Published by: Julia
Whether you want to learn to sing, market your records, improve your performance or are just a fan, Christina Aguilera’s masterclass is an exceptional resource. It is an engaging and fun way to learn to sing.
You really are learning from the best
Despite being relatively young, Christina Aguillera has already been singing and performing professionally for nearly 3 decades. She also knows the music industry inside and out.
More importantly, she is a fantastic singer. And as you will see when you buy her masterclass, an excellent teacher too.
She has already won 5 Grammys, a Latin Grammy Award and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The realatively young singer, song-writer and actress was included in Time’s 100 most influential people in the world list, in 2008.
Christina is a tour de force. Who, as you will see, is also an exceptionally good teacher.
What to expect from Christina Aguilera’s masterclass
Below I provide you with a full review. I have watched every video in the course and gone through the workbook. Despite not being much of a singer, I have also done some of the exercises Christina suggests. Plus, read up about what others, including semi-professional singers, think of this online singing course.
So, I’ve got quite a lot of information to share with you all. But, I appreciate that not everyone will have the time or wants to read a full-length masterclass.com review. So, first, I am going to give you a very quick overview of what the course contains. In the form of a list. Then, later in the review go into a bit more detail about what some of the most popular and important lessons contained.
- Intro, Christina’s favourite singers
- How to warm up your voice
- Developing your voice
- Making the most of your voice – projection – range – diction tone and texture
- Taking care of your voice
- Mastering the beat
- How to sing duets
- Performing live – planning and handling anxiety
- How to get the most from live and studio microphones
- Christina’s personal advice, experience and singing tips
Great value for money
Before I go into more detail, I have to tell you that this is a great Masterclass.com course. One of the best I have taken, to date.
So, it is well worth paying $90 to take the course or gift it to someone who loves singing or is a fan of Christina. Even better if you do as I have done and complete it using the all-access pass.
At the time of writing this, that only costs $180. Yet, you get to take all of the 60+ masterclasses that are available on the platform. So, far I have taken all of the cooking classes, most of the acting, writing and filmmaking masterclasses. Plus, several of the music classes.
An approach I can highly recommend because it provides you with the chance to dive even deeper into a subject. Each expert or artist has a different approach to their craft, so there is always something new to glean from each masterclass.
By the way, we recommend purchasing Masterclass for more than just one single course. The value comes when you take several. If you want to read our review of the whole platform, check out this Masterclass review article.
If you want to just find out what some of the best masterclasses are, this is the article for you.
An insight into Christina Aguilera’s singing masterclass
The intro videos are interesting and certainly worth your while going through. But, the teaching really starts once you get past that point.
How to build up, protect and use your voice to its full potential
Your voice is your most important asset. So, naturally much of Christina’s course is given over to teaching you how to make the most of your instrument.
How to warm up your voice
Your vocal cords are like any other muscle. If you train it if you practice it is going to get stronger.
Warming up your voice is essential. It provides you with a safe way to stretch and build up your throat muscles. Watching this video demonstrates just how developed Christina’s voice is. You can really understand how warm-up exercises have helped her.
She also shares details of how she has used yoga to improve her voice and performances.
How to protect your singing voice
During the course, Christina constantly reminds you of the need to preserve your voice. She shares numerous tips to help you do exactly that. I especially enjoyed her tip about how to do a vocal warm-up without actually making any noise. It is a very useful exercise that I found surprisingly easy to master.
How to safely build the range of your singing voice
Increasing your range enables you to experiment and perform all kinds of music. It opens up a whole world of new opportunities. But, it needs to be done in the right way. Partly to protect your voice, but, more importantly so that you can maximize your singing range.
It’s a gradual process. Appreciate and respect the process.
Christina Aguilera Teaches Singing Masterclass
How to make the most of your voice
Christina is a fantastic performer. She has a strong, well-trained voice. But, it is the way that she uses it that makes her stand out from other pop singers.
In the “simplify” section of the course, she explains how less is more when it comes to performing.
Tapping into your emotions, identifying dynamic moments in a song and emphasizing them will enable you to touch your audience in a way most singers can’t. It is this skill that adds texture and interest to your performance and will keep people coming back for more.
