Volume and Range without the Effort

Many singers aren’t aware that singing higher and louder doesn’t mean more effort. Surprised? I didn’t always believe it either. Yet the more I experience good singing the more I realize that, when I want more out of my voice, I need to relax and get out of the way!

Sadly, when many singers want to reach that higher pitch or that passionate volume, it’s often accompanied with the feeling that they are playing a game of Russian Roulette: will they make it or will their voice crack under the pressure? Or they find that they could push their voice to its limits in their younger years but as they age they lose more and more of the range they used to have.

I liken it to the experience of weight-lifting. Imagine a beginner weight-lifter walking into the gym and attempting to lift 200 lbs right off the bat. What would happen? Lots of straining, bad form and trips to the chiropractor. When working with a trainer, the first thing they will do is to make sure your FORM is correct using little or no weight. Once the form is correct they will gradually increase the weight until, someday, their protege is lifting 200 lbs like a pro. When it comes to the vocal cords weight equals air pressure (air that the vocal folds are resisting), which also results in an increase in volume.

When I encounter singers in my studio who are used to using volume and strain to reach higher pitches, my first goal is to get their form correct by taking the weight off. One way I may accomplish this with a singer (depending on what a voice is ready for) would be to use a vocal “fry” sound (try doing a “creaking door” sound-effect). This kind of sound involves the least amount of air pressure while still making a vocalized sound. Once they are producing this sensation consistently and easily through several of their vocal bridges (see blog on Vocal Bridges for further explanation) – their FORM is correct – then we will start adding more air pressure/volume/weight to the sound, until they are singing higher and louder than they thought they could but it feels EASY.

Keep in mind, though, that years of singing incorrectly means that you have built that incorrect technique into your muscle-memory. With repetition you have built neural pathways in the brain that lock your body into certain behavior. Think about going from driving a stick shift to an automatic: when you get into the car your brain sends commands to your body telling it that this is what it does when it is in a car. So at first your foot searches for the clutch and your right hand tries to shift even though you KNOW you’re in an automatic. After some initial concentration and driving for awhile your brain modifies a slightly different neural pathway to accept this new information. So if you have been singing with a lot of effort and strain over many years it will take a few months or even a year of focused concentration and repetition (guided by someone with some insight) before you are able to make the switch to “automatic”.

I love the look on the face of my singers who are experiencing the sensation of achieving volume and range without the effort for the first time. Often they have believed that they were the exception to the rule and would never be able to sing effortlessly. When they feel it for the first time it looks like they’ve just opened the door to a room full of treasure that had been there all along, they just didn’t have the right key until now. I love my job.