Vocal Relaxation and Resonance: Why Forcing the Voice Doesn’t Work
I often talk about the importance of ‘balance’ in the voice. But what exactly does this entail?
What we want is broadly this: that the various parameters/variables of the voice are present in appropriate measure, both relative to themselves, to each other, and for a particular voice.
Balance: The Goldilocks Zone
Brief reminder: to sing low notes, the vocal folds contract and thicken; and to sing high notes they stretch and thin.
In this regard, we don’t want too much contraction, nor too little; not too much stretch, nor too little; not too much air-pressure, nor too little. This needs to be true across a wide range of pitches.
The same concept of a goldilocks zone applies to air-flow, vocal tract shape/posture, etc. Don’t worry, we don’t need to labour over the complete list of all parameters, I want to focus on just the balance aspect today.
Off-balance
When I start working with people their vocal balance is typically off on a number of these parameters. Sometimes it’s majorly out from where it should be, but as their body responds to the prescribed exercises, their condition will adjust more towards a state of balance.
For some, their body and mind is very accommodating to the work we do and adjustment to that state of balance is relatively quick. For others, their body and mind can be less accommodating and the progress can be slower, at least at first.
Nevertheless, for every persevering singer there comes a stage when balance starts to appear. This means they notice they can move from bottom to top and back down again with relative ease, no real impediments to doing so, etc.
What happens next?
We need to build dynamic range. This is not just for expression and artistry, but to build strength into that co-ordination we’ve spent time establishing.
If establishing balance is like getting the form right to deadlift/squat BEFORE we lift the heavy weight, this stage is where we actually start to lift the weight. This will then reveal chinks in the armour and will require further refinement.
Stop forcing it!
Here is where the nuance and (perhaps) the counter-intuitiveness of good vocal technique comes into play.
For everyone, we want to increase contraction and stretch to enable greater dynamic range to their singing. I.e. to be able to be louder AND softer, capable of being more tender when singing AND more aggressive when they wish to be – we want all these options on tap.
We also want to increase resonance, where volume and harmonic richness fills in someone’s vocal tone, and this does not come from just hitting things harder and harder.
But by focusing primarily on the muscular activation/muscular domain, we can easily miss this. This whole analogy often causes people then think they need to treat voice building like weight-lifting. Gotta keep pushing, gotta keep hitting it harder, eventually it will get easier… right?
Well, whilst those statements in the right context are not strictly untrue, this purely muscular view of things misses the key point of relaxation despite muscular engagement, i.e. seeking efficiency, and NOT forcing your voice.
Put efficiency first
We can never build resonance without first building dynamic range, but once we have some dynamic range, we’ve got to spend time developing the resonance that this gives us initial access to.
This involves not constantly pursuing higher and higher notes for the sake of pushing out just one note higher than the last, or hammering our notes harder and harder, but it involves refining the co-ordination at each note and at each dynamic.
We don’t want hypo-functioning of our instrument, or hyper-functioning of our instrument – we want balance, and from there, efficiency and relaxation.
It is efficiency of co-ordination, and getting deeper and deeper into the above co-ordination which leads to greater relaxation, whilst still maintaining ONLY the necessary muscular engagement. That exact nuance takes time to establish, to not overdo it or underdo it.
If we train our instrument to do things more correctly, and less dependent on sheer force, the instrument becomes efficient. And the definition of efficiency means that we need to put less energy in to get more power out.
The more relaxed we can become (whilst still engaging what needs to be engaged), the greater the resonance we experience, and the louder and more vibrant our tone becomes, for less and less effort.
Don’t misunderstand me…
Singing is a high intensity endeavour, but it’s important to never force your voice to put things out, instead it has to flow.
If you’re constantly pushing, constantly forcing, at best you are robbing yourself of the real quality and sound of your voice as well as generating unnecessary fatigue in your voice, and at worst you are skirting the risk of vocal blow-outs.
My point is, we are not trying to seek hyper-function of the muscles. It’s not about hitting it harder, or even trying to hit it at all: the more efficient your technique becomes, the more relaxation you will experience whilst maintaining proper form and co-ordination. In turn, the greater the resonance and ease in your sound.
