Also, thank you VERY MUCH Ian for your input. I actually had a lengthy reply for you but then it failed to go through, so I got discouraged and didn't post anything in reply, then I came down with the flu and was unable to do your exercises!

I'm fine now and am going to do them starting this coming week and I will be coming to you with the results soon, hopefully! Thanks again and I hope to come back with good progress!

MC

mikec said:

I got Brett Manning's CD's in hopes that he could solve this problem but alas after listening to four of the 12 CD's I hear him doing nothing but vocal warm-ups and scales, etc. and saying things like “here's where your mixed voice should come in,” etc. when in reality I can't do mixed voice; he never said how even though his advertisement said he would teach it which is why I got it. Knowing when it should happen isn't enough for me to do it if I don't know how to do it.

Hi Mikec,

I'm assuming you have Singing Success. The thing with Singing Success is that it teaches you to stay connected throughout your vocal range e.g. the "nay nay nay" exercise but it doesn't teach you how to use the mix. So if you are doing the exercises properly, you probably have a mix, it's just that it's not very powerful. Which happens to be the same thing in my case. I'm guessing that Brett Manning's new product Mastering Mix teaches you how to strengthen the mix to a more chesty sound. Here's a review which has an overview of the all the CDs: http://www.singingsuccessonlin.....amp;t=1081

The eternal struggle to "find the mix".  Believe me I feel your pain.  As a young singer (completely fearless with no idea of technique) I too was able to sing up to Ab above middle C in a full chest voice.  My teacher at the time told me this was very bad for my voice and proceeded to teach me his technique for singing "high notes".  Unfortunately this consisted of a lot of tension and I basically ended up sounding like a constricted cat singing anything above an Eb.  This resulted in me developling a fear of high notes and a massive loss of range.  What he was attempting to do was teach me mixed voice

Rule number one for finding mixed voice:  Beware of tension in your neck.  You must keep the muscles surrounding you larynx relaxed.

In regard to your falsetto.  To test if it is falsetto or head voice start a slide at the top of your voice and slowly glide down into chest voice.  Is there a massive "flip" as you hit chest voice?  If so it is most likely falsetto.  If there isn't a "flip" it may actually be head voice.  Can you get louder and softer in the high part of your voice? It is very hard to alter the volume level of falsetto.  Something to test.

The "hey" exercise that your choir leader got you to do is designed to get singers to make a noise outside of their normal speaking range.  It is a handy way to help singers develop a belt technique however as you found out it won't help you realise mixed voice or head voice.

I'm going to give you an insight into what is actually happening at your vocal cords when you sing through chest, mixed and head voice.  I apologise if I get too technical.

There are 3 parts to your voice that control the pitch of a note.  Your vocal cords, your shortener muscles and lengthener muscles.  When singing in "chest voice" your shortener muscles cause your vocal cords to contract and become "slack".  As you sing higher the lengther muscles should take over to stretch the vocal cords making them more "taught".    The problem you are having is your shortener muscles are stopping the lengthening process from occurring, causing you to carry your chest voice up until you cannot sing any higher.

I know you are sick of hearing "you should sing with mixed voice here" but as a general rule it needs to be introduced just above you natural speaking pitch.  This will allow a much smoother transition into head voice.

There are certain conditions that need to be met before mixed voice can occur.

1.  The larynx must remain low

2.  Relaxation of the neck and dropping of the chin.

3.  Increase in breath support

As a tenor you first bridge should occur around C#4.  What I want you to do is hum up to this area (starting in chest voice) but no furthur.  As you reach your bridge merge into a vowel of your choice.  Only sing one or two notes higher, then return back into chest voice.  When you sing the vowel try and add a "sob" or "cry" sound to your voice.  This will help with the lengthening of your vocal cords and maintain a bright nasal sound.

The entry into mixed voice just above your speaking range is vital to your ability to sing into head voice.  When humming never take it higher than your speaking range as this can cause tension. 

I want you to spend a week focusing on this area.  I suggest staying clear of your second bridge at F#4 for a while.  What you will be doing is retraining your shortener and lengthener muscles to create balance in your voice.

I will continue this discussion and help you with head voice when you are ready.

I hope that can help you.  Please keep me posted on your progress and if you are still having problems I will try my best to find a solution for you.

Ian

Very popular topic and deserves a detailed response.  I will reply in full tomorrow night.  Busy 2 days ahead of me.

Ian

In the mean time, I recently found these two helpful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....IYrNvQos4w "the missing link"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....U_tSWrsrE4 "finding your mix"

Apologies if youre totally fed-up with Brett Manning and associates - I find it takes a while to learn their language

T.

