Category: Vocal Mechanics

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How to become a singing teacher & what it takes

We went to a friends’ birthday party on Saturday and got chatting with someone about how to become a singing teacher.

What happened was, I struck up a conversation with someone my wife went to university with, and we were talking about what she did for a living. She then confessed she really doesn’t enjoy it that much, and is looking for a change. When I asked what she was thinking of doing, they said something along the lines of the following: Continue reading “How to become a singing teacher & what it takes”

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30 second tip: Let the larynx rest

This should only take you 2-3 minutes to read, and only about 10-30 seconds to apply each time you use it.

What’s the problem?

When you’re singing a song and you get to that difficult passage/line, you ever noticed how it’s sometimes harder than doing that difficult passage just by itself? Or perhaps you are trying to practice that difficult passage by itself repeatedly, and the first 2-3 times are decent, but then it feels like it’s getting worse no matter what we try? We’ve all experienced this and it’s frustrating as all heck – we’re on a roll then we lose the flow, and it feels like it keeps slipping away despite repeated attempts to regain it. What gives?

Why does this happen?

No matter how skilled you are as a singer, the longer you are singing without rest (rest as short as even 10-30 seconds), the more the larynx will continue to rise, whether obviously or gradually/imperceptibly. This happens as a result of continued vocal use without a break. This compromises ease of singing, no matter what your level of technique.

The simple solution…

Give yourself 10-30 seconds rest at that point. Try to JUST rest – don’t fill that rest with speaking, singing, coughing, or even drinking excessively (a few sips will suffice).

All things being equal you should find this returns you to a better state for attempting that challenging passage. By letting the larynx (and voice as a whole) rest for even just 10-30 seconds between sets of attempts to practice a line can make the world of difference. Rest will naturally allow and encourage your larynx to drop naturally. A quick yawn can help encourage a descent of the larynx as well. Don’t just keep hammering the line, let your voice rest and as soon as you feel yourself departing from the easier state, rest it up again. If you find 30 seconds isn’t enough, give it longer – experiment!

Give it a shot next time you’re tackling a tricky passage!

Learn More: Related Articles

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Pursue vocal function BEFORE sound, every time
What makes a song “feel” high?
Tongue Tension: How to spot it and fix it
5 Reasons Sleep Helps Boost Your Singing
A Key to Great Singing: Hyper-function vs Relaxation

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Five Famous Singers with Vocal Problems

From Nodules and Granulomas, to Haemorrhages, and Surgery Complications

This week I thought it would be interesting to look at the kind of issues that can befall singers who neglect their vocal health, nodules and otherwise. Now some of the following are due to particularly hazardous vocal technique (or lack thereof). However, even with half-decent or great technique, if you over-use your voice and give yourself inadequate rest you can encounter similar issues.

John Mayer – Granuloma

A few years ago John Mayer had to cancel an extensive tour to undergo surgery for a granuloma.

John Mayer is a self-taught singer, and if you watch interviews with him at Berklee College of Music he talks about the search to find a great ‘base’ tone for his voice. Sadly, this tone (as cool as it is) is not a healthy form of phonation full stop, let alone for extended periods. Granuloma is a swelling/inflammation of the cartilage at the back of the vocal cords, whereas nodules occur on the cords themselves (see below). However the growth of this inflamed tissue can interfere with vocal function and cause a great deal of pain and dysphonia (i.e. can’t pitch correctly).

In my opinion, from a technical perspective John Mayer has always been way too light with his chest voice. I’m talking purely technically and NOT stylistically. This results in a LOT of excess air passing over the vocal cords (which you can hear in almost every song). Functionally speaking, this results in insufficient stability throughout his voice, which then leads to strain at the top of his (chest) voice when he tries to gun it on the higher notes.

He also constantly flips between a light insufficiently stable (but regularly strained) chest co-ordination and his artistic use of falsetto. This kind of vocal habit can really wreak havoc on a voice. This is because the cords are constantly being strained and excessively taut one second, then being suddenly let go of like letting go of an elastic band the next. Such a constant flip-flopping can create a lot of wear on the voice and the connective tissues. Add into that an intensive gigging schedule and you’ve got a recipe for vocal disaster.

Adele & Sam Smith – vocal cord haemorrhage

A haemorrhage is a particularly unpleasant issue. It’s where the tissue of the vocal cords themselves rupture and bleed all over themselves. This also creates swelling, much like any other cut in the human body.

