These exercises should never be carved in stone. If you find something that helps you do thenm easier, that is fine. However, you don't want to do something like make a distorted face, or twist your neck for high notes, because the body will always associate that position with reaching for a high note. Wider mouth is not a problem though.

JV

I apologize for my error. I've been told that guitar is a bad instrument to learn vocals to because it transposes octaves. Anyways, I was just wondering...Is C4 your lowest falsetto note? If so, it might be a vocal pressure balance issue. Your break is going to change based on the amount of pressure you use. I actually remember Jaime mentioning that he didn't put that little tidbit of info in there just because he didn't want people to be confused. I'm kinda curious as to what your current lowest and highest notes are. If "Siren-ing" up to a C4 doesn't cause you problems, maybe you should start practicing the Siren at a full step or 1 and 1/2 steps above C4, causing you to not even focus on the C4 itself. Psychologically, your body won't necessarily even know when to process the C4 because it won'y be your starting point. It will be jumbled in with every incremental note along the way up. Try doing this and then (after practicing it a few times) go back to T.T. on C4 and see if there's any change. Yet again, sorry for the error, and I hope this tip will prove to be more helpful.

I'm chock full of errors lately. You said you don't have a problem T.T.-ing UP TO C4. When I gave the Siren example I meant to say Siren from your refernce point up to slightly beyond C4 as opposed to starting on C4. Also, when I said "Jaime mentioned the vocal break changing," he didn't mention it to me specifically. It was in response to another message about the vocal break. He didn't put it in RYV as to not confuse people. Again, sorry for my errors, I just got home from a 14 and a 1/2 hour shift!

I can siren in full voice all around the C4 area no problem starting from any point. I just can't seem to transcend on the C4.

Oh well I'll just keep working on it. I just wanted to know if anyone else had the same problem (which doesn't looke like it heh) 'cause I would have thought it should be one of the easiest notes to transcend.

When I started doing T.T., transcending even at G3 was difficult. My falsetto pretty much goes all the way down my range. Depending on how long your vocal folds are, you may have trouble in areas some people don't. And going higehr may be easier. For me, the killer is E4, the E above middle C. That's pretty much where my vocal folds start to adduct. But the best thing you can do is to FIND these trouble spots, and work the exercise there SLOWLY. You've gotta come to terms with the fact that you aren't doing something right there and then work it out until you are. It's a balance of tension, air-pressure, and the shape of your mouth/position of your larynx and you've gotta discover the key slowly.

Oh, and on opening your mouth wider, I suggest first of all actually making it WIDER, ie, more like smiling rather than opening the jaw more. That will make your tone brighter and give you more room without messing with the larynx.

That is exactly what Jim Gillett teaches in his Vocal Power video. It is a great way to get the resonance out of your throat and into the mask. I find that after practicing like this, if I sing some songs that I can even feel my lower notes resonating giving me some facial resonance! My voice doesn't get tired as easily.