Again, Learning to Sing “Classically”Does Not Mean You’ve Learned to Sing Well! I can’t believe I have to write this article again…

I just completely lambasted another voice teacher (and I believe it to be called for). She vehemently disagreed with my assertion that learning to sing “classically” is NOT technically superior than learning through other styles…

I was going to shoot back a very terse two-sentenced reprimand… yeah, well, my two sentences pretty much turned into this article. To be clear: I have no problem with disagreement, or having back and forth discussions about vocal topics. If it is in the spirit of mutual understanding, great, if not, well… professionalism be damned! Here it goes…

(The article she refers to is this one, if you care to read it: Is “Classical” Voice Training Best?”)

I disallowed her comments to post in the replies to the article because I was not going to be nice, and more specifically, I did it so I could reply without having to reveal her name. I’ve encountered the “type” many times, and they tend to be the ones who only discouraged their students from the music they like to sing. Her reply to the article:

“Much obliged to you for your post!Bunches of magnificent data including, yet Classical strategy is significantly less convoluted than other singing technique.To take in this system, a couple of things must happen. In the first place, we should inhale and bolster low on our bodies – this is combined with appropriate adjust and stance. Next, we should sing clear, round vowels with an open throat. These are the standards I was most centered around as a youthful traditional artist, handling tunes from the greats like Puccini, Schubert, Barber, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg.” (I removed her name)

My reply:

I will shout this from the rooftops until the day I die… BEING TAUGHT TO SING BY STUDYING CLASSICAL SINGING DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOU LEARN TO SING BETTER… PERIOD! FURTHERMORE, AS I EXPLAIN LATER IN THIS POST, I WOULD ARGUE THAT THE OPPOSITE IS OFTEN TRUE.

Classical music is a music style of singing. Classical singing is not a technique.

Let’s say that again to be clear, and to be sure that my premise is rightly understuood: Classical music is a music style of singing. Classical singing is not a technique.

If classical singing is a technique, then I would argue that, on the whole, it is a poor technique. Within classical music, there are actually many dozens of different vocal techniques taught, though they are all applied to one style… the general category of classical music.

Classical music does not dictate proper technique, nor does singing with a precise, controlled technique necessitate have ever sung one note of classical music. Were that not the case, there would be no good singers with great technique outside of those who have sung songs primarily in opera or the classical genre in general.

In fact, I would go a step further and argue that most classical singers sing poorly, with an out-of-control vibrato, a pressed, driven or covered tone, or they have chest and head registers that are utterly disconnected. One might retort that statement by declaring, “Good opera singers don’t do those things!” The same, however, is true of pop, jazz, rock, country, musical theater, etc.

If a solid vocal technique principle is also solid physical principle, then no style owns it! Classical singers need to be taught the same, natural feeling and sounding technique that everyone should be taught as well. A physical principle IS NOT tethered to a particular style of music.

I studied and sang classical music and many other styles. I was an instrumentalist who studied and played classical and many other styles. I learned EVERY BIT AS MUCH about the voice and the instruments from playing and singing other styles. Maintaining good technique is equally challenging, depending on the songs attempted (true of classical as well), in every musical style.

To put it like a friend of mine use to say to people, “It ain’t as easy as it looks, sister!”

I DO believe and fully admit (as it would be hard to argue otherwise) that the traditional discipline and organized approach to learning technique (good or bad technique!) is found more often in classical regimens. While I believe that to be true in general, when the same regimen of practice (not a regimen of style, but one of an organized approach and application of sound vocal pedagogy) is applied with sound vocal principles to any style (evidenced by a voice with no breaks throughout the ENTIRE vocal range, which stems from a relaxed connection of chest and head voices with NO shift in tone or production… ANYWHERE in the voice), then style is utterly inconsequential.

There are enough terrible singers out there in every style, including classical and opera, to go around. One of my top three favorite male singers, Pavarotti, was a great singer, but so are many other singers who haven’t sung a lick of classical music.

I’ve seen the love of singing crushed right out of students by teachers who force their students to sing a style they dislike (usually classical) and then tell them they can’t do it right so they’ll never be able to sing other styles right, discouraging the student… when all the while it was the teacher’s lack of ability to understand the difference between a style of music and vocal production that, in my opinion, utterly disqualifies those instructors as voice teachers. These teachers’ lack of ability to teach is usually accompanied by an ego the size of Texas (for those outside the USA who don’t know… Texas is big!)

