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.
Would the PTD-1 be useful for someone who is a very new beginner trying to sing? Or is it more aimed towards those who can already sing and used for muscle strengthening? I'm a guitar player and would be the happiest person in the world if I could learn to sing - even just decently enough that people don't cringe when they listen, I'm not asking for a miracle.
Second question.. how long does it take to ship? The website says 4-6 weeks...
I put my order in today.Hi Rizzle,
It will be out in tomorrow's mail.
The reason it says 4 to 6 weeks is JUST IN CASE.
Sometimes I get orders when I am either completely out, and normally - I keep a few on hand, and when one comes in - a new one is made so that there are always a few on hand but sometimes - like the week I got flooded with orders and had to wait on mouthpieces to come in since the main distributor was actually out - I was literally waiting for the actual mouthpieces o be manufactured.So, just to cove me - it says 4 to 6 weeks. The reality is, it usually takes a week to 10 days in the USA at the most, and can take a few weeks for orders to Asia and Australia.
Now, onto your breathing question:
When you inhale, the diaphragm drops down, pushing your internal organs down as it descends. This allows your lungs to expand at the same time/rate.
Then, when the diaphragm hits the bottom, unless you actually hold your breath, or learn to control the speed of your exhale, the diaphragm raises back to it's upper position, forcing the air out of your lungs.. essentially they work in unison as a pump and bellows.
So, what happens with the PTD-1 is this: It is a mouthpiece with an adjustable aperture that allows you to control how much air you can inhale and exhale. It takes the thinking out of breath training and helps you isolate the muscles that are used in the breathing process, with the valve set so that only a small amount of air is allowed o pas through it - your floating ribs remain in an expanded state for s longer amount of time, which allows you to become accustomed to hold air back for a longer period of time.
When you inhale and exhale normally, you use almost NONE of the air your breathe in - I've read that you use less than ONE-EIGHTH of what you actually take in. Think about that! That means, you should be able to hold your breath for quite a long time. I know a singer who trained with the PTD-1 who got to where he could hold out any note in his range for 60 seconds. (I need to get him recorded. Granted, he took it to an extreme and was training like an hour a day for a while - he would sit and watch TV with it in his mouth. His wife told me,"I hate you! I want to watch TV with my husband, not Darth Vader!" LOL) But you can take anything to an extreme if you want to.
The main thing is this = DO NOT attempt to over-inflate your lungs. I can not stress that enough. You are NOT going to make your lungs bigger.
It will work for you.
Tim
