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How To Apply Vocal Technique To Songs

Singing exercises are very effective to improve the sound of your voice.  Singing scales and arpeggios when done right will expand your range, develop power and allow you to sing with more freedom. There is one major drawback with vocal exercises though, they aren’t exactly the most inspiring things to sing!  I’m sure you would much rather sit at the piano, or grab your guitar and sing a selection of your favourite songs for an hour instead of grinding away singing countless “mums”, “nays” and lip rolls!

In this article I am going to show you how you can apply many popular vocal exercises and techniques to songs. This will make the process of developing your voice much more enjoyable and you will see “real world” improvements to your range and tone.  I am going to discuss a series of scenarios you may face when working on a particular song.

Scenario One: You are having trouble hitting a certain high note in one of your favourite songs.

Let’s say that you are working on a particular song that has a high note that you are finding difficult to hit.  What most singers do is attempt to hit the note over and over again which will lead to frustration and a mental block regarding the note.  Sound familiar?

The solution:

Step One: Isolate the phrase and treat it like a vocal exercise.

Step Two: Substitute the words in the phrase with a lip roll.  Lip roll the phrase at least three times in a row.  This will train your singing muscles to relax.  You may also want to do a strong “SHHH” sound in between lip rolls.  This will make sure you airflow is activated.

Step Three: Isolate the note before the high note and also the one after it.  Lip roll (or tongue roll) these three notes five times in a row, again adding a “SHHH” between each attempt.

Step Four: Replace the lip roll with a vowel of your choice.  I recommend either “EEE” or “OOO” as these will help keep your mouth in a neutral (not widened) position.  Sing the three notes on your chosen vowel five more times, each time adding a bit more volume.  Make sure you don’t start out too loud!

Step Five: Sing the three notes again but this time add the words.

Step Six: Sing the phrase again as written (with words).

This six step system is very effective for conquering high notes within a song.

Scenario Two: You are having trouble hitting a series of low notes within a phrase.

Let’s say you are more comfortable singing in the middle and upper parts of your voice and you are working on a song that has a series of low notes in a verse.  You find that your voice gets “stuck” and unable to sing the notes with any volume.

The Solution:

Step One: Isolate the phrase and treat it like a vocal exercise.

Step Two: Do three strong “SHHH” sounds.   Low notes allow more air to pass the through the vocal cords so you need a consistent flow.

Step Three: Speak the phrase.  Your speaking voice uses the same vocal structure as you chest voice.  Now try and speak the phrase “on pitch”.

Step Four: Replace the words with an “AHH” vowel.  Try and maintain the same tone as when you were speaking the phrase.  Put your hand on your chest and make sure that you are feeling vibration in your chest cavity while doing this exercise.

Step Five: Sing the phrase again adding the words.

This is a great five step system for accessing you chest voice.  When doing these exercises make sure you keep a tension free throat.  It will allow your sound to descend much easier.

Scenario Three: You are having trouble sustaining a phrase which sits right in the middle of your voice.

Let’s say that the chorus of a song you are working on has a series of notes which sit right in the middle of your voice.  You find that your voice shifts between head voice and chest voice causing your tone to become very inconsistent.  You have tried singing it with a louder volume but find that your voice tires quickly.

The Solution:

Step One: Isolate the phrase and treat it as a vocal exercise.

Step Two: Replace the words of the phrase with a lip roll.  This will help to keep your singing muscles relaxed and your larynx low.  Do this three times.

Step Three: Sing the phrase using the word “mum”.  Do this three times adding a strong “SHHH” between each attempt.

Step Four: Sing the phrase using the word “nay”.  Do this three times adding a strong “SHHH” between each attempt.  Try and add a crying sound to your “nay”.

Step Five: Sing the phrase again adding the words.  Try and maintain a crying sound to your tone.

This five step system is great for singing in mixed voice.  It is designed to train your muscles to stay relaxed and maintain a low larynx.  The crying sound helps to shift resonance into the nasal cavity.

Scenario Four: You are told that your tone is “muddy” and your words are hard to understand.

Singing is really just another form of communication.  If your words and tone are not clear you will have trouble connecting with an audience.   The following exercises and techniques will help to clear up your tone.

Step One: Isolate the phrase and treat it as a vocal exercise.

