THE VOICE CONNECTION
SOUND OFF

Welcome to The Voice Connection Sound Off; a forum for users of books like Raise Your Voice, Melody to Madness, The Ultimate Breathing Workout, and Unleash Your Creative Mindset, as well as a place for Vendera Vocal Academy members to interact.

This message board was created so that singers could come together and "sound off" to help support each other during vocal development and the creative process of unleashing the creative spark that occurs when writing and producing music. Currently, myself and vocal coaches Ben Valen, Ray West, and Ryan Wall are here to respond periodicially to your questions, with new vocal coaches coming soon. But, feel free to help each other too:)

This board is here for you to ask questions about my and my fellow coach's books, videos, and MP3 programs, as well as offer others help with our vocal techniques. You may also post videos of yourself and your band to share your music and ask for critiques.

Please refrain from negative comments, profanities, spamming, and inappropriate criticisms of vocal methodologies, vocal coaches, and singers. All negative posts will be deleted and subject to banning without question. I will not respond to negative posts, because, as Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience.” With that said, positive criticism is welcome because that is how you'll grow as a singer during the training process.


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Sofus987
May 31, 2012 - 2:19PM
Re: neck excercises affect range?

Stretching and massaging around the neck/larynx relaxes the muscles which promotes more "slack" vocal folds, which produces lower notes. The "bullfrog" and other larynx-lowering exercises have the same effect in conjunction with the acoustics from the results of a lower larynx.

Higher notes require more tensed vocal folds and a higher larynx. This is especially evident in the higher ranges above High C.

b
Blacklizzy
Jun 8, 2012 - 2:48PM
Re: neck excercises affect range?

That's not necessarily concering the effect on the range but...
what I have noticed with the bullfrog exercise is that the back of my neck really tenses up like after 40 bullfrogs, i mean i could go on throatwise (i don't feel the slightest burning there) but the muscles at the back of my neck get tired quickly.
Is that normal ? I'm not sure if i do benefit from these neck exercises at the moment...
Greetings,
Blacklizzy.

v
Val
Jun 17, 2012 - 6:51PM
Re: neck excercises affect range?

Bullfrogs , tongue pushups ... i do only those. Of course they affect my range and power , but on a good sign. I wake up with a stronger voice and more musculature everyday.

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Skullsplitter
Aug 31, 2012 - 3:47AM
Re: neck excercises affect range?

Blacklizzy
That's not necessarily concering the effect on the range but...
what I have noticed with the bullfrog exercise is that the back of my neck really tenses up like after 40 bullfrogs, i mean i could go on throatwise (i don't feel the slightest burning there) but the muscles at the back of my neck get tired quickly.
Is that normal ? I'm not sure if i do benefit from these neck exercises at the moment...
Greetings,
Blacklizzy.


I jut saw this, if the back of your neck is tensing up, you need to focus on just trying to move the front of the throat. You'll also feel the muscles that go down into your pectoral/chest muscles pull or tense when you first start doing these, but you want to learn to isolate the muscles in the throat.
If you watch a lot of singers, like Barbara Streisand, they are taught to "sing in dummy face" (i.e., like a ventriloquist's "dummy" or doll.) Try doing the bullfrogs in the mirror and watch what muscles are moving, and focus on eliminating any and all excess muscle movement.
A big part of singing is sort of like "economy of motion" you only want to bring in the muscles that are absolutely necessary so that there is as little tension as possible.
This was a big one for me because I was trying to sing like Ian Astbury, Dio, Danzig (I can do a mean Danzig imitation) and one of my all time favorites - Vic Hix from Shok Paris.
I would tense up, tighten all the muscles in my throat, stick my lower jaw out in an attempt to forcibly hold my throat in a stretched position, and basically try to power my way through everything - and it took me AGES to learn to sing with power, without the tension I had previously associated with it.


Tim

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Skullsplitter
Jun 4, 2012 - 2:48PM
Re: neck excercises affect range?

As far as I know, it will not have any negative effect upon your range, and Jaime got me started doing these exercises years ago and I still do them on a regular basis.
It will cause you to have a more robust tone because those exercises help open your throat up - giving you more resonance - which means you will notice an added richness to your tone.


Tim

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