I would put up the majority of my students against the average professional opera singer, and I fear the opera singers would be put to shame.

Though almost done, my rant continues…! I love classical singing styles of all kinds, when performed well. I love teaching classical music, and I’ve worked with many fine opera singers, but if I can’t teach a technique that can just as easily apply to any other style, then I have no business teaching, or even discussing vocal technique. Instead, I should just stick to coaching a confined style of music…. or golf.

That all being said… Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
http://www.SingWithPower.com

Don’t Skip the Vocal Warm-up

(The topic of the 3 essential elements to a complete vocal warm-up is also addressed in a video I created HERE.)

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We all know that a vocal warm-up prior to singing is a good idea. We also know that NOT eating at McDonald’s is a good idea. We tend to ignore both good ideas. (Ok, maybe I’m projecting concerning the McDonald’s thing.)

It is not only crucial to do a vocal warm-up, it is imperative that it is a complete vocal warm-up.  What do I mean by “complete”? I’m glad I asked!

Vocal warm-up exercises for singers must contain 3 elements to be a complete warm-up. Without ALL 3 elements, then it isn’t a completely effective vocal warm-up. A good warm-up enables singers to sing more comfortably throughout their vocal ranges, prevents strain, and allows their voices to remain free for a longer singing session.

What are these three elements, and what are their importance?

Before answering that question, I’d like to explain what warming up isn’t. It isn’t just singing an easy song or two. It isn’t singing low so you don’t sing into your upper notes too soon. It isn’t something that will wear your voice out because you weren’t saving enough for the performance. It isn’t consciously working on breathing or breathing exercises.  All of these thought processes are incomplete at best, detrimental at worst.

After introducing the three essential elements of a complete vocal warm-up, I will explain why the above mentioned sub-par vocal warm-up ideas don’t fit our criteria for a good vocal warm-up.

The three essential elements of a complete vocal warm-up are:

1. starting out by slowly ramping up the blood flow into the muscles involved in the singing process, especially those in and immediately surrounding the vocal folds (vocal cords);
2. stretching the muscles of the vocal folds;
3. and coordinating the different range areas of the voice by singing with proper physical form.

Let’s address each of these in turn.

First, slowly ramp up the blood flow in and around the muscles of the vocal cords.

For each of the three warm-up elements, I will make analogies to warm-ups done by runners. If runners run too hard or too fast before they warm-up, they will quickly fatigue. Why?

At rest or while doing little work, muscles are “fed” oxygen and nutrients at a certain rate, and the “waste” is carried away at that same rate, creating a good balance. This rate sustains the health of the muscles. Now, when muscles are exercised, they need more oxygen and nutrients to do their job. If not, a muscle will literally start breaking itself down to feed the rest of the muscle. In a way, it begins to cannibalize itself!

If one starts working muscles faster than the blood flow can keep up, the muscles break down, and fatigue occurs. At this point, time is needed to allow the muscles to rebuild themselves or they will continue to break down. In the meantime, the muscles are weaker and they can’t handle the full workload they might otherwise handle had the blood flow been slowly increased to keep up with the demand of the oxygen and nutrient needs of the muscles.

So how does that translate practically for a singer? Start with low volume or less than medium volume level exercises, and give yourself plenty of breaks between exercises. Don’t plow through a bunch of exercises in a row without breaks. Take at least 20-30 seconds between each exercise, more if you feel even the least bit of fatigue sneaking in. In fact, if fatigue is beginning to show up you should stop for one of these mini-breaks even if in the middle of a warm-up exercise. Ease your way in. Video warm-up example exercises can be found for the male voice and female voice at the Sing With Power YouTube channel.

Second, stretch the vocal cord muscles.

With any athlete, stretching is important to achieve full muscle flexibility and range of motion. Muscles that are comfortably stretched are less likely to get pulled or strained.

So, how does one stretch the vocal cords? Sing high.

When singing high notes the vocal cords stretch in length. The stretched, more taut vocal cords produce a faster “buzz”, and therefore a higher pitch. Flexible vocal cords will vibrate more readily in the upper register, needing less air pressure to respond with a clear tone.

So how does that translate practically for a singer? Use exercises such as lip bubbles, tongue trills or “blowfish” which allow a singer to sing high into his or her upper register without strain. Any air pressure buildup that might happen in the extreme ranges is transferred to the lips or tongue, allowing the cords to freely vibrate with very little air pressure, even at the highest pitches. Again, video warm-up example exercises can be found for the male voice and female voice at the Sing With Power YouTube channel.