Step Two: Stick out your tongue and attempt to sing the phrase with as much clarity as you can.  This will get your articulators (tongue, lips and jaw) working overtime.   If you find that your tongue retreats back into your mouth move to step three.

Step Three: Repeat previous exercise but hold your tongue with your fingers to stop it moving back into your mouth.  The tongue is a major reason for most tone problems.

Step Four: Sing the phrase again with words.  Focus on making the words as clear as you can.  You should find that your tone is greatly improved.

This four step system for improving tone is a fantastic way to add clarity to your voice.

Bonus Tips:

Tip One: If you have a word that has two distinct vowels directly after each other, always make the first vowel longer than the second.  This is called a diphthong.

Tip Two: Always make the vowels in your words longer than the consonants.  This will help create a very smooth tone.  Having shorter vowels will create a choppy tone.

Tip Three: If you are finding a high note pretty much impossible to hit try having a bit of fun with it.  Siren on vowels “ee” and “oo” as high as you can.  When you feel a bit more relaxed have a go at singing the high note again.  Don’t take things to seriously.  Have a bit of fun with your voice and notice the difference it makes to your energy.

Singing exercises for hours on end can often be a boring and mundane task.  By isolating phrases in your favourite songs and treating them as vocal exercises you will see instant improvements to your voice and have a bit of fun doing it!

To view video examples of these techniques enrol in my Free Course

Ian Castle

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Vocal Crack: A Singer’s Worst Nightmare

What is the most embarrassing thing that can happen to you when you sing?  Having a vocal crack is certainly high on my list! This has happened to me in the past in both a private and public situation.  While it is hopeful to think that people will remember the hundreds of perfect notes you have sung in the performance, the reality is the moment your voice cracked will be first and foremost in their memory. In this article I am going to share with you the reasons why your voice breaks and how you can prevent it from happening.

What is a vocal crack?

A vocal crack is a sudden shift or jump between your vocal registers.  The most common break is from chest voice to head voice.  Another break is from chest voice to falsetto.  This is particularly problematic for male singers who haven’t developed their head voice.  Have you had the experience of singing low in your range and find that as you sing higher your voice flips into a weak uncontrolled high sound? That’s a vocal crack.

Why does it happen?

There are many reasons why your voice can crack:

• Wrong muscle coordination
• Wrong airflow
• A rising larynx
• Fear
• Control
• Loss of connection

So what do I mean by muscle coordination? There are muscles that are attached to your vocal cords.  These muscles are responsible for lengthening and shortening the cords which results in changes of pitch.  The chest voice has different muscle coordination than head voice.  When singing low in your range the cords are “slack” and relaxed.  When you sing in head voice the cords lengthen and become tighter.  The reason your voice cracks in between these two registers is muscle balance. There is too much influence from the muscles that control the chest voice as you sing higher.  Your muscles will get to a point where they can’t stretch any further and a sudden “shift” or break will occur.

Airflow can be the cause of vocal cracks.  Too much air can bombard your vocal cords with pressure and tension.  Too little air can have the opposite effect leaving your cords struggling to vibrate.  There needs to be a balance between the two.  Your vocal cords need a consistent amount of pressurised air to vibrate efficiently.  You can find out more about airflow here.

A rising larynx is one of the major reasons for your voice breaking.  It is very closely related to muscle coordination.  Your larynx is the bump you can see and feel in your throat.  Next time you sing, watch yourself in a mirror and notice what your larynx does as you start to sing higher.  Does it also start to move higher?  If it does, that means that you are pulling chest voice up too high.  This is also referred to as vocal weight.  You will reach a point where your tone starts to resemble a “yell”.  If you try and take this weight up any higher your voice will crack.

Fear can do strange things to your mind and body.  Perhaps you have had the unfortunate experience of your voice breaking during a public performance?  This is certainly embarrassing and something you will want to avoid happening again.  Unfortunately when this happens once, you can get into the habit of thinking that it will happen again.  I know I have had this experience.  It’s as if I can see the note coming from a mile away.  My body starts to tense, my throat seizes up, my heart rate increases and then……..”crack”.  Fear can cause a lot of tension in your body and throat and can actually be the cause of a vocal crack.

