Can you learn to sing?

Some people are under the impression that only a select few are given the gift of singing, and that if one is born without that gift, then he will never sing. This is complete hogwash.

If you can speak, then you can sing.  If you have the ability to close your vocal folds and blow air through them to create a sound, then you can sing.
This is the sounds your vocal cords make on their own
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SmyLshMzR4
or this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0rMnEs_VNo

All the rest is a change in the space around the vocal folds. Learning to manipulate the space, is a process that takes time, much like Building muscle, or learning to ride a unicycle.

The truth is, that if you are willing to work at it, and work hard, then you can sing. There is no quick fix, and frankly, if there was, singing wouldn't be worth it. There is so much more reward to having a skill when you can look back and realize that all the blood sweat and tears were worth something. When you turn your trials and tribulations into human triumph.

If you aren't happy with the sounds you are making right now, that's OK, just keep practicing, keep your focus, and stay the path. It's OK if you lose your way, as long as you keep moving.

Practice Practice Practice!

Larz the Larynx

How to practice if your vocally tired

The voice isn't like other instruments, it is actually inside of you, and it is a component of a living organism. Because of this, it can get tired. So how do you practice when you've already tired yourself out?

Mental Practice

What is mental practice?

Mental practice is basically, practicing without Phonating.  So for instance, let's say you wanted to work on vowel modification in a particularly passage. Instead of  actually singing,  just move your jaw from position to position note after note, so that you train the coordination into your muscle memory.

Mental practice could even entail standing in front of a mirror with a flash light practicing raising your soft palate. (This one is actually really difficult and you should try it!)

You can take single aspects of the singing process and work on the mentally like this and then plug them back in. It sounds strange, but it works. It works for memorizing music too, having an aria on repeat in your head is the fastest way to memorize it.

To your constant improvement!

Larz the Larynx

Stacatto

Staccato is a great tool for building your voice.  Because the note values are so small, using staccato really sheds light on where you are having issues, simply because staccato is really really hard to do unless your voice is already basically free.

Try it.

Repeat the same note  at a rate of about 100 notes per second.

It's hard, isn't it. You likely feel where the air is getting stopped up, or maybe the problem is every time you sing you are flexing your pecs and it's too challenging to release and reflex them.

Using staccato is a good way to train yourself only to use the muscles of the Larynx in the singing process.

It is important that you DO NOT rely on putting and [h] in front of your onsets,  the vocal folds should close at the same instant air flow begins, resulting in the production of a pure tone, without a hard glottal attack or an aspirate breathy one.

How to nail your difficult cadenza every time

You are in the spot light, wearing a  gorgeous dress or fashionable suit accompanied by a forced smile and a single bead of sweat dripping from your cheek to the floor. To you at least, the next 15 seconds of song/aria feels like years and has at least 300 notes crammed into what seems like just half a measure. There are 38 high C's a few low R's and you are required to croak like a frog, laugh like a hen, all while doing cartwheels, spitting fire, and styling your hair.  How in the world are you going to make it through?!

You won't because that scenario is actually impossible, there is no such thing as a low R, but I digress; The feelings associated with the previous paragraph are very real and occur nightly to the performing singer. How do you prevent them? or at least, how can you manage them?

If you have a difficult passage, or hard cadenza, then incorporate it into your warm ups. Turn the crazy run, into a vocalise and transpose it throughout your range. Do this starting at least a few months before your performance. By the time the performance comes, it will be so ingrained into your muscle memory that you should have no problem. Good warm ups ARE practice. When you are warming up you should be focused entirely on technique, not just throwing your voice around and hoping it's well lubricated afterwards. You have to train yourself only to phonate using efficient coordination.  If you have successfully completed the run 500- 1000  (and this is a low number)  times then you'll have the confidence to know you can do it again, even while juggling several others things at once.

 From a neurological standpoint, in moments of high adrenaline, you will do what you have always done. This is the principle behind most martial arts. The martial artist trains himself to react to things in a certain way so then when a fight actually does occur his reaction speed is faster than his opponents. Train yourself to sing it well, repeat it like crazy and then when you get to performance, it will be there. I promise.

Keep at it

Larz the Larynx

Bicep Curls and Singing

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

Velar Leakage

Singing with nasality is not looked upon as favorable in classical singing of the western tradition, with the exception of french nasal vowels. Here are some tips to help you become aware of, avoid, and get rid of nasality.

1.Practice vocalises with your nose plugged- If the sound is different in any way than when your nose isn't plugged, there is nasality.

2.Add a [b] before vowels- it's impossible to make the consonant [b] with nasality and getting a good start will ensure a good finish.

 You can use these two "tricks" to help teach yourself the difference between nasal resonance and pharyngeal resonance.

Good luck!

Larz the Larynx

Breathing for Singing

Perhaps the most important factor in keeping your Larynx a happy one through your life is managing your breath correctly.  In the Italian School of singing proper breath management is referred to as appoggio. This word is derived from the verb appoggiare which means "to lean"

" Appoggio is the term used to sum up the kind of muscular coordination on which the Italian system of breath management is based. Although the word appoggiare means to lean against, or to support, the term appoggio can properly be describe as encompassing sterno-costal-diaphragmatic-epigastric breathing. Appoggio embraces a total system in singing which includes not only support factors but resonance factors as well. With reference to breath management for the singing instrument, appoggio encompasses the interrelationship of the muscles and organs of the trunk and neck, combining and balancing them in such an efficient way that the function of any one of them is not violated through the exaggerated action of another."

"Appoggio begins as a postural attitude: the sternum must remain at a moderately high, poised position throughout the breath cycle. The sternum finds this position when the arms are raised over the head and then brought down to the sides of the body; at the same time the shoulders are relaxed. making certain the sternum does not lower. In this position the sternum could be raised still higher, which would be too high; it could also be lowered from this posture by "relaxing" it, which would be too low. This noble posture is perhaps the most visible trademark of the Italian schooled singer. it is the key to the Italians breath coordination in singing"

"The Position of the diaphragm itself is partially determined by posture. For example, the abdominal muscles which engage the diaphragm are in a state of contraction in the standing position but less so during sitting. Further, if the sternum lowers, the diaphragm is unable to  maintain the proper degree of distention during the breath cycle, especially as required during the singing act; the rib cage, attached to the sternum by the sever upper ribs will tend to collapse if the sternum is dropped. the ribs remain in a well expanded position if the sternum and the costal muscles are poised. Because the muscles of the epigastrium (so often confused with the diaphragm itself) engage the diaphragm, a sensation of internal-external muscular balance takes place during the course of the sung phrase. this feeling of stabilized muscular balance increased with the demands of pitch and power." - Richard Miller, National Schools of Singing.

 An excersize- Stand facing a mirror, raise your hands over your head and slowly lower them laterally until they are at your sides. This is your starting position. Inhale, making sure that your breath falls into you. Exhale out on a hiss. Exhale by contracting the muscles of your abdomen. When you exhale make sure not to collapse your ribs, you should be able to change the strength of the hiss with the muscles of your abdomen.

when done correctly, the muscles directly below the crest of the rib cage will expand outwardly, as a product from being pressed on from above and below.

This takes time to learn. Keep practicing!

Larz the Larynx