is the real reality. Man, being both spirit and matter, exists in both worlds; it is up to him which reality he focuses on. Music is spiritual — it does not always give you goose bumps, but it exists in the same form in both worlds. Nothing that exists in the natural is more real than the spiritual. Your physical form might look very real to you, but it is still less real than your spiritual person is. The spiritual realm is the source into which all life plugs and derives substance from — APEL Truth.075 Most, if not all of what we are and hold closest to our hearts, is the image of the spiritual. Man was made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). Music has its source in heaven — APEL Truth.076 JOB 38:4 (RSV) 4 "Where were you when I LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH? Tell me, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measurements--surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? 6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars SANG together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

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That was at the time of creation when the stars sang and the children of God shouted for joy. "Oh no, brother Michael, the stars cannot sing!" Yes, they can — at least these stars did. The Hebrew word used for star and stargazers here is kowkab, and it means: of Messiah, brothers, youth, numerous progeny, personification and God's omniscience.

LUCIFER — THE MUSIC IDOL Lucifer was a musician long before Adam was born — without glorifying Satan, I would guess he has a little bit more experience in perverting music than I have in utilizing it; unless I do it God's way, he may just deceive me. Do you not wonder why there is so much corruption139 in music as a business, as entertainment, as a cult, as a political tool, as a pornographic medium and many other forms? As you will see in the complete training guide., Satan has mastered the art of perverting and utilizing music as a means to an end — and the end is: waging war against God, His plans, His people and His kingdom. My point is, if you understand the spiritual connection of music, you can take music beyond an imaginable limit. You can incorporate music into many aspects of your life and see change. And in the context of this book, if you apply these elements when you start singing, you will soar to new heights, you will achieve more than you thought was possible.

THE SINGING GOD I remember the first time I brought this to a friend's attention; he was furious, "Don't talk about my God that way! My God does not sing!" What is so wrong with God singing? Just because you never thought of God as a singer does not mean that He should stop being Himself — if He sings, He sings. We always think of God as an old man with long white hair sitting on a majestic chair and table with a feather fountain pen in His hand and an old curled scroll on the table. If that is God, then He is plain boring — just sitting there staring at the clouds. Not my God! ZEPHANIAH 3:17 The LORD, your God, is in your midst, a warrior who gives victory; he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you WITH LOUD SINGING.

If the Lord will exult over you with LOUD singing, it will not be the first He does it. I know He did not go for music lessons — because He is music. Music is a spiritual force. God is a joyful God. "These things have I spoken unto you, that MY JOY MIGHT REMAIN IN YOU, and that your joy might be full" (John 15:11). If God sings, then He must be the Greatest Singer of all — He created singing, or as some may wish, He invented it. Where do you think Lucifer got his musical skills that he so effectively manipulates through all his servants? EZEKIEL 28:12-15 (YLT) 12 Son of man, lift up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, And thou hast said to him: Thus said the Lord Jehovah: Thou art sealing up a measurement, Full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. 13 In Eden, the garden of God, thou hast been, Every precious stone thy covering, Ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, Sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle, and gold, The WORKMANSHIP OF THY TABRETS, AND OF THY PIPES, In thee in the day of thy being produced, have been prepared. 14 Thou art an anointed cherub who is covering, And I have set thee in the holy mount, God thou hast been, In the midst of stones of fire thou hast walked up and down. 15 Perfect art thou in thy ways, From the day of thy being produced, Till perversity hath been found in thee.

This cherub, Lucifer, was created with pipes and tabrets. The Authorized Version says the pipes were "... prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created." God is a musician, God is music — God creates music, God creates a musician. Satan is a perverted musician, he has perverted the music originally incorporated in him — he perverts140 music. God is the musician, I am an endeavoring channel, and the purer I am, the clearer God's music will be heard — APEL Truth.077 Actually, God is the song. 139 140

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EXODUS 15:2 My strength AND SONG IS JAH, And He is become my salvation: This is my God, and I glorify Him; God of my father, and I exalt Him.

This is both literal and figurative. He is my song in that all my songs and singing come from Him, through Him, or by Him. Once this concept dissolves into you, you will not want of new songs, or music or creativity. He becomes the bottomless well from which you draw.

THE POWER OF MUSIC Maybe as I am talking to you, you are not really getting the picture of how powerful music is. Look at a few examples of how music was used to unleash God's power. This is not a handbook for Satanism141, so I do not talk about how Satan's followers use music to unleash their master's limited power.

