Videos
(back
to
top)
All these videos can also be found at my own YouTube
channel - www.YouTube.com/voicewisdom
-
and you can subsrcibe for free there to receive notification whenever I
upload a new teaching video.
1.
How the voice works - a useful conceptual model for how the singing
voice works - a combination of physical mechanics ('the machinery'),
and the mental-emotional process that drives it.
2.
Aligning the neck for singing - demonstrating the different sounds
produced depending on the position of the neck
3.
Relaxing throat and jaw - showing how true vocal power comes from
relaxing the throat and keeping neck muscles soft and not tensed.
4. Posture and singing - how opening and
lengthening the spine affects the singing voices
5. Lip rolls: do's and don'ts - this is a useful
exercise, but not as easy at it looks. All the demo videos I have found
on the web give the wrong advice on how to do them, so I have created
this video to put the record straight. Look out for later videos in my
series that teach how to improve abdominal breath support and free jaw,
lips and tongue.
Note
that these articles deliberately do not give every microscopic detail
of what is happening when we sing at our best. For example, while the
intercostal muscles
are integral to breathing, their function is not described since
working on other muscle groups leads
to the intercostals working efficiently anyway. Ultimately singers have
to make their own
decision about how much anatomy is useful to know.
- Overview
- there is some very good material on how the voice works at this
website: www.voiceproblem.org
- Posture
-
- *NEW* Diagram and simple
exercise sequence for establishing effective postural habits for
singing (one page) - 'Alignment, directions and energy flow' (pdf) -
those of you who have lessons with me will understand the importance of
this diagram!
- 'Posture for
singing' (article with diagrams)
- full
skeleton - lower: feet; knees; psoas; pelvis; gluteus
maximus
- middle
back: quadratus lumborum, latissimus dorsi - upper
torso: trapezius,
pectoralis major (& minor) - neck: sternocleidomastoid (SCM),
constrictors, scalenes
- 'Thinking
up' - for those of you working
with me, you'll know from Alexander Technique about the importance of
maintaining an open spine and back, and the integrity of the
relationship between the neck and the torso. Here are some YouTube
clips of how this applies across any
discilpline: martial artist, golfer
Tiger Woods (1:02 victory gesture, 1:27 full swing), conductor
Herbert von Karajan, pianist
Arthur Rubinstein (3:20 onwards), violinist
Yehudi Menhuin and singer Eula
Beal, Elvis
Presley (!)
- Abdominals
- 'Abdominal
breathing for singing' (article
with diagrams) - transversus
abdominis - rectus abdominis - internal obliques - external obliques -
diaphragm
- Outside the
larynx (muscles working on
the larynx, pharynx, mouth and
resonators) - 'Elevators,
depressors and articulators' (article
with diagrams) - tongue: stylo-glossus, hyoglossus, genioglossus,
palatoglossus, superior longitudinal, inferior longitudinal,
transverse, vertical (their effect on articulation and
phonation) - soft palate - constrictors:
inferior, middle, superior - hyoid
bone: mylohyoid,
geniohyoid, stylohyoid - jaw: temporomandibular joint (TMJ),
pterygoids, temporalis, masseter - lips
- A closer look
at the larynx
- vocal cords - ventricular folds (false folds) - arytenoids -
epiglottis - cricoid cartilage - thyroid cartilage - hyoid bone -
connecting membranes and muscles - the 'tilt' and register transitions
- Articulators
and phonetics - animated examples of every vowel and
consonant with
the muscles of the mouth - great
website!
Note that a significant
portion of the
exercises here do not require making any vocal sounds at all.
The underlying principle is that we need to attend to postural
work and core muscles
in legs and abdomen, improve breath efficiency, loosen neck, jaw and
tongue first.
All of this can be done without having to work the vocal cords at all.
- Warm
up routine - My students are
offered a full anatomical
explanation of each of these exercises, how they release and preserve
the voice, how they enhance artistic singing, and when to
employ them. Individuals are solely responsible for their level of
understanding and how they choose to make use of these ideas.
- Unvoiced
to voiced - starting
sound with abdominal breath support and no glottal stop ('throat
kick'), using the 'Accent Method'
- Free online keyboard
- this is a great resource if
you need to pitch notes for vocal exercises. Here are links for a few
others: keyboard 2, keyboard 3, keyboard
4, keyboard 5.
- Neck
1: exercises for flexion, retraction and
extension, loosening and aligning neck and shoulder area
- Neck
2: techniques for easing off the
constrictor muscles
- Neck
3: Opening the back of the neck - Alfredo
Kraus
(tenor) - 'La fille
du regiment' (Donizetti) - watch
the last 1/3 for how often he
opens
the back
of his neck when
breathing in about to sing, and how he holds open the back of his neck
for all 9 top Cs - this 'switches off' the sternocleidomastoid (SCM)
muscle that attaches from the shoulder area into the neck, and the
middle constrictor muscle in the neck, both of which might otherwise
pull the larynx upwards and inhibit free vocalisation. When the
suspensor / elevator muscles (the 'suspension cables' holding the
larynx from above) release, we can turn our heads without the larynx
(or the sound) being affected at all.