Third, get rid of the break!

If there is a “break” or “crack” in the voice at any point in the range, there is an imbalance of some kind. Athletes need to have good form, no matter the skill needed. Without good form, it does no good to add more weight, speed or effort. Weight, speed or effort added to an exercise or activity that is out of balance will simply bring it down faster. For a singer that might manifest itself as quicker fatigue, vocal cracking, unwanted scratchiness, or any number of other undesirable results. First perfect the form in the warm-up, THEN move on to a vocal workout. Don’t sing a lot in an unbalanced voice or you will build a “lopsided”, limited voice.

So how does that translate practically for a singer? There are a variety of exercises that are designed to help smooth out and erase vocal breaks or cracks. These are much more easily demonstrated than written about so I would again refer you to the warm-up exercises for the male voice and female voice at the Sing With Power YouTube channel. That being said, the exercise types for the task of erasing the break are focused on evening out the compression and airflow across the “bridge” or vocal break areas (those areas in the singing voice that have a propensity for airflow imbalance). Vocal frys, breathy vocals, shallow sounds or other “contrived” sounds can also be utilized to even out the air pressure across the bridge areas. “Working out” the voice to achieve strength or stamina is premature until a good balance is achieved.

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So, armed with a new understanding of the three critical warm-up elements, let us dismantle the common warm-up mantras.

“You need to start out sing low so you don’t strain your voice by singing into your upper notes too soon.” Wrong. If you don’t sing high, you don’t stretch the vocal cord muscles. Low notes don’t stretch the cords. Without the stretching, the muscles will lack the flexibility needed to easily balance the voice across the bridge areas of the entire vocal range. If you sing high with bubbles, tongue trills or blowfish exercises, there will be zero strain, even in the highest range of your voice, even without any singing prior to beginning those exercises.

“The warm-up could wear out your voice for the performance, so one should be careful to not warm-up too much so you have more for the performance.” Well, almost, but no. A warm-up that fatigues the voice isn’t a warm-up! Too much work is being done too early. Either more breaks should be taken throughout the initial exercises and/or less volume should be used. It is important to not push to work out the voice too early, or it will fatigue too soon.  A proper warm-up will extend the time one can comfortably sing, not shorten it.

“It is important to work on breathing exercise as part of the warm-up.” The vast majority of breathing exercises are a complete waste of time and have no bearing on how the vocal folds naturally balance airflow through the vocal range. While singing isn’t exactly like speech, it ain’t much different!! We should train from the vocal cords out, not the outer muscles in. The breath should tell the vocal cords how much air they need any more than the gas tank should tell the engine how much gas to use. Find a good airflow that the cords can comfortably control (hint: start with your speaking voice) and then go from there. The right vocal exercises will automatically coordinate the airflow to the needs of the vocal cords. There is much, much more to completely address this topic, but that is all I will say for now.

Conclusion

Find a small group of exercises you use consistently as your warm-up exercises. There is no need to be particularly creative here. Just as a runner will pretty much do the same thing to warm up his or her entire running life, a singer should stay fairly consistent with a warm-up so as to quickly gauge the state of his or her singing voice when starting out each day.

A good warm-up will extend the practice or performance time of the voice, and allow for greater range and stronger sounds. Don’t settle for a partial warm-up. Be sure that all three essential elements are there in your warm-up:

• slowly ramping up the blood flow into the muscles involved in the singing process;
• stretch the muscles of the vocal folds by singing into the upper register with the appropriate exercises;
• eliminate vocal breaks by coordinating the different range areas of the voice, singing with proper physical form.

Once more, video warm-up example exercises can be found for the male voice and female voice at the Sing With Power YouTube channel.

Happy Singing!

Eric Bruner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Academic Arrogance – Vocal Instruction

In another article, I debunk the myth that somehow, inherent to the style of music, classical or operatic teaching somehow brings about a better technical ability for the student. This idea typically stems from the insecurity and arrogance of many of those in higher education – WITH or WITHOUT said individuals actually having the education.

I will occasionally receive rebuttals from University voice teachers (or even worse, the students of University voice teachers) who want to get into it with me on some of my posts. I choose not to engage those rebuttals in this forum, nor do I even allow the comments if they are not open to discussion that is helpful to the vast majority of people wanting to become better singers, though I will often speak with them “offline”.

