Arm Tension? Find Relief!
We have been talking to you about ways to relieve tension associated with singing and we want to add arm tension to that list! One of the best tests for determining arm tension is to grab a friend and have them stand behind you while you are singing and raise your arms. The goal of this exercise would be for you to just let them fall back down and if they do not, you definitely are carrying tension in your arms. To help you release that arm tension, try swinging your arms forward and back while you are singing or practice tossing something between your 2 hands. If you find yourself stopping the movement for a high note for example, then you are definitely using your arms to support your voice rather then your breath. You can also pretend to draw on the wall with your pointer fingers of both hands to help you relieve this tension. If your friend is willing, have them move your arms up and down while you sing and help you to relax there tension. We would love to help you release your arm tension. Check out our Instagram post on this subject for more information and contact us for lessons if you want us to help you build a strong, relaxed voice.
Relieving Lip tension
The topic for this blog post is a problem that that plagues almost every singer. Tension in the lips can occur for a variety of reasons but the most common is that singers are actually supporting their voices with their lips rather then their breath. If you don't believe me, try this fantastic exercise for relieving lip tension. Gently pinch and hold your upper lip with one hand and your lower lip with the other hand. Then take a good low breath and start singing. I guarantee you will experience an immediate improvement in your sound and will also have the added benefit of forcing yourself to use your breath support more efficiently. The next step in learning to sing without lip tension is to start singing while holding your lips, then let go of them while still singing and keep that relaxed feeling going. Be sure not to sing too high in this position because if you are woman you will pop into whistle voice and if you are a man you will probably pop into falsetto. If you are having a hard time finding your whistle voice this is another great exercise. We would really like to help you find a way to release your lip tension and experience much more relaxation in singing. A relaxed production and understanding the proper usage of the breath is imperative to healthy singing no matter what style you are singing in. Contact us and start your vocal journey to a successful career and a healthy voice.
Achieving the best Breath Support system ever for your singing!
Hi Singers, Joel here. I want to speak to you about breath support. When I was a young singer the word “support” was something I could not get my mind or body around! There are many ways to discuss support so let’s try and keep it simple. What we’re trying to achieve in support is to manage the flow or pressure of air from our lungs through our vocal folds…not too much and not too little is very important! Far too often we see singers use what I call their “valves” to manage or hold back air pressure that is built up in your lungs after you take a deep straw breath. We can think of our lips, tongue, jaw, larynx as valves that open or close. Let’s say you’ve mastered keeping your jaw down and relaxed, low laryngeal position, high and lifted soft palate in other words, everything is open and relaxed as it should be for great singing. What do you think is going to hold back the pressure of air in your lungs if you don’t tighten one of your valves? Hopefully your well built support system! Try this. Take a hard backed book and put one end against a wall and the other end in your lower abs-below your belly button. Breath in deeply. Your body should move backward from the wall. Exhale on “S” and don’t let your body fall into the book! This is the most important skill to master for good singing and good vocal long-term health. Contact us today to get started on your lessons!
A collapsed rib cage is wrong!!
One of the things we see a lot of singers do incorrectly is drop the rib cage. We call this collapsing and what that usually results in is a jutting out or sticking out of the jaw. Sometimes we say to students, “You’re leading with your jaw” It’s the wrong position to have your vocal instrument in. What you want to do is pick up your rib cage. It’s difficult to do this because under our rib cage is our abdomen and we don’t have a spine like we do in our back to hold us up. We can drop or collapse into the abdominal area which is really incorrect for great singing. Instead, imagine a string that is tied to your sternum and up to the ceiling pulling your rib cage up which automatically puts your head in a better position and gives you better posture through the vocal tract area. This will help you get a proper breath for singing and improve the quality or your sound! Make sure, by looking in a mirror you never collapse your rib cage while singing!
Singing easily on ALL vowels involves correct Jaw position.
