#1 [url]

Jul 13 06 11:02 PM

Re: ...

Hey, Scott. Here is my 2 cents for what it's worth. From what I heard in the clip, you are compressing the cords properly and the little constriction that I heard here and there was mainly due to a support problem. When your teacher says your singing isn't fluid enough, that's also due to the support problem. See, you have little sense of resistance to the air. Now, I don't mean you're blasting or anything, but you give just enough to get a sound out. If you keep giving "just enough" to get out a sound, you'll never be able to sing longer, more fluid phrases, nor will you get rid of the slight constriction on the higher notes. I'm speaking on this from experience. When I'm really tired or just simply feeling lazy, I'll sing exactly the way you sang in that clip. Sometimes I just simply lack the energy to do what I need, so I give just enough to get some sound out, but doing that makes it close to impossible to sing phrases or to do high notes well. If you try to sing a high note with too little energy, it will constrict.

Although I generally don't like this exercise, musiciano's hissing exercise would probably work wonders for you. Make a hissing sound like a snake for as long as you can. At first, just aim for 30 seconds, but try to work your way up to 60 seconds. The point of this is to get you to experience some type of resistance to the air -- or rather more resistance than what you're used to giving. This might be a little difficult for you at first since you might not be used to doing this. For another exercise, just sing a random note and try to hold it out for eternity -- hold it out as long as you can. That will also help you learn resistance to the air. You see, you resist the air slightly, but the second you feel the diaphragm wanting to come up, you just give up resisting/supporting. When you feel the diaphragm wanting to come up and expel your air, you have to resist and fight that urge to let go that much more. These exercises should help you build up that resistance.

Now, once you learn to resist the air, then you need to learn to manage your support/resistance to the air. I'll explain what that means. If you succesfully did the two previous exercises, you'll probably have noticed that you CAN resist the air longer than what you're normally used to doing, however this can't go on forever. At some point, you're going to have to give up and the diaphragm is going to win, but you want to prevent this from happening for as long as possible. The longer you hold out a note or phrase, the stronger the diaphragm is going to want to fly back up. So managing your support is simply managing your energy so you don't give too much too soon. Meaning if a certain phrase needs to be held out for 10 seconds, don't resist as much as you can during the first 3 seconds. Save the bulk of your energy for the end of the phrase when you need it the most. It's going to take a little bit of experimentation, but you'll see what I mean. You more than likely had to manage your support in order to be able to do the hissing exercise for 60 seconds.

If I was unclear about anything -- I know I more than likely was -- feel free to ask for clarification.

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We have eyes, but cannot see; ears, but cannot hear.