People feel the need to control things in their lives.  This makes a person feel safe.  When we are not in control what do we feel?  Uncertainty.  So how does this relate to singing?  I’m sure you have heard the expression “that singer has great control.”  I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that control, for a singer, is not necessarily a good thing.  I believe it is also a big reason why vocal breaks occur.  If you are trying to control your voice then I believe at some point you are going to run into tension problems. Your voice is designed to be relaxed and free.  We complicate things by trying to control our voice, wanting to sound good, trying to sing higher, trying to sing louder.  Our voice will do these things naturally, if we let it.  I’m suggesting that in order to fix your vocal breaks you need to stop trying to control your voice around your problems areas.  Experiment with your voice, don’t be afraid to make some mistakes and you will gain a greater feeling of freedom when you sing.

The biggest and most obvious vocal crack is complete loss of connection. This occurs when your voice flips into falsetto.  Falsetto is very different from your “connected” vocal registers.  When you sing in chest, mixed and head voice your vocal cords remain connected the entire time.  Sound is created on the inner edges of your vocal cords.  When singing falsetto, sound is created on the extreme external edges of the vocal cords and a breathy tone is created due to the space between the cords.  The break occurs when a singer extends chest voice far beyond the speaking range. It is impossible to continue to sing higher in this muscle and vocal cord position so the muscles and cords basically “give up” which results in a break into falsetto.

How can a vocal crack be fixed?

As you would have realised by now one of the major reasons for the breaks in your voice is incorrect muscle coordination.  You need to learn how to transition between your vocal registers smoothly. You can reprogram your muscles by learning how to sing with mixed voice.  You can learn about mixed voice in this article.

Vocal exercises to achieve a smooth voice.

I recommend the following exercises to help you “iron out” the cracks in your voice:

1. Ascending and descending lip roll slides
2. Ascending and descending lip roll slides followed by “vowel slides”.
3. Ascending arpeggio using a lip roll to a descending 8 note scale.
4. Double octave arpeggio using “nay”.

You can view demonstration videos and download an mp3 of these exercises by enrolling in my Brand New Vocal Course.  It’s completely free.

Eliminating nasty cracks in your voice will boost your confidence as a singer and allow you to sing with freedom without the fear of an embarrassing break.

Ian Castle

Burn for you: Hear your coach sing an actual song!

Hey Singers,

It occurred to me today that not many of my subscribers have heard me sing an actual song!  Most people only hear me sing crazy exercises!  I’ve recorded a cover of the song “Burn for you” by John Farnham.  It’s an awesome song inspired by life on the road as a singer and being away from your loved ones.  Hope you enjoy it.

P.s That’s me playing the piano too

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Ian

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Tension: A Singer’s Nemesis!

The number one way to improve your voice, to extend your range and create the voice of your dreams is to recognise and release unnecessary tension in your body and the muscles that control your voice. If you are struggling with singing high notes, or running out of breath quickly it is most likely a singing tension related problem.  We hold tension in many areas of the body and in this article I am going to show you how to recognise it and release it with effective (and sometimes crazy) exercises.

Why is tension a bad thing?

To sing naturally and with freedom is easier than you think.  Most singers use far too many muscles to sing a note, whether it is high or low.  Have you ever witnessed someone trying to sing a very high note?  You will notice muscles in the neck, face, abdomen and torso tense up as they try and belt that high note.  All of that singing tension is not helping the situation, it’s actually preventing the singer from performing at their best.  Singing with tension can have a number of negative effects:

• Prevents a singer from reaching true potential.
• It’s a “High Note Killer”.
• It will affect your breathing.
• Your Tone will suffer.
• It can lead to vocal disorders.

I am going to show you how to avoid these problems.  Before I tell you how to release tension you need to discover where you are holding it.

Where do you hold tension?

The most important areas of your body to check for tension include:

• Neck
• Throat
• Jaw
• Tongue
• Lips
• Shoulders
• Abdomen

All of these areas of your body can have a dramatic impact on how you sound and the amount of effort it takes for you to sing.  For each of the areas we will be checking I want you to sing a phrase of a song.

To check for tension in your neck you will need to use a mirror.  Sing your phrase and watch in the mirror for any visible tension in the front of your neck.  Are your tendons sticking out as you sing?  Does your neck become red?  These are signs that you have tension.

