One of the best country singer belters is Carrie Underwood

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Susan McAllister-Bee

No doubt, one of the best female country belters is Carrie Underwood.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhvaDJTUmrU

Take note of Carrie’s first line here at the chorus of How Great Thou Art…starting at 2:26. Notice the head tilt back in conjunction with the ascending notes…..“Then sings my soul”, and then the head comes back down when descending on the notes “my Savior”; back up for “God”, and back down “to Thee”. Carrie is well-known for this head technique. When she is “in belt mode” she raises her chin which activates the cricoid cartilage in the larynx.

So what is going on? Is Carrie actually just shouting? Well, yes, she is actually shout-singing in a controlled manner (in this case a C above middle C). She appears loud (and sounds like she is solely in her chest register). This is an illusion. Carrie sounds like she is pulling chest, but she is definitely mixing. You can bet that she could sing like this in your living room without a microphone and control the volume well enough to not bother your ears. It appears loud, but it really isn’t “too” loud.

According to Estill Voice Technique, cricoid tilt increases loudness with less breath.

Let’s talk about Carrie’s breathing.

Carrie is a great breather. This is a hidden technique that you can’t see, you can only feel, and/or experience.

If you watch and listen to Carrie breathe throughout the entire song you will notice there are NO big gasps of breath intake. Notice they are very quick sips of air through the mouth. Almost like she is simply just “topping up” at the beginning of each phrase. Yes, it’s a little noisy (which can be considered poor technique). Also, notice you never see Carrie’s shoulders or upper chest rise. Carrie has great breath control and everything down yonder is working with maximum efficiency. Check out her ending to this song starting at 4:36. This is superb breath control.

At 4:36 and 4:49 the word “great” is on a high E flat. This is approximately the 2^nd passagio of the female voice and a very challenging area for pop, rock and country singers. The voice ideally should be allowed to transition to pure head register here, but that would definitely not be in keeping with the style of the rest of this song.

Carrie is a little tight on this E flat, but this is a live performance! I think she handled it remarkably well. The long “a” vowel in the word “great” is a challenging vowel (diphthong) at the best of times. Carrie could have tried to narrow the long “a” vowel a little bit to make this easier for her (such as a short “e” as in “bed”). The audience wouldn’t notice that she is deliberately changing the long “a” vowel. Their ears would still hear the word as they already know it. This narrowing would have allowed the word to resonate easier in the head voice and likely have caused less strain in the sound.

The other great quality Carrie has to her natural voice is “oral twang”. This bright, brassy, piercing sound allows her to sing loud and resonant without using a lot of breath, and without a great deal of effort. You can hear the “twang” in her speaking voice. She doesn’t need to work at it. It is part of her inherent sound quality. Note that twang can be a missing element to achieving volume (resonance) in your head voice. Singers who don’t have a lot of oral twang can sometimes try to alter or “push” the sound to try and make their voice louder. This usually activates muscles that “squeeze” the sound instead of allowing the tone to freely make it’s way from the back of the throat and beyond.

Note that when Carrie is belting, she is not “thinning” her vocal cords as she ascends past her first passagio. She does thin her cords sometimes above her bridge, and you hear this anytime she is singing high pitches that are not shouty. Some of you might refer to this as a falcetto sound. And, that’s OK. It definitely is breathier. (This is part the challenge of belt singers……to be able to use thick or thin folds while singing in the head register without being breathy).

In conclusion, the ability to maintain speech-level thickness to the cords, and allow the larynx to tilt and stretch are essential elements to safe belting. This allows the sound to get out of the back of the throat and resonant throughout the entire register…..hence mixing!!

Questions? Comments? I look forward to hearing from you.

The big mouth

Posted on April 13, 2013 by Susan McAllister-Bee

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!

Tongue out exercises

Posted on January 31, 2013 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Love ’em, love ’em, love ’em! And you should do ’em, do ’em, do ’em!

This is no easy task but it’s a sure fire way to find out if the back of your tongue is getting in the way of mixing from chest to head voice.

So, let your tongue hang out…not forced out like you would stick out your tongue at someone, but loose and lazy with a big mouth. You will notice that your jaw will drop and your larynx will automatically stay reasonably low and stable. Ideally you want your face to resemble the start of a nasty scream or a happy yell. Your cheeks and nasal area should raise, and your upper lip will spread wide.

Now it’s time for making noises. Don’t try to sing. Making sounds with “g” like “gug” and “goo” in your middle to high register will challenge you to work your tongue high in the back of the throat. The tongue needs to touch your soft palate to make the ‘g’ sound, and yet in order to make these sounds in a mixed voice, your soft palate has to be high enough to allow the sound to resonate into the nasal area.

You should notice yourself making interesting facial expressions as you try to figure out how to get cord closure (so your sound isn’t breathy) into you high voice.

