As a guitarist who is a mediocre singer at best, I found it frustrating to write music with lyrics. The problem I faced is that most of my music is instrumental, so finding a singer to work with for the odd song here and there isn’t a practical solution. So I was presented with two options. Keep all my music instrumental or learn to sing properly.
As a freelance worker, my working times are very erratic, so committing to lessons with a vocal coach wouldn’t work. After doing some research I came across the Roland VT-12 vocal trainer.
“The VT-12 is an ideal integration of a tuner, recorder, metronome, and a comprehensive vocal method. The VT-12 contains all of the elements required for vocal training in an easy-to-use, handheld device. There are a lot of different tools for other instrumentalists, but there’s nothing like the VT-12 because this is particularly for singers, and I think it’s an indispensable tool for vocal training for teachers and students alike.” — Anne Peckham (Chair, Voice Department, Berklee College of Music)
I found the VT-12 to be very easy to use. It has a selection of warm-ups as well as exercises in different ranges and in various styles.
The front screen of the VT-12 has a chromatic tuner so that you can see what note you are hitting, meaning you are able to tell in real time whether or not you’re in pitch.
The VT-12 also has a microphone built in. The microphone records you as you sing along to the exercises, and after you’ve completed an exercise you can review what you just sang for post exercise feedback. At first this was disconcerting, but I found it to be one of the most powerful features of the VT-12.
The VT-12 comes bundled with a book on singing method as well as accompanying audio tracks developed by Berklee Press on singing and breathing techniques as well as the sheet music and explanations for each of the warm-ups and exercises.
The VT-12 is loaded with world-standard Concone Op. 9 Fifty Lessons classical voice exercises. Each of the 50 etudes has guide melodies with real-time pitch display and piano accompaniment for medium voice. If desired, you can turn off the guide melody and sing along with only the piano tracks. There are also selections from the G. Schirmer collection of 24 Italian Songs and Arias distributed by Hal Leonard – essential for classical voice training.
The only issue I found with the VT-12 is that the build in speakers are very soft, so I need to use head phones every time I use the VT-12. However, I find myself less distracted and more focused on what I’m doing when using headphones. It also allows me to hear my actual voice.
Warwick Levey
Teacher at the Gryphon Music Academy
For more information on the VT-12 contact one of our stores