In Adele’s case, you can hear the amount of sheer pressure she uses when she sings. In fact, if you listen to her recorded version of ‘Rolling in the Deep’ you can hear her voice trembling to try and hold onto that very first high note in the chorus. This is indicative of a singer using significantly excessive amounts of air pressure to generate their sound and trying to retain that chest-like sound as high as possible. Sam Smith has vocal habits/behaviour a little closer to that of John Mayer.

Singing in a kind of ‘crafted yelling’ co-ordination or repeatedly cranking up the volume without adequate technique or rest periods in between is remarkably bad for the voice. I can’t even begin to describe how damaging it is, even for short periods of time, let alone entire concerts night after night. Continued misuse and OVER-use of the voice in this way is what resulted in this damage to her voice.

Michael Buble – nodules

A year or so ago, Michael Buble announced he had to cancel at least part of his tour to have vocal cord surgery to remove nodules. Nodules are like blisters/callouses on your vocal cords. These generally occur as a soft localised swelling on one cord initially, then hardening to a hard nodule (like a blister), and often result in a matching nodule on the opposite cord as the initiating nodule rubs against the other vocal cord during phonation. Soft nodules can occur quite regularly with even loud shouting at events, football matches, concerts etc, and so are not uncommon per se (though we should try to avoid even these). However, prolonged singing on nodules or adema (swelling) is what tends to lead to hard nodules.

Now while Michael Buble is not perfect technically, he doesn’t sing in ridiculous keys. He also doesn’t sing with dramatically excessive volume, nor does he experiment with vocal distortion. He is relatively clean when he sings and doesn’t jam his voice as hard as it will go as often as he can. In short, he’s not perfect, but he is a great example of what can happen when even as a singer with half-decent technique. Over-singing (gigs night after night!) can just create that level of wear in the voice. Gigging every night with inadequate rest can still lead to serious vocal issues.

Julie Andrews – Nodules, then surgery complications

Julie Andrews is an unusual case. She went in to have nodules removed, but the surgeon allegedly botched the operation. This resulted in a piece of her vocal cords no longer being there or being available in the way it once was. My recollection from conversations with other coaches was that the surgeon slipped during the operation, but I cannot find a reliable source to corroborate this. In any case, surgery is a serious route to go down, and the consequences never leave the voice the same again. Once nodules reach the hardened stage, they must be removed surgically, whereas soft nodules (the ones that are “merely” a localised swelling) can reduce with rest and corrective exercises.

The Upshot is…

You only get one voice – be smart about how you use it and look after it.

If you’re straining, stop doing it. If you’re repeatedly straining, DEFINITELY stop doing it. Whether you’re being too heavy and aggressive (like Adele previously), or light and flipping to falsetto (like John Mayer), or even whether your technique is reasonably together but you’re singing without adequate rest (like Michael Buble), you have GOT to respect the inherent requirements of how the voice is meant to work and how it’s meant to recover.

Learn More: Related Articles

If you want to learn more about vocal health and voice issues, you may enjoy the following articles:
Shouting masquerading as singing: Why so many singers are just yelling
Why vocal problems so regularly derail careers, permanently
Vocal Health Issues
My Singing Voice Hurts: 5 Habits for Vocal Health
Vocal Longevity: The Icarus Effect
Why do I keep losing my voice: Overuse, Misuse and Abuse
The Seriousness of Vocal Fold Nodules

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Vocal Longevity: The Icarus Effect

At the time of writing this article, I had one particular client who gigged regularly down in London. One of the issues they raised was that they feel that longevity and robustness is a serious problem for them. If they were doing a recording session, they felt they could deliver a handful of good takes and then the voice would just get weaker from that point on. If they were doing a string of gigs, they may even feel like they need months off to recover from them.

This performer’s age is relatively young, so it’s not an age related issue. They can hit all the notes they are trying to hit. They are also not overly aggressive with their singing, if anything they are slightly light with their voice. And they are not alone in this struggle – I regularly get experienced singers in suffering the same issues.

So what’s going on?

Many MANY singers suffer from these issues to one extent or another, and it is increasingly common with younger singers for reasons I’m about to explain. The best illustration I can give, is the story of Icarus.

The Icarus Effect

In Greek mythology, Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a craftsman imprisoned with his son by King Minos of Crete. Daedalus built them each a set of wings made of feathers and wax to enable them to escape and to fly out of their prison. During the flight, Icarus was amazed at what he could do with his wings and flew up high, far too close to the sun for far too long, despite warnings from his father. The prolonged exposure to heat from the sun then melted the wax holding the feathers in place, so Icarus wings fell apart, and he plummeted to his death.

