How LOW can you go? Working your low notes is not only great for range building. It’s also an excellent way to unlock the complete color spectrum of your voice! We often try to reach lower notes by pushing down our jaw, tongue, and larynx. Yet, this usually results in a hollow, breathy sound as well as tension in the throat and neck. Instead, think UP and think BRIGHT! Practice singing your lowest notes on "EEN" or "NEEN" with a 3-2-1 or a 1-3-1 pattern. Allow the notes to sound "twangy" and silly - like a robot, an alien, or a nerdy cartoon character. It may feel and sound weird or foreign at first. But, very quickly this strategy will allow you to reach low notes you didn't know you had!
“HEY! Keep it down in there!!!” This is NOT what you want to hear when you are practicing your singing! Yet, it is actually critical for your vocal progress that you find a practice space where you are FREE to make sound. Improving your vocal technique requires that you make lots of “ugly” sounds and plenty of mistakes. If your practice environment causes you to have to keep your voice quiet, or to make only “pleasing” sounds, then your growth will be severely stifled. So, be sure to find a practice spot where you feel 100% free to experiment, to make some bold mistakes, and to “Make A Joyful Noise!”
Imagine a person who embodies CONFIDENCE and AUTHORITY. How do you envision this person standing? Most likely, they are standing up straight with an elevated sternum, relaxed shoulders, and a long back of the neck. How do we achieve this ideal alignment? One great strategy is to imagine the top of the head "gently suspended from the ceiling by a silken thread." This image helps good posture to not feel "postured", but to feel SUSPENSORY instead. Any time you're feeling insecure, making this physical and mental adjustment is one of the most effective ways to communicate self-assurance nonverbally. This will promote positive feedback from others and cause you to embody this persona naturally over time!
"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're RIGHT!" Think of all the "EASY" goals that you’ve achieved without any anxiety. They were easy because you deemed them so. You knew you could do them without great difficulty and you did! Now imagine if you had the same mindset for a CHALLENGING goal. Often what makes something challenging is the belief that it will be difficult to accomplish. While some endeavors may be inherently more difficult than others, your MENTALITY has a larger impact on their "difficulty" level than anything else. If you want to accelerate your vocal progress, start by examining your mindset. It’s really as "easy" as that!
You can be a powerful ROLE MODEL as a performer! When you are performing with other musicians, be respectful of their time and gracious about their work. When you are in a venue or public space, be kind to every sound technician and crew member, and thank them for their work. If you have issues, address them directly but always with respect for the talent and effort of the people around you. Even if you are stuck working with someone you don't like, try to honor them for who they are anyway and maybe even lift them up. You will create a better performing environment for yourself and everyone around you. Your professionalism and courtesy will make people work hard for you and want to work with you again and again! You get back what you give!
“No PRESSURE!” But, are you aware that your voice has its own built-in pressure release system? As we approach higher notes or sing louder, the pressure within the larynx can get to be too much. YET - you can manually decrease this pressure by adjusting your larynx into a lower position! Place your finger on your “Adam’s apple” as you gently yawn and you’ll notice your larynx lower quite a lot. You can call upon a more subtle lowering action during singing to give your vocal cords extra room to stretch and loosen as notes get higher or stronger. This will improve your control, tone, range, pitch, and much more. So, practice using your new release system and feel the glory of singing with... NO Pressure!
What keeps us from singing higher and higher and higher – until only SPOT and FIDO can enjoy our singing? The Vocal Ligament! Your vocal cords are made up of three distinct layers. The innermost layer is the ThyroArytenoid muscle. The middle layer is a gelatinous texture and is called the Lamina Propria. The Epithelium is the outermost layer and is mucous-covered “skin” of the vocal cords. Now for the kicker: In the middle of the Lamina Propria resides the Vocal Ligament. The same kind of tissue in your knees and elbows is inside your vocal cords! Its fibrous strands provide stability and strength to the vocal folds and also limit how far they can be stretched. This sounds like bad news, but it’s not! The Vocal Ligament saves us from stretching too far and… well... singing with a voice only your dog could love!
Happy Labor Day to our US Singers from all of us at NYVC! Today is the day that we celebrate all our hard work by taking a day of REST. This reminder of rest is helpful for singers all over the world. We should continue to work hard on our voices and stick with a regular practice plan. However, rest is just as important to the voice as hard work. Make sure that you are taking a day of rest to let your voice recover, to let your muscles repair, and to help solidify what you are working on. Usually, one day per week is the right amount of vocal rest. On your day of rest, reflect on your vocal accomplishments and take time to be grateful for the gift of singing. And, on this blessed Labor Day, celebrate the hard working person that you are!
