i dont wanna ';deteriorate my voice.'; i heard thats possible... like u have a vocal peak and then u get worse either naturally or becuz u sang/excersized wrong... wat should i not do?Any advice about correctly singing in the whistle register withought damaging vocal cords?
What should you not do?
1. never sing without stretching
2. never sing without warming up
3. never use bad posture
4. don't breath incorrectly
5. don't use bad vocal instrument placement
Here are ways to turn your DON'Ts into DO's:
1. Before singing one should make it habbit to stretch all of the body to release tension and to warm up the vocal instrument. Any tension can and will cause vocal strain and eventually damage.
Nothing should be stiff. Loosen up. Do some light stretching and rub out tight muscles especially the ones around your neck, face, and jaw. It might seem strange, but yes, you should massage your face.
2. Warm up with some light humming and other vocal exercises. You don't have to do scales or have a piano, just sing lighly to wake up your vocal chords. A cappella is best because you won't be staining to outsing sing something like the radio or a piano.
3. Posture: the foundation of great singing.
(Standing) from the top:
Your head should be level with the floor and you are looking ahead, not up or down. No tension, just placed as so.
When singing everything should be loose with no stiff tension. Tension causes things to be incorrect even when you know the right way and use it.
Next, Roll your shoulders back. Rolling your shoulders back elongates the spine and thorax or chest cavity and lifts the sternum, the bone in the middle of your chest. This allows space for proper breathing.
Keep your knees loose, so that they can bend. Don't lock them.
Keep your feet shoulder width apart. One foot can be a little farther forward than the other if that is more comfortable for you.
Imagine yourself as royalty. This is all perfectly natural and normal. It is simply the way you present yourself--with poise and self-confidence.
(Sitting) additional information:
When sitting it is important to keep all the same posture techniques used for standing.
Make sure you sit as far forward on the seat as possible and keep your feet flat on the floor.
When you have proper posture you can learn to breath properly. Correct breath support and control is the gateway to good singing.
4. Proper breathing and breath support:
To learn the proper way, you've got to know which ways are wrong.
Improper ways to breath when singing:
1) Clavicular breathing ~ shallow breathing--the shoulders lift
2) Costal breathing ~ heaving like when you are sick
3) Abdominal breathing ~ from just the stomach excluding use of the top of the lungs
To understand diaphragmatic-intercostal breathing, the proper breathing for singing, it is import to understand basic breathing for life. Breathing for life is nearly the same with only a few slight alterations.
How we breath for living:
1) involuntary impulse of the brain
2) the diaphragm contracts and flattens to enlarge the thorax or chest cavity
3) the costal or rib muscles expand causing the air pressure to drop within the lungs. the air pressure inside then equals to the air pressure outside the lungs.
4) exhale
Modifications used when singing:
1) more air is required
2) quicker inhalation
3) longer periods of exhalation requiring control
4) voluntary--you determine how and when
**It is impossible to breath correctly if you are not using proper singers' posture.**
Ways to make sure you are breathing correctly when singing:
1) Make sure your shoulders and upper chest don't raise when you inhale.
2) Make sure you are expanding all around. The stomach, sides, and even the back
The laying down exercise is great for practicing proper breathing. You should practice it every night before you go to sleep. When practicing, pay attention to the appoggio, or the moment of balance between inhaling and exhaling just like breathing for yoga.
Before bed breathing exercises:
Lay on your back and wait until your breathing deepens and evens. You will feel expansion around your stomach, sides, and even back. This type of breathing is the ideal form of healthy breathing and the breathing we use for singing.
1. Practice inhaling over a count of 10 and gradually grow to a count of 15 and as high as your lung capasity will allow.
2. Use inhalation explained in (1). Exhale with a hiss of air. It will sound like ';tissss...';. Work your exhale from a 10 count to a 15 count and so on.
3. Use inhalation explained in (1). Exhale with a hiss of air and pulse using the abdominal muscles. (';tisss, tisss, tisss,...) Work your pulsed exhale from a 10 count to a 15 count and so on.
Remember: When people refer to singing from your diaphragm it is ment to be a locational reference. The activities of the diaphragm are completely involuntary. You don't control it--your brain does.
Proper breathing takes time to develop. You have to keep practicing to build stregth and endurance.
5. Vocal instrument placement:
We'll start with the voice box or larnyx. You can feel it in the center front of your neck. Swallow while touching it. Feel how it lowers? That's the position it should be in when you sing. You can't really mentally control it, but if you've gotten rid of your tension it should be just right.
Your mouth/teeth/lips... It should be opened wide enough to fit two fingers in vertically between your teeth. For some people even wider for higher notes. Sometimes people just don't open their mouths wide enough for high notes to come out properly.
Your hard and soft pallet... Feel the top of your mouth with your tongue. Upfront, behind your teeth it's hard--that's your hard pallet. Farther back, there is a soft fleshy part. That's your soft pallet. When singing you have to make sure your soft pallet is raised. This allows the air to resonate for a fuller sound. This kind of resonation is especially important for high notes.
To find this position you can yawn. Feel how your soft pallet raises? You could also imagine you have one of those really cool little paper party drink umbrella things. Imagine putting it in your mouth and open it up in there. Now sing like that.
Now you are ready to begin working with the whistle register!
How it works:
1) the vocal folds vibrate at a high rate with lengthwise tension
2) the posterior portion of the vocal chords have considerable ';damping'; (diminishing amplitude in successive vibrations)
3) the vibrating mass of the vocal chords is limited, and the air pressure and flow is high
Things to avoid:
1) Make sure you aren't reaching for the whistle tones. Your head should remain level to the floor and you should maintain proper singers' posture.
2) Your throat/larynx should be opened and relaxed. If not you could be causing vocal damage.
Things to do:
1) Keep whistle tones resonating forward in the mouth and in the sinuses. This helps avoid tension and makes the tone and color more pure and keeps you from swallowing the sound.
2) Using proper singing breath support is imparative to great whistle tones.
3) High notes are partially phsycological. Close your eyes and imagine your high note. See it? Now imagine you are coming down from above your high note and just lightly tapping it for a light and present sound.
Good luck and happy singing!Any advice about correctly singing in the whistle register withought damaging vocal cords?
Personally, I would concentrate on two things:
1) Don't sing whistle too often
2) When you do, make sure you are breathing and resonating correctly
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