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YOUR
REAL VOICE - the vocal ezine for real people
October 1, 2005 #12
FEATURE EDITORIAL
I've Discovered the Secret....Again!
There's a big difference between knowing something as a concept, and
knowing something as a skill one can actually use at command.
This is the case for just about every musical thing I've ever learned,
and it really hit home once again today. The secret to hitting
high notes and having them be easy and great is..... don't care about
how the note sounds! Especially while you are singing it. I
know that may not be the answer you are looking for, since most of us
care how our high notes sound, but stick with me on this. I sang
a performance this morning and then taught a lesson this afternoon and
saw for both me and my student, the less we cared about whether or not
the note sounded good, the better it was. For both of us, if we
didn't care about the result, the note was easier to sing and sounded
better.
Let's examine the reasons why this works. To start with, if you
don't care how your notes sound, you are more relaxed while you sing
them, which is always a great thing. Think about some of your
past experience of singing a note that you consider "difficult."
All that worry and concern about the note locks around your throat like
a dog collar! Another reason is that if you don't care how
the note sounds, you are much less likely to listen to yourself sing
it. If you aren't listening to it, you are much less likely to
change anything in your throat while you are singing. And if you
don't care how it sounds and aren't listening to it, you are much more
likely to just relax and feel the note resonate. All of these are
great things to have happen (or in the case of the bad stuff, not
happen) while singing a high note.
Now think about two experiences when most people can easily hit high
notes without caring at all how it sounds: babies crying and
someone laughing hysterically at a funny thing. In both of these
scenarios, those high notes come flying out with no problem!
That's because in both of those scenarios, the throat is completely
relaxed and open and all the muscles involved in making the noise are
passively doing their thing, exactly the way they work the best.
So here's the high note experiment:
1) Do not care about the result AT ALL. It's just an experiment,
not a test. There's no right way to do any of these next
items. We are just working on discovering and having an
experience.
2) Watch or listen to something that you know you think is really
funny, and notice how freely you are able to laugh out a lot of high
notes! Don't listen to yourself laugh, just experience it and
notice how easy it is.
3) Sing through a song that is easy and that you know really
well. It doesn't necessarily have to have high notes in it.
We are more going for ease and relaxation then having a high note
test. While you are singing through the song, don't listen to
yourself at all. Put all of your attention on feeling in your
body HOW it feels to sing freely. Does it feel easy? Does
it take a lot of effort, or just a little? Is there anywhere in
your body that feels tense while you sing, or are you just completely
free and relaxed?
4) Imitate a bunch of three-year-olds at a birthday party singing
"Happy Birthday" with everything they've got. (I use this one on
students in voice lessons all the time, and it's amazing how free the
voice gets when people let themselves act like a three-year-old!)
Really get into it and let yourself wail! Notice that it's a lot
of fun to sing like this and the throat is completely open and relaxed.
5) Pick a song that has a high note that scares you near to
death, and practice singing it AS the three-year-old at the birthday
party. Notice how much easier it is to sing high notes when you
are willing to sound ridiculous!
Seriously though, the most effective way I have seen to break through
the fear and tension of high notes IMMEDIATELY is to be willing to
sound completely ridiculous on it at least twice. Once to do it
and once to realize that it actually did work. I use this one in
lessons all the time and it's amazing to me to watch a singer go from
completely locked up in the throat and struggling one minute to
giggling freely and having a great and silly time hitting terrific high
notes the next minute. In fact, it's never not worked during a
lesson, and it certainly has been road tested a lot. The more
ridiculous you are willing to sound, the better it will be every time
you sing it after that.
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Contact Athena by e-mail at info@sing-in-tune.com
or learn how to sing
perfectly in tune at her web site at www.Sing-In-Tune.com
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