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I was having a conversation with a client recently about riffing: what it is, why it’s useful, and why it seems difficult to many. For the ease of discussion let’s say that anything that extends the melody beyond the original for dramatic/musical effect is a ‘riff’, and that riffing is therefore the act of extending the melody in such a way. I’d say that most singers want to get better at riffs/riffing, but that they find it hard to do. I’d also say that a lot of singers who think they are good at riffing are not as good as they think they are, and typically repeat the same old basic tricks over and over. But why is it hard to do? And could it be made easier? The simple answer is yes, but there’s some important logic and understanding behind that answer. Let’s break it down. Continue reading “Learning to Riff: Why most people find it hard & why it can be easier than you think” For most people, singing (at first) tends to involve unnecessary tension – especially tongue tension. Sometimes this is extremely obvious, e.g. veins and tendons popping on their neck. Sometimes it’s moderately obvious, e.g. the vocal tone sounds strained. And sometimes it’s downright invisible. This typically occurs when something isn’t working quite right. This then means that other muscles that shouldn’t be involved in a particular function try to get involved and “assist” unnecessarily. One of the most prevalent and frustrating sources of tension lies in tongue tension. Believe it or not, you’ve probably heard dozens of people sing with this kind of tension throughout the course of your life. The most extreme example is when you hear someone who sounds a bit like Kermit the frog when they sing, or they sound particularly dark and vocally-manipulated compared to how you’d expect them to sound. Tongue tension can occur for a variety of reasons. The base of the tongue is connected to the hyoid bone, which in turn is connected to the larynx (and the epiglottis and pharynx). The tongue is intimately entwined with all the main functional components involved in singing, and is also a key component in articulating vowels and consonants as we sing. As such it’s little wonder that tongue tension occurs, and is quite a complex issue. Sometimes tongue tension is the root of an issue, and other times it’s a symptom of the real problem. To address tongue tension, we’ve got to know the difference between the two through accurate diagnosis of where functional issues are stemming from. For example, some singers who are singing with excessive muscular involvement (even at the vocal fold level) can find other muscles (like the tongue) try to get involved to curb the impact of the excessive muscularity, like a panic response. But I’ve seen plenty of singers who are singing with insufficient muscular involvement (again, at the vocal fold level), and that leads to insufficient stability in the vocal instrument. The tongue then unconsciously engages and contracts to try and help stabilise what is missing in the vocal fold behaviour. Just in case it’s not clear, the tongue should not be trying to correct for errors in the larynx or vocal fold co-ordination. This needs addressing. In both of the above examples, tongue tension is a symptom of a deeper issue. In contrast, I’ve seen lighter AND heavier singers who both artificially involve their tongue to darken or thicken their sound. Often those trying to create a more classical sound will play around with the sound and end up unknowingly tensing their tongue to create a darker or to imitate a “more mature” classical sound. This is the most obvious time you’ll hear a “Kermit” sound coming from someone. In reality that true thickness/darkness in classical singers comes from doing it correctly for decades. Certainly some classical singers can sound a little divergent from more mainstream pop sounds, but few great singers have the tongue tension we’re discussing above. Vocal tone just thickens with age, and good technique only leads to additional depth and thickness therein – you can’t cheat your way there just by contracting the base of your tongue. In still other examples, some singers find that when they have been ill or coughing heavily, trying to aggressively stifle coughs or swallow to prevent a cough, etc, this leads to unwanted tongue tension. The constant swallowing action (especially when done aggressively, i.e. with excessive muscularity) or even contraction and inflammation in the pharynx from excessive coughing can lead to overactivity in contraction at the base of the tongue. Different bridges and experiences can also lead to issues where the tongue tension is both the root of one issue, and the symptom of another. As the larynx tilts to a greater degree to achieve progressively higher pitches, the sound becomes inherently thinner and brighter. This can be confusing or alien sensations to uninitiated singers. As such, when left to their own devices they can unnecessarily engage the tongue to take the edge off those sensations (especially true at male second bridge – around A4 – and I myself struggled with this). Panic responses can lead to a similar response. This artificial darkening through involving the tongue can often progressively kick in in a futile attempt to mask any changes… but it doesn’t work, and just makes it harder and sound worse. In cases where the root issue is not the tongue, I will often ignore/put a pin in the issue of tongue tension and focus on the deeper underlying issue. By focusing on what someone’s voice SHOULD be doing and SHOULD sound like, in an area where they ARE successful and can control the sound, they gain an obvious template for following that into areas where they were less successful (e.g. areas with tongue tension). I.e. solve the root issue, the symptoms go away. If someone is too light with their chest voice, we seek a greater establishment thereof – in turn the tongue tension often diminishes or goes away entirely. Similarly if someone is being too heavy with their chest voice, by finding a more appropriate balance, the excess contraction diminishes or goes away. In cases where the root issue IS the tongue tension (or perhaps is lingering from a primary issue, as above), there are a variety of exercises that help people to experience what it’s like to sing/vocalise WITHOUT the tongue being involved. These range from more overt exercises with them sticking their tongue out (only on compatible exercises) and thinned out or nasty sounds that barely involve the tongue, mouth or pharynx muscular actions. The point is to help singers experience life without the tension, rather than instruct them NOT to do something. This tends to be more readily absorbed by singers’ minds and bodies, and is far more effective and unconscious in the long run, rather than adding to a list of do’s and don’ts that singers often have in their heads.
