Category Archives: Singing Instruction

Singing

The interesting voice of Alanis Morissette

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Yes, there are loads of professional famous singers who sing with a high larynx. It’s their signature sound. It’s their uniqueness.

Do I recommend it? Absolutely not. It’s very limiting, tiring, and IMHO, usually not a marketable sound.

The key is the ability to sing with a larynx high (if one choses for artistic reasons, and to sing with the larynx stable and neutral if one choses). This is the case of Alanis Morrissette. I happen to think she is wildly creative and a very unique and interesting artist.

There are many important qualities that help the position of a high larynx create a manageable and non-straining sound. Optimum breath control and agility, strength and flexibility of the vocal cords are paramount.  The ability to produce oral twang and maintain strong oral resonance allows the singer to produce frequencies that appear loud and piercing to the listener.  Also, a singer needs control and ease of the jaw and tongue. This allows optimum freedom to form their speech-like voice with interesting and unique enunciation of vowels and consonants.

 

Visualizations

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One way to improve your singing technique is by thinking about images or visualizations that help to put the body into the most efficient coordination.

There are many images that can help with breath support and breathing. Try this one.

Imagine you have an open umbrella in your abdomen. The handle is located near your groin, and the collapsible part is open and engaged under your rib cage. The part under your rib cage is firm, yet flexible. It can expand and open bigger (wider) as you inhale, and go back to the regular open umbrella sensation when you exhale.

Don’t think about your breathing too much. You will simply breath when you need to breath. “Feel” how your upper abdomen, rib cage, and back muscles are engaged as you breath. If you feel uncomfortable, then don’t inhale quite as much air, or don’t imagine your umbrella so big. Start with a visualization that feels manageable, controllable, and flexible.

This is a great place to start to improve your breathing and breath support when you’re singing. Make sure you are sitting or standing properly with good posture. (Chest slighly out and head anchored back like someone is pulling on your hair).  Close your eyes and take the time to allow this sensation. Don’t force it. Allow your body to rhythmically be engaged in this way with your breath. Learn to live with it. Learn to memorize it and engage it all day long.

What do you think? Can you sing like this? Do you notice how your throat is very relaxed? It should be. You should only feel this interesting energy in the area of the image — your abdomen!

Notice how it puts prospective into how loud you can sing.. Notice the control you feel when you don’t sing loud. This is the essence of great singing….to be able to sing at a low to moderate volume with great control and intensity.

You may feel that you can’t inhale very deeply. Don’t worry about that right now. It’s now necessarily about how much air you are able to get it. It’s absolutely about how you are able to control the air that you use when you sing.

Question? Thoughts? Please leave it below.

What is the difference between head voice and falcetto? Does it matter?

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In my opinion, it’s all relative, really.

Here is my definition of falcetto: The condition of the vocal folds whereby the glottis is large and a lot of air is passing through.

Here is my definition of head voice: The condition of the vocal folds whereby the glottis is small(er), and the folds are able to withstand more breath pressure.

Let me explain.

With my own voice, I basically consider my falcetto to be a light head voice. This is the condition where I am allowing more air to pass through on a high pitch.

With some singers, this condition happens when they reach a certain pitch whereby the vocal folds cannot withstand the amount of breath being released. Basically, they blow apart.

In other singers, this condition happens as they gradually get higher and higher in pitch. There may not be an actual sensation of flip, but rather a breathiness that comes with singing high notes.

Ideally we want to have good vocal cord closure on our high notes without over-compression (squeezing).  Singing in your falcetto (or your head voice, whatever you decide to call it), is an important element to becoming a better singer.

 

The big mouth

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So why do all your American Idol favorites sing with huge mouths?

Answer: Because the big mouth is directly related to the freedom associated with making sounds found in contemporary styles such as rock, pop, gospel, jazz, musical theatre, country, and even opera!

The ability to get great cord closure (to sing high notes with thin and stretched cords), and resonate in the oropharynx (back of the throat and out through the mouth), is what we are talking about here. This means the soft palate is high enough (which it needs to be), and the jaw and tongue are relaxed enough (which they need to be), and the throat is open enough (which it needs to be), to allow the sound to project off the uvula and soft palate area. This creates great oral resonance (oral twang). With the right amount of breath support, this sensation is very freeing and very BUZZY. You will feel the buzzy vibrations on your upper teeth, the hard palate, in the nose, and even out the top of your head! But be careful. Make sure you are not just making head resonance. It needs to come out the front of your mouth! This is mixed voice (middle voice) in high gear, and the safest way to belt out your notes! This is what gives great singers the illusion that they are singing in the chest voice, when in fact, they are mixing like crazy (split resonance).

