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YOUR
REAL VOICE - the vocal ezine for real people
April
17, 2006
#22
FEATURE EDITORIAL
I Have Found It, But Can I Explain
It?
You may have noticed that there was no YRV two weeks ago, as there
usually is. It's because I have had a few pretty amazing
experiences along the way and was determined to find a way to write
about it clearly so it can be understood by someone other than
me. I think I've got it now.
By far, THE most common question/issue that you all email me about,
asking for help or guidance, is in the area of relaxing. Or more
specifically, "I can't seem to relax when I sing/in my high notes/when
I breathe/when I'm nervous on stage/when I .....(fill in the singing
blank). HOW do I relax?" I promise, whether you know it or
not, 99% of your vocal problems or technique issues lead back to that
one question: "How do I relax?"
Three weeks ago I had a student have an experience during her lesson
that was the impetus for this whole question I've had, since it's so
easy for me and so hard for my students. She has taken eight
years of voice lessons and still has trouble relaxing and
resonating. EIGHT YEARS! That's double the amount of time
that I studied with my three teachers total, and I have very little
trouble relaxing once I realize that I'm tense anywhere. Through
a few more great experiences along the way over the past few weeks, I
think I can write about it clearly so you understand and are left with
a set of practices to incorporate into your singing study.
Katherine, my student could not resonate properly because she could not
relax enough to get any resonance going. In order for the voice
to produce resonance when you aim it at any of your body's hard
surfaces, the throat and the area of resonance need to be relaxed
enough to let the sound waves bounce around. Muscles
that are tense, or in use, absorb sound, which is the opposite of what
we are trying to produce through resonance. Katherine was stuck
because she could not notice herself "trying hard" to sing. The
more she tried to sing and get resonance going, the harder it was and
the more she worked. It just spiraled downward until nothing was
easy and she could feel it and notice it. Does this sound
familiar to anyone? Yes, the harder you "work" at singing, the
harder it gets to sing. We want NO working with just breathing,
aim and resonance. In order for these three to work, you MUST be
relaxed.
"OK, great. HOW!!!!!" That seems to be the most frustrating
question of all for people who have difficulty relaxing. Here's
the key I discovered: you cannot think your way to
relaxation! It is, in fact, the opposite of how relaxation
works. STOP thinking and you create the space to relax.
Relaxation happens in the body first, and the mind second.
Katherine was totally stuck "in her head," meaning her thinking was
where all her attention was directed. She wasn't feeling her body
physically near as much as she was focused on her thoughts. Once
a muscle is tense, it's very difficult to relax it without directing
your attention to it and FEELING it. You've got to use your
nervous system sensory awareness to feel the tense muscle and then
direct that to relax. If you cannot feel that the muscle is
tense, meaning you don't notice it, it's almost impossible to get it to
relax.
Here are two exercises to help you learn to relax any muscle in your
body. And YES, you can learn to relax ANY muscle in your body, so
long as you are willing to do the work to focus on it and stay patient
with it. You may not be immediately successful, but don't give
up! For the first exercise, take your hand and rub it gently over
the skin surface of your arm. Notice that through your senses you
become aware of what your hand is feeling. Keep gently rubbing
your skin surface and notice that you can become aware of how the
muscles underneath the skin feel if you put your attention on the
muscles. Now, purposely tense the muscles in your arm and hold it
for five to ten seconds. Let yourself really focus your attention
on the tense muscles and tense them as hard as you can. Now let
go! Do you feel it relax and "give up" everything it was holding
as soon as you let go? Now rub your hand over the same area of
skin and muscle. Do you feel it with more awareness now, and is
it more relaxed than before you first touched it? Keep bringing
your attention to those muscles you feel in your arm and continue to
relax them by bringing your sensory awareness to them. Now use
your sensory awareness and "hunt" around in your body for another
muscle that it tense. (Usually your upper back and shoulders or
neck is a good place to start.) Find a tense muscle somewhere and
focus your sensory awareness on it, and if it helps touch it with your
hand. You want to make yourself as aware as possible how the
muscle feels. Thinking about it is not the same as feeling it, so
make sure you really feel it physically, rather than just have thoughts
about it. Now that you really feel this muscle and its tension,
breathe in and let your breath go right to that tense muscle.
Concentrate on the in and out flow of your breath and continue to relax
the tense muscles.
I am considering offering a Singer's Relaxation course on the website,
as either a book or a series or articles. If you have specific
areas, like the tongue or neck or jaw muscles, that you are having
trouble relaxing, please email me and let me know. The more
feedback and questions I receive, the easier it is to target the
exercises specifically to what you need. In the next article on
this topic, I will continue with some deeper, whole body relaxation
exercises that have helped me with my singing. I can also
recommend books that are helpful for various relaxation exercises.
Email me at info@sing-in-tune.com if you have any questions about how
to practice the relaxation processes or would like book titles. I
can easily assist you by email.
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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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