I would like to improve my control of voice and all that, maybe even how to sing a little.
So what should I do? What advice have you gurus for poor little Phanto?
Thanks! ^^
Posted by Boris (Member # 6935) on :
Well, I don't know much about singing, but strengthening your upper abdominals helps a lot. It helps you hold on to a note longer and increases your range by allowing you to naturally press harder on the diaphragm.
Posted by RackhamsRazor (Member # 5254) on :
sing different scales?
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
Start with singing? Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
Open your mouth tall rather than wide, drop your jaw, sing breathing with your diagram (just below your ribs), don't "swallow" your tone by imitating what (if you intend to sing classically) sounds operaish, pick a song and don't push your voice!
Have fun!
EDIT: If you sing scales sing them on "ee", with your lips forward not wide and scrapy. Then sing them on "ah".
It's hard to help people sing over the internet!
[ November 12, 2004, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: Teshi ]
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
There is a GREAT book out there for the average person who wnats to improve their voice...for wither singing or for public speaking.
It is called Set Your Voice Free , but I can't remember who wrote it. He is a vocal coach that has worked with a ton of singers, from Earth, Wind and Fire to the Beach Boys, and he has proven excersizes that work really well. The book is now in trade paperback, and our local B&N has it.
He explains the concepts and physical actions very well, and for most people the book is amazing. It "fixed" a problem I had within 2 days...something that my vocal teachers in school had not been able to fix for years.
Kwea
Posted by Troubadour (Member # 83) on :
Two things about diagphragmatic control - there's a great deal of controversy over what the correct technique is, but;
1) You can't directly control your diaphragm - it's an involuntary muscle, so there's no way of directly influencing its movement.
2) Using the UPPER abdominals is about the worst thing you could do. Upper abs will serve only to stiffen your torso causing you to introduce uneeded tension into the neck and make your breathing too rigid. If you're using an abdominal control method it should be much more flexible, with a focus on the lower abs.
Do this in front of the mirror:
Stand lightly on the balls of your feet, be relaxed and make sure that your heels still touch the floor, but your weight is forward.
Lift your head until your chin is level - not too high, not too low. Raise your chest to a comfortable level but don't stick it out unnaturally. Take a deep breath. Notice that most likely your shoulders will move. This is not a good thing for singing as it means you're not using your breath efficiently.
Take another deep breath, but this time, allow your lower body to absorb the movement of breathing - your stomach should move, but your shoulders shouldn't. You should be relaxed enough that your rib cage has a bit of movement. By allowing your lower body to relax, the diaphragm can move further into the lower body, increasing the volume of space the lungs can occupy and therefore the amount of air they can process.
Practice that for a bit. In breathing out, just relax and let the breath leave your body.
Once you've got that sorted - deep breathing without much shoulder movement and plenty of relaxation - you should start to introduce some slight pressure in the lower abdomen as you're breathing out. Don't go at it with a vice-like grip, just tighten up the muscles a little bit and you'll notice that it helps the diaphragm by exerting a bit of pressure from below. As you get to the end of the breath, you can exert more pressure to really get the most out of your breath.
Eventually (and I'm talking months or years here) you should be able to get to a stage where you can feel most of your individual muscles working in tandem to support this type of breathing. To use these muscles for Opera, you become aware of a concert of muscles through your abdomen, buttocks, back and legs working to support your breath. After quite some time you should even notice that your floating ribs have more lateral movement than the rest of your ribcage, even to the point of being able to exert some control over their movement.
But that's just the breath. Getting the voice itself in shape is a lot more complex.
You need to work at relaxation predominantely - but none of this is something I can really teach in text form...
Edit to say - bear in mind none of this should be taken as gospel truth. There's a fine line in singing technique between physiology and psychology - and everyone has their explanation for what's going on. This is just one of the techniques that I learned at the conservatorium that I've found best helps new vocalists.
[ November 12, 2004, 01:33 AM: Message edited by: Troubadour ]
Posted by Raia (Member # 4700) on :
There's also a great book of vocal exercises... it's called "Marchesi," and there are several for different voice parts, so make sure you get the baritone, or whatever part it is that you sing. That has scales, and trills, and basically all the vocal exercises you need. Scales are very good: You should start and go in order: 1-2-1 1-2-3-2-1 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 1-2-3-4-5-4-3-2-1 etc... until you get up to nine. What I mean by those is start on a note, call that "one" and go up to the second, and back down again. You can do it on "ah" or "ooh," or any vowel, but the best is to alternate. Once you do the first one, go up a half step and do it again. Do the first one many times (coming back down again as well), before you switch to 1-2-3-2-1, and so forth. It sounds really tedious, but those are excellent vocal exercises.
Once you get better at the basic vocal exercises, there's a book called "Lutgen" (also one for each voice part -- both of these books are Schirmer's Library, I don't know if you know the yellow covers with the green writing, and the green borders, you'll probably recognize them when you see them), that has vocal exercises that are more than just going up and down the scale. I don't know if you read music, but if you do, this is an excellent book to have, especially if you can either play the exercises, or find someone to play them for you. Those are more like melodies, but you sing them entirely on a vowel, and they really help to warm you up.