The issue with many singers (young, old, you name it), especially ones gifted with a half decent instrument, is that they over-estimate their ability. Now, I’m not talking about “whether they can hit the note” or not – I’m talking about something several dimensions deeper than that.

– What does it take to hit a reasonably high note just ONCE in a song? Probably challenging but doable.
– What does it take to sing a final chorus where the whole melody is relatively high? Hmmm, tiring, but manageable.
– What about if the whole song sits in that range? Oh… that’s getting really exhausting.
– What about if you’ve got a whole set of songs that sits in that range? Errrrrr….
– What if you have got multiple gigs a week, with a whole set of songs in that range? Uh-oh.

But THIS is exactly what many singers do. They realise they can sing a high note once, maybe several times, then suddenly everything becomes about shoehorning every song into that area of their voice, without addressing how LONG they can sustain that kind of demand of their voice.

The issue is NOT how high someone can sing.

I’ve met untrained singers with great initial aptitude for higher notes all the time. The issue is NOT even how often they can sing those high notes. If there is a portion of the song that is lower that the singer can retreat to for comfort and ease between climaxes, then repeated high notes are really not too exhausting.

Why Icarus ACTUALLY fell…

Icarus didn’t just fall because of how close he flow to the sun, he met his fate because of how LONG he spent that close to the sun. It’s the duration at a particular level of exposure that we’re talking about.

If a singer insists on placing songs in keys where EVERY note requires application of effort, even if it’s only a tiny amount, the resulting vocal condition places the demand squarely in the court of how LONG can they spend hitting those high notes… i.e. how long can they spend in the sun without their wings melting.

THIS is an altogether different parameter to measure your singing ability against. It is absolutely possible to spend a long time in those places (correctly!), but it’s an ability that takes a long time to develop and control.

Truth be told, most OVER-estimate their ability in this regard. Most tend to be able to hit a note without strain a few times in practice, or look back on a gig and think “wow, I was NAILING the high notes at that gig”, and they become convinced they’re able to sing well there. I see this time and time again.

Some examples

In the opera world, Pavarotti talked about how challenging it is to keep singing those high notes and how the body naturally finds it harder to keep the system perfect the longer you are “up there’. You can read about this in the book ‘Great Singers on Great Singing’ by Jerome Hines.

In the pop world, you can look up Bruno Mars bootlegs on YouTube where the man with the biggest and most consistent live range of the early 21st century places songs just around his first bridge, or even just in chest voice.

The Take-Home Message
If you are a singer who is repeatedly facing vocal health and longevity issues in relation to periods of singing, it is very likely you are flying too close to the sun, hence my advice to you will be the same as to the client I had the other day.

Take your songs down several keys. Assess yourself AND your set-lists and the songs you sing. Your primary goal is to sound GOOD – don’t compromise on that. If you can’t sprint a whole marathon, if you can’t lift maximum weights in the gym with no rest, then you can’t sing every song at the tippy-top of your range – you will wreck yourself.

You must pace yourself, and make sure you don’t spend too long “up there” taxing your voice.

Learn More: Related Articles

If you want to learn more about vocal health and voice issues, you may enjoy the following articles:
Shouting masquerading as singing: Why so many singers are just yelling
Why vocal problems so regularly derail careers, permanently
Famous Singers with Voice Problems
Vocal Health Issues
My Singing Voice Hurts: 5 Habits for Vocal Health
Why do I keep losing my voice: Overuse, Misuse and Abuse
The Seriousness of Vocal Fold Nodules

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Four Facts About Singing As You Get Older

So, bear with me here, our voices changing as we get older is completely normal, but we need to walk through a few things first.

Here’s something interesting you may not know.larynx

Fact #1

With proper training throughout adult life, the voice should actually be reaching it’s peak LATER in life (say, around 50) and NOT earlier in life (e.g. where most people start to struggle, around 25-30).

Why? Let’s explore this…

Fact #2

– The physiology of the larynx and the vocal apparatus changes over time. Ongoing training helps combat the negatives of these changes, and take advantage of benefits of getting older.

Wait… benefits? What benefits?

Fact #3

– As you get older, the larynx drops bit by bit. This imparts additional bottom end to your tone – relatively straightforward to grasp.

Fact #4

– The various cartilages in the larynx and vocal apparatus start to ossify… i.e. turn to bone.

That’s why things seem to get less agile and flexible as you get older in relation to singing – that’s because things DO become less flexible as you get older. That’s what makes this fourth fact particularly interesting. What this means is that the previously flexible cartilages that make up the housing of the vocal cords, that they are tensioned on and controlled by, start to harden and become stiffer and less flexible.

