Resonance

Posted on May 29, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

There are three main areas of resonance for the voice. The chest, the head and what I like to refer to as the middle. This is the mouth (soft and hard palate) and the back of the throat…..also known as the oropharynx.

This resonance happens easiest when you have a balance of chest register and head register (mix). If you are too much in a chest register coordination it is difficult to get this resonance, and same goes with too much of a head voice coordination. A good balance of the two will allow the larynx to adjust for effective middle voice resonance.

Check out this exercise to hear a good example of pharyngeal resonance. When you do the exercise you shouldn’t feel any strain in the throat. Just lift the cheeks slightly, and relax the jaw. http://soundcloud.com/beemusicstudios/the-shouty-singer

OK, let’s cut to the chase

Posted on May 27, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Please remember, I’m here to help you….yes, help you so you don’t take years off your career, like I did, just to figure out what you want from your voice.

If you are not interested in singing classical music, then don’t go to a classical voice teacher!! Period. You have options! If you want to sing Broadway, be careful about what voice teacher you choose.

When I was pursuing my dreams as a singer, I didn’t see my options. I knew I was struggling with my voice on the weekend with my band. I was yelling. I was hoarse. And then, on Sunday mornings I would use “this other voice” to sing songs in church. It was bizarre. I knew my voice was “disjointed” ‘but I didn’t know why, and I couldn’t figure out how to fix it on my own.

After taking voice at university, I had gained superb breath control, but still hadn’t figured out the voice I wanted. I felt like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I was with Dr. Jekyll on Saturday nights, and Mr. Hyde on Sunday mornings. It was not a great feeling. I knew something was wrong.

Then I learned about the mixed voice! Yes, the middle voice! Ladies and gentlemen, this is the ticket! No more flipping; no more yelling, no more breathy high notes. Finally, the answer I was looking for. Thank you Seth Riggs!

This is the answer for you as well! Don’t waste time like I did. Cut straight to the chase. Figure out your middle voice and voila….you can sing anything you want to and be proud of it!

Why I Admire Seth Riggs

Posted on May 26, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Seth Riggs, the man behind the incredible singing technique called Speech Level Singing. Many great singing coaches have learned from his early teachings. Teachers such as Brett Manning (Singing Success), Roger Love (The Perfect Voice), and Roger Burnley (Singing Made Simple) have gone on to create fabulous singing programs in their own right.

What makes this man so incredible is that he realized that many trained singers had a consistent and ongoing problem negotiating the middle of their voice. He realized most trained singers had only a head voice coordination when singing notes below their first passagio, and singers on Broadway would typically “flip” into their chest voice to get their speech-like belt, and end up yelling out the high notes, until they needed to flip back to their head voice coordination to continue on higher pitches.

He also realized that many untrained voices did the exact opposite. These singers would typically sing with a chest voice coordination only, and they usually ended up yelling and splatting on their high notes.

So hooray for Seth Riggs! This man has created a system of scales and awareness that strengthens the middle voice. This is called mixing!

What’s after mixing?

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Once you know you are “mixing” your voice, what is next? Is that all there is? Well, certainly not. Mixing is a good start, however!

The ability to mix your registers and sing well in your middle voice will set you up nicely with the coordination for safe and healthy resonance. But there are other very important factors such as breath control (airflow/volume), tone (vowels), cord closure (consonants), posture, and more to take into account. All these factors need to work in a balanced fashion to achieve good results. When one over-rules the other, the voice (throat) and body will likely try to compensate, thus causing strain.

Here is an exercise that you should do everyday to work your vocal cords in your mix. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTHnsyCEsHk

Let me know how it went for you!

You can control your larynx!

Posted on May 21, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Your larynx is your voice box. It houses your vocal cords. It’s situated in behind the Adam’s apple which is that bump you feel in your throat…you know, the bump in your neck that is usually larger on a guy than a girl.

Good singing technique requires that the larynx remains low and stable. So go ahead and try this. Put your finger on your Adam’s Apple while singing and see if it is rising when you try to sing high notes. In many singers it does go up….way up! The problem is that when your larynx rises too high, it closes off your wind pipe which is, in fact, blocking your vocal cords! This is the last thing you want when singing.

This is what is meant by singing with an open throat. Good technique is having the ability to sing while keeping your larynx in a low and stable position.

The “Mariah Carey” Voice

Posted on May 19, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Mariah is a fabulous singer! She can do acrobatics with her voice! She has managed to sing strong and consistently for over two decades while enduring the typical stressful life indicative of a top-selling recording artist in the 21st century.

Even a balanced voice like Mariah Carey’s can run the risk of vocal damage such as nodes and calluses when over-used. No “one” voice is perfect all the time, and no “one” singer will exhibit the same limitations of what can be done with their voice at any given time. Every instrument is unique and different, and will change daily with the conditions that are present at that time.

Does that mean a singer shouldn’t sing or talk when they are not at their absolute best? Well, yes, I suppose it does. But how is that possible? If singing is your living then you have a job to do. How can you possibly stop talking and singing when you feel the slightest problem arising in your voice? You must do your job and that means using your voice.

Bottom line is a singer needs to know their instrument, and how to keep it healthy and working when it needs to. Planning ahead and scheduling time off for recouperating is imperative in this music business. Keeping the body healthy and getting enough sleep is a must. Knowing how to vocalize daily is crucial. Singing is tough business.

That being said, we can’t expect famous singing voices to never show a sign of wear & tear.

And what about the fact that the music business actually puts voices that have a “wear & tear” sound on a pedestal! What is a singer to do?

