In school-based voice study the student learns many things all at the same time. These include singing technique, style, interpretation, performance, vocal anatomy, sight-singing, music theory, beginning keyboard, and more. But even if you are not in a music school, by using this book you can make use of a number of vocal strategies and techniques that will improve your singing.

And the good news is: the better a singer you are, the more wonderful you'll feel when you sing. And the more wonderful you feel when you sing, the more wonderful your listeners will feel. And the more wonderful your listeners feel, the better you sing. And so on. It spirals upward.

The beginner should engage in "free-vary" breathing. This means that you should breathe as you need it, and without worrying about using some special system. This may seem too easy, but, in the world of music, something can be easier and better at the same time.

2. Breathe with the rhythm of the song. For fast songs, take shorter, more frequent breaths. For slow songs, take full, deep breaths.

3. Breathe when it makes sense in the lyrics. Breathe at the ends of phrases. Don't breathe between a noun and a verb, or in the middle of a word. There are always exceptions in music, but these guidelines are helpful for learning.

Try this exercise. Play a song and tap your foot to the rhythm. Breathe in for four beats, and breathe out for four.

Sound originates from the vibrations of the vocal folds which are in the voice box. The voice box is located just behind your "Adam's Apple." The name of the voice box is the larynx (pronounced "lar-inks). When moving air is sent from the lungs through the voice box, the air makes your vocal folds vibrate. The vocal folds, which are more popularly known as the vocal chords, are two delicate muscles no bigger than your thumbnail. A typical note, such as middle C, requires 262 vibrations of these delicate folds every second! Warning: the vocal folds have no nerve endings. This means that there is no way to know when you are abusing them. Read the upcoming section on vocal damage carefully.

When you inhale air in order to fill your lungs, your vocal folds are wide open. When you exhale they close slightly. When you sing, they vibrate close together.

The filter is the vocal tract which consists of the upper part of the throat, top and bottom of the mouth, including the tongue, back wall of the neck, and the nasal cavity. By manipulating various parts of the vocal tract you can change many characteristics of the notes that you sing. Shortening the tract results in brighter and louder tones. Making the tract longer results in soft, dark tones. Widening the vocal tract helps to release constriction. We will cover this in the next section. Another strategy is to raise the back of the tongue as you would in making an "ng" sound, when you inhale air to produce a note.

Constriction is a natural reaction of the muscles in the voice system. It is caused by a number of things. Musical causes: loud notes, soft notes, fast notes, very high notes, very low notes, ends of phrases, and long notes. Emotional causes: overwhelming emotion from singing the song, running out of breath, and performance anxiety.

Jo Estill, renowned vocal researcher, teacher, and performer, found that if one laughs or cries silently, the muscles that release constriction come into operation. Learn more about Jo Estill

Close your eyes. Imagine yourself in a situation where you don't want anyone to hear you. Open your mouth and go through the motions of laughing, but don't allow any sound to come out. Try this several times. While you do this, place your fingers on both sides of your neck. If you feel the large muscles on each side enlarge themselves and push into your fingers, then you know you are doing it right.

When you sing, keep your head level, and not pointed up or down. Do not raise your chin to reach high notes. Keep your head parallel to the floor.

Wider than you normally would when you speak. This is an important secret. Do not, however, open so wide that your jaw becomes tight. Visualize a shelf located about one inch below your jaw. Open you mouth to the point where your jaw rests on the shelf.

Keep your body erect with your weight equally distributed on both feet. Stand with your right foot slightly in front. (Opposite if you are left-handed.)

Every singer must clearly communicate words to an audience. Proper diction will first make you feel like you are exaggerating. Try singing the words "wish-ing you a good time." Make up a melody as you do so. Exaggerate all the sounds in each word. Next, take the words of a song you want to sing and speak all the words out loud, exaggerating each syllable. Speak them like an actor. Then sing the same song, exaggerating as before.

Even though the audience can see the words on the video screen, they will pay attention to you if you are projecting the words well.

