♬
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 88 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you as singers
by answering your questions from all over.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later
but our question for this week comes from
Ivana R. in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And Ivana writes, "Dear Justin, how do I find the mix voice?"
Now Ivana, you know I love that question
because this is part three of our series.
So hop on that plane, board that train,
get in your automobile get in your catmobile,
we're going on a Vocal Register World Tour.
♬
Now that we've arrived, let's look at what is the mix voice?
And the first thing is that it's a blend of strength and flexibility.
Earlier in our world tour we saw that
chest voice is our strength feature,
and head voice is our flexibility feature.
Well, the mix combines strength and flexibility.
So you can see why it's our most coveted coordination.
In fact most of your favorite singers are
probably singing in mixed coordinations 90% of the time.
It allows us to do a lot of vocal athletics
in a healthy way and a sustainable way.
But how do we do it?
Well the vocal muscles are going to have
to work together in harmony.
Now let's be clear, all the vocal muscles work all the time.
It's not like only these muscles work in chest voice
and only those muscles work in head voice.
No, everybody's always working together.
But the mix is a very intricate coordination.
The CT, cricothyroid muscle, lengthens the cords.
The TA, thyroarytenoid muscle, shortens and also tones the cords.
When the CT lengthens, the cords are going
to want to go "wee" and fall apart.
But the TA has the ability to tone them up.
So the mix is going to be long but also strong.
But let's not forget that this is an open and closed case.
The key factor for determining vocal registers
really comes down to open and closed quotient.
That just means how long the vocal folds
stay shut during their vibration.
So in chest voice, I've got a lot of closed quotient, man.
And in head voice and falsetto I've got a lot of open quotient.
But in my mix voice I'm going to have
all kinds of blends between the two.
[hits piano]
And that's accommodated by those changes in the vocal musculature.
But there's also the resonance factor.
Our voices are produced by breath,
vocal fold vibrations, and of course resonance.
When the sound resonates in the pharynx,
the nasopharynx, and the nasal cavity,
it allows our voices to carry and to be present
without the vocal folds bearing too much weight.
So when we have to blend for the mix
you can see why resonance is going to be a key factor.
To get that CT stretch and to take the pressure off the cords
we're going to have to use our head resonance.
But now that you're starting to understand what the mix is
let's make sure that we know there is not just one mix.
It's a common mistake for us to think of the mix as just one voice.
And we think, was that the mix?
I gotta search for my mix!
I was singing, I didn't know if I was in my mix or not.
Who can help me find the mix?
And we can lose our minds trying to determine
whether something is a mix.
When really I'm thrilled, and also sorry to say,
that the mix is an infinite amount of vocal coordinations.
Here are some examples though.
If I'm strong, but not forcing my voice
and I still have my resonance,
that's a chest dominant mix.
If I'm singing plain and straight down the center
that's a 50/50 kind of mix.
If I'm singing lightly but I'm not losing some of my core strength,
I'm not flimsy with my lighter qualities,
that's a head dominant mix.
So there's so many possibilities
and many more than just those.
It's best Illustrated I think with a song.
So today I chose the classic folk song "The House Of The Rising Sun".
A classic folk song like "The House Of The Rising Sun"
really allows me to have fun and explore
the different mixed coordinations.
To get strong without letting it get away from me
or to get light without it becoming too weak.
Let's check out "The House Of The Rising Sun"
♬
♪ There is a house in New Orleans ♪
♪ They call the Rising Sun ♪
♪ And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy ♪
♪ And God knows I'm one ♪
♪ My mother was a tailor ♪
♪ She sewed my new blue jeans ♪
♪ My daddy was a gambling man ♪
♪ Way down in New Orleans ♪
So it really allows me to get strong and to get light,
to move back and forth in different mix coordinations.
So now let's talk about tips for finding the mix voices.
The first tip to keep in mind
when you're working on your mix voice
is that strength comes from within.
Perhaps the most overlooked aspect of vocal training
is medial compression.
That's how much our vocal folds come to the center.
And yes our vocal folds can be responsible for their own destiny.
Try something, say...
Hello there. [tighly]
Too tight.
Now, hello there. [balanced]
Just right.
And, hello there. [loosely]
Too loose.