Today I want to continue our discussion of correct jaw position. In our last blog we discussed the need to sing with a dropped jaw position and never compromise the space in the back. When you do this correctly you achieve a natural “AH” vowel. The question is how do we sing all the other vowels while maintaining the dropped jaw? Well, here’s how! Begin by gently pushing your fingers in between your back molars to drop your jaw. You now have achieved what I call the natural “AH” vowel. Again, you should feel a yawning sensation. If you want to sing an “OH” or “OO” vowel you need to simply use your lips without closing or moving your jaw. Now, again go back to the natural “AH” position. Move your tongue slightly up and forward to sing an “AYE” or “E” vowel sound. Lips and Tongue are what we call our Articulators and that is exactly and only what you should use to form vowels. Let us help you master the correct usage of your jaw and sing effortlessly on all vowels in all parts of your range. Contact us to get started on fixing the things that frustrate you!
Don’t settle for pressure in your singing, learn about Jaw tension.
At JVS we see jaw tension hindering singers natural beautiful sound and want to help you eliminate the incorrect usage of your jaw. First of all, your jaw needs to be dropped from the back more than the front. An easy way to achieve this is to take your index fingers, place them on your cheeks where your back molars are located and gently push in. This allows the back of the jaw to drop open. If done correctly you should feel a slight yawning sensation. This is the perfect position of your jaw and the key to maintaining the opening you need to eliminate tension. Vocal science has proven that when we drop the back of the jaw, our throats open. Try singing any one of your songs or arias with your fingers in this position. You will quickly discover how often you close or compromise that space when singing. We feel this is one of the biggest problems facing ALL singers today! If you want to learn how to master this extremely important skill and stop chewing your words, please visit the link in our BIO to start your lessons today!
Shush! Silent breaths
One of the most common issues we see in our studio when working with singers of all types is hearing loud, gasping, or aspirate inhalation sounds. When we listen to our students inhale in preparation to sing, we don't want to actually hear their breath coming in. If we do “hear” them inhaling then we know that the singer is not raising their soft palate and creating an open throat. If you hear that aspirate sound of your breath coming in, you need to learn to raise your soft palate. For more information on raising the soft palate, please see our blog post from 11/9/21.
Another issue you will experience when you are breathing loudly, is a very dry mouth and throat. With each breath you take, you will feel your voice getting drier and drier to the point that it will begin to cut out or crack. So, what can you do? Try taking in your breath making as little sound as possible. You will hear the breath going past your teeth and your lips but you should not hear a raspy gasping type of sound. If you are already working on raising your soft palate, taking a silent breath is another way to achieve the raised palate because when your breath comes in silently, you have raised your soft palate and gotten it out of the way. Because we have to breathe often as singers, if you take in a silent breath each time you breathe, you will be practicing raising the soft palate which will give you a lot of chances to practice this important skill and have success in achieving that full, beautiful, open sound we all want!
Raising your soft palate is REALLY IMPORTANT!
As singers, we all want to have the most open and beautiful sound we can produce. One of the most important skills to work on is raising your soft palate. You may be asking, where and what is my soft palate? Let’s start first with the hard palate. The hard palate is the area that includes the roof of your mouth right behind your upper teeth. The soft palate is the area that is behind your hard palate going to the back of your throat. If you put your tongue on the roof of your mouth and slide it back as far as your can you will feel where that hard palpate becomes soft. When we yawn, we naturally raise the soft palate. I was told by a voice teacher to practice singing while keeping my throat in a yawn position. That visual, although correct, was a bit too abstract for me. What really helped was to take a flash light and shine it into my mouth while looking in a mirror and actually see my soft palate. You know that little piece of tissue that hangs down in your throat that looks like a punching bag? That is called your uvula and it is in the middle of the soft palate. In order to raise your soft palate you have to pull the little punching bag or uvula up as high as you can.
Once I actually saw my uvula and understood where and what my soft palate was, I was able to practice raising it up. Then, once I felt the sensation of a high soft palate, I practiced singing while maintaining that feeling of openness in the back of my throat. The results were amazing! I found singing in general to be so much easier and I had an immediate improvement in the high part of my vocal range. I think that the results can be amazing for you too. Give it try and see for yourself an almost immediate improvement!
What is sub-glottic pressure?
What is sub-glottic pressure?
