Vocal Physiology

“The most important thing about all this is that you get up into an area of your voice with release (no strain), without going into falsetto. You can always make it harder and louder as you continue to experiment with it.”

- Maestro Seth Riggs, SLS Founder

The following is a basic explanation of how singing works, and it will help to get you started: Your vocal cords are located inside the larynx, and are small and quite fragile. As you blow air through them they create sound and pitch, which are modified by adjustments of the throat, tongue, and pharynx (the back of your mouth). The pitch changes as a result of adjustments in the length, tension, thickness (or thinness) of the vocal cords. This process is the same whether you are speaking or singing! SLS teaches you how to control your vocal cords in order to create the sound you want. We teach you to be the best YOU, with your unique sound and quality, rather than forcing you to sound like someone else.

To Breathe or Not To Breathe

Many people think that breathing is a super-complicated part of singing. Breathing is important, but it is not the miracle answer to great singing. We all know that you are supposed to breathe from your diaphragm. OK, what does that mean? Simply put, when you breathe, your shoulders and chest should not rise. They should remain stable while the lower part of your tummy goes out (whcn you breathe in) and in (when you breathe out). What we want to do is learn to control how much air we expel from the lungs while singing a phrase or scale. With a good breath you can sing for a long time, because when you control the flow of air properly, you waste none of it. This is achieved as a result of efficient vocal cord functioning, which will happen for you automatically as your practice with your lessons. Although good breathing is important, breathing alone will not fix vocal problems. Learning to keep your larynx relaxed while closing your vocal cords correctly is the foundation of good vocal production. You will find that your ability to be effective with the use of your breath increases as you apply these techniques.

Posture

Like breathing, much has been said about posture. While it is important, the best posture does not a singer make. If all singers stood up perfectly straight with their chests out, shoulders back, and arms at their sides, music videos would be… incredibly boring, and many of today’s chart topping artists would not have careers. The best thing to say about posture is that a relaxed open stance will allow the free functioning of all the muscles, which need to be coordinated in order to allow you to sing without tension. You will find it is easier to reach the high notes when you are relaxed and open!

Vocal Cords

Throughout the SLS program you will hear the terms “head voice”, “middle voice”, “chest voice”, “mix”, “breaks”, and “bridges”. These terms all refer to what is known as “Vocal Registration”. An incorrectly produced sound will result in breaks that most singers experience as they sing from low to high. Our goal is to teach you how to create one easy consistent sound from low to very high, with correct registration throughout your entire range. So there you are, trying to sing a song, and at some point your voice decides it wants no part of it. You make a funny sound like a flip- or even no sound at all. This may occur several times as you go up and down in your range. These places are called “bridges”. These “bridges” reveal changes in vocal coordination as you ascend upward from the chest voice. If this is done incorrectly, you may experience a tone which disconnects into a breathy falsetto sound as you ascend in pitch. While this sound may be a valid stylistic choice at times, SLS vocal technique will enable you to connect smoothly from the chest voice to a “mix”, transitioning smoothly through the bridges without disconnecting into falsetto, and without pulling chest voice too high (which sounds like yelling). Your chest voice constitutes the main part of your speaking voice. The sound resonates in your chest and is deep, but as you sing higher, the resonation passes from your chest into your head.

Almost everyone experiences vocal breaks, and most people bridge in similar places. The first bridge, occurs when you transition from your chest voice into your middle voice. Some singers deal with their break by forcing chest voice up, and others avoid the break by putting songs in keys that are too low. This not only greatly limits a singer’s choices, but often results in a weakening of the voice, vocal nodules, and a deteriorating instrument. Avoiding the bridges implies poor technique! SLS helps you build strong bridges, resulting in a smooth transition from chest voice, and is a very powerful and healthy technique. With a good mix you can go up and down the entire range of your voice with no breaks, no uncomfortable weakening of volume or intensity, and no damage to the vocal cords!

Belting

Poorly trained singers often “yell” through a song. This is known as “belting”- a sound which is sometimes demanded in Broadway and Pop singing. A correct belt is produced using the “mix” technique; but for the time being, let’s examine the most common “non-mix” belting. When a singer reaches up in the chest voice by pushing really hard, they are forcing notes that are beyond their natural bridge which should be sung in mix or head voice. This yelling process is extremely hard on the voice, and results in soreness, swelling of the vocal cords, and nodules in the most extreme cases. Another problem with pushing this hard is that the sound becomes distorted; the word “love”, for example becomes “lave”. When this occurs the larynx starts to rise. A proper mix allows the larynx to remain stable, which creates more space for the sound to be shaped, resulting in a much richer sound. Keeping your larynx stable with correct vocal cord adduction is the key to great singing; SLS creates an entire took kit which is designed to help you do exactly that!