I am willing to guess that most of you have probably performed or attempted to perform a bicep curl. I am also fairly certain that you have witnessed people performing bicep curls with too much weight, and so when they curl the weight up they not only use the muscles of the biceps, but they also arch their back, or lean to the side; hell, maybe they even bend their legs. In the fitness world this would be referred to as "bad form."
People who work their biceps with poor form do not see as high a caliber of results as people who focus only on contracting their biceps, even if the poor form people are using a heavier weight. What does this have to do with singing? Ah
The vocal folds are muscles. This means they are controlled by electrical impulse from the brain. The brain controls muscles by sending a signal to a motor unit that tells that motor unit to contract. So let's go back to our curls example.
Person A = poor form Person B= strict form
Imagine both of these people in your minds eye. The problem with Person A's form is NOT that he isn't contracting his bicep. He is. His problem is that he is also contracting 30 other muscle groups that have nothing to do with curling.
This is Signal versus Noise. Person B focuses all of the extra brain noise into his primary brain signal to the bicep and therefore experiences greater results.
Back to the voice.
This is the case with so many singers. Look in the mirror next time you sing. Are you flexing muscles in your face? pulling upwards on your lips? Flexing the traps? the mastoids? ALL of these electrical impulses effect your sound and have absolutely NOTHING to do with the proper functioning of a Larynx.
Because of this, it is extremely important to practice in front of a mirror. In some ways singing is like training yourself to raise only one eyebrow. You won't be able to do it at first, but with time, as you focus your energy, you'll get their.
Systematically eliminate the noise and strengthen the signal.
Keep practicing,
Larz the Larynx
People who work their biceps with poor form do not see as high a caliber of results as people who focus only on contracting their biceps, even if the poor form people are using a heavier weight. What does this have to do with singing? Ah
The vocal folds are muscles. This means they are controlled by electrical impulse from the brain. The brain controls muscles by sending a signal to a motor unit that tells that motor unit to contract. So let's go back to our curls example.
Person A = poor form Person B= strict form
Imagine both of these people in your minds eye. The problem with Person A's form is NOT that he isn't contracting his bicep. He is. His problem is that he is also contracting 30 other muscle groups that have nothing to do with curling.
This is Signal versus Noise. Person B focuses all of the extra brain noise into his primary brain signal to the bicep and therefore experiences greater results.
Back to the voice.
This is the case with so many singers. Look in the mirror next time you sing. Are you flexing muscles in your face? pulling upwards on your lips? Flexing the traps? the mastoids? ALL of these electrical impulses effect your sound and have absolutely NOTHING to do with the proper functioning of a Larynx.
Because of this, it is extremely important to practice in front of a mirror. In some ways singing is like training yourself to raise only one eyebrow. You won't be able to do it at first, but with time, as you focus your energy, you'll get their.
Systematically eliminate the noise and strengthen the signal.
Keep practicing,
Larz the Larynx
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