The opening between your vocal cords is called the glottis. When we close our vocal cords to create phonation we are closing the glottis so that the vocal cords can vibrate and create sound. What causes the vocal cords to come together and close the glottis? It is the breath that comes up from our lungs controlled by the diaphragm that draws the vocal cords together. So the term “sub-glottic pressure” is divided this way:
“sub” refers to the breath pressure that is beneath the vocal cords, “glottis” is referring to the opening between the cords and “pressure” is the air coming through the glottis to make sound. We have to create the correct amount of sub-glottic pressure to successfully sing in our different ranges. Sub-glottic pressure is at it’s greatest when we sing high because the vocal cords stretch very thin and vibrate very quickly so more breath pressure is needed. In our middle range less breath pressure is needed to create sound because the vocal cords are stretched less. Most people speak in their middle range because it requires less effort. When we sing in our low range, the vocal cords are the least stretched and because the cords are vibrating more slowly, the singer needs to move more breath rather then rely on the sub-glottic pressure to hold back air. Singing in our high range requires the most breath support to properly create sub-glottic pressure which is why so many singers strain their voices when they sing high.
So what is a singer to do? We at Jameson vocal studio believe that singers need to achieve the right kind of sub-glottic pressure to learn proper breathing technique. Your vocal cords will react to whatever range you want to sing in but if you lack adequate breath support you will not be able to achieve the beautiful sound you want. Don’t get frustrated, contact us today!!
“Develop the coveted seamless legato line using Lip Trills”
Lip trills really help to move and anchor your breath by using correct sub-glottic breath pressure. It’s a great way to create that seamless legato line which you need to develop for world-class singing. The objective is to make sure your lips keep trilling throughout the entire vocalize. If your lips stop, you can bet your breath stopped as well. Stopping breath is the same as dropping your support. So, stand with correct posture, rib cage high, good, deep, low, down and out breath and start phonation or singing by trilling your lips. In the lower range it might be a bit more difficult because you need to move more breath. Remember to keep the breath moving and those lips trilling!
A little more about the Tongue
In one of our recent blog posts we spoke about maintaining a tongue position that is as relaxed as possible. Remember pretending to falling asleep in the chair or putting your tongue into the (EE) position? By maintaining that (EE) position of the tongue with all of your vowels, you are creating the most space it is possible for you to have in the back of your throat. The more space you have in the back of your throat the better the sound will be that comes out of your mouth. Another great outcome of keeping that tongue relaxed and the throat open is that you will definitely produce a louder and bigger sound! It is also imperative to remember to take in as much air as possible and then manage it properly so that you can stay relaxed in your throat and tongue. The throat will not stay open nor will the tongue stay relaxed if you do not have the right breath support. Tension is the enemy of great and healthy singing! In learning to have correct breath support, a relaxed tongue, and open throat you are starting to give yourself a real shot at a singing career. If you wanted to become a dancer, would you expect to do that without taking lessons? You have to learn how to sing also! No singer is free of tension and vocal problems if they never learn a vocal technique. We want you to help you build a technique with your voice so that you can have a long and healthy singing career. Contact us today so that we can get you started on a successful singing career!
Posture. Use the correct one for Breathing!
Posture is extremely important when it comes to breathing. If you don’t use the correct posture, you have nowhere for that breath to go. We tell our students to put their heels hips, shoulder blades against a wall. Head should be there too with chin not too high or too low. Now, step away from the wall maintaining that position and you will have the correct posture for breathing and singing. Taking in a straw breath like we’ve discussed before, can help you achieve correct posture so add these new techniques to your practice time. Enjoy your newfound posture…it will make you sing better!
Tongue tension Issues?
I want to talk to you today about something we all need to tackle as singers and that is tongue tension. When we lack adequate breath support we tend to use other body parts to support our voices and one of the the most commonly used is our tongue. In order to have that beautiful sound we are all striving for with our voices, we need to maintain a very relaxed tongue position. So, how do we get there? Let’s imagine that you fell asleep in a chair with your head falling back. In what position do you find your tongue? Chances are the tip of your tongue is resting at the front of your bottom teeth and is slightly up in the back. This is the most relaxed position your tongue can ever be in. Another way to identify the correct tongue position is by singing in an (EE) vowel. The (EE) position of the tongue is the same relaxed position as the falling asleep in a chair position. It is also important for you to know that the base of your tongue is attached to your larynx. It is because of this laryngeal attachment that we must have our tongues as relaxed as possible which will also help you have the correct laryngeal position. Practice keeping your tongue in this (EE) position while singing and start to visualize that relaxed tongue position on all of your vowels. We do not want you to distort your vowels but if you can sing through that (EE) tongue position on all your vowels, you will achieve a much better overall sound in your voice. To fully tackle your tongue tension you also have to tackle the lack of adequate breath support. Everything with singing builds on each other and all of this requires guidance from a well trained voice teacher. Contact us to help you to find a more relaxed and beautiful sound.
