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Hi everybody.
My name is Justin Stoney and I'm the founder of
New York Vocal Coaching here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 52 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you guys as singers
by answering your questions from all over the world.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later
but our question for this week comes from Alex M. in Bruges, Belgium
And Alex writes, "Dear Justin, I once heard a singing teacher
talk about the importance of the solar plexus
but I never understood it, can you explain it?"
Okay yes, Alex, yes I can.
The solar plexus.
This is about the biggest deal I can possibly think of.
And I'm so thankful that you asked this,
because I'm gonna hype this up for you guys.
You better buckle up, the solar plexus can change your life.
This is one of the most important things in all of singing.
It can revolutionize your voice.
I could go on and on about this following thing.
I'm just thrilled to give you guys this information
because this is a voice changer, my friends.
The solar plexus.
Okay, what is it?
The solar plexus is essentially your upper ab region,
right in through here.
This is kind of the area where if you got punched in the gut
you could really get the wind knocked out of you.
Now in the medical world and in anatomy
this is called the celiac plexus.
It's the same thing.
But the anatomical world would call it the celiac plexus.
But it's also known as the solar plexus,
which means "sun".
We need a shiny solar plexus, okay.
It's actually a bundle of nerves that's right in through here.
So you've got the sternum this is hard.
And then right here it gets soft.
This is the solar plexus area.
Now dancers, weightlifters, people who've done a lot of crunches
sometimes have a really tight solar plexus
and upper abdominal region.
Now it's not so bad to be built in the ab region.
Not bad at all.
But if it's so tight that it's always gripped
and this core strength is just always tight,
a lot of times those folks have a lot of problems singing.
And that's not a coincidence.
The solar plexus region is actually an indirect muscle pair
with the larynx and with the backs of the cords,
the inner arytenoid muscles.
Whoa, okay.
And so to be too tight and squeezed in through here
is to be, often, too tight too squeezed on the inside of the larynx.
So knowing how to breathe and to produce sound
absent of the solar plexus' squeeze, is such a big deal,
like I said, that it's crazy.
So I'm going to show you guys something today
that I really hope that you try.
We're going to try it together but I really hope
you take this and run with it for the rest of your singing life.
Okay, now we've done some breathing together before
but we're going to focus today on the solar plexus.
Here's what I want to see, watch as I press into
my solar plexus with my hand.
If I breathe properly I get this...
This comes out.
And then as I exhale, watch this...
It comes out again.
This is one of the only things in all of singing that
does the same exact thing, ideally,
on the inhale as well as the exhale.
Watch again, I inhale open...
And then I'm going to exhale, also open.
Now I'm not pushing this out.
It's because I've allowed my upper abs
to be just so free that they are taken by the breath pressure.
So I inhale and I exhale and these guys just say "I'm done"
and they pop out.
This means I have a very, very free solar plexus region.
And it also means that I'm engaging my exhale
from very, very low.
Which is also, as we know, a very important thing for singing.
Now I'm going to have you guys first try this with me
and then we're going to put it to an exercise.
And I can almost promise you that you're going to feel
a physical difference in sound production
just by trying this trick, okay.
And then I also want you to apply this, like I say,
for the rest of your life, please.
Because it's going to be so, so great.
Now here we are together, you're just going to press in here
right into the solar plexus.
Again, it's not the sternum it's below there, it's soft.
Okay, then you're going to inhale,
belly's going to come out and then you're going to exhale
and this should pop.
So here we go a few times, try it.
It's gonna be hard for some just try it for me right now.
Here we go...
Pressing and go ahead, inhale.
Nice, and then hiss.
And pop.
Good job.
Here we go again, inhale open, exhale.
Good job.
Now you can also keep the sternum a little tall
when you do this it will help you to not squeeze down.
That's the tendency to exhale and squeeze down
instead of exhale and pop out.
Try it again.
Inhale, belly opens.
Exhale, this pops.
And here we go we're just going to do it one more time.
Inhale, belly opens.
Exhale, pop it out.
Fantastic, I think you're already getting the hang of it.
But work with it until you can coordinate it
so that this does the same thing
on both the inhale and the exhale.
Now you've tried it, you've learned what it feels like
to have a very free solar plexus on your exhale breath.
Now I'm just going to take the simplest of possible exercises.
Just a 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 on MA.
And I just want you guys to concentrate
on the solar plexus.
You can keep a hand down here if you want
but keep a hand here too.
And you're going to do it like this.
So you feel this guy pop out as you sing.
Now here's what it's gonna be,
guys down here...
♪ MA ♪
And ladies up here...
♪ MA ♪
And we're just going to do, like I say, 1-2-3-4-3-2-1.
Holding right here the whole time,
feeling it expand as you sing.
So here we go, inhale...
♪ MA ♪
So nice.
♪
Very good! And inhale...
And pop.
♪
Awesome. Inhale...pop...
♪
I like your work, inhale...
♪ MA ♪
Beautiful.
♪
You're getting the hang of it. Inhale...
And pop...
♪
I like it. Inhale...
♪
Nice stuff.
♪ MA ♪
Good for you.
♪
That's right. Inhale, expand...
And expand...
♪
That's it. Inhale, expand.
And tall...
♪
Right.
♪
♪ MA ♪
So nice.
♪
And, inhale...
Pop...
♪
Right, that's it.
And inhale...
♪
You're totally getting it.
♪ MA ♪
♪
And expand...
And expand!
♪
Good stuff.
♪
Totally nailing it.
♪
Good for you.
♪
Nice job.
♪ MA ♪
Nice
♪
Last one, expand...
♪ MA ♪
♪
Awesome work.
Okay so that's it.
I know you're going to work with that a little bit
to incorporate that into your exercises
and then also into your song work.
And maybe you might even just try doing it a little bit
on your own with some hisses or maybe even
an "S-H", shhh, at first just to get the mechanics of it.
But I promise you guys if you implement this into your voice,
the solar plexus being shiny as the brightest sun,
that's going to change your singing, change your life.
So Alex thank you for enlightening us on this
great topic of the solar plexus.
And I hope that's been helpful for you guys today as singers.
If you have questions that you'd like to see us answer on the show
you can send an email to, Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
And we just encourage you don't lose that joy,
don't lose that passion.
Don't let people tell you that you can't sing
because you and I both know it's just not true. [♪]
Keep your singing shiny. [♪]
Get with a great voice teacher in your area. [♪]
If you guys are in New York City [♪]
or if you want to Skype with one of our staff [♪]
you can visit us at www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com. [♪]
We just encourage you to download our free app, [♪]
it's for iPhone, iPad, hopefully more in the future. [♪]
A lot of great resources, tips, articles, [♪]
things to help you guys as singers to build your voices. [♪]
Or you can visit www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
We'll see you next time. [♪]
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