Tag Archives: speech level singing

Why I Admire Seth Riggs

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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!

Let’s be clear what SLS is and what it is not

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I’ve been a huge fan of Speech Level Singing for over ten years, and continue to be. I’ve studied with some of the best SLS teachers in the world, and I use SLS exercises continuously in my studio. I think the method is superb and was even certified for two years. I vocalize with the SLS technique daily.

What SLS is: A fabulous vocal training method to keep the vocal folds in tip top shape. This can allow you to sing any genre you wish.

What SLS is not: A vocal training system that teaches you how to sing any genre you want in a safe, effective way.

The problem with SLS is that it doesn’t help singers build their signature sound. It is a fabulous way to keep the voice in shape, but it doesn’t allow the singer to learn how to make sounds that are specific to their genre.  For example I like to sing country, pop and rock. There is no way I am going to sing a high C in a song the same way I sing high C when I vocalize. My preference is to use more chest voice “in my mix” and keep the resonance near the front of my face to achieve the sound that I want. I even prefer to allow my larynx to rise a little and tilt. This gets me the sound I like in a safe and effective way. Lots of twang and great breath control.

I think SLS could take the next step in helping the artist develop their signature sound in a healthy way. I believe Brett Manning’s organization is much better suited to a variety of vocal sounds than is the Seth Riggs Organization. Brett is getting loads of country singers in Nashville so you can bet he is helping them achieve the sound they want in a safe, effective way. Seth Riggs, on the other hand, is a pure and very specific vocal training system to teach singers how to sing from the bottom to the top of their range in a balanced way. This is a fabulous thing, but I think some students may be confused about what the voice can and cannot do in terms of making healthy sounds that suit their specific genre.

If you are a rock singer and have been vocalizing with the SLS method for some time, consider this? Are you happy with your high notes? Are you able to get the sound you really want without straining? If not, then the next step is looking at safe ways to make those specific sounds. I  believe some SLS studios can do this, if they understand what you want. Communication with your coach is definitely key here. If your current teacher isn’t equipped to help you with these sounds, then you may need to consider other coaches. There are ways to build your chest voice higher in your mix in a perfectly safe way. And, I’m not talking about belting. That is a very different way of singing.

SLS will always be a fabulous singing method. But singers need to be clear about what it is, and what it is not.

The mixed voice

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I’ve talked about the “mixed voice” and how to find your “mixed voice” before. This is a term created by Maestro Seth Riggs in his Speech Level Singing method years ago. It is also used by Brett Manning, Roger Love, Dave Brooks, and countless other top-quality singing coaches from around the world.

There is a lot of controversy surrounding this term in the singing community. Some singing teachers from around the world cringe when they hear the term “mixed voice”. I believe this stems from the fact that we physically do not actually have a “mixed voice,” and the fact that many singers do not actually know what it is, what it should feel like, or how to get it.

However, I believe all singing teachers will agree that we do have a chest register (or chest voice as referred to by SLS), and a head register (head voice as referred to by SLS). These are two terms that have been around for hundreds of years, and are commonplace in a singer’s vocabulary.

I tell my students that a mixed voice is simply the ability of a singer to ascend or descend in pitch between their chest register and their head register without constriction, and with the appropriate balance of both registers. Every singer knows about those whacky areas of their voice where singing gets a little tricker. This area, called the bridge or passagio, is where the larnyx and the body need to make careful adjustments in order to sing higher without constriction. In SLS, coaches do this with carefully selected scale combinations of vowel (resonance), consonant (cord closure), and volume (air flow).

I, frankly, like the term mixed voice for myself and for my students. For myself, it is a balanced sensation (or state) that I exercise daily with scales to keep my voice healthy, strong, and flexible. I don’t use the same blend of mixed voice when I perform because I prefer to sing harder at my gigs. That is a choice I make. I am self aware of my vocal limitations, and trust me, we all have them!

Do you have questions or comments. Please leave them below! Thanks.

How to sing with a low larynx…

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I can still remember having trouble pronouncing the word “larynx” when I first started SLS training. Even though I had studied the voice for years, other teachers hardly ever talked about that funny little bump in the middle of my throat. Once I started studying Speech Level Singing and other modern vocal techniques, the larynx was one of the many topics I began to understand in better detail.

If your current voice teacher can’t or doesn’t explain to you why you are doing certain exercises, then there is a good chance he/she doesn’t actually know. I did exercises for years, without being told why or understanding why. Now, I always explain to my students why and what we are working on.