Have you ever seen singers singing with books in front of their ears? If you have, you may think they’ve lost their minds. Maybe all those intense breathing exercises finally sent them to the loony bin. Or, maybe this "old-school" vocal trick still WORKS! Try it! Grab two books or any two hard-surfaced objects. Press the spine of the books in front of your ears and begin singing. VOILA! You've instantly gained a more accurate idea of how you sound to other people. Your ears no longer can judge your internal resonance. Instead, they experience your sound as it appears to others. So grab those books and start cultivating a new relationship with your resonance!
Most of the time we think that vocal injuries only happen to those with poor vocal technique. But, sometimes accidents do happen. Just like a baseball player catching the bag the wrong way on a slide, even a brief misuse of the folds can sometimes result in injury. No need to panic though! The vocal cords are remarkably resilient and most damage can be fully healed or repaired. However, be sure when you practice you’re not pushing yourself in a way that feels overly aggressive. Especially when experimenting with new sounds, noises, or voices - always ease into the work and pay attention to what your throat is telling you. The best rule of thumb is - if it hurts, stop! Accidents can happen to even the best of singers. But, you'll be setting yourself up for the slimmest possible chances by practicing in a very mindful way.
Experiencing too much Vocal Fry? Solve it with breath flow! You may notice that when you arrive at the end of your sentences, the last word or syllable ends in Vocal Fry. Often, we unintentionally "give up" as the energy of the sentence wanes. Confident speakers, though, carry the momentum of the exhale PAST the end of the sentence! Say: "I have a cockatiel in Wyoming." Many people will notice some Vocal Fry toward the end of "Wyoming." Now try: "I have a cockatiel in Wyoming and one in Iowa." Notice that the Vocal Fry doesn't occur until “Iowa”. Practice blowing out a little extra air during the last word so that you don't hear a "crackle". While Vocal Fry can be an effective tool in singing and voiceover work, it doesn't need to be an everyday part of your speaking voice. Keep on flowing!
Diversity makes the world a better and more beautiful place! Just like we ask our leaders and politicians to engage everyone's experiences, we as artists must also seek opportunities to engage with other artists from different backgrounds. It begins by being open to seeing and listening to material you might not otherwise choose. But it doesn't stop there: TALK to other artists that are different from you. What inspires them to make music? How do they go about writing, learning, or performing a song? How does their unique style help them to share their soul? There is no better way to expand our artistry than by engaging with people very different from ourselves. And, we might indeed make a few new unexpected friends along the way!
Riffs aren’t harder than SCALES! Most Riffs in any style of music are variations on just a few simple scales. You can build your Riffing vocabulary by working these scales into your regular warm-ups and vocal practice. One of the most common scales you'll hear in Riffs is the major pentatonic scale (1-2-3-5-6). Try singing a pentatonic pattern instead of the usual 1-2-3-4-5 ascending scale. Then mix it up in as many ways as you can imagine! Leap between notes; start in the middle of the scale; sing on different vowels or words. Just remember to start slowly, and don't speed up until you feel comfortable at the slower pace. There's never a need to get frustrated! After all - Riffs aren’t harder than SCALES!
“Am I a good enough ACTOR?” Often, singers doubt their Acting skills or don't consider themselves to be gifted in this area. However, bringing your Acting to life as a singer isn’t about trying to perfect your Acting chops. Rather, it’s about simple COMMUNICATION. If your audience can clearly understand what you are saying, what story you are telling, and the journey that you are going through - then they will FEEL the emotion of the song. Overacting actually comes from doing too much "ACTING". So, keep your focus on being specific with the story you are communicating at each moment. You’ll be amazed how the Acting somehow takes care of itself!
Think for a moment about what happens when you blow into a bottle - a pitch is created! Larger bottles resonate lower pitches and smaller bottles resonate higher pitches. Our vocal tract (throat) is like these bottles in terms of resonance. As singers, we can change the size of our vocal tracts for better resonance throughout our range. We can alter vowels to resonate more efficiently in certain ranges where they may not naturally resonate so well. This is the basis for what is known as Vowel Modification. Vowel Modification sometimes gets a bad rap because it's often exaggerated, making vowels sound strange and affected. The key to Vowel Modification is to fine-tune your resonance over time so that a clearer sound is made with less effort, while still maintaining intelligibility with your lyrics. Enjoy this vocal message-in-a-bottle!
Should you be SELECTIVE in your Auditions? Well, that actually depends on where you are in your career. Artists just starting out can benefit from Auditioning for any and all things they MIGHT be right for. Who knows? You may think you're wrong for a project, but end up singing and performing in a piece that you never dreamed of! Plus, when you’re starting out, your Auditioning will need lots of PRACTICE. However, as your career develops, it’s important that you become more selective. Make sure that you’re only auditioning for projects that you're truly right for and that you would WANT to do. This helps you build your “brand” as a performer and assures that you won’t be wasting anyone’s time by turning down projects that you book. Take a moment to consider how selective you need to be at this point in your career when it comes to your Auditions!