The Aligned Singer

About The Aligned Singer

The Aligned Singer is a podcast for singers who know there is something more inside them and are ready to bring it fully to life. Hosted by classical soprano and voice teacher Sarah Hawkey, an expert in vocal technique, this show helps you connect the dots from where you are to where you want to be in your voice, your performance opportunities, and your singing career. Each episode explores the inner and outer work to help you clear vocal and mindset blocks so you can share your singing gift with the world in whatever way calls to you.

Publisher

Sarah Hawkey

Category

arts

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 Mar 2026

Latest episode

12 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

28 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   12 Oct 2026

   Ep. 27 - Singing Better Starts Here: The Secret to Breaking Bad Habits and Making Lasting Change in Your Voice | Build Your Dream Voice, Part 5

   There's one reason a shift in your voice actually sticks, and it's not the exercise itself. It's how many times you repeat it. If you want the fix from a great lesson to still be there next week, if a breakthrough in your voice has ever disappeared on you, or if you're ready for a new pattern to finally become your natural sound, you're going to love this edition of The Aligned Singer. This is part 5, the final part, of Build Your Dream Voice, my 5-part series on the blind spots I see most often in singers who are working to connect the dots between the voice they have right now and the voice they want to have. Today is all about repetition, the one ingredient that turns a single good moment in your voice into a permanent change you actually keep. Vocalizing is another word for your warm-up, and it's where you build new patterns in your voice. But building the pattern once isn't the same as keeping it. In order to get to a new level in the way you sound when you sing, you have to repeat certain exercises and certain connections in your voice again and again and again, every single day, until it's automatic. I'm thinking of a singer I work with privately, already working professionally, who came to me wanting to get to the next level in her career. Within thirty seconds of hearing her sing, I knew exactly what was going on with her voice. But knowing what's going on is different from being able to shift it, and the work in our lessons since has been forming those new connections again and again, until they hold. As your voice teacher bestie, I want to reassure you that if progress in your voice keeps slipping, that's not a sign anything is wrong with you. I was recently listening back to a performance I gave about a month ago, and I started to cry, because the sound coming out of my mouth was so good. It's good because I kept repeating the new way, over and over, until it became how I actually sing. There's nothing special or exceptional about me except that I would not give up, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that you can build your dream sound too! In this episode you'll learn: Why doing an exercise right once in a lesson doesn't mean it's fixed in your voice yet What neuroplasticity actually is, and why your voice can keep changing at any point in your life Why your brain pulls you back toward your old sound, even after you've found a better one How repeating the right pattern, not just any repetition, plants a permanent shift in your voice Why this has to happen every single day, not once in a while in a lesson How this ties together everything in Build Your Dream Voice into the one thing that makes it stick Chapters: 00:00 How to Make a Vocal Breakthrough Permanent 02:46 Meet Your Voice Teacher Bestie 08:06 A Quick Recap of Parts 1 Through 4 11:23 What Neuroplasticity Means for Developing Your Vocal Technique 14:23 How to Make a New Pattern Stick in Your Singing 23:10 When to Use This Fix on Your Own Voice 24:49 Live Example: Fixing My Middle Passaggio 28:55 Why One Lesson (Or One Repetition) Isn't Enough 32:11 Why an Old Habit Can Creep Back in and How to Fix It 33:33 Pep Talk Work with Me! Ready to build your dream sound? My first technique program is coming very soon, and I'm still accepting one-on-one private students in my studio (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com). Subscribe so you catch every new edition of The Aligned Singer, and leave me a comment telling me what pattern you're working on repeating in your own voice right now. I read them all and I write back. Links & Resources: Free Vocal Technique Mini Lesson (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com/what-is-vocal-technique/) Voice Studio Website (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com) Voice Studio Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/voiceteachersarah) TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@voiceteachersarah) Performing Website (https://www.sarahhawkey.com)

2. 

   5 Oct 2026

   Ep. 26 - Why Speech Vowels Are Killing Your High Notes (and Why Singing Vowels Feel So Strange): Singing Vowels vs. Speech Vowels Explained | Build Your Dream Voice, Part 4

