Getting rid of vocal breaks / Free Vocal Tip / Singing Lesson
Vocal Compression is a fundamental concept to grasp so you can bridge & connect your chest voice and head voice together in one seamless tone. Vocal cord adduction is a simple muscle movement but a difficult one to master. To keep from “pulling chest” you have to keep the sound small and focused.
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Tags: resonance, high notes, sing in key, sing on pitch, how to sing, singing, singer, head voice, chest voice, vocal break, low notes, extend range, vocal lesson, free lesson, vocals, voice, breath support, high notes, vocal range, singing on pitch
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Hi kevin. When singing in mix I encounter a break at note around C#5 where
I have to strain to sing any higher in the mix. Which register change does
that corrospond to. Thanks.
well technically C#5 is mainly head resonance not much of a mix going on
there. If your C#5 is strained, there’s a good bet the 3-4 notes below are
not free and relaxed.
Thanks. Looks like I would have to redefine my perception of mix voice. Do
you have a video on how mix feels and sounds like vs head because I am
absolutely convinced C#5 was in mix =p
I cannot mix my registers at ALL. They are TOTALLY SEPARATE, I’ve tried
EVERYTHING from G’s to B’s to M’s to NG’s and more, and I just CAN’T DO IT.
I’m highly frustrated. I have one octave of pure chest (C4 – C5), then one
and a half octaves of head voice (C5 – G6). Nothing I do combines the
bridge from head to chest. I know what doing it wrong sounds like, but I
don’t know what doing it right feels like. What do I do?
well if you can sing C4-C5 and what you perceive to be chest voice you are
probably doing something right. The transition between lower to upper
resonance is slight and it mixes in stages. The “trick” is knowing
precisely where those mixes occur and how to manipulate them.
Thanks for the help. I’ll just have to keep working at it, and see if I
can’t discover my mixed register.
Is this just for guys?
absolutely not. This is simple technique; it applies to both male & female
voices. Its not gender specific.
Dear Kevin Richards, Really having problems using my headvoice without
phonating in falsetto or pulling chest but I am working on it. Just as a
suggestion it would be nice if you included the phonetic exercises written
into the video summary. I can tell that the second one is Ma Ma Ma but what
is the First one? Ba Ba Ba?
Buh, and Mah.
G4 would be a normal first blend area, the second occurs (depending on the
voice) somewhere between A4-B4. They are both areas where a shift in
resonance occurs and the voice must adjust by thinning to continue in full
voice. You were probably too heavy going into the A4-Bb4. As you add
tension strength to the folds, the higher the transitions occur. Sing
softer and first blend can be @ D4, add more focal tension and it moves up
to F4. etc.
to simplify – the softer you sing the nearer to middle C your resonance or
break area occurs. Add more tension by means of air pressure (support) and
that break area moves up in range farther from middle C. This is how
singers learn to extend their belt or mix range.
Hey, Kevin! It’s so generous of you to post these incredibly valuable
lessons online. I, have taken lots of really expensive lessons from
teachers from a particular pedagogy you have mentioned in another clip. (in
L.A. and the South Bay) II couldn’t afford to stay certified with them. I
have a decent mix but not a money “slide”, and now I am trying to help my
17 year old daughter and my 19 year old son, get a rock/soul edge into
their mix. “The holy grail of singing.” You are helping.
Thanks for the compliments. Glad these are helping.
baritones and tenors pass through their first resonance blend around E4 and
their second around A4-Bb4 – this is all subjective. The notes could be
higher or lower depending on the voice type – heavy or light and their
natural talents.
I have trouble breathing through my nose, the air flow doesn’t seem as one
between the air flowing through my mouth and nose. Do you need to be able
to breath through your nose while singing? or is it only when inhaling air
to hit notes. Some people say singing is like a yawning sensation or
holding your breath under water. I’m just confused as to what is correct.
super video… I do not pull chest as I know this strain and it will kill
the voice in no time, but the upper range sounds more falsetto than
compressed headvoice in my case.. I am a low baritone with a deep voice..