To check for tension in your throat you will again need to use a mirror.  Sing your phrase and notice if the bump in your throat (called the larynx or “adam’s apple”) starts to rise when you sing.   This is a sign that the muscles which control your voice are not coordinating the right way and will certainly lead to vocal tension and fatigue.

Your jaw is another common area for tension.  I want you to sing your phrase but this time chew at the same time!  I know it sounds crazy but trust me on this one.  If you find it difficult to chew and sing at the same time you may be holding some tension there.  Tension in your jaw will affect the tone of your voice.  Your jaw is one of 3 articulators which determine your tone.

The second articulator and prime suspect when it comes to unwanted tension is your tongue.  I want you to sing your phrase with your mouth slightly open, just enough so that you can see your tongue.  See if you can keep your tongue relaxed at the front of your mouth, sitting on your bottom teeth as you sing.  If you find that your tongue wants to retreat back into your throat as you sing it’s a sign of tongue tension. This will affect your tone.

The third articulator is your lips.  Singers often over stretch their lips when they sing.  Try it.  Notice what it feels like to sing with tense lips.  Now relax and sing without the tension.  This technique of experiencing the tension, then experiencing the relaxation is a great way to program your brain to recognise the difference.  I encourage you to try this with all of the possible tension areas.

Next we have the shoulders.  This was a major tension area for me as a student.  To check for tension you will need your mirror.  Stand in a natural position.  See if you can drop your shoulders from this position.  Don’t force them down, just see what happens if you relax them.  Do they drop further?  If so, like me, you are holding some tension there.

Finally let’s check your abs.  They need to be relaxed and tension free to allow for optimal low breathing.  Sing your phrase and check to see whether you are tensing your abdomen as you sing.  If so then you will need to work on relaxing those muscles.

Remember, it’s a great idea to experience what it is like to sing with tension in these areas of your body, then sing without the tension to re-program your brain to recognise the difference.

How To Release Tension

Okay so now you have a good idea about where you can/are holding tension.  Let’s discuss some ways to release it.

Let’s start with your neck.  Gently move your head from side to side and back and forth.  Get used to the feeling of relaxation.  Now, sing your phrase while doing the head movements.  Doing this will prevent the muscles in your neck tensing in one position. Another great exercise to release neck tension is bending over to let your head drop and sway.  This is very effective for relieving tension in the back of your neck.

Some great exercises to release tension in your throat include:

• Humming
• Lip rolls
• Vocal Sighs

These exercises are excellent ways to keep your throat relaxed and your larynx low.  They allow the muscles that control your vocal cords to coordinate in the right and most efficient way.

The best exercise to release jaw tension is actually the same one used to discover it!  Chewing.  This will stretch the muscles that control your jaw, allowing for more flexibility.

To eliminate tongue tension you can do 2 things:

1. Stick out your tongue as far as you can and hold it for 5 seconds.  Repeat 3 times.  This will stretch the root of your tongue which is responsible for most tongue tension.
2. Hold the tip of your tongue with your fingers (gross I know!) and attempt to sing your phrase with as much clarity as possible.  This will stop your tongue from pulling back into your throat.  It will also add clarity to your tone.

To release lip tension I suggest a lip roll.  What is a lip roll?  Think of the sound “brrrr” a person makes when they are cold.  You need to make your lips vibrate together.  It is impossible to do this with tense lips so it’s a good indicator that you have released the tension.

Rolling your shoulders is the best way to relieve shoulder tension.  Sing your phrase while doing this.

Finally, to release tension in your abdomen, lie down and place an object on your stomach.  Your goal is to make the object move up and down as you breathe in and out.  If you can achieve this it means your diaphragm is descending.  This is very important for breathing and is impossible if you are tensing your abs.  Something else you can try is panting, yes just like a dog!  Try and make your stomach move in and out as you pant.

Well that’s it for this article.  I hope you learned something valuable about your voice.  I recommend incorporating these exercises into your daily vocal routine to get the most out of your voice.

Ian Castle

To view video demonstrations of the exercises discussed in this article enroll into my Free 8 Lesson Video Course.

To download this article as a pdf click here and choose “save as”.

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