CITY WALLS FELL DOWN FLAT Can you imagine unarmed trumpeters overthrowing a city as big as London by simply marching around it and blowing on their trumpets and shouting? No? However, when one plugs into the source of the power — the whole city the size of London can come down flat. You might think that this is far fetched, but it is not. God's power can do more than you credit Him. "Now to Him who by the power at work within us is ABLE TO DO FAR MORE ABUNDANTLY THAN ALL THAT WE ASK OR THINK" (Ephesians 3:20 — RSV). JOSHUA 6:20 (RSV) So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon AS THE PEOPLE HEARD THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET, the people raised a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.

There is power in God and that power can be released through music. The only way to experience the fullness of God's power in us is to play by His rules — APEL Truth.078 If you want to soar beyond the visible heights, you have to do exactly as God says, in your daily life and in your music. It sounds like too much of a price to pay, but why would you want anything other than God's best. Why would you want the world's best if it does not even compare with God's least — that is if God had weaknesses?

PRISON WALLS CAME DOWN Think of maximum-security prisons! Think of a method if any, to break the prison down and set every prisoner free. I cannot think of any. Not even the best escape artists can set the prisoners free from a maximum security prison — at least we are made to believe. God can — look how He did it!

Positive In Adversity Two guys, without ever having taken music lessons or held music diplomas, they sang and praised God and guess what? ACTS 16:25-26 (RSV) 25 And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. 26 And suddenly there was a great EARTHQUAKE, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

Imagine you are in prison — you did nothing wrong, but you were locked up for a crime you did not commit. How natural would deciding that the best thing to do was to sing and praise God be? The prisons in those days were most likely not equipped with comfortable furniture. I would not be surprised if the prisons had muddy floors142 with crawling insects. Nevertheless, these two SANG AND PRAISED GOD! We catch a cold, and blame God for everything. 141 142

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This was also not the best time to sing, it was at midnight! But they sang so loud that the other prisoners heard them, I bet the real criminals were not amused by it at first. The next thing that followed was an earthquake so aggressive that the foundation of the prison were shaken. Now this was no natural earthquake, that selectively loosened shackles. This is the power of praise through music! You will not have God's best until He has the rest of you — APEL Truth.079

Neighbours with God What do you think would happen if you went to a house where God lived? Say, down the street where you live there was a house and in there lived God Almighty with His Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit! Do you not suppose that God's power would regularly be witnessed at that house, as if it were flowing out constantly? In fact, there is a house in your street where this can become a reality — and that house could be you. JOHN 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and WE WILL COME UNTO HIM, AND MAKE OUR ABODE WITH HIM.

It says with him, meaning you will not be left out! You will not be a spectator! When God's power starts to ooze143 out of your inner being144, you will be part of it.

ARMY AMBUSH Sometimes you face a situation in life out of which you cannot seem to see your way. King Jehoshaphat in Jerusalem faced such a situation. The Lord said to him to stop worrying and sing. That is what He told him. He said to him not to worry because God would do the rest — and He gave him instructions on how to go about letting God take over.

Stop Worrying? "And He said, Listen, all Judah, and you people of Jerusalem, and king Jehoshaphat! So says the LORD to you, do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude. For the battle is not yours, but God's. Tomorrow, go down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff of Ziz. And you shall find them at the end of the valley, before the wilderness of Jeruel. You shall not fight in this battle. Set yourselves and stand, and see the salvation of the LORD with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Do not fear not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, for the LORD will be with you." (2 Chronicles 20:15-17 — MKJV). Then God told them to be still. Can you imagine fighting against a super power and not having to lift a hand to win? Imagine Swaziland waging war against the US and hoping to win? The two countries are not the same size and the odds would not be good for the smaller country, would they? King Jehoshaphat was afraid and he went to God for help, and God came to his rescue. God will manifest Himself when you seek His face. 2 CHRONICLES 20:22 And when THEY BEGAN TO SING AND TO PRAISE, THE LORD SET AMBUSHMENTS AGAINST the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten.

I like what God does — I like the role that music plays in God's plan for mankind. There is a connection between music and the spiritual realm that we have not plugged into as we should have, and the sooner we do, and the sooner God's plan will be accomplished. Music exists in both the spiritual and the natural realm — APEL Truth.080

THERAPY IN THE ASYLUM145 The people that work in mental hospitals know how difficult it is to look after a person who has lost their mind. Sometimes even trying to subdue the patient is a struggle. Music contains such power that it is capable of passing beyond a disturbed mind and reaching into the person's inner being. It is not an intellectual force; it is a spiritual force. "And the Spirit of Jehovah turned aside from Saul, and a spirit of 143 144 145

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sadness from Jehovah terrified him … " (1 Samuel 16:14). Without arguing about whether God made Saul crazy or not, and the fact that the Authorized Version calls it "... an evil spirit from God …" I want to make a point that when the music was played, the troubled man was stilled. 1 SAMUEL 16:23 And it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that David took an harp, AND PLAYED WITH HIS HAND: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

I like the idea of playing with his hand, and look at what happened to Saul, he was refreshed. The Hebrew word ravach means to be wide, be spacious, to breathe easily, and be relieved. He was RELIEVED … all because David played music.