Some might say that I am afraid of debate or to be questioned. Not at all! Actually, I have a ridiculous love of the subject of vocal technique and could talk for hours about the intricacies of vocal balances, the mechanics of singing, vibrato, etc., down to the most minute detail. However… that will rarely help anyone sing better!

My purpose in this blog is, for the most part, to teach the practical. I want to discuss topics in a way that is helpful to 95%+ of readers. They just want to sing better! That is why I assume folks are here. That is how I teach and that is how I write. Theory and detailed academic discussion of singing and the voice is fine, and has its place, but not here.

Teaching someone to sing with more ease, freedom, control, and more range is like teaching someone to drive. All that the vast majority of us need to know about a car is to keep the oil changed, keep the fluid levels high, put gas in it, and be sure the tires have enough air. Beyond that, it’s just learning to drive the car and the rules of the road.

The vast majority of singers don’t need to know much of the impractical stuff, just as a driver doesn’t need to know how the engine is put together or how it runs. They just want to turn the key and go!

I have students come to me all the time who have studied with these insecure (cocky) teachers who felt that they needed to teach in such an “accurate” way that it is no longer even useful! They can tell you all the theory of how the voice works and the names of every muscle and muscular process involved in singing, but they can’t even sing well themselves! In fact, one of the worst singers I have ever heard was a person who had his doctorate degree in vocal performance from a big 10 school. It was painful to listen to.

Listen, I can speak in the fancy-schmancy terms as well, and I do at times. Yes, know the processes, and in fact, I have an almost sick enjoyment discussing such detailed minutia, but that doesn’t necessarily help someone sing better. I admit that teachers need to know a bit of this stuff. Of course they do! But I try not to get so bogged down in the details when teaching that it doesn’t help someone sing better.

I shall dismount my high horse, and get back to teaching folks how to sing better, which is what I love to do!! I finished this post just in time for my next lesson in 2 minutes…

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

 

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Can I directly control the vocal cords for an easier, clearer voice? Yes! (and no)

The following is an article I wrote in response to several bloggers arguing that the vocal cords CANNOT be manually or consciously pulled together, and that it is only the Bernoulli effect that pulls the back of the vocal cords together. Respectfully, I submit that they are wrong. 

“The Bernoulli effect is absolutely what is involved in the production of tone at the vocal cord (or vocal fold) level. In fact, it is the cause of the sound of our speaking and singing voices (also known as phonation). As the air flows (from the lungs) across the cords, the vocal cords are pulled together, then the little bit of pressure built up is released, and the process starts over again.

This releases sound waves (up to hundred of times per second) which we use when speaking or singing.

However, this effect CANNOT happen without the back of the cords FIRST being pulled close together (adduction) so that the cords are close enough to each other for the airflow to “suck” the cords together, beginning the vibration. The Bernoulli effect will not take effect until and unless the back of the cords are somewhat approximated (brought close together via adduction), otherwise we would phonate (make a sound at the vocal cord level such as in speech or singing) EVERY TIME WE ASPIRATE, breathing in or out. We have to bring them together to ALLOW the Bernoulli effect to take effect, creating sound. Usually, we do this without thinking because we do it so often.

Many will say that one cannot consciously or mechanically bring the back of the cords together. They are wrong. We first “stumble” into it immediately after birth when we start screaming, but we can also consciously activate the cords pulling together. Of course, without proper airflow, bringing the cords together does nothing to produce any usable sound.

One such way to pull the vocal cords together in the back is to make a vocal “fry” or creaky or scratchy sound. When making these sounds, however, the airflow across the cords is somewhat constricted because there is typically TOO MUCHpulling of the back of the cords together, and TOO LITTLE air release across the cords, causing the fry or scratchy sound. This technique is typically used when a singer is releasing too much air across the cords, generally caused because the cords are NOT being approximated and then stabilized by the muscles at the cord level.

These sounds are only meant to help a singer get a feel for controlling adduction while singing. When balanced properly, we don’t have to think about it, such as in the case of speech. The problem? We typically start to intrusively upset the balance of air and vocal chord adduction when using our singing voices because we try to make tones our ears like, instead of tones that are natural to our instruments. For instance, we don’t typically try to control the tone quality of our speaking voices. When speaking, we don’t really give it a thought, but when we sing we’ll often try to produce specific tone qualities that aren’t necessarily natural to our own “instruments”.

