♬
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 10 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.
I'll give you a chance to ask questions a little later
but the question for the week comes from
Sara J. in Los Angeles, California.
And Sara asks, "Dear Justin, do you have any secrets for hitting the high notes?"
And yes Sara, I think I do.
And I'm happy to give you those secrets
but today I'm only gonna give you one
and in future videos I'll give you tons more.
But the first one that I want to give to you guys
is a great secret and a great trick that you absolutely have to know
if you want to be a great singer.
The biggest key to hitting the high notes
is not the high notes, it's the middle notes.
I'm gonna show you what I mean by this,
but if you want to hit high notes you don't want to focus on your high notes
you want to focus on your middle notes
and I'm gonna show you how to do that.
So a lot of people don't have high notes because
they're just trying to slam the high notes all the time.
They say, "I gotta have have notes!" and they go up there and they strain.
And they work on straining.
And they're actually just building up worse and worse habits on their high notes,
when all along if they had worked on their middle notes
then the high notes just start to appear.
So the first thing that we're going to talk about is
what do I mean by middle notes?
This could be debatable but I'm gonna give you what I think of as middle notes.
First for the guys and then for the ladies.
So here we go with what are the middle notes that
that guys need to work on.
Here they are.
So guys, if this is middle C right here
♪
then your middle notes are going to be this A flat-
♪
through this E flat-
♪
♪♪
These notes here-
[♪♪]
And so for the ladies, it's just right above where the guys are.
Come and check this out.
So ladies if middle C is right here
♪
your middle notes are going to be this E flat-
♪
Through this B flat here-
♪
♪♪
So again, guys you're going to be A flat through E flat.
And ladies you're going to be above that with E flat through B flat.
Those are the problematic notes for most males and females.
They neglect that area of their voices
and then they lack the high notes as a result.
So, part two is what do we have to do about these middle notes?
How do we make them appropriate for bridging the gap
between them and the high notes?
So, part A is that you first don't want to get louder.
As I go through my middle, here's kind of what it sounds like
if I haven't worked out my middle notes if I'm a guy (and I am).
♪♪
If I have-
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
You see, through my middle there, I am getting louder.
And then B, I'm lifting my larynx and feeling a sense of squeeze as I go higher.
And then C, I'm not using any of my head resonance.
So the three things that we're gonna have to do in our middle voices,
in those territories I showed you, is don't get louder as you go higher.
Don't squeeze your larynx as you go higher,
and don't lose your head resonance or your nasal resonance as you go higher.
So let me show you a little bit of a difference of what I mean.
If on this middle note I was going
♪ MA ♪
Instead I go ♪ MA ♪
And I sort of throw it back up here, I leave my larynx calm,
and I don't get louder.
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
♪
♪ MA ♪
I'm staying calm, I'm not getting louder
and I'm sending some resonance up into here.
If I do that I'm gonna be able to extend my range all the way.
So part three then is, "Justin what is it going to do for me if I do what you say
and I work out my middle notes?"
It's gonna do a bunch of things.
First of all you're gonna have a mix up top.
If you raise your larynx and you push it out the mouth you won't have a mix.
You'll just be straight-up belting all the time.
You're gonna have volume control, you're gonna be able to hit
high notes without getting louder.
You hear tons of people they got high notes but it's
always loud and it's always too pushed.
Then you're also going to be able to probably find vibrato up top
and you're also going to be able to hit these notes without straining.
And then finally you're probably not going to have a limit to your high notes.
The better your mix is, the better those middle notes are,
the more you're going to be able to extend your range and
the mix will just continue on up.
So that's my first tip for you Sara and everybody
about how to hit high notes.
You've got to work on your middle notes first.
Don't raise your larynx, don't get louder to go higher,
and try to work to feel a sense of the air moving up and back
and into here and not out as you go higher.
You're gonna find a better easier bridge right in between
and then you're gonna be able to extend your range
with volume control and that mix ability.
So I hope that's been helpful for you guys as singers.
If you have questions you can send an email to
Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com [♪]
We'll take your questions and we'll try to answer them [♪]
on future episodes of the show. [♪]
But in the meantime we just encourage you not to lose the joy [♪]
and the passion, don't let people tell you [♪]
that you can't sing because you know that's not true. [♪]
Get with a great voice teacher in your area. [♪]
If you guys are in New York City you can check us out at [♪]
www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com [♪]
And if you like these videos you can visit [♪]
www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney, we'll see you next time. [♪]
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