   Here's something I want to shout from the rooftops: singing vowels and speech vowels are vastly different. It's such a simple concept, and it can change your whole voice. If you want a bigger sound, if you want more beauty in your sound, or if you want more ease in your high notes, you're going to love this edition of The Aligned Singer. This is part 4 of Build Your Dream Voice, my 5-part series on the blind spots I see most often in singers who are working to connect the dots between the voice they have right now and the voice they want to have. Today is all about the difference between the way you make vowels when you talk and the way you make them when you sing. We talk all day long, so the vowels we use when we speak feel completely normal. That's exactly why singing vowels feel wrong at first. You're just not used to them yet! If your vowels feel normal when you sing, you're probably singing like you talk. The sound that feels comfortable and familiar isn't always the sound that lets your voice grow. When you let go of singing like you talk and let yourself feel a little strange, your voice has room to become bigger, freer, and more beautiful, especially as you head up into your high notes. In this episode, I sing the phrase "sing to the top of the mountain" both ways, so you can hear the difference for yourself. As your voice teacher bestie, I want to reassure you that if you're a serious singer and nobody has ever shown you this, that's completely okay. When I moved to New York City in 2006 to pursue my dream of a professional singing career, I sounded nothing like a professional singer. It took me six years to retrain my technique, and my "ee" vowel was the very last thing to shift. There's nothing special or exceptional about me except that I wouldn't give up, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that you can build your dream sound too! In this episode you'll learn: The difference between the vowels you use when you talk and the vowels you use when you sing The easiest way to tell if you're singing with speech vowels Why singing vowels feel wrong at first, and why that's a good sign What opens up in your high notes and head voice when you stop singing like you talk Where in your range speech vowels are probably fine, and where you need to switch What both kinds of vowels sound like, on "ah," "ooh," and "sing to the top of the mountain" Chapters: 00:00 One Simple Concept That Can Change Your Whole Voice 03:08 Meet Your Voice Teacher Bestie 04:47 Proof You Can Rebuild Your Voice From Wherever You Are 06:40 Singing Vowels and Speech Vowels Are Vastly Different 07:33 Hear the Difference on "Ah" 08:17 Hear the Difference on "Ooh" 09:17 Sing to the Top of the Mountain 11:50 How to Tell If You're Singing Speech Vowels 13:35 Want a Bigger, More Beautiful Sound? Stop Singing Like You Talk 14:46 More Ease in Your High Notes With Singing Vowels 16:08 Why Singing Vowels Feel Wrong at First 19:30 Pep Talk Work with Me! Ready to build your dream sound? My first online program for singers opens in mid-October, and I'm still accepting one-on-one private students in my studio (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com). Subscribe so you don't miss part 5, and tell me in the comments which vowel feels strangest when you sing it. I read them all and I write back. Links & Resources: Voice Studio Website (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com) Voice Studio Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/voiceteachersarah) TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@voiceteachersarah) Performing Website (https://www.sarahhawkey.com)

3. 

   28 Sept 2026

   Ep. 25 - Your Vocal Warm-Up Should NOT Sound Like a Performance (Here's What It Should Sound Like): Build Your Dream Voice, Part 3

   Most singers don't know this, and that's shocking to me. The way you sound when you're warming up your voice and the way you sound when you're performing are two vastly different sounds. If you want to walk into a rehearsal or an audition sounding your best, or if you want the sound you hear in your head, the one you know deep down you're capable of making someday, to finally show up in your voice, you're going to love this edition of The Aligned Singer. This is part 3 of Build Your Dream Voice, my 5-part series on the blind spots I see most often in singers who are working to connect the dots between the voice they have right now and the voice they want to have. Today is all about the difference between how you sound when you warm up and how you sound when you perform, and why that difference is so important when you're training your voice. Vocalizing is another word for your warm-up, and those first sounds you make for the day are not supposed to sound like a performance. They're supposed to sound like the process! The way you sound when you're all warmed up is because you warmed up. If you can start to embody this next idea, you will improve your singing so much faster. When you drop the result and let yourself be in the process, your voice makes the new connections it needs, and the sound you want starts showing up in your music faster and faster, and one day becomes your new sound. Problems get fixed permanently. Your voice can shift fundamentally so that you don't struggle with those things you used to struggle with anymore. As your voice teacher bestie, I want to reassure you that if you're a serious singer and nobody has ever told you this, that's completely okay. When I moved to New York City in 2006 to pursue my dream of a professional singing career, I vocalized every day at a little keyboard in a rented room in Queens before my restaurant shift, making sounds I knew didn't sound good yet. When I got over the fear of making those strange sounds I needed to make to start retraining my instrument, my voice could make the connections it needed, and being in the process made me sound better and better when I sang. That eventually led to me breaking through in the industry and becoming a full-time performer. There's nothing special or exceptional about me except that I wouldn't give up, and I know without a shadow of a doubt that you can build your dream sound too! In this episode you'll learn: Why the way you sound when you're warming up and the way you sound when you perform should really be two different sounds How when you vocalize, aka warm up your voice, you're allowing your voice to make the adjustments and connections it needs so you can sound your best when you actually sing your repertoire and perform What a real warm-up sounds like in my voice How to keep vocalizing when your neighbors, roommates, or housemates on the other side of the wall can hear you Why instrumentalists warm up in the green room, and why you get to do the same How letting go of how you'll sound later helps your voice change faster today Chapters: 00:00 Your Warming Up Sound and Performance Sound Are Two Different Things 01:48 Meet Your Voice Teacher Bestie 02:19 Proof You Can Rebuild Your Voice No Matter What You Sound Like Today 06:14 The Two Different Things You Do When You Practice 07:28 How Daily Vocalizing Built My Dream Voice 15:06 The Key: Drop the Result and Be in the Process 16:41 What My Real Warm-Up Sounds Like 18:18 Keep Vocalizing, Even When Someone Can Hear You Through the Wall 21:26 What Instrumentalists Already Know That We Singers Can Do Too 25:49 Pep Talk Work with Me! Ready to build your dream sound? My first technique program is coming very soon, and I'm still accepting one-on-one private singers in my studio (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com). Links & Resources: Voice Studio Website (https://www.sarahhawkeystudio.com) Voice Studio Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/voiceteachersarah) TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@voiceteachersarah) Performing Website (https://www.sarahhawkey.com)

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Apple Podcasts (US)

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