Bottom line? Yes, the back of the cords can be manually adducted, but this shouldn’t be something we HAVE to think about unless we are doing something funky to mess with the vocal process that we already experience from our speech voices.

There’s much more on this topic that I could address (to the absolute boredom of most, though quite interesting to those of us sharing a sick fascination with such things), but I’ll bore you no further! 🙂

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

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Want to talk to me about voice lessons, the Voice Teacher Certification Program, or my self-study vocal training products? Click the “Live Chat” button now to talk to myself or my assistant.

I want to hear your ideas on vocal and singing topics for future posts and articles! Leave ideas in the reply box below…

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Vocal problem: Stuffy nose only when singing high notes

Stuffy nose when singing high notes

Here’s part of a question concerning an uncommon vocal problem posted online:

“It’s definitely not a cold. It’s not exactly the same feel of having something physical (for ex. mucus) in the nasal but more like a short duration tense pressure that requires more effort to breathe from the nose after singing high notes. It goes away after a couple of breathes through the nose and comes back right after the high notes again. Of course I don’t breathe from my nose when I sing, but it’s something I notice after I finish a piece or breaks between verses.” 

My answer to this post:

You’re pinching off your nasal passages when singing high (the same muscles you would use to “snort” either in or out). They will tend stay in that contracted, pinched position for a little while after the high note passages, just as you described. Some good warm-up exercises to do should include some scales or arpeggios on a hum, but drop the jaw as you sing higher, keeping the lips still touching. This will help release the muscles under the jaw. Humming necessitates the tone naturally releasing through the nose without pinching. Keep the air coming through the hum unobstructed.

Another good exercise type for your issue is to use an “ng” sound on an arpeggio of your choice with a nguh nguh nguh nguh sound. Again, it will keep the “snorting” muscles from engaging. 

These should work well for you. Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner

Eric Bruner Vocal Studios

How can I do scream or “screamo” vocals in my singing?

Screaming singing vocals

The user DaDiscoRanger asks: How can I do scream vocals in my singing?

By “screaming” I’m assuming you mean an aggressive, unclear, somewhat raspy distorted tone in the upper or upper-medium vocal range. There are singers of many styles who use vocal screaming either very often, or just occasionally for effect. What I’m not talking about is “grinding” the voice like a growl. I won’t address this because it is the absolute fastest way a singer can destroy his/her voice permanently… period. That being said, let’s turn to a discussion about screaming.

Asking how to scream without hurting your voice is a bit like asking how to punch yourself in the face without bruising it. Screaming is abusive to the vocal cords, plain and simple.

You might ask, “Well how come (insert famous screaming singer name here) can scream and doesn’t lose his/her voice and he/she’s been doing it for years?”

Good question. Here are a few of the realities that explain it.

1. The reality is that the vast majority of screamers trashed their voices a long time ago. Most of them have had multiple surgeries, and many can no longer sing at all.

2. What their voices MIGHT be able to handle in the recording studio once a year isn’t the same as handling that kind of abuse all the time. Many of these “screamers” (the smart ones) sing with softer and clearer voices outside the studio in order to try to save their voices from permanent damage.

3. Did I mention that most of them have had multiple surgeries for serious vocal damage?!? (Just wanted to make sure you got that!)

4. Each person’s tissue has a different reaction to abuse. For instance, you might slap one person across the cheek and 5 minutes later there isn’t even a red mark. Do the same to someone else and they’ll be bruised for a week! Allot of times the singers you hear do this don’t have tissue that irritates as easily as the average person.

5. They aren’t singing as loudly as you think. If you “pretend” to scream loud, but you are actually singing at a soft or normal volume level holding way back, then you can let the microphone (with allot of reverb behind it) make it sound like a huge screaming voice.

6. If they are doing it “right”, they aren’t building up much air pressure. against the vocal cords. They are releasing the air across the cords.

It’s true that most singers, even the very good ones, sing slightly out of balance (not necessarily screaming) sometimes for emotional effect, but their technique is so good that they “snap back to center” after one or two notes. But even this can be dangerous if done too often because singers will start losing their “technical center”, or perfect vocal balance. Center is what we train toward, and what must be our compelling habit.