Christina teaches you how to make a connection with what you are singing. To truly understand the story and what that song is likely to mean to your audience. I found this to be the most fascinating part of Christina Aguilera’s singing masterclass.
Christina Aguilera’s student sessions
Like many other masterclass.com teachers, Christina elaborates on and demonstrates many of her most important points by going over what she has just taught with a group of actual students. It is a very effective teaching tool, which Christina uses to good effect. Her student sessions cover the following subjects:
- How to project your voice and enrich your performance
- How to perform pop music
- The right way to perform rock music
One of the best tips I picked up from this section was how pushing your breath out can help you to moderate your voice. Christina explains to her students that she feels at home belting out a song and can sing very softly. But, anything in between is outside of her comfort zone. She explains how learning to push her breath out helped her to sing more clearly in the mid-range. A skill that enabled to become the performer she is today.
How to tell a story when you sing
The video on diction was extremely interesting to me. I expected Christina to say enunciation and diction were important. In fact, she said the opposite. She explains how you can become someone else when you sing. To change the way you say certain words to be the character that is telling their story through song.
This is another important component of Christina’s performance technique. It is something I had not noticed while listening to her music. But, when I listened again I better appreciated the richness of her performances and how to sell the story of the song you are singing.
Why you need to master different vocal techniques
As with anything in life, it is all too easy to get into a bit of a rut. We all have a tendency to lean on our strengths and work within our comfort zone. This is fine, up to a point. The problem is that if you do not stretch yourself and learn new vocal techniques you will end up inevitably limiting yourself. In the end, you will regret doing this as a singer. It is a habit that will stop you from expressing yourself as an artist.
During the course, Christina quickly shows you how to master the following vocal techniques:
- Harmony
- Belting
- Vibrato
- Slides
Mastering duets
Being able to sing well with others is another skill she recommends that you learn. This is clearly important to Christina because she took the time to make 2 videos on this subject. In them, she covers everything from pre-rehearsal prep to getting the timing and emotion right. The 2nd one is a charming video as well as being very informative.
How to develop your inner rhythm as a singer
Experimenting with the beat is a great way to rework a song. It also helps you to get in touch with your inner rhythm. This section of the course nicely covers getting the tempo right.
A singer’s relationship with rhythm is like a dance.
Christina Aguilera – Masterclass.com
She suggests working with a drummer to lock down your timing and tempo. The interesting thing is the way the same beat can be used to sing a Ballard or a rock anthem.
Christina nicely demonstrates how adding a beat or rhythm can change a song and the story it tells. It is a great lesson in how you can adapt what you sing to appeal to a new audience. To convey a different story and reach even more people.
Learning to work well with microphones
All performers have to learn to use the tools of their trade well. For singers, that means mastering microphones. As you will see, you need to use very different techniques for studio and live microphones. Christina shows you how to carry out a mic check in both situations and adjust your performance to get the most out of the acoustics.
How to become a better performer
The thing I liked most about Christina’s course is that it is about far more than just singing. She has taken the time to go a bit further and explain how to become the best performer you can be.
During this section of the course she explains:
- How to overcome performance anxiety
- How to translate your studio songs into a live performance
- Dealing with the mistakes you will inevitably make
- How to deal with the criticism of others
Staying true to yourself and expressing yourself as a singer
It is surprising how free and easy people are with their criticism of singers. From what Christina said, it is clear that she has had to deal with haters for much of her career. Fortunately, she learned how to differentiate between helpful comments and the things that she needed to ignore. Tips that she freely shares during the final few videos in her masterclass.
Usually the people that actually have the worst things to say wish they had your talent.
Christina Aguilera – Masterclass.com
What comes next?
Christina finishes on a high by explaining what comes next. Her suggestion to build on what you have learned and discovered about yourself to progress your singing career is an excellent one.
Getting the most out of Christina Aguilera’s singing workbook
As you can see from my in-depth masterclass platform review, every course comes with a workbook. My suggestion is to always download and use them. They are usually excellent. Christina’s certainly is.
It is full of additional tips and tricks. Plus, there are some excellent exercises for you to try. My advice is to use Christina’s singing workbook extensively. It is the best way to get the most out of the course.