GOD'S GLORY MANIFESTING In these days of the final revival146, people long for the glory of God to manifest and sometimes do not know how to draw near to God so that He can draw near to them. "Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded"(James 4:8). The children of Israel saw God's glory cloud. They were AS ONE147 when it happened. 2 CHRONICLES 5:13 It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the LORD; and WHEN THEY LIFTED UP THEIR VOICE WITH THE TRUMPETS AND CYMBALS AND INSTRUMENTS OF MUSICK, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: that then the house was filled with a cloud, even the house of the LORD;

The house was filled with a cloud. What cloud? "The priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of God" (v14). That was not a light case of God's manifestation — this was a serious event. The glory was so strong people could not stand, if they stood up, they fell. Music, my friend, has a plug into the Great Power148. And you have started in that direction. God's power can be overwhelming, when I first started in the ministry I did not care for all that goose-bump 'screaming and jumping' charisma, until one day while praying for the sick at a meeting where I was preaching, the people suddenly started falling as I laid hands on them — I DID NOT FEEL ANYTHING, but they fell. I was shocked. For me it was a nice dry service, logically and intellectually rich. Suddenly the people decided to fall? I had this tendency when I prayed for people: I used three fingers and lightly touched their foreheads. I could not push a fly of their head with that lightness. Frankly, I was startled when I heard a thump as the prayer seeker hit the floor, then the next and the next. Nevertheless, hey, you would not want your congregation to see that fright on your face, would you?

A STREAM OF SONGS Each one of us has music in them. Paul in writing149 to the "… saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse," speaks about this. Remember that he was writing to the brethren — it is not something they had which other brethren cannot have. He says when they come together, "… THEY HAVE" a psalm. 1 COLOSSIANS 14:26 How is it then, brethren? WHEN YE COME TOGETHER, EVERY ONE OF YOU HATH A PSALM, hath a doctrine, hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.

Do you see that? "Every one of you …has …" it. Is this not great? What is a psalm anyway? The Old Testament Hebrew word used for psalm is mizmowr meaning melody. I like that! Each one of you has a melody. Every one of you has a melody! The New Testament (Greek) word for psalm though is psalmos meaning of a striking the chords of a musical instrument or of a pious song. Another word in the Greek is 146 147 148 149

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psallo probably strengthened from psao meaning to rub or touch the surface. Psallo means to pluck off, pull out, to cause to vibrate by touching, to twang, to touch or strike the chord. Some may ask, "Does this take talent to do?" From the look of things, you are expected to have this, talent or no talent. That tells me that you CAN DO IT — otherwise somebody is lying.

VARIOUS KINDS OF MELODIES IF I HAVE THIS MELODY IN ME — WHERE IS IT? It will be no use having something and not knowing where it is, would it? COLOSSIANS 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another IN PSALMS AND HYMNS AND SPIRITUAL SONGS, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Paul goes further now, instructing the brethren to teach one another in PSALMS, HYMNS and SONGS. What are these things — psalms, hymns and songs? † Psalm — a psalm, as we said, is PLAYING AN INSTRUMENT. Stay with me; do not run off now. Think about playing a melody on a musical instrument, keeping in mind that you are the musical instrument. Paul says you can strike the chords of this instrument, and in fact, play a melody on this instrument. A PSALM IS A SONG YOU PLAY BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD. It can be a poetic and rhyming song, or a normal and complete song from your inner being, by the Spirit of God. †

Hymn — defined from the Greek word humnos apparently from a simpler (obsolete) form of hudeo (to celebrate) — as a song in praise of God, and also a sacred song. That is something initiative — in praise of God, or a song you compose in order to praise God or declare something. A hymn is a prepared song with a purpose. Most of our songs are hymns. We prepare them — drawing from God's resources inside us. We have various purposes for them. The Greek word refers to a hymn as being a sacred song.

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Spiritual Song — the spiritual song is the most fascinating. It is a normal song in every sense of the word, meaning it is an ode — but there is something superior about its nature. The Greek word for spiritual is pneumatikos, which is relating to the human spirit; which is AKIN TO GOD AND SERVES AS HIS INSTRUMENT OR ORGAN. It still posses the nature of the rational soul but it belongs to a spirit, or a being higher than natural man. It refers also to one being filled with and governed by the Spirit of God.

