How to sing without straining your throat?
That’s a million dollar question every singer wants to know.
But you don’t need to pay me million dollars.
I am going to share with you 3 very simple exercises to relax throat muscles so that
you can start singing without straining your throat.
Keep on watching and I’ll be right back.
Hi, I am Katarina from How 2 Improve Singing.
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If you are frustrated by that feeling of growing throat tightness when singing, that holds
you back from singing your favourite songs, I have something for you.
By the end of this video, you will have three very specific throat relaxation exercises
for singing without strain.
When someone asks me how to not strain your voice when singing, three things come to mind:
breathing, open throat and easy phonation.
So, let me show you three exercises for singers to a more relaxed throat.
Exercise 1: Breathing with Abdominal Release Developing good breathing technique is essential
for reducing vocal strain and throat tension.
If you control air pressures and airflow at the level of the larynx, you are putting a
lot of stress on your throat muscles.
If you know how to manage breath with your whole body, you take the pressure away from
your throat.
This is exactly how you can produce powerful sounds without hurting your throat.
Singers who experience throat tension often use shallow breathing, so in this exercise
we are going to focus on releasing the abdomen in order to make inhalation deeper.
Although, there are more components to deeper breathing, in this exercise, you will focus
only on your abdomen.
Release your abdomen during inhalation.
But don’t push the abdomen out.
We can move the abdomen in and out by contracting the muscles but that’s not the point.
Release the abdomen as you inhale.
This will allow the diaphragm to descend low.
Let’s it together.
Put your hand on the abdomen to feel the movement.
Start with exhalation, that will help you inhale with more ease because your body wants
to inhale.
You don’t need to suck the air in.
Inhale and release the abdomen, exhale and again, inhale and release the abdomen.
Then exhale and again.
Inhale, let the abdomen release, and repeat one more time.
Inhale and release the abdomen.
Very good.
If you are not able to release the abdomen, watch this video in which I break down this
exercise even more.
Now, once you know how to do this simple breathing exercise, add “mee” on a simple 3-note
scale.
So, before you sing the scale, inhale and release your abdomen.
Sing in your comfortable range.
Let’s do it together.
Move up or down the scale by a semitone.
But don’t forget to inhale with releasing the abdomen and driving the air through the
vocal folds.
Exercise 2: Open your throat.
The open throat concept can be confusing and it can mean different things to different
singers.
What is it and why would you want to know how to open your throat when singing?
For the purpose of this exercise, let me simplify this concept to four components.
To make more space in your throat, you can lift the soft palate, widen the pharynx, lower
the larynx, and get the tongue out of the way.
All of these movements happen somewhat automatically during inhalation.
But a singer needs to learn to open the throat even more and maintain this open posture when
breathing and singing.
When the throat is open, the throat muscles are not tight and closed.
And there is more resonating space so you don’t need to exert as much energy to produce
powerful sounds.
In this exercise, we will focus on just one aspect and that is lifting of the soft palate.
Where is your soft palate?
It’s the back part of the roof of your mouth.
You can feel it with your tongue or your finger.
Put your tongue up right behind your upper teeth and feel that the roof of your mouth
is hard.
If you slide your tongue more and more back, suddenly the roof of your mouth becomes softer.
That’s where the soft palate starts.
Now, get a mirror and open your mouth.
Inhale and lift the soft palate.
Exhale and keep the soft palate lifted.
Then, relax the soft palate and repeat.
Inhale and lift soft palate, keep it lifted and exhale.
Then, relax the soft palate.
One more time. Inhale, lift the soft palate, keep it lifted, exhale and relax.
Excellent.
Keep practicing this movement so that you get the movement of the soft palate under
your control.
Exercise 3: Lip trills Lip trills are great exercises to learn how
to sing without tension because lip trills require just the right amount of air.
If air pressure is too small or too big, the lip trills will fail.
Lip trills belong to a category of sounds, called semi-occlusive sounds, which means
that when you produce these sounds the pressures above and below the vocal folds are equalized
and the vocal folds work at an optimal level.
So, lip trills teach you singing without straining.
Here is what to do: first lift your cheeks to relax your facial muscles and blow air
to set the lips into vibrations.
Easy, right.
Now, do the same thing but sustain a neutral sound “uh” while blowing the air through
the lips.
Like this.
Once you know how to do this, combine the first exercise with lip rolls.
Inhale while releasing the abdomen and sing a 3-note scale with lip rolls.
Excellent.
Did you feel how easy it is to produce those sounds with lip rolls and abdominal release?
If you want more breathing exercises, click this link or a link under the video to improve
your breathing skills and get rid of that strained throat from singing.
If you liked these exercises, let me know by liking this video.
And don’t forget to subscribe because in my next videos, I am going to cover more ways
to release throat tension.
Make sure to hit the bell icon to get notified when a new video is up.
Keep practicing.
Happy singing and see you in my next video.