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Singing Tips 2

Hi, I'm Melissiah, international singing teacher, and founder of the Absolute Singing Mastery method of instruction and BodySense for Singers. Welcome to my FREE online singing tips and FAQs.

You can now contact me LIVE if you need an immediate answer to your question about singing, auditions or need help for your stagefright.

Imagine driving around in a beautiful Rolls Royce car. Now imagine that you could only use first gear to drive anywhere. It would be pretty bad wouldn't it? But this is equivalent to a singer who only wants to use chest resonance - commonly referred to as 'chest voice'. Just as you could never reach 100km per hour in first gear in the Rolls Royce, you could also never reach those high notes using only chest resonance.

As you sing higher and higher, the frequency or actual wavelength of the notes get shorter and shorter. Shorter wavelengths resonate more in smaller chambers – like those in your pharynx (back of your throat), nasal cavity and mouth.

When you sing high notes and feel the resonance up in your head, the sound you hear is very different from what you hear when the resonance can be felt in your chest on the lower notes.

What you need to learn is to smooth out your passaggio or area of your singing voice where your chest resonance shifts over into your head resonance. When you learn to do this successfully, you will feel the sensation of the sound shifting up into your head, but the audience will not hear anything different.

Try vocalising on the 'u' vowel as in the word 'put'. By keeping your larynx stable you'll learn how to get a smooth and consistent change between the different areas of your vocal resonance.

 

I'm overwhelmed by the number of singers who come to me, who've been told to stand still by their previous singing teachers. Some have even been told to stand as if their arms are glued to their side. Of course when these singers start performing on stage they look like they want to join the armed forces rather than be an entertainer!

Absolute Singing Mastery integrates movement, emotions and characterisation as these elements of stage craft usually take as long to develop as vocal ability. Firstly start moving around when you sing, even when you sing your exercises. Try finding what movement helps to make the sound flow.

Eventually you'll start to feel that the movement is actually helping create the sound in your body. You can also imagine that the sound is coming from your hands. Experiment with singing your exercises and songs using different emotions and notice what body language and facial expression is needed to convey the emotion.

In regards to the song, what is your character trying to portray? What is the purpose of her communication? How young/old/poor/rich/beautiful/talented/fortunate is she?

Practising in front of a mirror is one of the best ways to improve your talent as a performer.

If you really want to learn singing, it's best to learn one-on-one with a teacher. If you really can't afford a teacher, have you thought about trying a set of instructional CDs? You can find more about my Absolute Singing Mastery program when you access your free lesson here.

Learning what kind of voice you have is a bit like exploring a thousand roomed palace full of treasures and monsters. The quest takes time, patience and courage. Eventually you'll discover that you can sing higher and you won't need to shout to project your voice. (I like to think of projecting as directing your voice inwards and finding all the resonators in your body.) Good luck on your journey.

I've taught several singers in the past with enlarged tonsils and I've noticed that they also have a throat clearing problem. It may have something to do with the immune system working overtime and producing more mucus.

Your problem may also be related to airborne particles and allergens such as pet hair, pet saliva (on the hair shed by pets), pollen, car fumes, dust mites and even wool or angora sweaters. Sometimes simple things like replacing feather pillows with latex or foam can make an enormous difference to the quality of breathing. As you come from Perth, which has a relatively dry climate, it might also help to leave a few bowls of water around the house to increase humidity.

An interesting and thought provoking concept of health and immune function can be found in the book "Eat Right For Your Type."

 

Working only on a song is fine if you're already a good singer, but a good teacher will train you with specific exercises designed to improve certain areas of your voice eg range, vocal tone, evenness, breath control, vibrato, etc.

 

Nasal resonance from the nasal cavities helps to amplify and improve our vocal sound, but a nasally voice results when the tongue is too high in the mouth or the soft palate too low. A good singing teacher shouldn't just tell you that you sing nasally - she or he should also give you guidance to fix it!

To remove the nasal tone practice singing open vowels like 'Ah' or 'Oh' like you are yawning or pretending that your mouth is a big vacuum cleaner! Shine a torch into the back of your mouth when you're practising these vowels and you'll see the difference between a beautiful tone and a nasal one. If you can't see into the back of your mouth it also means your jaw needs to be relaxed and dropped a bit more.

On the other hand singing nasally isn't always bad. Many RnB singers use a more nasal tone than pop or rock singers, as do native singers from France, India, Asia and the Middle East.