THE SPIRITUAL SONG The spiritual song is a SPONTANEOUS SONG INSPIRED by the Spirit of God. The psalm comes to us complete (but we must play it out — birth it out), the hymn comes to us by preparation (not carnally, but by God's resources inside us), and the spiritual song comes to us spontaneously (you just open up and let it through). Notice that according to Paul, the Psalms are received at home, and when they come together, they already have them ready to share with others. Have you noticed how prophetic and directed David's psalms are? They were given to David, for David, but they have content in them to teach others. Some of them are so personal that you would doubt whether they should be shared with others. David did not make any of that stuff up — he just reached down AND PULLED IT OUT. You can start to flow in psalms too if you practice the scriptures. Notice how Paul says "... the word of Christ … " must "... dwell in you richly in all wisdom." That is the first step. You will not move in psalms until you are full of God, full of His Word. EPHESIANS 5:19 SPEAKING TO YOURSELVES in PSALMS and HYMNS and SPIRITUAL SONGS, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;

Notice that Paul says, "Speaking TO YOURSELVES …" meaning exactly that. Making melody in your heart — that is very important. Remember that your heart is the source of your music. The fact here is that melody is made in the heart. APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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A NEW LANGUAGE Melodies not made in the heart are dead. Heart music appeals to the heart, intellectual music appeals to the intellect and physical music appeals to the body — APEL Truth.081 † Spiritual Music — there is music which when sung or performed, goes directly from the singer or performer's heart, into your heart and does something in there. This music affects your heart according to the source content of the singer's heart it came from. Godly music will influence the hearer to godliness, but perverse150 music will deposit perversion in the heart of the hearer and the singer. †

Intellectual Music — created based on academic standards which man has created and established for himself; and what it does is intellectual. You will not be able to appreciate it until somebody teaches how you to, or, until you learn to enjoy it. Because it is mental — it appeals to the mind and needs some academic basis for you to appreciate.

Physical Music — made to strong pulses. The pulses are usually so strong that the music loses its appeal unless it is so loud you can FEEL THE BEAT. Usually that kind of music has no melodic content; it is the heart that generates a living melody. Every speaker speaks in the voice and language he understands, and the language and voice that makes the most sense to you is a reflection of your own communication means — APEL Truth.082 Have you been around that music that makes you tap your feet even when you do not like it? Your body runs with the music against the wish of your heart. Have you noticed that there is also a type of music, which has little or no meaning until somebody explains it to you? Until the explanation, it was incomprehensible. This is mental music. †

MUSIC THAT CUTS LIKE A KNIFE Spiritual music on the other hand, could be set in a style you do not even like, but it will still penetrate into your heart like a sword. The word of God cuts like a double-edged sword for the same reason — it is alive and spiritual. HEBREWS 4:12 (YLT) For THE RECKONING151 OF GOD IS LIVING, AND WORKING, AND SHARP ABOVE EVERY TWO-EDGED SWORD, and piercing unto the dividing asunder both of soul and spirit, of joints also and marrow, and a discerner of thoughts and intents of the heart;

Are you with me? God's Word, God's reckoning is alive, working and sharp — it CUTS APART152 the spirit from the mind, it even divides the body from the spirit and the soul … it discerns thoughts. THAT IS POWERFUL. The most powerful tool ever made. Can you imagine that? Why would one want to cut apart spirit and mind — it is simply the best way to operate in this universe, knowing that you are spirit and knowing exactly what is spirit and what is mind. It is advisable to incorporate some cutting element into your music — that is, the Word of God. The more Word there is in your music, the sharper it will be. When I say Word, I do not mean Bible passages, I mean the meaning of the Bible passage. "God is love" in John 3:16, could be sung as "He loves me unconditionally" or "I did not earn your love."

MANAGING THE HEART From the heart comes a great force. Jesus made a statement about the effect of sourcing from the heart. When you speak from the heart, there is life. When you sing from the heart, there is life. When you act from the heart, there are results. "The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil" (Matthew 12:35). If you are evil — your songs carry that evil in them. Remember, an evil man will say a good word, but evil will still ooze out! Fire burns, there is no coldness in its nature — APEL Truth.083

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MARK 7:18-19 18 And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into the man, it cannot defile him; 19 BECAUSE IT ENTERETH NOT INTO HIS HEART, but into the belly, and goeth out into the draught, purging all meats?

Do you see that? It defiles if it enters153 the heart! It does not defile if it does not enter the heart. In addition, notice what the next verse says, "And He said, that which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man" (v24 — AV). In addition, it defiles if it comes from the heart. That is the perversion Satan distributes through his agents — there should be more life distributed by God's singers and musicians than through Satan's system.

