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: Gargling Tone & Tone Thumbprint

on week 9 and loving it so far! I have noticed positive changes in my voice and stamina.


THAT IS AWESOME!!!


The changes I have noticed have lead me to my first of 2 questions:

1) As I'm learning and developing my voice, it seems to be going in some direction. I don't know yet where it will end up so I'm not really sure if I will end up with a bluesy voice, or rock voice, country or whatever. I wonder these things as I listen to other singers and hear things that I like and sounds/qualities that I want to be able to make. My question I suppose is this- Though I understand nobody can set out to sound exactly like another singer because they are not that person (otherwise we would all sound like Chris Cornell or Jaime Vendera), how much control do I have over the type of voice I develop/genre that suits me, or does it just develop into a better version of whatever it already is as I progress?

REALLY, STYLE IS DECIDED BY YOU. IF YOU LOVE POP, THEN THE MORE YOU SING POP THE MORE YOU'LL FIND YOUR TONE. IF YOU LISTEN TO MY SONGS, I AM A ROCK SINGER BUT HAVE A STRONG R7B INFLUENCE BY BANDS LIKE READY FOR THE WORLD AND PRINCE. IT JUST NATURALLY SLIPPED INTO THE WAY I SING ROCK. I NEVER WORRIED ABOUT DEVELOPING A PARTICULAR 'SOUND'. I FOCUSED MORE ON ENJOYING SINGING:) BEING IN WEEK 9, I WOULDN'T STRESS SO MUCH ABOUT IT YET. JUST KEEP HAVING FUN SINGING.

2) Gargling tone- when I do my gargling tone, I lean my head back slightly to get the uvula to sort of fall over my throat to be in the way of the air when I begin to exhale. As I exhale, I feel an enormous amount of vibration in my throat and head. So much vibration that I can feel it from one side of my neck, through the center and to the other side, and all the way to the top of my head making my vision blurry. I have struggled to get the gargling tone thing down the first 8 weeks and I feel like I have finally got it in the last week. Does this sound like I am finally doing it correctly?

PARTIALLY. ALL THE VIBRATION IS FINE, BUT YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE TO LEAN BACK TO HAVE THE UYVULA BLOCK THE AIRWAY. IT SHOULD BOUNCE OFF THE ROOF OF THE MOUTH. SO, IT IS AWESOME YOU'RE GETTING IT, BUT KEEP WORKING UNTIL YOU CAN DO IT WITHOUT LEANING YOUR HEAD BACK:)