Hello everyone.. First post here....

I have been working with Jamie's RYV book for about 3 months and have experienced amazing results..

Went from having a good voice with limited range and control to being able to sing along with my vocal heroes (Plant, Cornell, Ozzy) with ease and comfort.

I was even getting to the point of being able to add nice grit and various textures to upper register with little to no effort.

Here's what happened...

I am in a band that occasionally does "classic album" nights here in town..

Most recently we chose to do "In utero" by Nirvana.. As you may know there is screaming all over this album.

I have been working on the record for a few months and got to the point where i could sing the whole thing down and feel great after.. no hoarseness, no pain. I felt as though i was using correct distortion technique..

2 days before the show we had a rehearsal and i over sang a little bit.. I noticed some fatigue afterwords and was a little hoarse.. I tried to rest my voice the next day but had another rehearsal..

Come the day of the show i could tell my voice was not in top shape and it almost felt like a cold coming on from the swelling (I think)..

I warmed up/down properly before soundcheck and the show but the stage energy and some nerves took away some of my technique.

After the show i became hoarser and woke up the next day sounding feeling and sounding like a 70 year old lifelong smoker..

the show was 5 days ago and I still feel a slight sore throat with alot of hoarseness in my voice.. My falsetto is all broken up and ****ty sounding even after a solid warm-up..

My upper register is pretty much non-existant and sounds very gravelly or distorted or just plain cracks out into a nasty squealing sound.

Its really just a bummer because i have been working really hard and seeing amazing results. Now its seems like i have set my self back.. I want to push forwards and get back to where i was just a week ago..

Any advice you folks may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you..

BTW- I am a 23 old male in good health. I Don't drink, Smoke or use Drugs (anymore) My voice is naturally very deep and my full voice range (before the show at least) is somewhere down in the first octave maybe a C or D1 to a G#5 (maybe an A5 on a good day..)

First things first. Don't have a spaz. Relax - we ALL have been through this.
Don't let it get you down. Think of this as a learning experience. You simply were not ready to correctly apply the techniques you have learned in the real world yet. Drink lots of water, honey with hot water (i put Apple Cider Vinegar in this as well.) And make sure that you are taking all the things you need to be taking (calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.)

You're going to have to learn to utilize what I was told was "Glottal Compression" (I'm not sure what Jaime calls it, or if he even uses the same term. He and I haven't actually called it this when we've talked about breathing and breath control, but Glottal Compression is holding back the breath so that it sounds like you are singing harder/louder than you really are. It allows you to sing with a type of vocal grit, tone, and distortion. Think about trying to sound like Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell. That is Glottal Compression in action. You don't do it at the top of your lungs - you aren't blowing as much as as possible, you're doing it at about 50% to 75% volume.

I'm not necessarily sure how to tell you how to do it. I stumbled onto it while trying to learn to sound like Ronnie James Dio, and I went,"Oh, so that's how you do it." My vocal instructor (She taught Classical/Opera-based routines) at the time said,"That's Glottal Compression" and I've called it that ever since.

So, you are going to really have to work on the power push, while holding back the breath by maintaining the ribs in a suspended state - i.e., you keep the ribs open, while locking the diaphragm down.(aka "The Power Push".)

Jaime and I do this differently. He lets the ribcage slowly collapse with the lungs as the diaphragm raises.
I maintain the ribs in an expanded state while holding the diaphragm down. When I do the "Power Push", I pull the pelvic floor muscles up at the same time. (You press down like you are going to have a bowel movement, but you tighten the PC muscle, which is the muscle in the front of the perineum that controls the flow of urine.)
I let the lungs collapse while keeping the ribs constantly open. Yes, this is uncomfortable at first, but you can get used to it. (Or at least I did.)



Keep in mind, this is my opinion:

Kurt Cobain was a horrible singer. I don't mean the sound of his voice, we're talking technique here.. his technique was awful. The guy just yelled and screamed at the top of his lungs on some of their material, and I'm willing to bet that after a few of those songs - he had days off from laying vocal tracks. I saw him live twice, and they stayed at one of my friend's houses when they played at "Einstein A Go-go" in my hometown in Florida. (we're talking before "Nevermind" came out. Einstein's was an internationally known Alternative/Non-Alcohol club. Who needed booze when the kids were all on psyche meds for depression?)
This is cool

These days, a record label and/or management would have sent him to a vocal coach like Jaime to make sure his voice could endure that for a tour, or they probably wouldn't let him have recorded it. I mean, what good is a record that a band can't reproduce live?

That's how Ron Keel wound up being Elizabeth Sabine's first metal student... his last tour with Steeler let him know he wasn't ready to tour, so he began voice training with her, and she taught him how to release the energy to be able to do it for an entire tour without blowing his voice out.
So, it's just a technique you'll need to work on - but your breath support is going to have to be in top shape to really be able to utilize it correctly.



Tim

Tim,

Thanks for the kind words and advice.. I really appreciate you taking the time to read and respond to this..I know everything's going to be fine.. I have been playing instruments my whole life and have experienced all types of setbacks (tendinitis, playing gigs with fingers bandaged, ect.) this is just the first time it has happened with my voice so i got extra nervous about it..

I think I have experienced what you are calling "glottal compression" I'm just not at the point of being able to control it..

Another question.. After i feel sufficiently healed, should i just start practicing again? or is there a different type of routine one uses after this sort of event?


Once again Thanks so much for your insight.

BTW.. whats scary about Kurt is that he did all the vocal takes for "In utero" in 6 hours.. Granted he also suffered from chronic laryngitis...

Here's a vid I made about glottal compression:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgAlu6hmMwE&feature=c4-overview&list=UUc0IfmOTRYLb_pJx-O-FZiw

What do you do when you damage your voice like you did? REST!!! NO TRAINING. just rest!! You already discovered that once you pushed it it got worse.

Leave it! Take a week off. two weeks off. whatever it takes!

Blessings,
Phil Moufarrege
Grow-The-Voice.com

Exactly what Phil said. As soon as your voice feels uncomfortable stop, don't wait till it completely breaks down.

Thanks everyone..

I plan on taking a good long rest.

After that i'll start training easy again and build back up..

I'll post some stuff once i get healed up..


Thanks for all your insights.

Phil,

I really enjoy your videos and have been watching them over the last few days..