TWO WAYS OF DEFILEMENT A heart can be defiled in two ways. Please remember this because it has a huge impact on the power of your singing. † Inward Defilement — the first way of defiling your heart (which is in your spirit), is perversion entering your heart. When a thought enters your heart, it is not yet sin, but it is potential sin. You must remove it immediately, if you do not, it ossifies into evil and starts to contaminate you heart, when that part of you heart becomes weak from contamination, your will can no longer be influenced by your heart. Outward Defilement — the second way of defiling your heart is perversion brewed out of your heart. These are things that you devise and act on willingly. Action gives life to faith, or fear or sin. When a thought enters your heart, you must root it out immediately. If you do not, it ferments and contaminates the rest of your being when it becomes part of your will, then actions, and then death. It is like cancer: one cancerous cell must be removed before it becomes malignant154. Remember that the more you sing an evil song, the more it defiles you, because it is coming out of you, and it will defile whoever it goes into as well. †

POURING OUT THE MUSIC One of the concepts in the Bible I like — is the pouring out of what is in your heart. Assuming of course that your heart is full of the Living Word, full of the life of God, and His Spirit. PSALMS 62:8 Trust in him at all times; ye people, POUR OUT YOUR HEART BEFORE him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.

REFILLING THE CONTAINER When you pour something out of a container, the container is usually full — you have to be full before you can be poured out. Continued outpouring from your heart will eventually drain you unless you refill — APEL Truth.084 You see, for a Spirit-filled believer, there is no such thing as writer's block. There is always an abundant endless supply of new and living songs. The Bible tells you how to be full. EPHESIANS 5:18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; BUT BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT;

When you drink wine, you become drunk and full of wine, and wine becomes your controller, it determines what you do and how you do it. The same applies here, when you drink of the Spirit of God, you become full of Him and you become controlled by Him. And whatever comes out of you is from Him. This is what Jesus meant when He said, "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU, THEY ARE SPIRIT, AND THEY ARE LIFE" (John 6:63 — AV).

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GIVING LIFE TO YOUR WORDS Can you say that? The words that I sing to you they are spirit, THEY ARE LIFE? This is the only way your music will give life — because only the Spirit gives life. Remember, IT IS THE SPIRIT THAT GIVES LIFE! Where does the music that gives life come from? Where does this river flow from? Even in the Old Testament, Solomon understood the concept of life and from where it flowed. PROVERBS 4:23 (RSV) Keep your heart with all vigilance; FOR FROM IT FLOW THE SPRINGS OF LIFE.

From your heart! The springs of life come from your heart! But you will have to keep your heart with ALL VIGILANCE155 — guard your heart against evil. This is a really important matter. You must guard your heart. "But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience" (Luke 8:15 — AV). Notice a good and honest heart is the way to bringing forth fruit — GOOD FRUIT! JOHN 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

You have to believe in Him. Out of your belly (spirit) WILL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER. Living water gives life — that is what music is all about. Once you have completed your training, you can always measure yourself with this yardstick, if your singing gives life, you know you are on the right track. If it does not, your singing is empty and needs to be filled with life. "Is any among you afflicted? Let him pray. Is any merry? Let him SING psalms" (James 5:13 — AV). Notice it did not say "Let him go to the doctor." While it is perfectly in order to see a doctor, the Scripture says that he must pray, and if any is merry, he must sing psalms. In addition, notice that is says, "Is ANY … let him SING …" Do you realize that James seems to expect every person to sing? Does it mean he wanted to say, "Is any …. Let him sing badly … God looks at the heart and enjoys bad singing?" Of course God looks at your heart! Let me leave you with this thought — why do we rehearse and practice before we sing if quality does not matter to God? Even your sad songs are from the heart. You can sing for joy from your heart; you can cry for sorrow from the same heart — APEL Truth.085 Whatever it is that you are pouring out, it will affect the people who hear you. Examine the rivers that flow from your heart — APEL Truth.086 ISAIAH 65:14 Behold, my servants shall sing for JOY OF HEART, but ye shall cry for SORROW OF HEART, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.

Notice the last phrase "... shall HOWL …" meaning that it comes from deep down in your heart. While this is all true, I believe it must be disgusting to God when we present inferior speech, music or actions to Him — or something which is so fake, it has nothing to do with our hearts. Something which we claim to be the truth, when in fact, our minds are a million miles away from what we are presenting or performing. MATTHEW 15:8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR FROM ME.

The heartbeat of today's worship156 is in the Spirit. This is the key to everything. You cannot worship any other way. You should not wish to sing any other way. JOHN 4:23 But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24 — AV). There is no way to relate to God other than on a spiritual plane.