This is not easy to do, and it’s not as simple as described above. The actual critical playing card is your ability to control and manage your breathing.

Give it try. What do you think? Allow the voice to come out the mouth with the freedom of resonance in the head. Stick three fingers between your teeth to keep your jaw and tongue from gripping. I know it’s hard to form the consonants in your words…so just sing the vowels. If you can perfect this to a sound you like, you are well on your way!

Get that sound out of the back of your throat

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I know how it feels. I know you want to control it. I know it’s uncomfortable.

But, if you want to take your singing to the next level, you need to be willing to let it go.

That’s right, let go. Stop relying on the inside of your throat, tongue and jaw area to help you control your sound, and let the sound go. I know it’s breathy. That’s OK. Experience it. Let’ go of it and start in the correct places to get control of it.

Control start deep down….way down. When you breath in, visualize your entire belly and groin area expanding to allow your breath to go low and deep. Allow your abdomen to rhythmically expand and relax with the timing of your breathing.

Be sure to allow your body to maintain that bouyancy sensation of your ribs and abdomen slightly expanding as you breath in, and slightly returning as you exhale. But, don’t let this spongy, bouyancy feeling of breathing in your body leave you. You can control it. You can go about your daily chores and activities with this sensation all day long. It may be uncomfortable. It may feel like you are expanding your rib cage and your back, and your upper belly in an unusual way. Learn to welcome it, learn to engage it, learn to live with it. You are re-learning how to breath like you did when you were born….diaphragmatic breathing.

Next, is learning how to take in a quick, small sip of air that will accompany your breath support when you go to sing. Notice I said small. At this point, that’s all you really need to sing your phrases. However, if you need a little more, your body will tell you. Typically it’s not the amount of air you take in that matters right now, it’s how you are taking it in, and how well your body is controlling it. It’s the quick, rhythmic intake that sets you up for that first onset of making great sound happen.

Spend some time getting to know your breath. Your singing will thank you for it. It may not feel exactly like mentioned above, but if you allow yourself to get in touch with your own breath, amazing things can happen!

Habits

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We all have them. Some good. Some bad. But we have them.

Knowing them is key. Getting balanced and aligned with good singing technique will surely draw attention to your habits.

If your teacher is good, she will set you up with exercises that will counter your bad habits, and work the muscles that will set you on the path … slowly … one coordination at a time.

This is hard to do with self-taught programs. How do you know if you are doing a coordination correct? How do you know if your habit isn’t stopping you from proper alignment and balance.

That’s why you need a teacher to guide you. A good teacher. A teacher who is on the same page as you are.

Never under-estimate the value of a proper guidance and feedback. All the self-teach singing methods in the world will never replace a good teacher. Get on the right track first with a solid foundation. This is the quickest and most direct way to better singing.

“Learn the rules like a pro, and then break them”

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There is a saying in dance “learn the rules like a pro, and then break them”.

It’s perfectly appropriate for singing as well.

Freedom to express yourself is directly related to the amount of control you have over your voice. With good singing technique, you have equal control of your high, middle and low registers. You are essentially creating a baseline that you should always return when warming up and vocalizing.

Does this mean you have to stay there? Absolutely not. Once balanced, the voice can explore the qualities that ring true with the style of music you want to sing.

Although good singing technique is necessary to sing all styles of music well, certain styles can require the voice to do certain unique co-ordinations, especially with vowel formation, amount of breath being released, glottal attack and twang. However, most important is knowing that you are mixing well from the top of your range to the bottom.

Get your voice balanced and then start to build the qualities you are looking for.

 

 

 

Honing your skills

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Do you ever wonder how your favorite singers on American Idol got to be so darned good? (I’m referring to the singers in the finals, of course!). How can people possibly sing like that?

Well, let me tell you one of the secrets that is not really a secret! These singers are singing every day: sometimes for hours and hours. Many of these singers have been practising their singing skills since they were a child.

