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January 2010
BALANCING THE VOICE
I am starting out the New Year
by sharing with you some of my
“secrets” that, while all of
them are subtle, they quite
often make the critical
difference between whether you
get hired ... rather than the
other guy/gal. Although most of
my students, present and past,
are already privy to them and
read this Blog each month, most
of what I am about to describe
is best appreciated when
accompanied by my “hands-on”
demonstration and implementation
of them. But, for better or
worse, here we go ...
Let me first set up the basic
configuration of the
instrument’s platform, i.e. the
mouth and the inner shaping of
the mechanism within, to achieve
the maximum quality and affect
of which you are capable.
Start with the thought that
“mouth, long and narrow ... is
Beautiful!” ... however, mouth
wide, top teeth showin’, ain’t
all that great... the pitch
usually suffers–the tone a bit
flat or under–and there will be
a ten to twenty percent loss of
overtones. In addition, the
sound will often tend to be
strident, even tinny sounding
...
For those who are quick to point
out that no one can properly
sing a performance with these
restrictions ... that’s not what
this is about. This is about
refining the process, under
controlled conditions, to find
out how to make the best sounds
of which you are capable. This
shape of the mouth ... allows
you to have easy access to the
high voice at all times,
presuming your soft-palate is
always in the raised position!
It is specifically designed to
get you used to how to make the
vowels all spin with a line, in
exactly the same place, the
“honk” being that area forward
of the nasopharynx ... da nose!
Go to my Audio/Video page and
watch my mouth as I sing “Spring
is Here” on the Tonight Show, or
the aria from Manon ... it’s
opera with minimum mouth, only
big openings to be heard in the
Fifth Ring. (I presume you know
that we don’t use microphones in
opera houses ... except only for
the video cameras to record.)
You will notice that the
reference mouth is long and
narrow, but my face is not
distorted and my singing is
basically, “sustained speech on
pitch!” What I am giving you
here, today ... is how to refine
the process of sound ... while
making it look and feel natural.
It’s actually, as natural as you
can get, while making the best
sound of which you are capable.
The mouth, used in this fashion,
affects the fullest and most
beautiful sound you can make.
Consider the oval mouth, sides
in close, jaw relatively
relaxed, with the top lip down
and covering the top teeth ...
This last part is extremely
important in being able to
rotate the tones–particularly
for the high voice–into the
“honk,” as I have previously
described here ... The top
lip-lowering, the narrow mouth,
mechanically opens the honk to
allow, with the soft-palate
always in the raised position,
the tone to “ring/spin’ in the
honk ... which is where
virtually alllll major singers
make their best sounds. (I
constantly repeat myself by
design for emphasis ... in case
you haven’t noticed.)
As I’ve said before on this
page, the vowels are made with
the tongue; for the closed
vowels, i.e. for an E, with the
tip of the tongue, positioned in
the recess a half inch behind
the bottom teeth, the arch of
the tongue is very high
upandforward and progressively
slightly lower for the A, Ih, Eh
and Unh. With all of the open
vowels, the area of the tongue
two inches above the tip thrusts
forward with enough tension to
hold the spin in the honk, while
the back of the tongue flattens
out relatively to make the Ah,
Aw and Oh group. (If you don’t
hear a marked increase in the
intensity of the sound, with the
tongue thrust ... you’re doing
it wrong. Experiment, look at
your tongue in the mirror,
actually see what is going on
... get used to your tongue
being in one place for one sound
and not moving during the sound
... or it will change... all the
while supporting the sound and
keeping your throat relaxed. The
tongue makes the vowel ... NOT
THE THROAT!)
Read all of this deliberately
out loud a number of times,
until you think you understand
it ... then practice in front of
the mirror ...WITH YOUR TAPE
RECORDER RUNNING!!! Back light
yourself so you can see your
tongue! With each attempt at a
given vowel, always strive to
hear a clean, non-modified vowel
... which should be ringing in
the “honk!” Play it back ... If
you don’t hear the ring ...you
ain’t doing right! Take the time
to do the work! Most singers
JUST WANT TO SING!, they don't
want to bother with process.