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the process of paying close and continuous attention the act of acknowledging God, evidenced by actions following a feeling of profound love and admiration

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LIFE IN THE SPIRIT Life in the spirit, be it singing or worship, or just living you daily life operates on three levels, and you will see later in the context of song. † By the Spirit — when the spirit influences you to do something, and you go out with that inspiration. Divine MOTIVATION. The motivation to do something comes from the spirit; this is being "... led BY the Spirit …" (or spirit). I tend to see this as your spirit under the guidance of the Spirit of God. This takes knowledge. †

With the Spirit — when the spirit inspires you and you take every step with the spirit. Divine INSPIRATION. I tend to see this as a joint venture between your spirit and the spirit of God. This takes wisdom.

†

In the Spirit — when the spirit takes over 100% of what you are doing and you take a back seat. Divine INTERVENTION. This almost has nothing to do with you. I tend to see this as being a channel.

SKILL VERSUS TALENT Do not for one moment think that the spiritual connection is meant to replace skill — skill is as much a requirement by God as it is ours; in fact more. God works with the best — He does the best, gives the best, and expects the best. God takes the worst and makes it the best — APEL Truth.087 If God uses the reviled, He makes it esteemed. What about an unskilled singer in God's hands? PSALM 3:3 3 Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Play skillfully — do not just waltz in and strum or strike and hope the "…anointing will cover my shortcomings." You have to be skillful! To be skillful, you have to train or be trained.

VOICE TRAINING IN THE OLD TESTAMENT Did you know that in the Old Testament the singers were trained? They were trained and were skillful. The complement of skilled singers was not small — it was a whole 288 in one instance. Did you catch that? Close to three hundred trained and skilful singers! Strive for excellence and you will never have to compete — APEL Truth.088 1 CHRONICLES 25:7 The number of them along with their brethren, who were TRAINED IN SINGING TO THE LORD, ALL WHO WERE SKILFUL, was two hundred and eighty-eight.

Take note of the phrase, "… trained in singing to the Lord." Think about it, why did they need to be trained in singing? I bet it improved their singing! If they could be trained, so can you. In fact, so should you. I believe in excellence, I believe you must do everything you can in order to attain it. The interesting thing would be discovering what was in their training program. I would love to know that, but of course the Bible does not say anything about it. I hope to find out after I die. 2 CHRONICLES 34:12 And the men DID THE WORK FAITHFULLY157. Over them were set Jahath and Obadiah the Levites, of the sons of Merari, and Zechariah and Meshullam, of the sons of the Kohathites, to have oversight. The Levites, all who were SKILFUL WITH INSTRUMENTS OF MUSIC.158

The people in the Old Testament were not lazy either: they were faithful and they did the job that they were appointed to. That means rehearsing when you are supposed to, and arriving on time when you are expected to! Keep excelling in what you are appointed to do. Do not stop just because the people seem to be happy with what you are doing. Do everything as unto the Lord — not unto men 157 158

training preceded by diligence these were trained to play musical instruments

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(Colossians 3:23).Do not stop until you impress God — APEL Truth.089 God is the only person you should care about impressing. If He were to say, "Buddy, you blow my mind," then you can stop trying or working hard.

APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

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INDEX C

A ability, 9, 13, 14, 16, 30, 33, 35, 36, 43 academic, 10, 12, 13, 35, 62 account, 10, 23, 48, 49 achieve, 57 acquired, 16, 28, 30 acute, 39 admission, 35 adult, 46 agent, 52 always, 21, 23, 26, 33, 34, 43, 53, 56, 63, 64 analyze, 25, 43 answer, 21, 23, 24, 28, 32 anxious, 27 APEL, 10, 32 APEL Truth, 9, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 47, 49, 50, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66 applause, 11, 29 Approach, 11 area, 12, 20, 21, 23, 24, 28, 52 argument, 36 artistic, 14, 35 aspects, 37, 57 audience, 16, 27, 37 authority, 42, 46, 51 B background, 16, 24 balance, 42 battle, 53, 59 believe believed, 13, 21, 22, 23, 34 Believe, 21, 36 benign, 39 best, 21, 24, 33, 34, 35, 39, 58, 59, 65 Bible, 35, 36, 53 bible, 36, 46, 47, 48, 52, 53, 63, 65 bless, 21 body, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 47, 48, 49, 52, 53, 54, 62 book, 2, 10, 11, 12, 15, 21, 22, 24, 29, 30, 36, 40, 53, 57 born, 9, 18, 21, 24, 28, 29, 34, 36, 50 breath, 13, 18, 47, 48 build, 9, 10, 11 business, 57