Your vocal folds (chords) are delicate tissue no bigger than your thumbnail. They have no nerve endings, so they can't notify you when you are abusing them. A feeling of "scratchiness" in your throat is a warning sign. This means you should exert more effort in the surrounding muscles used for singing.

Most people think singing is merely an extension of speaking. This is not so. They seem similar, but they are very different. One can walk fast and pass a slow moving runner. A fast walk is not nearly the same thing as a slow run.

When we sing quietly, we need more muscular effort than when speaking loudly. Sometimes, singing demands very high levels of effort. If the necessary vocal effort is not generated, constriction will result.

Use a number system to express level of effort. On a scale of one to ten, you can express the difference between high effort and low effort. For example, level eight is much more than level five, seven more than three, and so on.

Effort tends to spread to other nearby muscles. Try this exercise. Press the thumbnail of your right hand into the forefinger of your right hand. Do this forcefully. Notice that the other fingers of your right hand are tense. Try releasing the tension in those other fingers while keeping the tension and effort in your thumb and forefinger. In other words, concentrate your muscular effort, but relax all else around it.

The challenge for the singer is to use only those muscles needed for singing, while relaxing all others. You need concentrated muscular effort in the singing muscles, and relaxation all around them.

Try this exercise. Sing the word "sung'" and hold the "ng." Then, like a siren, slowly slide the "ng" sound all the way up to your highest notes. Then slide it back down slightly. From there, "siren" your way up higher. Come back down a bit, then higher again.

You can do this at the lowest end of the siren as well. Siren lower and lower. In this way, you are exploring your total range. All of the siren notes, from the lowest to the highest, make up your total range. If you can siren a note, you can sing it.

The total range is made up of stronger notes and weaker notes. Somewhere in the "middle" there is a range of notes that is strong. It is in this strong part of your total range that you should sing your songs. Most beginners have a one and one half octave strong range where singing feels best. This means you can produce good quality notes from one level of do-re-mi up to the next do-re-mi, plus about half as much more.

There are points in your range where your voice "shifts gears," as in driving a car. As the speed of the car goes higher, you change gears. As you sing higher and higher, your voice will naturally change registers. Often a singer will want to maintain a particular quality across a register breaking point. For example, to maintain the speech quality across a register breaking point, you will need greater effort. Your natural tendency will be to change to falsetto, which requires much less effort.

NAME _______________________________________________ DATE _________________

SINGING TECHNIQUE

SONGS

PRACTICE EXERCISES:

Vocal Profile

C

B

A

G

F

E

D

C

B

A

G

F

E

D

Middle C

B

A

G

F

E

D

C

The four kinds of singing used in popular music are speech, belting, twang, and falsetto. These are the voice qualities most often used for the popular music in the karaoke music systems.

This type of singing will be used for most of your singing. Speech quality is the type usually heard when singing a song like "Happy Birthday." Most persons can sing in speech quality in a range from do, up to high do, plus re and mi. As you go higher up your range it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain speech quality. Added effort is needed.

2) Falsetto is the quality familiar in the singing of young choir boys. Traditionally, it is light, quiet, and subdued. In the world of rock music, Frankie Vallee & The Four Seasons, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and other well known groups are famous for having created a louder form of falsetto singing. They do this by combining it with twang.

Another type of falsetto singing is yodelling. This requires you to move in and out of falsetto as you go from the lower notes to the higher notes, and back again.

3) Twang is the familiar quality of Country and Western singing, but it is not limited to this type of music. Here is an exercise to learn about twang. Cackle like a witch. Now whinny like a horse. Next, taunt like a child, "nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah, nyeah." This will produce the twang quality.

4) Belting is the voice quality best known in American popular music. Of all the qualities, belting requires the highest level of effort. It appears as the big note in theater music. It is also heard in Gospel music on the highest notes. In rock, belting is often used. It is used in opera and classical music as well.

1) Speak, at high volume, the syllable "eh." While you do this, raise your tongue on each side. Your tongue will touch your teeth, your upper molars. Do this a few times.

2) Now sing the "eh" in your upper range, but not too high up. Hold the note. Do this at an increasing level of effort, say from four to six to eight. Don't forget to keep your tongue arched. Practice this regularly.