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Some people who come to me can only sing in chest voice. They break when they have to sing high and can't make the shift, and all this time they are pushing pushing to go high and it sounds a bit like shouting.Once they go past the shift zone they are fine, but of course most songs include that annoying shift zone!!
Others sing only in their head voice (mainly female singers) or worse in falsetto (horror!!). Falsetto can be used to embellish (it’s really beautiful and tasteful) but cannot be used as a singing tone once your chest voice has reached its end.
So how do we connect the voice in a way that has no breaks? With the vocal fry, lip roll, nasal consonant/vowels arpeggios and much more.
I make my students stick out their tongue and sing "Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaa" and then " Ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne ne" and again...most of them laugh at first and can't believe how that's going to help them, but as soon as they go to sing that scale they had trouble with just a few minutes ago...they stop laughing and give me that look of pleasant surprise.
Freeing your voice means you will be connected when you sing from the bottom to the top without any horrible and unpleasant weak breaks.
It also mean that the songs you sing will have the power and passion you so want yet the playability to move in and out of head voice as easy as speaking.
If you struggle in your singing, the audience will also struggle to listen to you, if you push to get power you will break into falsetto and of course everyone knows that is not an option.
So what can you do to get that connection? Sing the song you are having problems quietly, in a relaxed manner without straining, then a bit louder, if you break go back to being quite again (not soft and breathy!!), try a bit of vocal fry and hold on to the consonant instead of your vowels. Sing a bit louder and only when you are connected sing with the right power.
Rememeber to be true to yourself, do not try and sing something you won't be able to sing to perfection just because you like the artist.
Be honest with yourself and use your voice to it's full potential. Would you like to know more? Give me a call and let's book a session you will be amazed at how low and high you can go, only of course if you are prepared to work really hard :)
Cris