Now refer to your singing history. How long have you been singing? How are you going to add more hours of singing to your bank.

One of the best ways to get more practice each week is to join a choir, a band, or  sing karaoke regularly. It sure is a lot more fun working on your skills when you are actually “performing”. The more you sing, the more you become aware of the control you can have over your breath control and larynx (your voice box in your throat).

Singing everyday will always move you forward. As long as you are focused on correct technique, you will continually see improvement in your voice.

Best “Ah-ha” moment

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One of the best “ah-ha” moments about my voice came to me the summer I had a quaint little gig in the bar area of a classy restaurant. It was a quiet room that only sat about 6 people at the bar, and had six tables in a room approximately 20′ X 20′.

I had a small speaker system that was a perfect set-up for me and my digital piano. Now, the point I’m making here is how I learned to sing better that summer.

Prior to this, I always sang in bands. Loud bands. Big bands.

This experience was revolutionary for me.

You could hear a pin drop at times. My job was to entertaining the romantic couples who were waiting for their table, or who came in after dinner for a dance or two before going home. My job was to sing my heart out without being annoying loud.

Have you ever tried to sing/belt your heart out to a Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, or Kelly Clarkson tune, without being too loud? It’s an interesting combination, and one that is the key to your success as a strong singer.

I must say I did this well, and got better at it week after week.

The effort came from deep within. Almost deep within my soul, if that makes any sense. I had to take in huge breaths to build enough pressure to create the illusion of singing loud and belting. With careful play on the microphone, I was able to add emotional intimacy to my voice on the verses (usually the lowest pitches of a song), and then build intense dynamic power by increasing the strength and breath pressure in my body for the choruses.

Yes, the choruses were a bit louder, and I would simply back of the mic just enough to create that build up of intensity that matched the intensity of singing close to the microphone in the verse.

Does any of this make sense to you?

Questions? Comments? Please let me know below.

 

It’s time to build

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So, you are mixing. You have control of your larynx (not too high, not too low), and you are accessing the edges of your cords everyday through exercise, and getting good closure throughout your range. What’s next?

Build up of the voice to the next level is not effortless. In fact, the next level happens beneath the vocal cords. It’s your breathing.

That’s it. Maybe now it’s time to step it up and take in more breath.  But be careful, this does not mean let more breath out.

In fact, it’s quite the opposite.

If you are mixing with good resonance and cord closure (as mentioned in paragraph #1), then it’s time to make your body work harder.

Practise taking in deep breaths that make your belly extend. Hold it there. Feel the suspended feeling? Feel the buoyance to your upper chest and body? Feel the pressure build up down yonder in your genitals and rear end? There are many visuals that can help you achieve this sensation.

1. Imagine an open umbrella where the cover moves freely, in your abdomen (the open top imitating your rib cage). Not an umbrella that collapses, but an umbrella that waves from open to a little less open in a suspended, wavy but firm, motion (this is you breathing in and out).

2. Imagine holding up one of those plastic, floating, swimming devices around your mid to upper abdomen.  Keep in mind that you must still breath in and out, and keep this sensation of holding up the floating device. Feel the relaxed nature of the rest of your entire body as your abdomen and ribs are expanded while you breath. Notice as you take in the air, the device will tighten a bit around your upper abdomen. The abdomen will naturally fall in a little as you expel some air, but the sensation of holding up the device remains at all times. If this is totally uncomfortable or you feel lightheaded, then take in less air, and engage in these sensations and visualizations using less air.

3. As you expel air while breathing, engage in the pressure feeling of bearing down and build up that happens below your belly button. Control this feeling, learn to love this feeling, get familiar to this feeling; this is your breath support. Once you tap into the sensation of pressure build up in the lower abdominal area, genital and butt area, simply experience it while breathing. Remind yourself that this is your new way of breathing. This is the sensation that you will carry with you all day long while you continue to practise your new way of breathing.

You can use these sensations every minute of every day to help with your voice. You will notice your speaking voice will “pop” with ease when speaking. You will notice the rest of your body (your arms, legs, neck, head, jaw) simply relax into this unique, natural body effort that comes from deep within.

This way of breathing will help you in all facets of your life. You will feel more energy and more alive. Try to find that balance where you can manage these sensations throughout your entire day; not just when you’re singing.

Questions? Comments? I look forward to answering any questions.