Ok, don’t say I didn’t warn you. Now, let’s talk about how to scream with the least possible damage:

1. Start in falsetto. The falsetto is the highest, lightest area of your voice. It’s usually a bit weak and somewhat airy sounding, but it is fairly easy to produce high sounds in falsetto with very little pressure, that’s why falsetto is a good starting point.

2. Add a vocal fry or slight scratchy sound. This will start to pull the chords together, giving the illusion of chest resonance (bottom range resonances) up high.

3. Add volume across the scream, little by little, leaning more against the falsetto feeling than the scratchy feeling. Let the falsetto dominate, leaving in only a little bit of the fry/scratchy feeling. You’ll need very little fry to do the job. Also, never push against the throat by bearing-down, causing air pressure build-up.

Final result: It will almost feel like a breathy voice, falsetto voice and scratchy voice all happening at the same time.

If it feels uncomfortable at first (and it will!), take breaks. I wouldn’t recommend experimenting with this more than 5 minutes a day to start, and always warm-up and relax the voice before you start. Cool down the voice afterward with some nice, low, soft, clear humming. Irritated throat? (Gee, I wonder why?) Gargle warm salt water. Also, before during and after your singing use Entertainer’s Secret throat spray. It’s a non-medicinal, non-numbing throat moisturizer spray. It helps allot. (Never use sprays or lozenges that numb the throat. Pain is a good thing if it warns you to stop hurting yourself!)

Now, remember, I am against screaming because of the potential for serious damage. I’m only giving you these instructions so you mitigate whatever stress you were planning to put on your vocals anyway.

I’d rather have you only punch yourself in the face one time, rather than twice!

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

 

 

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Want to talk to me about voice lessons, the Voice Teacher Certification Program, or my self-study vocal training products? Click the “Live Chat” button now to talk to myself or my assistant.

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How do you avoid singing through your nose?

Nasally singing!

The user unacceptable love asks: How do you avoid singing through your nose?

“I sing really good. I’m doing a recording soon actually! But I tend to sing out of my nose and it has a “nasally” sound to it. So how do I avoid this sound?”

The bottom line is that your swallowing and/or bearing-down muscles think they’re helping you sing, so they are closing your throat and thereby sending the sound into the nasal cavities… but you want to know what to do about it, so…

Because you’ve got the recording coming up, I’ll give you a couple of temporary “patches” to help get those swallowing/bearing-down muscles to let go, which should then give you a less nasally sound. The things I’m going to suggest aren’t necessarily going to give you perfect finished sounds, but they should at least get you into the ballpark. Habits are hard to break, but we have to start somewhere!

First of all, if you drop your jaw into the higher notes, that will deactivate the swallowing muscles quite a bit, so that’s an easy fix on the high notes, especially on the high notes that are held out.

The next thing you can try is to make a “dopey” sound, almost dorky (like Barney the dinosaur) but say a dopey “gug” “gug” “gug” sound. It will sound a bit tubby. Now, the places in the songs that you think you sound especially nasal, practice by replacing the words of the song with that dopey gug sound, so you’ll sing the song but you’ll change all of the words to gug. Do this so that you get the feeling of singing with a lowered larynx (voice box). Once you get used to this lowered larynx feel, sing the words again, keeping in mind the more stable position of the larynx that the gugs gave you.

Finally, try plugging your nose when you sing. Sometimes plugging your nose will give you some immediate feedback as to how the sound is being directed there. Just try not to sound nasally when you sing with your nose plugged. You’ll probably feel the tone shift to coming out of the mouth like when you speak, instead of going into the nasal cavities. For some people, this works quite well.

Hopefully one or more of these will give you a little help until you can find a good teacher to work with long term.

Happy Singing!!

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

 

 

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Want to talk to me about voice lessons, the Voice Teacher Certification Program, or my self-study vocal training products? Click the “Live Chat” button now to talk to myself or my assistant.

I want to hear your ideas on vocal and singing topics for future posts and articles! Leave ideas in the reply box below…

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Why are choppiness, stridency, and breathiness three common vocal problems?

Why are choppiness, stridency, and breathiness three common vocal problems?

Three fairly common vocal problems are choppiness, stridency, and breathiness. Each tends to be a result of poor or inconsistent coordination between the vocal folds (vocal cords) and the other muscles controlling the air flow.

Breathiness is the most common problem of the three that you mentioned. Basically, there is too much air escaping across the cords, and this makes the sound waves weaker and more disbursed, giving a breathy or fuzzy sound. A clear sound is more efficient because it translates more of the airflow directly into sound waves, and in doing so actually uses far less air to produce a stronger, fuller and more natural sound.