calluses, 39 cancer, 18, 19, 40 channel, 57 characteristics, 18 Choleric, 40, 41, 42, 43 chords, 60, 61 Christian, 53 chronic, 39 class, 21, 22 classical, 13, 14, 15, 24 common, 15, 16, 34, 38, 39, 40, 43 communication, 12, 15, 41, 62 concept, 9, 58, 63, 64 concern, 35 condition, 2, 39, 40 confidence, 13, 33, 37 confirm, 46 context, 15, 18, 22, 53, 57 cords, 9, 11, 13, 15, 18, 38 count, 37, 43 course, 10, 11, 20, 23, 28, 33, 35, 37, 38, 54, 63, 65 creative, 34, 42 culture, 13 D daily, 11, 42, 58 dead, 24, 51, 62 death, 50, 51, 52 decision, 10, 38, 53 defile, 63 degree, 12, 24 detail, 16, 42, 44 direction, 13, 28, 50, 60 distinct, 47, 48, 49 divine, 35, 36 dream, 9, 22 drunk, 63 E education, 12, 20, 26, 33 effect, 14, 28, 40, 62 effective, 13, 38, 39 emotion, 50 emotional, 39, 41, 42 emphasis, 13, 15

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ENUNCIATION, 9 epiglottis, 17, 18 errors, 25 exercises, 2, 9 experience, 22, 30, 35, 39, 57, 58 extended, 37

INSTRUMENT, 14, 61 intensity, 13, 15, 43 J Jesus, 27, 36, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 59, 62, 63 K

F fact, 10, 11, 14, 16, 17, 20, 21, 29, 33, 36, 47, 51, 59, 60, 61, 64, 65 facts, 11, 43 fake, 38 fall, 23, 56 falsetto, 12, 13 fear, 51, 59 filled, 60, 61, 63, 64 final, 46, 60 first, 11, 17, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 32, 35, 46, 50, 56, 57, 59, 61 focus, 16, 25, 26, 32, 37, 42 focusing, 42 folds, 18, 39, 40 followers, 58 footnotes, 11 force, 57, 59, 62 foundation, 9, 11, 13, 40, 59 frequency, 15 G gift gifts, 23, 36 glycerin, 38 goal, 20, 40 God, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 29, 35, 36, 38, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65 godly, 62 Greek, 36, 40, 48, 49, 60, 61 ground, 14, 27, 47, 64 guitar, 14, 16, 18, 24 H habits, 11, 19, 39 happy, 28, 29, 34, 65 harmony, 21 head, 16, 38 hear, 13, 22, 23, 24, 26, 27, 37, 41, 52, 56, 64 heart, 11, 14, 15, 16, 21, 22, 25, 27, 28, 30, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 61, 62, 63, 64 Hebrew, 48, 49, 57, 60 hemorrhage, 40 high, 11, 13, 18, 19, 20, 21, 43 human, 13, 14, 18, 22, 40, 46, 48, 49, 50, 61 HYMN, 61

knowledge, 33, 35, 36, 37 L language, 15, 16, 62 laryngitis, 18, 39 Laryngitis, 39, 40 Laryngoceles, 40 larynx, 11, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 39 LARYNX, 9 lesions, 39, 40 lessons, 16, 28, 57, 58 Leukoplakia, 40 level, 14, 15, 34, 46, 52 life, 9, 13, 20, 23, 25, 27, 28, 30, 32, 33, 41, 42, 43, 47, 48, 49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64 listen, 25, 29, 33, 34, 43 logic, 10, 47 loudness, 15 love, 26, 41, 42, 43, 48, 49, 50, 57, 59, 65 lungs, 11, 17, 18 M manifest, 49, 59, 60 meaning, 11, 13, 48, 59, 60, 61, 62 measure, 11, 64 measurements, 56 medical, 2, 16, 39 Melancholic, 40, 41, 42, 43 melody, 60, 61 mental, 16, 49, 59, 62 metronome, 23 microphone, 14, 25 million, 33, 51, 52, 64 mind, 14, 16, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 34, 38, 48, 49, 53, 59, 61, 62 miracle, 24, 29, 30 model, 40 modern, 40 money, 10, 33, 36 month, 20, 33 mouth, 12, 15, 16, 27, 28, 38, 64 movement, 15 multipart, 13 music musical, 12, 21, 24, 25, 27, 37, 47, 57, 60, 61 MUSIC, 21, 62, 65 myths, 16

I ideas, 10, 38 identify, 41 illness, 2 imagination, 20 implied, 22 important, 10, 11, 12, 16, 17, 27, 56, 61, 64 impossible, 10, 20, 34, 35, 38, 46 impurities, 9 influenced, 15 inhibitions, 12 instructions, 29, 59 instrument, 12, 14, 16, 18, 19, 34, 38, 47, 60, 61 APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

N negative, 24, 38 new, 10, 14, 19, 28, 53, 57, 58, 63, 65 night, 25, 26, 27, 28 nodules, 39 normal, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20, 35, 41, 61 notes, 12, 18 O octave, 12 open, 17, 27, 61

