If you want to learn how to sing higher without cracking or breaking, you must stop the swallowing
muscles from pulling up the larynx.
This is the main cause of the vocal cords cracking and separating.
In Episode 85, you vocalized without the external swallowing muscles. Now you’re ready to
add more challenging exercises to help transfer this ability to songs.
Hi! I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. First, be sure to watch Episode 85. Practice
the exercises until you can do them successfully. This video can be the next step in your progress.
In Episode 85 you learned to use the puppy dog sound or the squeaky door, without the
external muscles of the neck pulling the larynx up. Once you are able to do these without
the external muscles pushing your thumb, do the same exercise with the puppy dog sound
with a legato or smooth vocal line, like this. [Demo]
Keep your thumb in the same place as before to monitor yourself. Men start on the B2 and
women on the F#3.
Alright men begin. Now the women. If you can’t do it without the external muscles pushing
the thumb, go back to the exercises in Episode 85 and work with those. Then come back to
this. Your goal is to do this with only the vocal cords, and no external muscles pushing
the larynx upward.
Next, use the “e” vowel like this. [Demo] Alright men, begin. Now the women.
You may want to do the exercises in Ep. 85 using the “e” with the staccato, gallop
and triplets. Get comfortable doing all these without the external muscles.For example.
Demo. That’s the gallop. Once you’re successful doing these with just the vocal cords themselves
without the external neck muscles pulling the larynx upward, try it in a song.
For example: I’ll demonstrate with the “e” vowel the song, “Can you feel the love tonight?”.
This is in the middle of the first bridge for the tenors and baritones. [Demo] Once
you’re successful doing that, try it with the words. As the vowels and words change,
you’ll feel the muscles below your chin move somewhat, because of the action of the
tongue and lips. That’s ok. But this time, the larynx is more resting and stable. [Demo] That’s very different
than...Demo. Ladies you can do the same with “Over the Rainbow “, starting on
the Bb3. Demo. It’ll be much easier to sing the F4 or the Bb4. The vocal cords will stay
together and you can sing this passage without a crack or break. The tension is greatly reduced.
This is how you train the vocal cords to work without the external muscles pulling the larynx
upward with the rising pitches. With the larynx resting at your speech level, every vocal
exercise and song will be easier. This often takes time and practice to learn. Remember
you’re retraining your nervous system to do things differently than you’ve done all
your life! It’s a new coordination and it can take time.
Be patient. You can do it!
The rising larynx is a challenge most of us face. It’s very common with singers who
have the vocal types Pulled Chest-High Larynx and Flip-Falsetto. Even Light Chest-No Chest
vocal types often have a high larynx.
Do you know your vocal type? I’m not referring to your vocal range, soprano, alto, tenor
or bass. Your vocal type is what you tend to do when you sing.
To discover your vocal type visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test, which I call the
PowerTest. Take the quiz and get your vocal type.
Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type. Download
the free exercises for your vocal type and start working on them to improve your voice
rapidly.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with PowerToSing. You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and
power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
Subtitles by the Amara.org community