This is twanging in a mixed voice. Twanging is a term used in Estill Voice Technique, and Robert Lunte’s Four Pillars TVS program. For those of you working on Brett Manning’s Singing Success and Mastering Mix programs these are pharyngeal sounds. And by the way, all four of these are great invaluable programs with loads of insight into great singing.

Try it and let me know what you think. Can you do it? How high can you get without your cords allowing too much air to get through?

Oh, and the best place to do these exercises is in your car on your way to and from work:) The other drivers will love it!

The illusion of power

Posted on December 23, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

Too many times I hear over-compressed cords from students who think they are singing with power. Unfortunately this sound is dull and to be quite blunt … ugly. Over-compressing the cords will only cause students trouble as they try to sing higher, because they can’t release this sensation without flipping into falcetto. The answer is; mixing with head voice and allowing the cords to thin and stretch as you sing higher.

Men, you can find your head voice by singing a G above middle C in a connected, stable and controlled sound. This isn’t falcetto. This is head voice. If you feel your throat “choking” you then your larynx is probably too high. This coordination is not going to help you sing in optimum head voice mix, so work on getting that larynx down first.

Women, you can find your true head voice by singing a high C. Again, make sure this isn’t breathy or you are probably in falcetto (which means the cords have come apart).

Working this area of your voice is very important for mixing. Learn to love your head voice. It may seem weak and foreign to you, and that is all-the-more reason to figure out this area of your voice from this approach. Keep the volume at a medium to low level.

There are other elements that will help build a powerful and strong mixed voice too. Once your head voice is easy to control and identify, then you can work on pharyngeal sounds and exercises to bring out the illusion of power. Yes, the illusion of power. The illusion of a super-human sound that is actually just your head voice in a mix!

Sing above the pencil

Posted on October 24, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

For those of you still wondering if you are “mixing” with your head voice resonance, try this.

Visualize you are holding a pencil lengthwise between your teeth (or actually put a pencil between your teeth!). Now, direct every note you sing above the pencil line. In other words, “think” your sound into your face.

If you are pulling chest, you may notice that it helps you relax in the throat. Indeed, sometimes this is the only thing that needs to change in order to “allow” your head voice to join your chest voice…………Voila! You are mixing!

Why not give it a “cry”

Posted on August 30, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

This amazing little coordination can do wonders for your voice. You will notice that if your habit is to sing too loud, it will automatically take you back to a volume where you can manage this sensation. What sensation you say? The sensation of a cry…..or a moan…..or a sob……or all three!

First, the “cry” is doing something very helpful to the vocal folds by “thinning” and “stretching” them. It is helpful to be able to control your air through this vocal cord set up because you helps you sing higher pitches without flipping into falcetto. You can also get this sensation by doing a high pitch puppy dog whimper.

Second, add the “moan” or “groan” sensation with the “cry” and you get the added benefit of keeping a neutral larynx. Sometimes the “cry” sound makes you raise your larynx too much, which can block the sound and create tension and tightness in the throat. This is not ideal. Instead, try an even balance of the “cry” with a “moan” or “sob” feeling. This is a great way to learn how to sing higher in your mix. Don’t push it. Feel the balance and practise at a volume that you can manage through your entire range.

Questions? Why not drop me a line!

Easier way to access your mix

Posted on August 26, 2012 by Susan McAllister-Bee

With speech level singing, one of the main directives is to sing in your mix. Your mixed voice is simply the ability to sing from the bottom of your range to the top of your range without flipping, without raising your larynx, without shouting, and without laryngeal constriction.

There are some sounds that set you up nicely for finding your mix. Try this. Make a puppy dog whimpering sound, or a small child whining sound. This will stretch the vocal cords by tilting the thyroid cartilage forward. Move this sound up slowly into higher pitches. It may feel as though you are still in your chest voice because the cords are not necessarily thinning (although they may thin as well), but they are stretching. This is a necessary set up to get “in the mix”. If you have trouble doing this (because you feel your throat tighten up), then add the feeling of a moan or a groan. Think and say to yourself “oh, poor me” in a whiny higher pitched voice 🙁

Don’t do this loud. Don’t sing it…it’s simply a sound. This coordination will help tilt the cartilage which helps you achieve higher notes. This is the mix. This is stretching the vocal cords.

There is the risk of false cord constriction when making these whining sounds. That’s why you need to practise at a medium volume that matches the volume of your speaking voice. If you find yourself getting louder as you get higher, then stay in the range where the volume is maintained.

You need to visit these sounds everyday! The laryngeal muscles will learn new movements but you need to take it one baby step at a time. If you force the sounds then you are using different muscles, and that isn’t achieving a good mix!

Try it! Questions? Let me know how it goes!

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”!