You should also get started on some fairly easy pieces (nothing too complicated, though that doesn't exclude foreign languages, they can be fantastic!)... I would recommend "If Ever I Would Leave You," from Camelot, or "Younger than Springtime," from South Pacific. They won't be hard to find though. Of course, I can't judge your voice, because I've never heard you sing, but those are classic songs that my voice teacher starts his male students on. If you need further tips or anything, feel free to IM me (I do teach some, even though I'm still learning, so I like to think I know what I'm talking about!). Good luck! It makes me happy when people say they want to sing.
I hope that was helpful! Also, listen to Teshi... that's the perfect posture. You HAVE to stand up straight, and for the most comfortable singing, I would also spread your feet about a foot apart, so they're underneath your shoulders. When you breathe, make sure you're breathing from down low, and not from your chest... if you feel your shoulders rising, you're not breathing deep enough. You have to physically feel your ribcage expand every time you breathe. That takes ages of practice, so don't worry if you don't get it right away. If you can't figure out how to breathe from your diapragm, lie down on your back, lay a hand on your stomach, and breathe. You will feel your stomach rise up and expand. Understand what that feels like, and try to do it standing up. Make sure when you do your vocal exercise you do a few physical stretches as well. You don't have to do this every time, but try to do it fairly often. Just simple things like stretching your arms into the air and stuff. It'll help to loosen your breath. Also, you might want to try singing some of your exercises on a rolled "rrrr," or (I'm going to ATTEMPT to describe this, because it really is best) a "brrr" when your lips are forward and buzzing... kind of like the sound a horse makes when it turns its head and says "brrrr!" That's what I mean. It sounds utterly ridiculous, but ir REALLY gets your air moving, and makes for a much better tone.
Make sure, whatever you do, that your lips are forward, and that your mouth is tall. Don't ever try to sing through your teeth. You mouth position, when you're singing "Ee" should look like "Ah,"... you will hardly ever sing a pure vowel, you'll have to modify it, add bits and pieces of other vowels into it... your audience will understand what vowel it is you're singing. But for yourself, you have to modify it, so that it's taller.
*looks back* Um, that was a bit long... sorry... I hope I didn't overwhelm you with vocal technique! Really, the most important thing is just to breathe, and have a great time doing it. (Can you tell this is an activity I enjoy?)
(edit: No, Raia, "Younger Than Springtime" is NOT from Carousel... )
[ November 12, 2004, 04:02 AM: Message edited by: Raia ]
Posted by Zotto! (Member # 4689) on :
*steals advice away from Tesh, Kwea, Troubs and Raia for own use*
Posted by Kwea (Member # 2199) on :
One of the best things about that book (BTW< I think it was written by Roger Love) is the CD that comes with it. You cna hear him sing the excersizes, and there are parts you sing along with so that you can tell if you are doing them right.
He really is quite good, even if you just want to improve your speaking voice.
Kwea
Posted by Phanto (Member # 5897) on :
Update:
The breathing in the bottom is actually quite easy for me, for I've tons of meditatino ^^.
Now I'm also doing 1-2-3-4-5-6-5-4-3-2-1 like 10 minutes a day; also doing the "ng" sound a siren.
What else? Thanks! *is excited about improving voice*
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
I've been thinking of taking voice lessons lately; I'll have to give this book a try.
Posted by Narnia (Member # 1071) on :
Wow, I just finished teaching a voice lesson in person and I would have to agree that it is hard to give voice lessons over the internet! But, the advice given thus far seems good. When you practice breathing, you might want to try breathing out FIRST and then breathing in. I do something like this:
1. Breathe out over 3 counts (this empties your lungs so you can take a good breath.)
2. Let the air in through your mouth and nose as you breathe in over 3 counts. (I imagine it coming through my eyes. The breath should be silent and feel like it fills your legs and lower torso. Your chest SHOULD NOT raise up and down, nor should your shoulders.)
3. Hold the breath in over 4 counts with your mouth open. The reason you do this is so that it's not your vocal folds that hold the air in, but the expansion of your ribcage that keeps the air where it's supposed to be. When you expand your lower torso, it helps the diaphragm to drop and creates a vacuum in your lungs. The air HAS to come in! If those muscles stay expanded, the vacuum remains, and the air stays in!
4. Let the breath out over 3 counts. Be sure to let it ALL out (even if you have a LOT) over these 3 counts. I use "ssss" or sometimes just a tight blowing through my lips. If you use ssss, you have to work a lot harder to get all the air out.
As you get comfortable with this, up the counts, so that you breathe out for 4 counts, breathe in for 4, hold it for 4 and let it out over 4 etc. Breathing out at the beginning won't get much more than 4 or 5 counts and that's ok. The other stuff, you can get up to 7 or 8 before it gets unhealthy.
That's all I have time for, but I highly suggest picking up a book, like the one Kwea mentioned. Another one that is really great is "Discover your voice" by Owen Brown. It's very "layman" in it's verbage and makes a lot of sense. It also comes with a CD of vocal exercises.
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