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.


The Voice Connection - Sound Off
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Re: That **** palate

I can't feel it go up even when I yawn. Only know it goes up if I touch it with my finger. Should I sing like I am yawning all the time for the soft palate to always go up? Or should I learn how to control the soft palate without yawning?

Re: That **** palate

Better to just learn how to slightly lift it, as we don't want you really yawning while singing. In reference to your earlier questions, this tells me that the Bullfrog exercise would indeed be beneficial to you because when first starting that exercise, you have to spend some time repeatedly yawning to lift the palate.

Re: That **** palate

I found out by experimenting, that the ''ng'' sound lowers the soft palate, while the ''uh'' sounds raises it.

Re: That **** palate

Yeah, that's one way to experience it:)

Re: That **** palate

If you want full control over your soft palate, it helps to pretend that something stinks and you don't want it going in your nose (kind of like when you have a cold, only if you speak like this, you'll find that you can still nasalize your M's,N's, NG's, but it will be closed off on everything else. The sensation is just like when you're swimming- I was on a swim team from ages 6-12 and that may have helped with being able to do it at will without thinking about it. When you're swmming-especially when doing crawlstroke-you close your nasal port off to keep water from going up your nose and into your sinuses. To half-close it, you can pull the bottom of your nose down, which lengthens your nose, but prevents most of your air from coming out of it. That is useful when you need some nasality in your tone, but not so much that it would weaken it or make it too shrill. Try this stuff in front of a mirror- you should see the uvula go up when you do it right.

You can try this manipulation of the nasal port by taking a bath and putting your head under water- or taking a shower and tipping your head back. Both will make you have to lift your soft palate to keep the water out.