Keeping your larynx (your voice box which encases your vocal cords) stable and reasonably low is highly recommended when singing. It ensures a healthy and relaxed mode for the voice, especially as you sing higher.  I love this video…you can watch Brett Manning from Singing Success manipulate his larynx here with different sounds. http://www.youtube.com/user/SingingSuccess?ob=0

The yawn works wonders. I like to use woo, woo, woo on a 1 1/2 octave scale with the low larynx. The student keeps a finger on the Adam’s apple to feel the changes as the notes get higher. There are a few things to watch for as you progress from the exaggerated low larynx to a more-neutral position. This is why it’s so important to have a trained coach watch you do the exercises.

If you can relax and sing freely with a low larynx with the woo woo woo exercise, then you should notice that your jaw feels very loose (even as you get higher). It should be able to bounce (move up and down) slightly as you pronounce the word “woo”. If you feel your jaw fighting you and wanting to stay still, then you are not truly free. Lessen your volume, don’t worry about your sound, and simply say “woo” in that yawny-feeling. Keep a pouty, relaxed, mouth. Visualize the word “woo” as tall and thin. Remember, your job is not to “sound good” during the exercise. Your job is to understand and remember the feeling (assuming you are doing it correct!).

Once you can sing this with a relaxed jaw, you can then switch to goo goo goo to ensure the cords are staying connected through your bridges. Notice, the narrow oooo vowel should make the transition to your high register fairly easy. Then try switching to “go, go, go” and finally “gee, gee, gee”. Keep the same easy feeling that “woo, woo, woo” established, and go back to this if you’re having trouble. If you find these easy, then move on to “ba, ba, ba” and “na, na, na”.

Give these a try and let me know what you think. How does it feel to you? Can you sing through your songs any easier after vocalizing with a low larynx?

 

The benefits of vocal fry when singing

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What is vocal fry?

When speaking, vocal fry is simply the vocal cords coming together with very little air passing through, usually at a lower-than-your-normal speech pitch. It sounds like a gritty, broken up, growl….usually at the end of your sentence, and happens frequently in the morning when you first wake up. I hear it frequently, mostly in women. Now that it has made top-headline news recently, I’m sure everyone will start noticing the people around them who speak with some vocal fry.

But now I want to talk about vocal fry from a singing point of view. This is much, much different!

The ability to create vocal fry as you ascend in pitch is one of Brett Mannings’ top three vocal exercises. Why? Because the ability to keep the vocal cords connected with vocal fry as you ascend, is a challenging balance between thinning out the cords and controlling the amount of air passing through. With the correct balance, the cords will touch and vibrate on the edges creating a vocal fry sound. Too much air will either blow the cords apart, or not allow the fry sound to happen. This is the challenge to be able to decrease your air flow just enough to maintain the fry connection in the higher register.

I challenge my students with vocal fry exercises regularly. It really enforces the “less is more” mentality. You should try it. It’s not as easy as you might think. But, let’s be clear we are talking about vocal fry in your “higher” register….not lower.

Please let me know your thoughts!  Check out Brett Manning from Singing Success here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mtp8qqo3qm8

Learning how to “belt” sing

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There is much debate over what is “belting” in pop music and Broadway, let alone how to actually do it. I am a self-taught belter, and in fact never had any singing lessons until I was in my late 20’s, at which time I had already been singing with a band professionally for a number of years.

If you are classically trained, then belting may not be easy. You may need to undo some of the things you have been taught. If you have no training, then hopefully I can take away some of the mystery as to why you don’t sound as good as your favourite “belter”.

I would describe belting as singing above your first bridge (break, passagio) with thinning cords that are slightly stiffened with very little breath passing through, and a stable, tilted larynx to provide adequate twang. This gives the illusion of a strong chest voice `in the mix“. The belt I’m describing is the sound of Whitney Houston, Kelly Clarkson, Freddie Mercury or Adam Lambert. You know, the “big note” sounds in popular music. This is not the musical theatre belt sound.

The bridge is the area in your voice that differentiates your chest register from your head register. For women this is around A flat (above middle C) to B flat or even B, and for men it is around E flat above middle C to F or even G flat.

These are important areas of the voice. These are also very difficult areas of the voice for most singers. The way a singer handles this area will determine if (s)he can learn to belt safely or not. A singer must be able to maintain cord closure while ascending from the chest register into the head register. In order to main closure, the larynx must tilt and allow the cords to stretch and thin. This is called your mixed voice.  Belting requires extreme control of your mixed voice.

