A leading cause of straining, breaking and flipping when you sing high notes is the vowel
you're singing.
You need to modify the vowel as you sing higher.
This may be one of the most effective and powerful ways to succeed when you want to
sing high notes.
Inside this video I'll show you how to modify the vowel to successfully sing high notes
in your songs.
Hi, I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
How do you modify a vowel?
And how can it help you be impressive when you sing high notes?
As the pitch goes up, laws of accustics require that the vowel be modified.
Some refer to modifying a vowel as rounding, darkening, narrowing or closing.
There's also a negative modifying of vowels that causes many singers problems.
This kind of modifying is called spreading, opening or widening the vowel.
This is opposite of the positive rounding or narrowing of the vowel.
Vowel spreading causes many problems when you try to sing high notes.
I'll demonstrate vowel spreading and vowel narrowing using the vowel 'O', pronounced
in American english as No or Oh.
First, vowel spreading.
This is modifying the vowel by letting it spread wide.
This causes bad things to happen in the voice.
The vibration or resonance in the lower pitches occurs in the chest.
As the pitch moves upward, the resonance in our chest also moves upward, eventually moving
into our head cavities.
If the vowel O spreads or opens wider from oh and more towards oo as in good or even
wider uh as in mud or ah as in father, two things happen.
A natural resonance shift into the head cavity is difficult or impossible.
The vocal cords do not thin or adjust enough.
This causes strain, reach, breaks, cracks, flips and poor pitch and tone often called
a splat or a splatty tone.
Listen as I demonstrate.
I'll use the oh in a simple scale that takes me to my highest notes.
Oh-oh-oh- oo-uh-ah Splat!
Vowel spreading.
Second: vowel rounding or narrowing.
This is modifying the vowel by slightly closing the oh by gradually introducing the oo into
the oh as the pitch goes up.
If the vowel narrows, two things happen.
The natural resonance shift from chest to head is made easier and often effortless.
The vocal cords also thin and adjust enough to eliminate the mass of the vocal cords which
removes the strain and reach.
Listen as I demonstrate.
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oo-oo.
You hear the oo introduced into the oh as I went higher which allowed me to pass through
the bridge into my head voice with very little effort.
This slight modifying of oh keeps it sounding like oh instead of spreading wider into an
uh or ah.
It makes our words sound natural and understandable.
The best way to do this as you sing high notes is to think of a word with the more narrow
or closed vowel.
For example, if you're singing the US National Anthem at the World Series or the Superbowl,
the vowels in the words Rockets Red Glare can be thought of as Ruckets Rid Glib.
Let me show you.
I'll sing it wide: And the rockets red glare.
Now if I think of the words ruckets rid gilb and insert that vowel sound into that phrase,
listen to what happens.
And the ruckets rid glir.
And the rockets red glare-splat.
And the ruckets rid glir.
And the rockets red glare-splat.
You hear the rid glib in it - rid glir.
Slightly narrowing the vowel as you sing high notes makes a huge difference in your singing
if you routinely do not do this, you are likely pulling chest voice.
This means your vocal type is likely pull chest-high larynx.
Oftentimes this is also charactistic of flip-falsetto vocal type.
Do you know your vocal type?
I'm not referring to whether you're soprano, alto, tenor or bass.
Your vocal type describes what you tend to do when you sing.
Visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test which I call the Power Test.
Take the quiz and immediately discover your vocal type.
Visit the Knowledge Center and learn about your vocal type and then download the free
vocal exercises.
These exercises are designed for your vocal type and will help you make real progress
with your voice.
I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power.
I'll see you inside the next video.