Think of your speech. You have a good balance of airflow to the cords when you speak, which is why you produce a clear, natural sound. If you start to sing in the same range in which you were speaking, but you get a breathy voice or weak voice, it’s NOT because you weren’t thinking about your diaphragm. You weren’t thinking about your diaphragm when you spoke, yet it was a clear sound. So what’s the difference? Well, often when we sing we are trying to control the tone (or unique sound) of our voices. In doing so, we interfere with what should be a very natural air to cord balance.

Certainly, nervousness can play a large part in vocal imbalances, which is a topic for a different article, but let’s talk about choppiness. This is also an airflow problem. Instead of thinking about singing across an entire phrase (which could be either a “musical sentence”, or literal lyric sentence), singers will often incorrectly sing into individual notes or words giving a bouncy or choppy effect. Instead, we should sing through and across words and notes, not into them. To use another speech analogy, when you speak a full sentence, you don’t typically bounce along each word, rather you speak one long constant tone that doesn’t stop until the sentence is over. In singing, we want to do the same thing. Start the musical phrase with the idea that you are singing through and across the phrase until you sing out the back-end of the last word. Simply touch the notes and words as you sing through and across the entire phrase.

When speaking about choppiness, it’s also possible you were referring to another issue which is a vocal tremor or shakiness in the voice. Generally, this can be caused because of vocal fatigue – sometimes a good thing, sometimes a bad thing. For instance, if you were working out in the gym and you were on your very last rep of your bicep curls, your arms might start to tremor a bit because you have pushed the correct muscles to their limit. That is a good thing unless you try to do three more reps, using bad form to do so. Instead, you should take a break before you continue with another set. As a singer, if you tire the right muscles the correct way, you might start to get that shaky sound. Take a break immediately at that point and give it a minute or two to recover before you continue practicing.

That all being said, it’s been my experience that singers get that vocal tremor thing going because they’ve been driving too hard against the cords, causing fatigue far more quickly than if they’d had a better, more relaxed vocal balance. Take a break an go a little easy into the next exercise, backing off of the pressure and volume if that’s the case. If you still get the same result, don’t keep singing through it! Cool down your voice with some easy, smooth exercises and consider yourself done for the day. When you come back to your singing the next day, again, use less pressure and lower volume levels.

Stridency is an over-compression issue, usually accompanied with a high larynx. The tone is “driven” or pressed hard against the cords rather than allowing a more natural flow across the cords. When this driven, “metallic” sound is accompanied with a high larynx, any warmth that would have mitigated the harsh driven sound is gone, leaving an over-bright, thin, harsh and sometime nasally sound – stridency.

Hope this helps.

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

[I wrote the article in response to a question from the user LiveLaughLove on YahooAnswers]

 

 

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Zoso from YahooAnswers asks: F2 – A5 is this a good vocal range?

F2 – A5 is this a good vocal range?

i am male 22, i have 3.3 scale vocal range. what catagory does it fall?
is it baritone or soprano or something like that? help me figure it out plzzz 🙂

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My answer for Zoso:

3.3 oct range is pretty darn good. You probably have more range than that if you develop the vocal “fry” area of your voice in the lowest register. Most of my students sing between 4-5 octaves, some more and some less.As far as your voice part, it’s hard to tell based only on what notes you can hit. Sometimes singers who can sing very low notes still have a “vocal timbre” that sound like high notes. In other words, some guys might have and E2 or F2 as a low note (which might normally be associated with a baritone voice) but have a tenor timbre (vocal color and quality of a tenor). Conversely, some guys might be able to sing extremely high notes, yet have a baritone timbre which is generally deeper and fuller than your typical tenor.All that being said, I would say that the range you described for a guy would typically make you a 1st baritone (high baritone) or 2nd tenor (low tenor). With a really good voice teacher, you could easily develop good, comfortably sung performance notes right up to B5 or beyond.

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

 

 

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What is vibrato? Is vibrato “natural” (happens by itself), or is it consciously “caused” somehow by the singer?

Vibrato or straight tone?

These are good questions. There are many voice teachers who teach otherwise, but straight tone, not vibrato, is actually the most natural way to make a sound.  Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!  You never hear a baby cry with vibrato, nor do people talk with vibrato (unless you count Katherine Hepburn).  Vibrato must be consciously or unconsciously caused physically by the singer. Even instrumentalists cause vibrato either by mouth motions (embouchure vibrato), hand motions or conscious diaphragmatic pulsations.

