Term 3: 1st Half
From my last Practical Journal of 'term 2' it was very beneficial for me as the abdominal pulsing helped to massively improve they way I use to sing as I've always managed to run out of breathe quickly.I was practicing the vocal techniques of one-one two-one one-two-three-two one... which was one of the best techniques which I saw a change in my singing as it has helped to boost my breathing capacity.
I was able to witness a huge change in my singing in the last 'Individual Showcase' we had during the last week in the month of March. Which was a huge challenge for me as I had to prepare 3 songs and perform them one after each other on top of that having nerves building up inside of you and having the introduce each song beforehand.
Unfortunately I don't think the Wednesday 'Nasty Nays' worked for me as I struggled to understand what it was used for, from my understanding I chose this exercise to enable me to know how to control a softer sound and gradually getting louder as one of my songs from the 'Individual Showcase' 'Maybe I like it this way' (The Wild Party) I felt like it needed that sense of timbre within your voice mainly at the start of the song as I believed it will make the audience understand the emotion the character would be feeling.
However the only way that I managed to portray that in my song was by constantly practicing it while recording at the same time as I was able to listen back at it and repeatedly make it perfect as I believe in the quote - 'Practice makes Perfect'
My weekly schedule for the month of April is...
BREATH = MILEAGE
1. Always Use Less Breath
The most common misconception when preparing to sing a long, loud, powerful note is that you need to take a big breath. This is a misguided notion, but of course understandable. The relationship between breath and the vocal cords is this; the vocal cords allow and stop breath from passing through. When the vocal cords are closed they hold breath back and we slowly allow a small stream of air though them when we sing. The first principle of voice is contact between the two vocal cords, and when we belt we are aiming for thick vocal cord contact (more of the mass of the vocal cords touching). Considering all this, if we give the vocal cords more air to resist before we belt by taking a big breath, the vocal cords are more likely to blow apart causing the dreaded crack, or pushing tuning to the sharp side. The rule of thumb with breath when singing is this:
BREATH = MILEAGE
(NOT POWER or VOLUME)
The only thing we use breath for in singing is for length of phrase, never for power or volume.
Here is a little exercise for you to try. Take a belted phrase in your song and isolate it. Blow some air out shortly and sharply as if blowing out a candle, then sing the phrase without breathing in first. Try it a few times and see if it feels a bit (or a lot) easier! You'll be surprised at how the sound can suddenly just pop out with ease. Watch this video for how to do it.
2. Use A Small Space
This is a good one, and it usually takes a bit of convincing when I first introduce students to it. We are going to experiment with using a smaller space in the mouth and jaw when singing high and loud. The common misconception is that you need a big, wide open mouth to make a loud and powerful sound.
Pop your finger on your larynx for a second. Now open your mouth wide. What do you feel? Most probably you will feel your larynx move down. If you keep your mouth in this position your jaw and tongue will keep your larynx locked down in that position and it will be considerably more difficult to get it to move up, which is generally where we want it to be for high belting. When we sing, we want a mobile larynx at all times. Opening the mouth too widely will simply keep your larynx locked in one position.
Think about the instruments of the orchestra... which are the higher, piercing and more powerful instruments? Are you thinking about piccolos and trumpets...? This is because they are smaller and the sound waves resonate at a higher speed than the bigger, wider instruments. Same with singing.
Here's something for you to try; put your little finger between your top and bottom teeth at the side of your mouth. Keep the top and bottom teeth resting on your little finger. The idea is not to let the finger go, but not to bite hard. Try singing your belted phrase on an 'aaay' sound using this smaller space. Give it a few tries to get used to the new sensation and watch this video for how to do it.
3. Sing On Pitch
This last tip is a nice simple one to implement, but must not be underestimated in how powerful it can be in refining your belt. Hitting your belted note or phrase bang on pitch is so important and will clean things up considerably. Bending up on to the note and falling off the note at the end is very common and is usually just down to habit. I want everything my students do in their singing to be their choice rather just habit. By bending up onto the note, and falling off the note at the end we are just creating a bit of extra and unnecessary work for the muscles to deal with. So to remedy this simply take a short, sharp breath in, which gets the larynx to a nice high position. The trick here is to breathe in on the pitch of the note you want to sing out. Essentially, your larynx is already in the position you want it to be in, creating less work and confusion. Give it a few tries and watch this video for how/not to do it.
NOTE: I told you earlier to breathe out before belting. This is just for practice to show how little breath you need to belt.
So there are my 3 tips for better belting. There is a lot more to belting technique than this, and I wouldn't advise you to practice belting continually on your own. Please contact a vocal coach you trust to assist you as there may be other things going on that you are not aware of. These tips are to give you a starting place to refine what you already can do. Please never try belting above your comfort zone without a coach. Practice in a safe area of your range. Please only practice belting exercises if you can achieve clean, clear tone. If you are breathy, constricted, or in pain then STOP!
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