Hi there, everyone.
Most of us monitor out voice via our ears.
And that's all well and good until you're in a performance
situation where you foldback is poor
and you can't hear yourself very well.
And that's why it's extremely important that you
learn to sing with feeling.
Sound check.
Check one, check two.
Hi, and welcome to Voice Essentials,
where we develop your voice and improve your sound.
My name is Doctor Dan.
And I'm a contemporary singing voice specialist.
And it's my job to help singers just
like you to get the very best out of their voice.
Now, one of the very first things
I do with all of my singing students
is direct their attention to their whole instrument.
We spend so much time as singers worrying
about how we sound that we often neglect how we feel.
Now, in this video I'm not talking
about your emotional state or well being.
I'm talking about your kinesthetic awareness.
Big word, but the dictionary defines kinesthesia
as an awareness of the position and movement
of the parts of the body by means of sensory organs
in the muscles and joints.
Your body, that is your instrument,
is talking to you all the time.
The big question is, are you listening?
Are you listening to the continuous stream of messages
that your voice is providing you about the physical nature
of your sound?
Sound check.
So what kind of messages is your instruments relaying?
Well there are many, but let's focus in on three.
The first is your overall body alignment.
Your stature on stage not only says a lot
to your audience about your performance
and what they might expect, it also
says a lot to you about what you might
anticipate from your voice.
Lazy posture generally leads to a lazy sound.
And equally, a rigid posture typically
leads to a rigid sound.
The next time you stand up to sing,
take a moment to feel your alignment.
You're stance should be energized, buoyant,
and balanced.
A second point of kinesthetic awareness for the singer
is their laryngeal position.
Your larynx is a floating mechanism
housed within your neck.
Now, I like to describe the larynx as a buoy on the water,
a B-O-U-Y. The buoy needs to have the freedom to move with
the swell of the body of water it's floating in.
In a similar fashion, your larynx
needs to be free enough to move with the swell of a given song.
If your larynx is surrounded by too much neck tension,
then your sound will not be free.
Now, we never want the larynx to be continuously held
high or constantly pushed low.
Now, you can start to monitor the position of your larynx
by singing a five-note scale.
Place your index finger and your thumb
either side of your larynx, and sing the scale,
moving up and down in semi-tone increments.
[SINGING]
Now, what is your larynx doing?
Now remember, it's OK for your larynx
to move with the up and down movement of the scale.
But the movement should not be exaggerated.
And it shouldn't move up, for example, and stay up.
The larynx should always return to a neutral position
within your neck.
Now before I give you the final tip
on monitoring the kinesthesia of your voice,
I'd love it if you'd take a quick moment
to hit the Like button.
Your feedback helps me know how helpful
the information in my videos are for
your overall vocal development.
Sound check.
Possibly the hardest physical place to monitor for the singer
is the pharynx.
The pharynx is the back of your throat.
And it has very low levels of sensory feedback.
Think about it.
If you had high levels of sensation back there,
you'd feel every single swallow of every single day.
And that wouldn't be overly pleasant.
This being said, the pharynx helps
a singer form tonal qualities.
A lazy pharynx and you guessed it, you get lazy tone.
And a rigid pharynx and the tone will often
be too bright and shrill.
Getting in touch with your pharyngeal space
can take some time.
You can start by yawning and feeling
the air rush into your mouth and down through your vocal tract.
And just before the yawn reaches its full climax,
you may be aware of your soft palate
lifting and your pharyngeal wall widening.
Now try and sing a comfortable note [SINGING]
and see if you can maintain that pre-yawn shape.
It's hard.
And it might take you a few months
to become aware of the subtle sensations way
back there in the back of your throat.
Sound check.
Now we've only mentioned three points of vocal kinesthetics
in this video.
But I'd love for you to leave a comment below outlining
other points of physical feedback
that our instruments provide us when we sing.
There's wisdom in the counsel of many,
so I'd love for the whole community
here at Voice Essentials to hear your voice and your experience.
Here at Voice Essentials, I want to develop your voice
and improve your sound.
And every month, I upload new videos just
like this one that will provide you
with tips and tricks and instructions
on how to get the very best out of your voice.
You can have the voice you've always wanted.
So if you want to engage with the latest
information available to contemporary vocalists,
then I eagerly invite you to join our ever-increasing family
of singers from across the globe who
are realizing the full potential of their voice.
All you have to do is hit the Subscribe button
and you're a part of the Voice Essentials family.
It's that easy.
So until I see you in the next Voice Essentials video,
I'm Doctor Dan.
Sing well.