Joett's Music Blog: July 2013

Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Learn Speech Level Singing into Your Head Voice with Joett

I've covered speech-level singing in my private-lessons training programs, but of late, I have added a more intensive and extensive speech-level singing vocal exercises regime to ALL the programs from Beginners 1 to Pro Club. What this really means is, every student that walks into my studio right now gets a full hour of Speech Level Singing exercises regardless of what program they're on. And the results? Well, if they couldn't quite hit the mark with a song they'd been working on, suddenly they CAN! It's that good. It's INSTANT.

Most singers use excessive muscular effort when they sing. Muscles the body normally uses to chew and swallow food, as well as open the throat wider when it needs to get oxygen into the lungs quickly, are used to manipulate the larynx—forcing it up or down. This is done to accomplish a difficult pitch, increase intensity, or "improve" the quality of one's tone. We call these muscles the outer muscles, because they are located outside the larynx.

Whenever you use your outer muscles to control your voice in any way, however, you prevent the free vibration of your vocal cords inside your larynx, and alter the relationship (and the over-all condition) of the resonance spaces above your larynx. The result is a labored and unbalanced sound.

Only when your larynx is in a relaxed, stable position can your vocal cords adjust easily with your breath flow, to create the pitch and intensity of your initial tone. And, only when your larynx is in a relaxed, stable position will your final tone contain a balance of top, middle, and bottom harmonic qualities—like a good stereo system—so you never sound "muddy" on low notes or "splatty" on high ones.

Yet, there's another important reason why your larynx must be kept free of outer-muscle interference. Many of these muscles are involved in the production of speech sounds, and their interference in the tone-making process inevitably disrupts the word-making process as well. It's hard to form vowels and make consonants when the muscles controlling the movement of your tongue and jaw, for instance, are also trying to control your tone. Hence, voice production using the muscles outside your larynx is a hopeless battle in which both your tone and your words become the casualties.

Generally, when you speak in a quiet, comfortable manner, your outer level— muscles do not interfere with the functioning of your larynx. That's because a foundation for tone is not your primary concern—communication is. Therefore, your lar-vocal freedom-ynx is allowed to rest in a relatively stable, or what we call a speech-level, position. This is the ideal vocal condition or posture with which to sing.

If you can learn to initiate and maintain your tone with this comfortable speech-level posture when you sing, you can sing with the same easily produced voice you use—or should be using— when you speak. Nothing will feel any different in your throat or mouth. Both your tone and words will feel natural and sound natural.

But be careful! Speech-level singing doesn't mean "sing like you speak!"

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!