As you ascend in pitch keep that connection but allow the transition to mixed voicing. You will almost start to sound like a cartoon character. (This is the ability to add a cry to your voice to keep the cords thinning and touching on the edges). You do not carry the `heaviness`of the low notes with you as you ascend through the first bridge. You do not need to get louder. It may sound like your favourite singer is singing `heavy“ as (s)he goes higher, but in fact, belters are naturally zipping up their vocal cords as they ascend in pitch. It`s the ability to sing with very little air  that makes these belters sound so good to our ears. It may appear they are “loud” but they are actually not singing any louder than their medium speaking voice.

If you are untrained, and you find you are shouting and cannot decrease or increase the volume of a note above your first bridge, then you are not in a controllable good mix. This can mean a number of things, but in my experience it is commonly a problem with lack of ability to thin out  the vocal cords, while tilting the larynx. If you are a trained singer, and you are shouting as you go over your first bridge and cannot control the volume, then your larynx is possibly not tilting enough to get the cords to stretch and thin. There is a good chance you are sending too much air through the cords to try and get the sound you want.

Belting is not something you should learn on your own without a proper specialized teacher. However, hopefully I have shed some light on some possible habits or obstacles that might be in the way to accomplishing this difficult sound.

The age of extreme voices

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As many of you know I’ve studied the voice for many years, and will continue to do so. It is one of the most mysterious instruments I know. Complete Vocal Technique (CVT) is one method removing some of that mystery, and helping singers all over the world make the sounds they want without harm to the voice.

Gone are the days where we can assume what proper or good singing is. As Cathrine Sadolin, creator of CVT states, “who are we as teachers to dictate how the voice should sound”. You, the singer, should chose how you want your voice to sound. In my opinion, there are bad singers all over the world having huge success in the music business, and at the same time there are great singers who don’t work at all with their voice.

CVT is based on the physiology and anatomy of the voice, and addresses extreme voices in an interesting way. There are three general rules with CVT…singing should always feel comfortable, the technique should work at once, and lastly, if it feels wrong then it is wrong.

This really intrigues me because I have had this exact experience when studying with various teachers. The bottom line is that the sound I wanted to make was not the sound my teacher wanted me to make.

Singers should know there are safe and sound methods of singing available. An open throat with a low larynx is going to teach you one sound color, and this may not be the sound color you want for your future. Once your muscle memory has this embedded it is extremely difficult to change later on in life.

So, in closing, singers and teachers, try to keep an open mind. The world of singing technique is becoming more versatile to stay up-to-date with the over-demanding styles of music in the 21st century.

Why I’m glad I didn’t take traditional singing lessons…

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I grew up singing. I sang at nursery school, I sang at church. I sang at public school in the choir and when I was 13 started a “band” with my sister. I played bass guitar and she played drums. We also had two friends in the band who sang and played guitar. We would perform at church events, community events, and frankly, anywhere we could. My parents were very supportive and it was a huge part of why I am still singing and performing today.

I didn’t take singing lessons as a child, but I did take piano lessons. I can remember the hurdles I had with my voice early on. I can remember the limits I had. Even though I had a “nice voice” it was mostly chest voice. The highest note I could sing comfortably was a C above middle C, and that was pushing it. I struggled with this limitation for years as I went on to play and sing in different dance bands for over 20 years. I got good at belting but I had trouble lasting a gig that was more than three nights in a row. If I had a virus I was doomed. I knew I couldn’t make it through even one night without being hoarse.

I studied classical voice when I was in my 30’s and pregnant with my first child. It was something that I always wanted to do. I practised hard and took the Grade 9 Western Conservatory practical exam after two years of training. After that, I quit. I had learned a lot, and it was some of the most vigorous singing I had ever done. However, I didn’t want to sing classical music. I wanted to sing contemporary music.

The reason I am writing this post is to tell you how glad I am that I never had traditional singing lessons as a child or teenager even though I wanted them. To put it simply is that classical singing lessons would have changed my vocal sound, and I would never have been able to sing popular genres the way I do now. The reason I know this is because I experienced myself what singers with trained voices are experiencing as they try to sing other styles of music. Unfortunately, traditional classical training gets in the way. Popular and contemporary music focuses a lot on music written under the first bridge, through the first bridge and usually climaxing near the second bridge (not over the second bridge). Singers usually approach the second bridge with more chest in the “mix” than head voice. This is the problem. Classically trained singers have trouble disengaging so much head voice in their mix. They are not familiar with their speech level chest voice which is very common in popular music.