Principles and
examples
- Portamento
- 'carrying' the voice from one pitch to another smoothly, so the
muscles don't get any surprises and we create a perfect legato
- Sir
Thomas Allen (baritone) - Deh,
vieni alla finestra (Mozart:
Don Giovanni) - note in the aria (after the introduction) how he
'bends' notes, up and down, depending on the direction of the phrase
- Dame
Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano) - Dove
sono (Mozart: Marriage of
Figaro: Countess) - principles similar
to previous example
- Clean
'onset' (starting a phrase) - both of
the previous examples show how the singer 'leans' into the beginning of
each phrase, actually starting just below
the note, and doing portamento
into the first note
- Appoggio
('leaning') - again, looking at the two examples, the singers 'lean'
into the music, and into notes - this effectively means they are
providing abdominal breath support at the same time as relaxing the jaw
and tongue muscles (opening the vocal tract, keep the larynx loose and
low)
- A
key lineage of bel
canto teachers and
practitioners
Treatises and
musical exercises
(downloadable from internet sites)
- Caruso,
Enrico (1973-1921) and Tetrazzini,
Luisa (1971-1940) - The
art of
singing - text
version - html version
- Concone,
Giuseppe (1810-1861) - The School of Sight Singing
- Garcia
II, Manuel (1805-1906) - Hints on Singing
- Lamperti,
Francesco (1811/13-1892) - 1) The art of singing
and 2) Daily exercises in singing
- Lamperti,
Giovanni (1839-1910) - The technics of bel canto
- Lehmann,
Lilli (1848-1929) - How to Sing
- Marchesi,
Mathilde (1821-1913) (one
of the
foremost teachers of singing in the 19th
century)
- Tosi,
Pier Francesco (1653-1732) - Observations
on the Florid Song or Sentiments on the Ancient and Modern Singers
- text version
- html version
- Vaccai,
Nicolai (1790-1848) - A practical
method of
Italian singing
Vocal methods and
pedagogy
- Bunch,
Meribeth (1997) Dynamics of
the
Singing Voice,
Springer-Verlag,Vienna, ISBN 3211829857
- Chapman,
Janice (2006) Singing and
teaching singing: a
holistic approach to classical voice,
Plural Publishing, Oxford,
ISBN 1-59756-015-4
- Kayes,
Gillyanne (2000) Singing and
the
Actor,
A&C Black, London ISBN0-7136-4888-0
- Martin,
Stephanie and Darnley, Lyn (1996/2004) The teaching
voice, Whurr, London, ISBN
1-86156-436-8
- Miller,
Richard (1996) The structure
of
singing: system
and art in vocal technique,
Schirmer, Boston, ISBN-13
978-0-534-25535-0, ISBN-10 0-534-25535-0
- Sell,
Karen (2005) The disciplines
of vocal pedagogy:
towards an holistic approach,
Ashgate, UK, ISBN 0-7546-5169-X
- Shewell,
Christina (2009) Voice work:
art
and science in
changing voices,
Wiley-Blackwell, Chichester, ISBN
978-0-470-01992-4
- Smith,
W. Stephen with Michael Chapman (2007) The naked voice:
a wholistic
approach to singing, Oxford
University Press, Oxford ISBN
978-0-19-530050-5: Smith
is Professor of Voice at the Juilliard School of Music, and has taught
at Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Houston Grand Opera Studio
- Stark,
James (1999/2008) Bel canto:
a
history of vocal
pedagogy, University of
Toronto, London, ISBN 978-0-8020-8614-3
Clinical work
with voice
- Andrews,
Moya with Summers, Anne (2002) Voice treatment
for children and
adolescents, Thomson, UK,
ISBN-13 978-0-7693-0107-5, ISBN-10
0-7693-0107-X
- Aronson,
Arnold (1985) Clinical voice
disorders: an
interdisciplinary approach,
Thieme, New York ISBN 0-865-77-127-8
- Butcher,
Peter, Elias, Annie, Cavalli, Lesley
(2007) Understanding and
treating psychogenic voice disorder: a CBT framework,
Wiley,
Chichester, ISBN 978-0-470-06122-0
- Butcher
P., Elias A., Raven R. (1993) Psychogenic
voice
disorders and
cognitive-behaviour therapy,
Whurr, London ISBN 1-870332-20-6
- Green,
Margaret and Mathieson, Lesley (1989) The voice and its
disorders,
London, Whurr ISBN 1-870332-30-X
- Mackenzie,
Robin (1983) Treat your own
neck,
Spinal publications, New Zealand, ISBN 0-473-00209-4 - not a voice
book, of course, but some great advice about how to unlock your neck
and shoulders
- Stengel,
Ingeburg and Strauch, Theo (2000) Voice and Self: a
handbook of
personal voice development therapy,
Free Association Books,
London/NY, ISBN 1-85343-500-7
Other reading
- Armstrong,
Frankie and Pearson, Jenny (eds.)
(2000) Well-tuned women:
growing strong through voicework,
Women's Press, London, ISBN
0-7043-4649-4
- Emmons,
Shirley and Thomas, Alma (1998) Power performance
for singers:
transcending the barriers,
Oxford, Oxford University Press
ISBN0-19-511224-5
- Coyle,
Daniel (2009) The
talent code,
Bantam
Dell, New York, ISBN 978-0-553-80684-7
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