Hey guys welcome back again to Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, where the proof is in the singing!
We got a lot of requests for this one and that is "How can I hold a note, or how can
I sustain a note long, or hold a high note for a long period of time?"
Well, it turns out that there’s lots of answers to that question, it’s not one answer
that’s going to suffice, so I’m going to have to break this down so we can explain
some things.
The first thing is, is that are you asking how can I hold a note in a lower register,
or mid voice register, or a high register, because that’s really important, having
to break this down and explain it.
The second thing is, is what is your vocal fach?
F-a-c-h, or your vocal type, it’s the German way of saying what is it, are you a baritone
or are you a tenor?
Now I patently am a baritone, and let me explain to you what that means.
I’m going to go (Low Tone) AHHHHHHHHHH…
Right?
I think that’s a, I want to say that’s a C#2 if I’m not mistaken.
Let me grab a guitar really quick…
Make sure, here, um…
Yeah, it’s a C sharp 2, that’s a really low note.
Well, a tenor can’t do that.
A tenor, even a low tenor, can’t sing that note really low.
Very unusual if he’s able to do that.
So, the reason I bring it up is because I want you to understand what your vocal type
is, because this is important, and then what do you mean by can I hold a note?
Is it a high note, a this note, a note in your head voice or falsetto, hold a note in your mixed
voice, hold the note in your chest voice, belting, or a light airy sound, because all
of these things matter.
So, let me explain why.
So when we sing low the cords, or our folds, they vibrate slowly.
And you know they vibrate really slowly, and so it requires more air to pass across the
cords to get them to vibrate.
Now there are exceptions to this if you understand glottal compression, and I cover all this
in my singing course called How To Sing Better Than Anyone Else, but within this, what happens
is that if it requires more air, believe it or not, it’s easier to sustain a higher note,
or to hold a note in a higher registration in your belting chest register, or in your
very high falsetto and/or head voice register, depending on your voice type again, and if
you’re a lyric tenor, or you know there’s all these different things that come into
play.
So I bring this up so, the lower the note, I want to give you guys a template to follow,
so sing a note with me.
I’m going to kind of blow through something for second.
It’s going to sound stupid, I’m not trying to be on pitch or anything, but…
Ohhhhhhh…
Okay, so, like that was the max amount of lung capacity if I’m not compressing air,
okay?
At least for me, maybe you’re different, but…
If I compress that air, and I literally compress it at the glottis, and I hold my breath, and I go:
Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…
Right?
I have a lot more room there for the amount of air how I can sustain a note.
Now, why this becomes even increasingly important is it depends on what registration or where
in you register you’re trying to hold this note.
So the higher up I go, because, again like I said before, as I’m in a lower registration,
and I’m compressing the note at the glottis, it requires more air because folds are moving
more slowly, they go wub, wub, wub, wub…
Right?
The higher up I go, the faster they move.
Now, you can blow out a lot of air.
If I go Heyyyyyyyyyyy…
Right?
That’s all I’ve got.
If I’m using a lot of air, that’s it.
If I come back, by the way, there’s a really cool tool on the Internet for this.
It’s called power lung.
Look it up.
Power.
Lung.
I don’t use it but I have other students that do.
That can increase inhalation and exhalation lung capacity.
So, check this out.
But if I’m holding my breath back, in the same exact note that I just did I go ehhhhhhhhh,
Yehhhhhhh, yehhhhh, yehhhhhhh, yehhhhhhhh, yehhhhhhhh, yehhhhhhhh…
Right?
Now, I could go a lot longer than that, but I just wanted to kind of give you an example
where I can conserve energy, to conserve the breath, and controls, and mitigate again, compress
that amount of air, so when I go up really high again, it becomes different because if
I’m in falsetto, I use a lot of air.
If I’m really in a compressed head voice sound, or if I’m belting up really high,
I can hold the breath for a really long time.
Let me give you a couple of quick examples of this.
I’m going to show you some recordings of some recent stuff I’ve done, where you can
hear me holding the breath within the context of a song.
Check this out.
To sustain as we go up the food chain, or as the cords oscillate faster, it requires
less air, if you know how to compress the air.
Now there’s a slight danger in this by just holding back the breath and just holding it
and just trying to compress the air, because it’s very similar to when we just kind of
choke off the cord and go Hey, how ya doin’ yeah I’m doin’ alright (choking)!
You know, when were just kind of pinching and squeezing at the throat?
So it’s really important to want to develop open throat technique first, so that the muscle
structure stays open first.
I cover all this in my singing course, How To Sing Better Than Anyone Else.
So that you can sustain that first, so that the sound sounds open and not constricted,
and then we can cut back that air.
Now, if we get into our head voice register, or our falsetto register, if I go ”ehhhhhhhhh”
singing like an R and B sort of sound, that’s all I’ve got.
I don’t got much more than that.
I just expelled all the air, expunged all the air that I have, right?
I used it up.
But if I can compress that sound, and make it nice and bright, “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee”
I can get a lot more extension out of that sound.
I’m still using up a lot more air than I did down in my chest register.
And by the way, if I’m killing it and belting up really high, I can go longer than that
of course, and I’m not sitting here trying to bore you with how long Ken Tamplin can
hold his voice.
But I want you to gauge yourself and go hey man, hit the clock.
Can I go as long as Ken?
Right?
Like do a little contest with yourself.
And the reason is, is because then you’ll understand how much control you can or cannot have.
Now, one last thing, is when we do this, it’s not just about holding the note, a long note.
It’s about how can we make that note sound beautiful, how we use correct vowel modifications
for that sound, big round beautiful sounds, and when resonance takes over, and we’re
not pushing or killing ourselves or trying to use too much air in the sound, all of a
sudden we can open up to a sound, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, I’m not using more, believe it or not, I’m
not using more air to get more volume, I’m actually compressing the air at the glottis,
controlling the sound, using my diaphragm to do all of my work, to get a larger, or
bigger or more volume-ness, you know more volume, more amplified sound, in order to
create and take one sound, not just to be able to hold a note, but to hold a note for
a reason, for good sound.
Okay?
I hope you guys benefited from this.
Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, where the proof is in the singing!
And, I’m answering your questions, so keep them coming, and until next time... Peace. Out.