The best thing that happened to me is when I stumbled upon Speech Level Singing (SLS). I had been reading and researching it for years, and finally decided to enroll as a student/teacher. (Yes, I still take voice lessons!). SLS was the technique that saved my voice. I can now sing hour after hour, night after night, with consistency, great tone, power and strength. It has been the only technique that made sense to me. I am now able to strengthen my mix daily and stay healthy and ready for regular singing day after day.

My comment to you is this. If you take traditional vocal lessons, you need to realize you may be altering your voice in a way that you don’t really want to. Traditional training approaches the voice from the high end first. You end up with this beautiful head voice tone. However, the chest voice can suffer and leave you wondering why you can’t sing certain songs the way other singers do.

Times are changing and there is no better time to tell singers about these differences than now…..so spread the word!

How to get a “mixed” voice

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Everyone’s voice has a low section and high section. The low end is your chest voice and the high end is your head voice. The essence of good singing is utilizing both the chest voice and the head voice at the same time. This is called your “mixed voice”. Make sense?

Your chest voice is where you speak. Try saying “A – A – A” like the “a” in cat. Say it with some umph, and a little bit nasty. Make an open big mouth and say it again. This is your engine….and yes, it can sound rather obnoxious. But, don’t disregard this, this is your power house!

On the other end is your head voice. This is the light, airy sound at the top of your voice. Some people can’t access it very easily. Try and do a sigh with your light high voice. This is head voice.

The ideal voice is when the chest voice and the head voice work together at the same time. Unfortunately, often what will happen is one voice will “outweigh” the other, creating an imbalance of sound and sensation.

If you have any background singing with a choir or training with a classically trained teacher, then you were probably encouraged to sing with your head voice brought down even to your low notes, This can create a very strong head voice, but unfortunately doesn’t match up in balance with your chest voice, leaving you light and airy on your bottom notes with minimal strength.

On the other end of the spectrum, if you have been singing pop, country or rock music on your own and copying some “not-so-well-balanced” singers, then you may have developed a strong chest voice without allowing any head voice in the mix. You may notice that you have to sing louder and louder as you go higher and higher, and eventually you just can go further. Your sound is likely harsh and well, possibly, very annoying. And, let’s not forget to mention that you probably hurt!

“Getting in the mix” is the vocal workout you need. If done correctly, it will help your voice be stronger and more flexible than you ever thought possible. You will be able to sing any note you want.

It worked wonders for me, and I know it will for you too!

Have you got any questions? Why not drop me a line!

Singing 101 – Is this You?

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Knowledge is power. If you want to learn how to sing better … keep reading.

I believe the best way to learn about anything is to experience it for yourself, and to learn about other’s experiences. When I read stories online about singers who have taken lessons from various teachers, I nod my head and think, “yeah, that’s what it was like for me too”.  I’ve taken singing lessons from many different teachers over the years.  It wasn’t until I discovered Speech Level Singing over ten years ago, that things really started to make sense for me.  With Speech Level Singing I was singing through three bridges (passagio) in my first lesson.

I now teach Speech Level Singing to all my students, and they all go through at least one bridge (passagio) on their first lesson. What is a passagio or a bridge? This is a spot in your singing voice between the low sounds (chest voice) and the high sounds (head voice). Many men have never even experienced their head voice…..while many women have not experienced their true chest voice. For some men, their chest voice is their connection to power…or so they think. The opposite can be true for women (and lots of children both boys and girls) who have sang for years in choirs and were taught to blend their voice with all the other singers.  Choral music is usually written high in pitch which meant the singers would always be in their head voice.

A lot of female and male singers have the opposit and very common problem of not being able to reach high notes. This usually happens because the singer is too loud, too low, and too soon. Quite often the singer feels like they have reached a ceiling (usually at their passagio) and they just can’t sing any higher. The voice gets louder and louder as they try and sing higher notes. 

Do one of these scenerios match you? Everyone is unique so there is no one “fix” that meets everybody’s needs. This is the main problem with self-teaching CD’s like Brett Manning’s Singing Success and Seth Riggs Singing for the Stars.  They are both fabulous Speech Level Singing programs, but if you don’t know your singing problem, then these exercises might be too generic to really help you.

Learning to sing better takes time and dedication. It’s really no different than becoming a good athelete…atheletes must work out regularly with proper form and the right exercises. It’s the same for singing. Your vocal cords are your muscles and they need just the right exercise to learn the coordination needed to help you sing better.

So, first…..know your singing issue. Get a professional opinion that will give you direction and a goal. Start with this and you’ll be on your way to a better singing voice!