A year or two ago I delivered one of my vocal technique workshops to a choir. During one of the vocal technique discussions someone raised a question regarding older singers’ voices. I’m paraphrasing for the purposes of this article, but the question was broadly seeking confirmation to the idea that: Yes, they absolutely do. Voices change as they get older. I’ve written before on the various physiological changes that occur (vocally speaking) as one ages. The larynx turns to bone, it drops lower, muscles change and mature, etc. All of this can lead to extra depth and maturity in the voice. Continue reading “The perks of being an older singer” The most common self-assessment I hear from people discussing their own voice and who want to improve their singing, by far, is: “I think I’m doing a good job, I just need to work on my breathing“ Of course, other comments are common: But these are vastly outstripped (or accompanied) by self-assessments of “breathing issues“. I understand why this comes up. Many singers will typically think they sound alright, but notice that they run out of breath during specific lines, struggle to finish phrases, etc. Typically, they feel like they’ve got full lungs of *something* but physically feel like they have to empty and refill before the next section of the song, etc. Breathing is critically important for singing, but I’ve got news for you: breathing probably isn’t your main problem. In fact, most singers’ breathing is typically fine, and the issue lies elsewhere. Continue reading “Why Breathing Isn’t Your Problem” One of the most common questions that comes up in sessions, workshops, etc, is “Mark, what does YOUR practice routine look like day to day?“. So that’s what we’ll cover today. This also extends to “what should anyone’s practice routine include day to day”. The general answer works for most voices, but the specific exercises each voice should do will vary. I have updated this to reflect what my absolute up-to-date practice routine looks like. Each section will start with what I specifically do for my voice, followed by what that translates to in a general sense. Continue reading “What my practice routine looks like” This week I had a client in touch about preparing a set of songs for a wedding they were singing at. Amongst other things, they wanted to know how best to prepare themselves for singing through a lengthy set of songs at a wedding. This is a great question, so I thought I’d share my general thoughts here. Continue reading “How to prepare a set of songs” We had a workshop yesterday, and one of the participants commented on how they had once been told by a singing teacher to “put the sound in *THIS* cavity” accompanied with a finger pointing to somewhere in the head. The main reason he brought this up was because of how unclear and confusing that language was, so I thought it was worth talking about descriptive vs prescriptive teaching. If you’ve ever had a singing lesson, or looked online for singing videos, there’s no way you’ll have escaped the weirdness of such instructions. “Put it in the masque”, “make it brighter”, “the sound should open downwards not outwards”, “sing from the diaphragm”, “don’t sing from the throat”, “gain strength from your knees”, and other such gems. At least one of these statements I’d even agree with, in the sense that I also feel this when I sing, so they’re not “wrong” per se, they’re just not helpful. Continue reading “Descriptive vs Prescriptive Teaching”Learning to Riff: Why most people find it hard & why it can be easier than you think
Tongue Tension – a.k.a. Sounding like Kermit
Tongue Tension in Singing: Why You Might Sound Like Kermit
Unnecessary tension
Why does it occur?
Symptom?
Root?
Sick?
Singing higher?
How to treat
Learn More: Related Articles
The perks of being an older singer
“Do you find that voices change as they get older?”
Why Breathing Isn’t Your Problem
“I need to work on my tone”
“my vocal quality still needs work”
“I reach the high notes but it doesn’t sound that good” What my practice routine looks like
How to prepare a set of songs
Descriptive vs Prescriptive Teaching
Descriptive Singing Instructions