Self-awareness is key. That is why I teach about the middle voice with special attention to bridging (mixing) at the first passagio. When singers learn how to control their breath, master their natural tone and resonance, and establish their baseline volume, they can avoid many problems that come with over-singing.

Singers, stop shouting!

Posted on May 17, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Yes, I know you like that strong powerful chest sound, but there is an easier way to get it!

Try this. Pick a song you are working on that has you singing louder to hit the high notes. It’s usually notes in the chorus…correct?

Next…sing the song starting at the chorus. Find the volume where you can handle all the notes in the chorus without flipping into your falcetto. (This is your mixed voice!) If it is straining you in the throat to do this, then you are hanging on too much. Sing lighter and let go. Again, find the maximum volume where you can sing these notes without flipping.

Try this….sing the entire chorus with nay, nay, nay. Feel the presence of resonance in your head and nose area. Now, sing with the words. Did you need to decrease your volume? This is the volume you need to stay at. This is the max for now. (until you become a better vocal athlete!) Now, sing the entire chorus at this volume and coordination.

Now, you need to back-up. The volume of your verse needs to be in sync with the way you just did the chorus. I don’t mean the same volume…I mean the same coordination. You need to match the intensity, and sing at the volume that matches what you just established at your maximum volume for the chorus. It will likely take very little effort to sing the verse. However, make sure you are singing it with the same “feel” and coordination you had when you sang the chorus. Don’t “fall” back into your old spot. Remember the coordination you just worked on in the chorus.

It’s very easy to slip out of this “mode” and fall back into your original “only-chest” set-up. Don’t do this! Sing the entire verse with “nay, nay, nay” and revisit the chorus just to be sure. If it feels like you are singing through your nose, then make your mouth bigger and enunciate those words. Keep a “smile” feeling in the back of your throat and raise your eyebrows. This might help you keep the “nay, nay” coordination in the verse.

Now sing the words in the verse. This is likely to seem easy and almost boring for you because you are not giving it everything you’ve got! Just remember, you are setting yourself up for success in the chorus!

Still wondering if you’re doing it correct? Check out my audio file at www.soundcloud.com and see if that helps! Good luck and let me know how it goes!

Easiest job in the world?

Posted on May 16, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

I remember my friends saying “Wow, you have the easiest job in the world, singing!” I would think to myself, you’ve got to be kidding. They had no idea the physical effort I was enduring to keep my voice balanced and controlled, and sounding the way it did ever minute of my performance.

Sure, singing isn’t rocket science, but singing well for long periods of time is a balancing act of coordination between body, air flow and the vocal cords. If one of these is out of sync, then something has to give. Usually it’s the throat!

The Middle Voice

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Oh, the controversy! Is there such a thing as the middle voice? Some would argue there is only chest voice and head voice, and a passagio (sometimes called a bridge or a break), separating the two. The chest and head voice get their name from where the voice resonates in the body. If you put your hand on your chest and speak, you can feel the vibrations on your hand. This is your chest voice. If you leave your chest voice (which some people have a lot of trouble doing!) and go to a high free-sounding place (try the sound woo – woo), then you have found your head voice. Like I said, some people have trouble finding their head voice. Usually, this is men.

I, frankly, love the term middle voice. Since I like to sing music genres such as rock, pop, and country, the middle voice is where all the action is! For women this is around middle C to high C, and for men this is around G below middle C to G above middle C. You will notice that almost all commercial music falls into this area (and more).

The middle voice is where you “get in the mix”! Again, there is much controversy over this term.

Mixing simply is a term used when a singer has the ability to keep their vocal cords properly adducted as they ascend and descend through their bridges. If you can do this properly, then you will notice a shift in resonance as the sound moves upward from your throat and mouth area into your face and head. Once you have ascended in pitch, it will actually feel like you are singing in your head, but not in a light falcetto airy mode. If you have kept the cords together well, and have allowed the resonance to shift accordingly as you ascended, then you have achieved a good mix. You should feel no strain in the throat whatsoever.

I’m very passionate about singers figuring out their mix. Once a singer learns the “feeling” and “coordination” necessary to be in a good mix, then they can work on building strength, endurance and enhancing tone.

Visit me at www.soundcloud.com for vocal exercises to help you “get in the mix”!

Singing technique for children

Posted on May 9, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Children deserve the right to explore and learn about their voice just as much as teens and adults. Don’t you wish you had more direction with your voice when you were a child? I know I do. Children learn to speak by mimicing what they hear, and children can learn to sing by mimicing what they hear as well. However, listening to commercial/contemporary music is not the answer. In fact, this is what causes many young singers to run into poor singing habits.

How we sing can be a direct result of how we speak. Vocal habits (good and bad) are developed early in childhood, and can be carried on throughout a lifetime. Many factors influence the speaking habits of children, such as coping with asthma, allergies and reflux; genetic factors such as the shape and size of the vocal structure including the mouth, throat and jaw; social components such as whether a child lives in a busy and loud household; and what about the child who attends sports events and has developed the habit of shouting and yelling.

Parents need to be made aware. A child’s voice is an instrument they will have for a lifetime. If managed properly from an early age, it will grow and develop into a beautiful, healthy instrument.

In my studio, children are encouraged to sing from a very young age. We make high sounds and low sounds, loud sounds and soft sounds. We learn to hoot like an owl, and meow like a cat. All these coordinations are useful in learning to sing.

Small group settings work well, and are especially fun when incorporated with actions for the very young. It’s important to not make practising sounds a serious task. Most children will simply copy what you suggest and have fun doing it. If this is repeated regularly, their small voices with memorize these coordinations and easily repeat back on task. Pitch is then usually mastered if sounds are encouraged in a consistent way in the same part of the voice every time.