In Celebration of the Human Voice - The Essential Musical Instrument

Elizabeth Sabine

Vocal Coach

Elizabeth Sabine

Dubbed the "Auntie Mame of Heavy Metal" by NBC News, Elizabeth Sabine is a Voice Strengthening Specialist. In recent years she has become known for her work in restoring and strengthening the voices of hard rock and heavy metal singers. She has also been able to apply her techniques to assist people in many other fields such as school teachers, trial lawyers, auctioneer, actors, preachers, etc.

Elizabeth Sabine was born in London in October 1923, and the family emigrated to Australia in 1924, settling in Sydney, New South Wales. Her father died in 1932, and in her teens Elizabeth helped her mother make exquisite flowers from feathers, which were then sold to the milliners (hat shops). She also won a scholarship for ballet, but left school at 14 years of age in order to work and help family finances. In time she took up singing and acting, working overtime to pay for her own tuition at the Conservatorium of Music. During World War II, Elizabeth was a member of a "concert party," entertaining troops and doing charity work, and gaining a great deal of experience in stage craft. After the war, she took up modeling for a period of time then toured Australia and New Zealand with several musical shows, including "Brigadoon" and "Song of Norway." She also toured and performed with Helen Reddy and her parents in the variety shows.

In 1950 Elizabeth married and had three sons, giving up her career at that time to raise a family. Unfortunately, eight years later, meningitis took the life of her youngest son who was two years old. Elizabeth's husband never quite recovered from this loss and died two years later from a stroke, at the age of 49. They had been married ten years. Forced to now become the bread winner, Elizabeth returned to her singing profession and began performing in the local nightclubs. She also did several TV commercials, and later became a regular singer in the "In Melbourne Tonight Show."

In time the Sitmar Shipping Line asked Elizabeth to become their Cruise Director for the special cruises they conducted during the year. Between singing engagements, she did this for a period of three years. And does she have some "Love Boat" tales to tell! In 1964 Elizabeth sold her house and took her two sons to England, where she toughened up her act by singing in the "working men clubs." Eventually she gave this up in order to run a boarding house in the country and spend time with her sons.

In 1974 she had an offer to go to America to start a new life, and so after 51 years of age, with nothing more than two suitcases and a return plane ticket, she arrived in Los Angeles. The "new life" soon came in the form of a meeting with the operatic tenor-cum-physicist Robert Mazzarella. Elizabeth was intrigued with his revolutionary new concept of voice strengthening and ultimately ended up becoming his protege. By the late 70's, Elizabeth realized there was a great need for technique to rebuild the ravished voices of some of the rock singers who were coming to her for help. Through research she discovered there were many rock performers singing successfully with no apparent damage to their voices, and soon realized it was because they were singing with the uninhibited, passionate cries of a child. Following this pattern, and by the streamlining certain exercises, Elizabeth was soon able to successfully strengthen voices for the vigorous screams and yells of hard rock and heavy metal music. She has now become known for her guarantee that she can increase the strength and emotional impact of every type of voice in a fraction of the time taken by conventional voice methods! But it's not only rockers who come to her for help. Actors, actresses and even businessmen have called on Elizabeth to learn how to strengthen their voices and be more assertive.

In 1981, Lee Stratsberg of the Lee Stratsberg Theatre Institute in Los Angeles, thought enough of her radical methods to engage Elizabeth to strengthen the voices of his acting and singing students. She also taught speech classes at the UCLA Extension Program in Los Angeles, and seminars on "How To Strengthen Your Voice For Speaking and Singing." at the Learning Tree Universities, the Learning Annex and several other institutions.

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Elizabeth Sabine : Strengthening Your Singing Voice

Review: Hollywood voice strengthening specialist Elizabeth Sabine has spent a lifetime teaching vocal skills to rock singers from bands like Gun's N' Roses, 38 Special, Men At Work, Keel, and Giant as well as actors such as Chuck Norris and Elizabeth Shue and vocal coaches Jaime Vendera and Cara Mastrey. Elizabeth explains the usual sources of vocal fatigue and describes how to overcome these common problems that have cost some singers/actors their careers. She completely explains a simple system of turning your voice into energy and creating vocal power.

Chapters: So You Want To Sing, Meeting The Master, Enter John C, The Harsh, Ugly Voice Of A Fishwife, Mazzarella's Discoveries, It's All About Electrical Energy, The Two Secrets, A Statement From Pavarotti, The Cries And Calls, The Vocal Wisdom of Giovanni Battista Lamperti, The Fear of Hearing Your Own Voice, It's All One Voice, The Fragility of Childhood, Examples of Students' Vocal Problems, Life-Changing Experiences, The Powerful, But Vulnerable Cords, The Action Of The Vocal Cords, Even The Experts Are Confused, Vocal Cords In Action, What Vocal Scientists Don't Know, The First Breath, Sing Without Taking In Large Breaths, Never Let Them See You Breathe, Never Let Them Hear You Breathe, Don't Breathe In The Wrong Places, Function Versus Structure, The Abdominal Area Before You Speak Or Sing, The Power of Anger, Exercises Using Anger, The Problem With Copying Stylized Voices, Unsuitable Voices To Copy, Inspiring Singing Voices, Pneumatic Energy Of Hard Rock Singing, Meeting Ron Keel, When Rockers Scream, The Consequences of Screaming, Glottal Shock, The Mysterious Organ- The Diaphragm, The Body As An Amplifier, What To Do For Rich Low Notes (For All Voices), Working With The Diaphragm, The Importance Of Vowels, The Sustained Vowel, More About Vowels, The Problem With Consonants, Don't Over-Dictionize, A Good Language To Sing, Substitute Consonants, That Darn Pitch Problem, Open Your Mouth Wider, Why Is That Tune Exciting?, You Need Great Songs, Most Children Don't Have Vocal "Breaks", Our Primal Screams, Developing The True Head Voice, Think Down For Higher Pitches, What Happens When We Raise Our Pitch, How To Handle The "Break" In The Voice, How To Practice, How Long To Practice, Creative Ways To Practice, How About A Vocal Booth?, How About An Igloo ?, Try Not To Practice When Tired, The Phenomena Of Sound, Don't Judge Your Voice, Learn To "Feel" Your Voice, Why Sherill Milnes Practices Underground, Singing- The Crystallization of Our Deepest Emotions, The Sequence of Human Emotions, Practice Feeling Emotions, The Importance of Knowing Key Words In A Song, How To Connect Into Your Emotions, How To Control The Voice When Nervous, Use Nervousness To Your Advantage, Cottonmouth, Why You Can Feel Vulnerable, A Vocal Performer's Nightmare, Dangerous Solutions, The Danger Of Whispering, Nothing You Eat... Should Touch The Vocal Cords, What Takes Place When We Swallow, The Secret Of Moist Vocal Cords, How To Prepare For A Performance, Crazy Concepts Of Performance Preparation, The Chocolate/Milk Supposition, Warm or Cold Liquid Drinks, Alcohol and Tranquilizers, Taking The Right Nutrients For The Voice, The Problems of Being Tired, The Magic Action, Strained or Swollen Vocal Cords, Caring For The Cords, Moisturize- Don't Medicate, A Survival Action, Things To Avoid, Bless The Common Cold, How To Fight An Oncoming Head Cold, A Healing Breakthrough, Singers Outlive Non-Singers, Aerobics Singing, Don't Let Your Voice Age You