For some singers, their musical ears tell them to sing with vibrato and their bodies react and respond, “kicking off” the muscle work to begin the vibrato. They might not even know how they’re making it happen! Singers without a vibrato, on the other hand, will have to make a more conscious effort to train their bodies to produce vibrato. Once the vibrato does begin, though, it soon becomes relatively easy to maintain,to the point we don’t really even think about it. It’s like when we learn to bike ride with our hands on the handle bars at first, but eventually we’re so comfortable with the balance that we can take our hands off of the handle bars with great control.

Vibrato isn’t natural until you can do it naturally. What do I mean by that? Well, I’ll make an analogy with hula-hooping. My oldest daughter and my son took to hula-hooping like ducks to water. After just one day, they knew how to hula-hoop for hours without stopping, and they looked like they were barely moving or even giving it any thought. They both routinely won the hula-hooping contests at school. Now me? I have to work really hard just to get the stupid thing to go around 4 or 5 times! But then, I also didn’t care to work that hard to learn, either. If I wanted to learn (and I lost a few pounds around the waist!) I know I could learn, but I’m not that motivated. Maybe in my retirement…

Ultimately vibrato feels natural, just like hula-hooping feels natural, easy and effortless, but only AFTER someone can do it. Some people find vibrato easily (like my kids with hula-hooping), others have to really experiment allot (like me with hula-hooping!). But anyone can learn, though the process may not look or sound pretty!

Let me give you this as a crude (and somewhat boring) example of what vibrato is:

It’s a bit like an air hose underwater, slowly letting air bubbles out at a consistent rate; say at 5-7 bubbles per second.  Once one bubble is released, there is a little time for the air pressure to build back up, and then it releases the next bubble, and so on. In this example, of course, there is a complete break between each air bubble.

In singing, however, there is a constant, but uneven release of air.  There is slightly more air pressure build-up than is being consistently released.  As a result, there are periodic releases of that extra build up of air – the pulses that are part of the vibrato process. The extra back pressure before the release of each pulse, as small as it is, is felt all the way back in the lungs, and then it’s released. The vibrato sound we hear is the pressure-release-pressure-release pulsing that occurs, as well as the very slight regular compensatory instrument “wobble” that the pulses induce, and that the vocal cord stabilizer muscles have to, well… stabilize. Now, please understand that the “wobble” I’m talking about is not one that you should see, nor should a pitch wobble be heard, except at an almost indiscernible level. (Side note: most opera singers sing with very poor vibratos due to the extreme interval change with each pulse.

(Side note: most opera singers sing with very poor vibratos due to the extreme interval change with each pulse. Pitch changes of 1/2 step or more are all-too-common among many singers in both opera and black gospel singing styles. This is in no way to slight the musical styles of opera or black gospel. I am a lover of both styles when done well. The best singers in either of these styles do not have such “wide” vibratos, and have amazing voices.)

There is synergistic pressure build-up and release between the vocal folds (chords) and the muscles controlling the upward air flow (abs, diaphragm, and dozens of others). Also, just as our “core” muscle groups will stabilize us as we hula-hoop, the very small muscles stabilizing the vocal cords and larynx are both affected by, as well as affecting the pulsing. In other words, there is a synergistic relationship between momentum and causation. How’s that for boring?

But, at the end of the day, the vibrato process has to be “kicked off”, and then maintained by the singer. For many singers, their ear told them their tone needed a pulse to it, so they put it in, consciously or unconsciously. It’s frustrating to those who have to work at “causing” it to start, but it can be taught and it can definitely be learned.  Once it’s learned well, it will feel “natural”.

I’ve worked with hundreds of students who had no vibrato. Every student with no vibrato that I’ve worked with has achieved a natural vibrato, as long as they practiced the assigned vibrato exercises consistently. Some had to work longer, but they got it. So will you.

Happy Singing!!

Eric Bruner
BecomeAVoiceTeacher.com
SingWithPower.com

 

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Want to talk to me about voice lessons, the Voice Teacher Certification Program, or my self-study vocal training products? Click the “Live Chat” button now to talk to myself or my assistant.

I want to hear your ideas on vocal and singing topics for future posts and articles! Leave ideas in the reply box below…

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