On a good day I can reach an Ab4 (I think it's 4, I don't know the numbers well--if it helps I am a tenor), usually my cap is an F#4. This is not without strain, my F# sometimes is accompanied by a tightness and it goes without saying that when my chest voice reaches the Ab it is tight and almost uncomfortable.

The sound I want isn't a classical sound--I want to sing high notes freely and lightly with songs like David Archuleta's, and most definitely NOT like for example the Jonas Brothers who sound like the notes are strangling them. The problem is, I don't think my voice is high enough to do the songs I like (the highest song I can think of that I want to be able to sing in the original key reaches up to a belted D5 by the male vocalist).

I got Brett Manning's CD's in hopes that he could solve this problem but alas after listening to four of the 12 CD's I hear him doing nothing but vocal warm-ups and scales, etc. and saying things like "here's where your mixed voice should come in," etc. when in reality I can't do mixed voice; he never said how even though his advertisement said he would teach it which is why I got it. Knowing when it should happen isn't enough for me to do it if I don't know how to do it.

My voice has two modes that I am able to do: a chest voice and a falsetto. I can do falsetto from F4 all the way to B5. I can put a lot of power behind my falsetto, but it's still definitely a falsetto and not a head voice even if it sounds a lot like a head voice (unless falsetto and head voice are supposed to feel exactly the same). That of course leaves me not knowing how to do head voice either; "make it lighter" just makes me do my chest voice more unsupported which makes it break on lower notes.

I asked my choir leader for help and she told me to yell "hey" to a note on a piano and that by hitting the note on "hey" I would be able to sing it. Well that didn't work very well, because my "hey" range is the same as the chest voice range I've already established by myself.

What I don't understand is how so many singers can make their chest and mixed voices sound exactly the same to the point where I didn't realize there was a difference until Brett Manning insisted there was (even though in his demonstrations the difference is evident and in actual music I listen to it most certainly is not). I am getting extremely frustrated because I can find no resources AT ALL that teach how men can do head voice and mixed voice, only scales that say "okay when you sing this note it is head voice and when you sing this note it is chest voice." Well, I can understand that my break isn't in that exact place but what I can't understand is how magically by doing lip trills and humming arpeggios and scales I'm going to suddenly have a head and mixed voice when I've been doing those for six years and nothing is different at all except maybe a LOSS of range. Proper breathing and correcting my jaw-jutting problems are the only things I've taken from Brett Manning's program, and those are from the workbook, not even from the CD's I've spent countless hours listening to. While they help me reach that Ab4 more consistently that alone certainly didn't improve my range.

I just don't know what to do anymore because all these resources are saying the same thing, but it's things I've always been doing and things that have never worked for me; things that don't just magically produce two new registers in my voice and logically shouldn't. There should be something that I should be DOING to sing a note in chest voice, falsetto, mixed, or head voice, but nothing says how to physically differentiate between the two, I've been given no actual technique to produce these different registers despite money and hours being spent, and I'm right where I started.

Yes I received it.  I have some spare time tonight to have a listen and give you some feedback. 

I sent you the mp3 file about five days ago.  I was wondering if you received it, if not, I can send it again.

I am happy to listen to your mp3.  You can send it to me at aussievocalcoach@gmail.com

Ian

I'd first like to say thank you for developing such an awesome site and giving us excellent advice on singing.  Thanks for the vocal lessons also.

I was wondering if you could critique a sample of me singing.  Is there a way that I could send you an mp3 file?  The sample is only 1 min long.

Welcome to the site.  I had a listen to your recording and there are a few things i would like to suggest.

1.  Watch the ends of your phrases.  You have a tendancy to "fall off the note".  Try to end a longer note without the slide at the end.

2.  It is common for singers to put a "H" in front of a vowel.  A noticable one was "It's" which sounds more like"Hits" with the "H" in front of it.  This also wastes a lot of air.

Your higher notes don't seem too weak to me.   If you are after a bigger sound try completely relaxing your throat and make as much space in the back of your throat as possible.  Pretend you are about to bite an apple then breathe in.  You should feel a lot more space than usual.  Try singing with this increased throat space.

Finally I think the "clean throat" issue you are talking about can be corrected by a more consistent air flow and lengthening your vowels.  I have a video lined up that will help you with this problem.

Ian

In case I don't reply back soon enough here's the link of the recording :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....F4lRQJHa_A 

It's my first try to sing so go easy on me , and you can understand the whole "not clean throat". Thanks a lot for your time. Keep the good work up. Peace!