Use a Straw to Breath, YES!
I want to give all of you a great tip that is helping our voice students. It has to do with breathing that builds strong inhalation muscles-a huge need for ALL singers. Get yourself a straw, not too big and definitely not a small cocktail straw. (that may cause you to work a little too hard!) Stand with good posture (find this be placing heels, hips, shoulder blades, head against a wall) and breath in through your straw as much air as possible. (remember the phrase, “down and out” when breathing in) Students always ask how long do I do this? I usually tell them to make sure the air goes as low as possible causing your abs to come out. Your objective is to pull in more and more air with each breath developing more lung capacity. Why the straw? The resistance the straw causes develops stronger inhalation muscles. Once mastered, you can have the strength needed when performing to pull in tons of air which can only help you sing better! Do this 5-10 times a day to build those inhalation muscles for great singing! Contact us today to start your voice lessons and learn how to master proper breathing!!
What should I wear for auditions?
This is a very commonly asked questions in our studio! The best answer we can offer is to always wear something that really flatters your body type. Buying audition clothing is like buying a bathing suit. You want your outfit to totally flatter you and reflect your sense of style and self. We recommend against wearing white and overly busy patterns because white can make a person look much heavier then they actually are and busy patterns make the adjudicator focus on your outfit rather then your singing. When you go shopping, take someone with you that you can really trust to be honest with you about how you look and stick to bright solid colors and jewel tones. Also, remember that if you have a specific look that is important to your brand then you have to stay within that style. As we always say, JVS offers a holistic approach to teaching our students. Email us today for lessons and be assured we not only will help you sound great, but look fantastic, too!
It’s OK to say NO!
We would like to talk again about the subject of vocal fatigue. One way you can get into trouble is when you are touring or doing multiple performances without getting enough downtime and vocal rest. This can be very draining on you physically and vocally. It is incredibly important that before you leave, you are comfortable with your schedule. Many people will want you to sing more and more throughout your careers and while that is what we all are after, we must learn to manage our schedules and how often we sing. We tell our students NO, is an important word to learn. It can be very difficult to say NO to people when we want to please them and continue getting more and more opportunities to sing. Remember, when you say NO to something, you are actually saying YES to something you value more! At JVS, we offer a holistic approach for our students. We don’t just deal with matters of vocal technique, but rather the whole person, seeing each one of you individually and doing our best to meet your needs. Why don’t you send us an email and start learning not only a great vocal technique, but how to manage the many challenges of your career, successfully! Say YES to SUCCESS!!
Special message female Pop and Broadway singers
We need to address the female pop and Broadway singers. It is essential that you learn how to sing in a “mix” range. The mix range is needed when what you are singing is too high to sing in straight chest voice or in “belt voice” and too low for straight head voice. Taking the chest voice or belt voice too high can lead to vocal problems and damage over time. Just like a car needs to shift gears in order to go faster with less wear and tear on the engine, your voice also needs to shift gears in order to sing in a way that causes less wear and tear on the voice. Pop and Broadway voices have 3 different gears. The lowest gear of your voice is called your “chest” voice, the middle gear would be your “mix” voice and your highest gear is your “head” voice. In order to use your mix correctly, you need to take a bit of chest voice and combine it with a bit of head voice. When you sing something that makes you feel you are straining your voice by forcing it into chest but feels too low for your head voice, then the mix you use would be an 80/20 split meaning 80% chest and 20% head voice. When the range is still to low for straight head voice but much too high for chest voice then you use a 50/50 split which means 50% chest and 50% mix and for your highest notes in mix where it is still to high for straight head voice but way too high for chest voice, go for a 20/80 split meaning 20% chest voice and 80% head voice. When you sing in the highest part of your range you should be using 100% head voice. It is essential for long-term vocal health and a long healthy singing career to build a middle register or mix range.