 

You are correct when you say that your voice is still changing as a teenager - yes the whole vocal apparatus is still growing, However, singing lessons before the age of fourteen can be extremely beneficial.

Michael Jackson, Aled Jones (boy soprano now operatic baritone), Tina Arena, Mariah Carey and many other household names had extensive musical training as children. In children the vocal folds are immature and still developing, along with the rest of the body. However should we also stop children from playing, dancing and doing sport because the body is still developing and easily damaged? The answer is obvious! Most children often vocalize loudly ie screaming, for extended periods of time with no apparent damage to the vocal folds.

The great majority of young children love to sing, and Dreamquest lessons for young children are far less serious and formatted than singing lessons designed for adults. Children's lessons involve fun and educational voice/speech exercises, nursery rhymes, acting, movement, percussion and improvisation. And it's the children who love performing the most at the Dreamquest Talent Shows!

Based on a growing body of research, music education at an early age conveys four great benefits - success in society, success in school, success in developing intelligence and success in life. Further info is available at the Music Education Facts and Figures site
http://www.menc.org/information/advocate/facts.html

 

I believe the answer to your problem could be either one or a combination of three things. Firstly, even though you have been singing for many years, you don't mention voice lessons. It is very easy for faults to creep into vocal technique, even with accomplished singers. These little faults then multiply to such an extent that they may cause major vocal problems or even disorders such as vocal nodes or oedema.

Just as top sports people work with coaches, it is important that working vocalists receive some sort of coaching - even if it's only once a month. I say this because many of my voice rehabilitation clients were working vocalists with heavy schedules before their voices deteriorated. All of them were either untrained or hadn't had lessons in years. In this instance their vocal problems were troublesome to eliminate due to ingrained habit.

The second reason your voice could have deteriorated may relate to your new PA. The eminent French ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Alfred Tomatis, proved that "The voice contains only what the ear hears." Therefore if certain frequencies are missing from what you hear when you perform, especially the higher overtones, your voice will immediately deteriorate.

Tomatis also discovered that "If the lost frequencies are restored to the hearing they will automatically be restored to the voice." If singing through a better PA doesn't restore your voice, then your problem may relate to a deterioration of hearing. (Ringing in the ears after a gig is a sign that hearing is being damaged.) Faulty hearing and tinnitus may be remedied with sound therapy.

Hormones could also be the third reason behind your voice deterioration. As men age, production of testosterone decreases, which usually results in the voice losing both power and depth. (Vocal folds are receptor sites for sex hormones in both men and women.) Androgen deficiency in men and andropause (male menopause) may be determined by a series of blood tests. Your doctor could then advise on appropriate HRT if needed. Further information is available from this link http://www.antiaging.com/cyberhealth/CyberHealth_11.htm

 

The main difference between opera and pop singing is how the vocal resonators are utilized. Though it is rare to find any student who wishes to master the genres of both pop and opera, Absolute Singing Mastery demonstrates how to access and 'tune' the resonators for different musical styles.

For students who wish to master both singing styles the study is arduous but ultimately very rewarding. One of the exercises involves singing the same vocalise three times in the style of pop, 'popera' or musical theatre, then operatically. When a student masters this exercise they often sound like three different singers!

 

It all depends on your age, budget and how far you wish to develop as a singer. I take on many students who have previously tried to learn singing in large group lessons. Much of my initial work with them is to undo bad singing habits that have developed or have gone unnoticed in the group classes. As no two voices are the same it makes sense to work with a teacher who will use exercises specifically designed for your vocal range, voice type and developmental issues.

On the other hand, group singing lessons are a fantastic way to learn how to sing harmonies, improvise and develop confidence in front of other people. In fact our grading qualifcations for singing specify minimum attendance in group class attendance. Children also prefer the stimulation of group classes. It's essential however that you join a group class appropriate to your level of voice development. I have heard stories of talented professional singers - one of them an international performer - being placed in group classes alongside beginners.

 

Just about every performer in the world feels some sort of anxiety before they have a public appearance. This includes the big stars! Remember that the more certain you are of your vocal ability - ie the more you know exactly what is going to come out of your mouth every time you sing - the less you'll have to worry about singing in front of other people.

Working with a singing teacher or coach will help you develop your singing ability and your ability as a performer. When you feel ready, try singing a song in front of a few friends or family members. You might feel a bit nervous at first but after you've actually done it you'll feel a huge sense of achievement. With more performances you'll gradually realise how exciting and exhilirating it is to share your talent with an audience.

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