If we're going to get the mix down
we're going to have to have the ability
to loosen or tighten the vocal folds.
Just them, nobody else helping them.
But with great compression comes great responsibility.
Once singers discover their compression control
it's like a revelation.
They can finally do things with their voices
that they never thought possible.
But there's a danger in it.
We sometimes get so in love with controlling things
from the tension and looseness of the cords
we forget about the breath.
We still need that good supported breath.
Deep in the body, the belly, in the ribs.
And you're going to flow with a gentle stream of air.
Everything riding on that breath.
So don't just control things at the vocal fold level,
also let your breath help you.
And we cannot forget to "sing in Louise"!
You've all heard people say, "sing out Louise!".
That means to project your sound to the back of the auditorium.
Well that's not going to work so well for the mixed voice.
No no, we need to sing in Louise!
That means to tilt and rock the larynx,
to stretch the vocal folds, to feel the sound resonate
in the pharynx, the nasopharynx, and the nasal cavity.
All of these resonance features help accommodate
the strength of the vocal folds.
So we really got to keep that head resonance in mind
when we're doing the mix.
We also have to keep in mind that good singing isn't loud singing.
A lot of times when we hear a really great singer with a great mix,
we mistake their power for volume.
Especially with the chest dominant mix.
We hear all that power that's being done at the cord level
and the resonance level, and we say
wow let me try that!
And we get really loud.
Volume is not the solution for your voice,
nor is it going to get your mix worked out.
In fact it's just the opposite.
We want our strong sounds to be very similar to our soft sounds
as far as their production.
Then we really know that we've got the mix.
And we can go back and forth between
chest dominant mix and head dominant mix.
Finally you mustn't fear the crack.
Maybe the biggest reason that singers
don't get their mix worked out
is because of a fear of cracking.
Now you can watch episode 12 of our show
for a full treatment on cracking.
But really remember cracking is not bad for you.
It's good for you!
It's the vocal cords picking their preferred vibration,
CT winning and TA letting go.
Now obviously we don't want it to happen to us on stage
but you must not fear cracking
when you're trying to work on your mix.
It's a me, Mario!
And it's a you, singer!
And you're not gonna fear the crack!
[♪Mario theme song♪]
So we're going to do a vocal exercise
and the goal is not to crack, no.
We want to stay solid but if you crack it's okay.
You have to be willing to crack as you
work on that small mixed coordination.
So let's try our exercise.
This is GUUN-NUUN, G-U-U-N-U-U-N on an 8-5-1.
In this exercise the G is going to be providing the vocal cords some strength.
The UU is going to keep the sound in the head and the larynx stable.
And the N is going to reinforce that head resonance.
Like I say, it's okay to crack
but the goal is to stay solid using that firm G sound.
We're gonna start with guys, then we're gonna bring in the ladies.
Sounds like this...
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
And here we go!
♪
Correct.
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
♪
That's right.
♪
Bring in the ladies...
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
That's it.
♪
Right, use that G...
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
Excellent.
♪
Stay vertical...
♪
Correct, use the G...
♪
Great.
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
That's it.
♪
Stay solid.
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
Right.
♪
We might lose some ladies...
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
♪
And two more...
♪
Last...
♪ Guun - Nuun ♪
♪
Fantastic work!
And so, that will help you to stay solid and stable
as you traverse your mix.
So I hope that's been helpful for you guys today
on part three of our Vocal Register World Tour.
If you've got questions you'd like to see us
answer on the show, you can send an email to
Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
And you know I encourage you don't lose that joy,
don't lose that passion, don't let people tell you that you can't sing
you and I both know that's false.
Get with a great voice teacher near you
or if you're in New York or you'd like to Skype with one of our staff
you can visit us at NewYorkVocalCoaching.com. [♪]
If you'd like a vocal course that you [♪]
can do in the comfort of your own home [♪]
check out the Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course, [♪]
a 12-part course that takes you on a singing journey [♪]
from beginner to master level vocal exercises. [♪]
You can find that at VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
And if you would like free daily vocal tips sent to you every day [♪]
sign up at DailyVocalTips.com. [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
Until next time, make a joyful noise. [♪]
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It's a me, Manny Cooner!