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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lip rolls fustration plz help

Hi i really have problems with this exercise, sometimes its free and some times its not.Now i am totally confused. First doubt - do you focus on the abdominal support for this exercise or does it cause strain. some times i just try to concentrate on keeping a clear falsetto b, but again the freedom varies from time to time.

Should i just concentrate on letting the breath out from the abdomen region, keeping falsetto voice in mind?

Also as per the vibration of lips, should i concentrate on making them vibrate from the corners of the mouth (full lips) or should i just concentrate on letting the rolls out from the middle?

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

Don't get frustrated and for now don't worry about the support. Place your hands on the side of your cheeks as you do them. It's probably your cheeks puffing out and the flow of air is splatting, not allowing the lips to vibrate freely:) I think in the video on the jaimevendera.com homepage, I am pretty sure I demonstrate it;) You'll get it:)

JV

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

Hi Jaime thank you for the reply

many times when i do lip rolls i just feel that release and voice is free, the tone is great and the high notes are easier. But that feeling is so unpredictable and unreliable....some days it's great, other days its marginally free and some days it actually adds more strain then bring freedom. i have no clue on what i do right sometimes and what i do wrong most times.

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

It's a learning process and it may take you 6 months of doing 100 lip rolls per day before it is consistent. Some struggle with lip bubbles, while others struggle with the gargling exercises. Keep on keeping on and you'll get it;)

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

thank you Jaime

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

I used to just blow spit all over myself and pitter out when I tried these and was like "WTF?!"

Well, apparently you need to use your lip/jaw muscles to get just the right and slight amount of pressure (as you blow), then it works like magic. It's really easy, but few people explain that (I just figured it out one day).

Don't use your fingers--waste of time and barely helps. Plus they can be doing other things then getting all spitty.

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

I think you're over thinking the lip rolls. Try to do them more naturally as if you said: "Brr it's cold" from there copy this sensation on your slides.

Re: lip rolls fustration plz help

The first rule of lip bubbles is don't think about lip bubbles! LOL!

I find the more I focus and nit pick over every possible "am I doing this right" the further you get from the actual point OF the lip roll and correct technique of lip rolls.

1. Sit and relax your face. Get a nice "watching tv" or "stupified" expression.
2. Pretend you're bored and do a lip bubble with no sound. Get to know the sensations of where the bubble "pops", see how your jaw feels - is it relaxed or tense?, where is your tongue? What is it doing? Keep doing them, making them last longer and longer as you learn to control your breath and bubbles.
3. Add sound - any note is fine.
4. Keep your lips moist or they'll start to stick to each other - which will jack you all up!

You'll notice as you do the UVW exercises that if it breaks up or your lips stop bubbling - these are places you need to re-adjust your air pressure/resonance placement ratio - or just double check to make sure you didn't wander off in thought and unintentionally tense back up - focus back on "dead face".
Treat the sound like a swing - not a staircase, carelessly moving upwards and back, nice and smooth.

Your face will vibrate similar to hums because it's the same vocal placement - you're just practicing air consistency management.