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.
Hey guys,
just a quick question for Jamie, and for anyone else who's doing the Ultimate Breathing workout.
I stopped doing it for a while, but now I'm getting back into it. Today is day 2 of being back on the program ;).
What I personally tend to do is do each of the exercises about 4-5 times, then move on to the next one. Generally by #4 I've hit my 'max time', and then I get close to it, or hit it again on the 5th time. So I stop and move on.
I generally need about 20-30 seconds to recover between each one, because I hold it till I feel as if I'm either going to pass out or throw up. Not fun times, but I get great results 
.
It takes me about 45 minutes to do the entire thing, since especially near the end I have to rest longer between each exercise.
So here's my question: Should I be doing more 'sets' of the exercises than 4-5, and if I do, should I be doing them as long as I have been, or would I actually get better results from doing more of them for a shorter period of time (i.e. not holding on till I feel light headed or sick).
Also is 45 minutes too long, or not enough to spend on breathing? 
It usually takes me four or fives minutes after I've finished to actually be able to 'sing' anything 
. I'm pretty tuckered out by the time I've finished.
And of course I have to say, to Jaime...
THANK YOU SO FREAKIN' MUCH.
When I started voice lessons with a good teacher about a year ago, I could -barely- hold my breath for 30 seconds, and I could only do the 'buzz' sound for about 15-20... I'd be all red in the face, and shaking from trying so hard. My teacher improved my breathing a bit, but with my auditions we ended up spending a lot of time trying to get my specific songs polished.
Thanks to the Ultimate Breathing Workout, I can hold my breath over a minute now (and this is after not touching the exercises for a long time, and not being super diligent the first time around), and buzz for almost a minute. It's not huge compared to what most people can do naturally, but compared to what I -used- to do? Huge progress IMO.
I also used to get tired much more easily than I do now just in walking, or jogging, or anything--the UBW, and of course some tips from my teacher, unlocked my breathing. Still not at all where I want it to be, but -huge- progress compared to where I used to be 
.
You've made a huge difference in my singing, and in my every-day life. Now that I've finished my auditions, I'm really blasting my way into the RYV and UBW . I'm gonna make some major improvement soon. I can feel it.
