Hi everyone from Spain!

I've just finished my little rehearsal (during which I sang several songs playing the guitar) and this is the time I've felt better than any other one. Now I'm very excited and happy about what I've been able to do with my voice, my body is now full of energy (endorphines maybe), and I've decided to post a message here to thank Jaime for his book and to encourage everybody to keep on practising.

There is still a lot to do, but my range and resonance are improving almost every day. I even start to understand support and feeling (more than consciously applying it).

I'd like to share a fre ideas from my experiencie if someone finds it useful:
- I've been singing for year with no understanding of the vocal mechanism, just singing.
- In the last three years I've read a lot about technique and I've found 'Vocal Release' (by Eric Frey) and, specially, 'Raise Your Voice v. 2' the most useful books.
- I have to admit I'm too lazy because I don't have a true exercise program, but I do my warm ups and try to apply placement and support. When I find a note difficult to reach in full voice, I practise trascending tone on it a few times.
- The most useful techniques for me are:
* The "voice triangle" and core of resonance visualizations
* The placement on the soft palate (easier to understand than the mask placement explained in other books, which leads me to a wrong vocal onset)
* Beign aware of any sign of tension in my neck; if it appears, I try to approach that note in a different way: more support, more focus on the core of resonance visualization, etc.
* But always applying it to actual singing because it's the only way I've found to do some consistent work without getting bore too soon.

As a sugggestion for someone willing to do it, I think a book on singing for people currently singing intuitively would be very useful for them. I would have loved such a book telling me exactly how to do the transition from pushing, muscular singing to neck-relaxed singing. For instance, when I read on many books how the vocal system works when singing I miss an explanation on what is exactly happening when singing with force; for example a picture on what happens in the larynx muscles when singing high notes with strain and an explanation about at first they are easier to reach that way.

I think such a book would make people like me understand vocal technique in a shorter time.

Greetings.

Oh!, I forgot! What has started giving me the ability to understand and put into practise subtle aspects like support and placement is doing the Vocal Stress Release (or just some parts of it), which gives my body a lot of freedom.

Thanks, Pedro:) make sure you watch all the member's videos. We talk about strain in many sections. Don't really need a separate book as it's all in the videos;)

JV