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opera, 13, 14 opinion, 25, 26, 27, 39 original, 9, 34, 49 P passage, 17, 27, 35, 36, 38, 48 passionate, 43 patient, 19, 59 people, 11, 13, 14, 15, 18, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48, 49, 50, 57, 58, 59, 60, 63, 64, 65 perfect, 25, 26, 34, 41, 42, 57 period, 9, 20, 29, 52 Phlegmatic, 40, 41, 43 phonation, 15 PHONATION, 15 physical, 11, 13, 16, 23, 47, 48, 49, 52, 56, 62 physically, 38 physiological, 16 piano, 25 picture, 28, 58 Pitch, 15, 25 play, 12, 14, 24, 47, 58, 61, 65 Polyps, 39 pour, 63 power, 14, 18, 42, 52, 53, 58, 59 Prenodules, 39 preparation, 27, 61 pressure, 15, 42, 43 price, 32, 58 pride, 37 problems, 32, 38 process, 15, 23, 53 procrastination, 43 produced, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 57 PSALMS psalms, 61, 63 public, 11, 24, 26, 33 purchase, 14 PURIFICATION, 9 purpose, 27, 29, 61 Q question, 15, 21, 23, 27, 28, 29, 34 R radiation, 40 range, 12, 15 raspy, 39 read, 10, 25, 33, 36 ready, 23, 61 reference, 9, 10 relationship, 26 relative, 34 research, 25, 26, 44 results, 11, 13, 18, 26, 28, 34, 42, 62 rhythm, 15 river, 26, 27, 64 root, 17 rubber, 18 S sad, 64 Sanguine, 40, 41, 42, 43 Satan, 47, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 57, 58, 63 Lucifer, 52, 57 scriptures, 61 sense, 41, 42, 61, 62 APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

http://www.voicetraining.biz sign, 13, 50 sing, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, 57, 58, 59, 62, 63, 64 sang, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 29, 30, 57, 58, 59 singing, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 42, 57, 58, 61, 64, 65 singer, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 18, 23, 25, 27, 28, 39, 40, 42, 57, 62 skilful, 65 soprano, 12, 13, 14 soul, 21, 25, 47, 48, 49, 53, 61, 62 sounds, 12, 14, 15, 18, 22, 26, 34, 58 speak, 15, 24, 36, 37, 39, 41, 52, 62 speaking, 15, 16, 22, 28, 37, 39 speech, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 37, 38, 64 spirit, 21, 27, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 52, 53, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64 SPIRIT, 47, 48, 53, 54, 61, 63, 64 spiritual, 14, 23, 37, 46, 49, 53, 56, 57, 59, 61, 62, 64, 65 step, 35, 61 story, 22, 30, 37, 42, 51 strings, 14, 17, 18 structure, 9, 16, 17, 25 studies, 10, 11 stuttering, 16 subject, 2, 22, 48, 53, 54 successful, 28, 33 supernatural, 24, 56 surgery, 19 T talent talented, 13, 26, 27, 29, 35 teacher, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 28, 33, 35 teachers, 10, 12, 22, 24 technique, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 18, 20, 29 temperament, 43 tension, 12, 13, 15, 18 theory, 18 think, 10, 16, 21, 26, 27, 28, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 51, 53, 56, 57, 58, 59, 65 throat, 15, 17, 18, 38 thyroid, 17, 18 time, 9, 10, 11, 12, 20, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 42, 43, 53, 57, 59, 65 tone, 9, 12, 13, 17, 18, 26, 43 tradition, 14, 16, 46 training, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 20, 24, 25, 27, 28, 32, 34, 35, 37, 46, 54, 64, 65 tree, 11 TV, 33, 34 U understand, 15, 16, 17, 26, 27, 36, 37, 46, 47, 53, 54, 56, 57 V verbal, 12, 14, 15, 50 vibrate, 11, 15, 18, 61 vibration, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18 Vitamin C, 39 voice, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34, 37, 38, 39, 47, 56, 62 vocal, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 21, 22, 38

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walk, 10, 11, 21, 35, 36, 42 walking, 25, 35 wisdom, 12, 22, 25, 36, 57, 61 word, 16, 22, 33, 35, 36, 49, 57, 60, 61, 62, 64 words, 12, 15, 22, 25, 28, 48, 49, 59, 64 work, 11, 21, 25, 28, 29, 32, 33, 42, 43, 56, 58, 59

APEL: You Can Learn to Sing

http://www.voicetraining.biz write, 26 writing, 60 wrong, 13, 21, 22, 25, 26, 29, 35, 37, 38, 46, 57, 58 Y years, 9, 10, 18, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 37

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