However, this is the kind of
work that makes you a
technician, that allows you to
make definitive judgements on
the color and quality of the
sound you want to make ...
before you make them. The
general comment from my studentt/professionals
is, "I used to go out on stage
with my knees knocking, but now
I can't wait to get on stage
because I have the confidence
that it will be there and the
confidence to fix it if I get in
a bit of trouble." That's what I
have been doing my entire
career.
The best configuration of the
throat when singing is utilizing
the long and narrow back of your
throat when singing a true
“AAAAAWWW” vowel, with the
palate high. Most of you will
sing “AH” and think it’s an
“AAAAAWWW” ... but it won’t be!
Ya gots to really lis-ten to
WHAT ya hear coming from the
tape recorder ... because your
tendency will be to “hear what
you believe you did!!” Got that?
That’s what most of us do, until
we learn to really hear what we
did on the machine! (Not
incidentally, If you can see the
Uvula, the “fleshy extension at
the back of the soft-palate
which hangs above the throat”
... your soft-palate ain’t
raised, no how!)
In that configuration, the voice
picks up the maximum resonance
and overtones of your sound,
relative to the specific vowel!
Remember this ... the vowel is
made really forward in the area
behind your top teeth, between
the hard palate and the height
of the arch of the tongue! And
don’t forget, while your
concentrating on all of the
above ...what holds the tongue
up? Visit any number of the my
Tips on breathing and support.
What holds your throat open is
... support! What “holds” your
tongue, without it moving, for a
steady long, consistent vowel
... a flexible breath pressure
on demand, that’s what does it.
“Hold” is a word I never use in
singing, when I am with my
students who understand that
things only stay in one place,
as a result of his/her feeding
the tone with flexible
breath-pressure to keep it there
... with the ever consistent
concept of lifting and growing
the tone!
Remember this above all things
... THE VOICE IS A
WIND-INSTRUMENT! If you don’t
keep of sense of “feeding the
tone” with steady
breath-pressure ... the vowel
will slip and change color, as
the tongue drops from lack of
support and you will also be
losing the benefit of the
air-saving forward, small
placement of the vowel, normally
held there by the position of
the tongue. Once again ... all
of that vowel placement is
essentially within the space
that a ping-pong ball would
take, placed just inside, behind
your top teeth, between the hard
palate and the height of the
arch of the tongue!
Try it! Work at it! You’ll be
surprised what you can do if you
don’t get frustrated! Knowing
that it is difficult and trying
it a number of different ways,
until the sound is better ... is
the answer! It just don’t have
to be purfect the first time
outta the box ... or even the
tenth ... But, as you tune your
ear to your sound on the
recorder ... you will get better
and better at it ... until you
hear the clean, sharp vowel,
spinning on the arch of the
tongue. If you can’t clean up
your vowel ... the culprit is
likely to be that you are adding
“your sound” with not just a
little throat tension. Relax,
open the throat and try it
again. Remember also that
“frustration is the enemy of
innovation!” I just made that up
...
When all else fails ... go to my
Merchandise page and order up a
lesson with me on SKYPE and join
the others from Santiago, Chile,
Mexico City, Edmonton, Canada,
Muechen, Gemany, Kennebunk,
Maine, Miami, Florida, etc., who
avail themselves of this
wonderful technology. In one
session, I will give you the
breathing and support concept
I’ve developed over a bunch of
years singing at the Met, in
Musical Theater, on Television.
Why not visit my Audio/Visual
page, the Musicals are after the
Videos–It will explicitly show
you how to sing the vowels I’ve
just described, I’ll have you
singing forward and get you out
of your throat ... as well as
probably raising your range at
least a third. It’s what I do.
This special lesson will be for
ninety minutes ... and I’ll
guarantee, it will change the
way you think about your singing
in a most positive manner.
Next month ...
SINGING WITH A TIGHT JAW ...
DON’T DO THAT!
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