I've just recently been looking down my throat in the mirror whilst I'm singing and I've just realized I may still be closing my throat when I sing higher. Everything around the tonsil area starts to group in the middle. Oops.

Any specific exercises for an open throat?

Okay, get ready for some fun.

Phase I.

Trim your fingernail on your index finger and make sure it is smooth.
Wash your hands.
Lower your larynx via yawning and hold it low.
Slowly begin pushing your finger into the middle of your tongue and as it relaxes, start moving it toward the back of your throat.
The idea is to get to where you can slide your finger down your throat. You have to eliminate your gag reflex. Don't rush it.

Phase II.

Start with Phase I.

Make sure that your larynx is held low.

Then begin bending your index finger so that it hooks into the base of your tongue just above the Epiglottis.
Allow your tongue to get used to being touched in this area. Once you can touch this area without any tightness or gagging, slowly work out toward the sides, one side at a time.
When you can touch the entire base of the tongue without any gagging issues. You need to start applying pressure on the base of the tongue, and pressing down, and forward.
Take your fingers on the other hand, and begin pressing into the neck on the outside, above the Larynx at the Base of the Myohyloid.
Press the finger inside your throat, toward the fingers on the outside.
This will help you reshape the interior muscles of the throat over time (20 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 2 months. Think "Hohn", Rhymes with "Yon" in Yonder.)
Start out a few minutes a day. You will have to work the sides of the base of the tongue in the same fashion, but it WILL make a major difference.

And before anybody has a spazz, I learned about these exercises via Jaime years ago. They are not necessary, but they were developed for the extreme in open-throat singing. He knew I was hardcore about my training, and wanted the Maximum internal resonance.
Why doesn't he normally teach them?

Let me ask you a question?

How many of you are seriously going to stick your finger down your throat 20+ minutes a day, drooling down your hand while trying to learn to not gag?

Not too many - He has a hard enough time encouraging the people who actually bought his books to do the very basic exercises that are in them. You can essentially tell who trains and who doesn't by the questions that are asked, because when you train, a lot of these questions sort of answer themselves, and if there is something in RYV that you don't understand, through experimentation, you'll answer a lot of these questions.

That is one of the reasons RYV is so great, Jaime wrote it on level that an 8-year old can grasp. That is one of the thing I have against the entire "Vocal Pedagogue" mindset.... it is like "a special club" where only "the elite" speak the special code words....meanwhile, Jaime broke down in common language because his desire is to TEACH PEOPLE HOW TO SING.

So, don't freak out if you haven't heard of some of these exercises.

Just make sure that you are doing the ones in the book before you tackle the above.... otherwise, your throat muscles will not be ready for it.


Tim

I need to get my girlfriend started on that exercise routine. I think it would have many benefits. Maybe not so much for her as for me though.

PMSL

HuskyHarris,

This is exactly what's going to happen. It's relating to the larynx raising...which IS going to happen on higher notes. So don't worry.

Cheers for the answers guys!

Sofus, yeah I'm starting to think maybe I'm not doing that much wrong tbh...I might be getting confused! I need a camera shot of Jaime's mouth / throat when he sings methinks!

Are you doing the bullfrogs?

You need to do the bullfrogs, do the tongue pushups, and make sure that you are pulling the tension out of your tongue. When your tongue is tense, tht will do two things:

#1. It will cause your tongue to raise up really in the back when you sing A's or Ah's,
#2. it will draw your larynx up high.

I have been these exercises so long that I can drop my larynx literally all the way down to my breastbone!

HuskyHarris,

I can give you a detailed explanation as to why this happens, but what really counts is that you are not feeling any hurt in your throat...so you are good to go