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!

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.