The first negative that comes along with this is that whilst you are young you may find you can sound great IN SPITE of great resistance in your singing, manipulation, etc, but as you get older, you’ll find things getter tougher and tougher, as if you are fighting your own voice to do the things you used to. People say this is just a reality of getting older, but actually correct technique from youth has the OPPOSITE effect, instead of negative it’s positive.

Rigidity is your friend

When the singing apparatus (i.e. your voice) becomes more rigid as a structure through the ossification process, the muscles are now acting on a physically much stronger structure than they were before. Provided singing is being done with correct technique and not just jamming the voice as hard is it will go (as is often the case and doable in youth), this extra rigidity makes things easier to achieve a more powerful and acoustically resonant tone.

Check this quote from leading voice scientist Ingo Titze – “certain age-related deteriorations may actually be beneficial to the larynx as a sound-producing instrument… We might speculate that a partially ossified laryngeal framework can better support the tension of the vocal folds because bone tends to deform less than cartilage under the same stress. Comparing the vocal folds to vibrating strings, it seems important to maintain rigid endpoints for tissue fibers to vibrate in simple predictable modes.”

And a further quote from an article within Link 2 provided below – “Although the voice itself remains stable, physiological changes do occur in middle age, most significantly ossification (hardening) of the laryngeal cartilages. In some individuals, these changes can actually improve the singing voice, since a more bony support framework in the larynx better supports the tension in the vocal folds. If you compare the voice to a piano, for instance, the strings in a piano are attached to solidly-anchored metal posts at each end. This allows the piano strings to stay in tune and make a predictable sound. At younger ages when flexible cartilage supports the vocal folds, there is a greater chance for unpredictability, but with stiffer, more bony supports, it is logical that the voice could perform more reliably.”

Conclusion
Getting older is a natural part of life, but in relation to singing, this is actually GOOD news, if you’re willing to invest in your voice of course. Don’t fight it, instead, work on your technique. To someone with ongoing technical growth, these changes are beneficial – to those who are just trying to repeat what they did in their youth, these changes are not beneficial. You’re just going to struggle and your voice is going to keep getting weaker and more of a beast to wrestle than a thing of great joy as it once was. The changes are going to happen all the same, it’s your choice whether they help you or hinder you.

If this has grabbed your attention and is particularly relevant to you, why not get in touch and explore what this means for your own voice?

You can get in touch and book your first session right here.

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

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Pavarotti on training your voice: What they don’t tell you about singing

So one great singer said to another…

The bass Jerome Hines once interviewed the tenor Luciano Pavarotti on training your voice, and this was his response:

“Now this passaggio… is the transition from the upper middle voice to the high voice, and I know that students are interested in your approach since you have such a flawless passaggio; it is so smooth a change one is not aware of it”

Pavarotti replied:

“It took me six years of study… and one must be convinced of it’s importance from the first day… never change ideas. You know, the first five or six months it is very depressing because it does not come out right, and you become cyanotic, red in the face. Then some students begin to think this approach is wrong, and they try the other way, but it will never bring them security of voice.”*

Context: Pavarotti didn’t start vocal training til he was 18/19. He also had a voice that could sail effortlessly up to an Eb5 even post puberty, and not a weak light sound, but a connected sound. Make no mistake, he was gifted with an instrument that makes singing easy and beautiful in a way that most of us couldn’t grasp… even before training.

AND EVEN THEN, he makes the above statement of how long it took to train his voice the correct way, of how FRUSTRATING it is was to train his voice properly, and how he saw (and perhaps related?) to those who doubt the process.

So what don’t you get told about singing?
Simply, you do not become a good to great singer in a handful of lessons, or even a year or two. Great and complete singers don’t just get “discovered” with zero to minimal training any more than polished and beautifully cut diamonds just get “found” in a coal mine – it takes work, even in the case of voices with great base materials like Pavarotti’s voice.

If it took the gifted but young Pavarotti a minimum of 6 years** to train his voice properly, you MUST understand that true and full development of the voice takes concerted, intentional, focused effort sustained over a period of years to achieve the kind of voice you can throw whatever you like at.

* – Extract from page 218 of Jerome Hines, “Great Singers on Great Singing” (click for the Amazon link)

** – I say a minimum of six years as Pavarotti continued to develop his voice daily well into his later life, and most crucially he was known to turn away roles he felt vocally not yet ready for, even though his range (even pre-training!) was ALREADY covering every possible piece of repertoire he would ever be asked to sing. It’s not about range or just the “mere” ability to hit the notes, it was about security of voice and quality of tone, and he knew that.

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