This is extremely helpful for me. Anyone know how to maintain compression
when doing the lip roll exercise? It doesn’t seem to keep my chords
together.
Wow, I feel like this actually helped me a lot. I went from chest, mix,
head to what seemed like a whistle voice. I was shocked.
if you are making noise – singing pitches – your cords are closed.
If I practice “Mum” or “Bup” sound with strong compression regularly, can I
get rid of the break and able to sing high notes.
No. This is just one exercises – erasing vocal “breaks” and singing high
notes takes more than one exercise. Plus – erasing the vocal break and
singing high notes are two different things. Each requiring a different set
of training techniques. Worry about your normal singing range before going
anywhere near high notes.
Hey i don’t know if you’ll see this but an important question for me, is in
this voice, this ‘bridge’ between chest and head, is it possible to have
the same control as your chest voice? My problem is, i can sing in chest
and head, but i totally lose it in between the two, and that’s the part of
my range where i could be singing David Coverdale and Klaus Meine, which is
my ultimate goal. Is this possible or is this vocal break thing just
naturally weaker?
The ultimate goal is to have complete control of all your notes from low to
high. It is possible to control the area between those two – BUT get rid of
the concept of a “bridge” between chest & head. The voice doesn’t have
parts so thinking there are two places you need to “bridge” only reinforces
the problem of blending low to high. Think of the voice has ONE voice, ONE
register and its easier to sing from low to high. Look at my channel page
and at “mixed voice” playlist
You sir! have beautiful hair!
Thanks!
Why can’t anyone help me??? This is so frustrating people say oh just do
these exercises the problem is I can’t even do them in the first place I
can sing really high but my voice cracks and monster how many exercises I
do by any person non of them work:(
Doing a bunch of exercises isn’t going to help unless someone (or you) has
accurately diagnosed what your problems are vocally. Taking shots in the
dark will only end up frustrating you. It also comes down to how long you
are trying these exercises on for size. Nothing happens overnight; it may
take weeks to a few months for things to start to change. You have to let
that process happen. Learning something new or fixing problems is a process
– there are no quick fixes.
Thanks! btw your voice is so high!
Hello, my mixed tone sounds like a vocal fry whenever i try to go high in
my range, bw I started doing mixed voice exercises like a month ago.
when i sing high notes song,my head feels like about to explode. why is
that?
First off, I’d like to say I really like your videos, and I am learning
quite a lot. I have this problem with my voice when I sing high, I’m
supporting it and all, but when I get to a certain point it gives out and
cracks (it sounds like when a kid is going through puberty, and his voice
squeaks). I don’t know if I’m supporting it wrong, or if I’m trying to keep
myself from being loud because I live with a lot of neighbors nearby and
get nervous… any advice would be wonderful please.
No way to answer to answer your question without hearing you in a
structured lesson.
the benefits of growing up in the “Big Hair” 80’s. We learned a lot about
proper hair care back then.
Amazing video this is my problem thank you so much!! so jealous of your
voice.
cool thanks
So what should i do ??
Soooo helpful! It’s amazing, once you find the correct techniques, how much
more comfortable singing is. I realize now that I had been straining a lot,
without even realizing it, but after this video, my neck, jaw, and upper
chest are so relaxed. The notes that I was struggling to hit before, just
seem to flow out now. Thanks!
Hey, thanks for the video. I have a problem though, once i compress my
voice and go up my voice still flips and becomes very squeaky instead of
loght and heady.
It does help me maintain a stronger substance but the flip between chest
and squeaky still exists. Do you have a tip what i cpuld do about it? Thank
you so much
You actually told what’s vocal compression. Yeah,ok I get it. But how can I
learn that technique?
Mel also has grade 8 distinction in contemporary voice.
Vocal Health – your teacher will guide you through the best ways for you to keep your voice healthy and perfectly functioning, so that you can sing at the best of your abilities and keep your instrument safe.
An exception is five-part gospel a cappella music, where the lead is the highest of the five voices and sings a descant , and not the melody Some artists may sing both the lead and backing vocals on audio recordings by overlapping recorded vocal tracks.