Hey singers!
I'm Justin Stoney here to welcome you to episode 114
of Voice Lessons To The World.
before we get going I want to thank you all for
your messages and support for my book Sing Like Never Before.
Holding this for the first time was so special to me,
and I hope it becomes a rich part of your vocal journey.
So to you good people, a heartfelt thanks.
But all right all right, enough of this mushy stuff.
I know you want the goods.
So let's do it!
Let's go find your mix!
♬
Today's question is from Anay S. in Jaipur, India.
Anay writes, "Dear Justin, I've seen your mixed voice videos.
But I'm not sure if I found my mix. Can you help me?"
Yes Anay, yes.
For the next two episodes we're going to make sure
that there is no way you haven't found your mix voice.
So today's just part one.
Why don't we start off by asking a really good question...
What is mix voice?
♬
The mix voice is sort of the holy grail for singers.
Just about any time you hear a contemporary singer
and you say "yeah I like the sound of that"
it's almost definitely some kind of mix.
You see the mix is not just one thing,
it's a wide range of things.
The definition that we'll use for these two episodes is this...
Mixed voices are coordinations that happen between the extremes
of our thickest chest voice and our thinnest head voice.
So my thickest chest voice would sound something like this...
Here's my thickest chest voice.
Whereas my thinnest falsetto or head voice would sound something like this...
Here's my thinnest falsetto.
When we find that there are all kinds of coordinations in between these extremes,
we can develop full vocal mastery.
But how do we find these balances?
How do we find the in-betweens?
Well, we go step by step that's how!
Seven steps, actually.
Number one, vocal fold flexibility.
Number two, vocal fold strength.
Number three, breath pressure.
Number four, larynx control.
Five, nasal resonance.
Six, embouchure.
And seven, the secret ingredient.
So Anay and all, are you ready to go step by step?
Me too.
With step one, vocal fold flexibility.
♬
As we go up in pitch the vocal folds naturally get longer.
And that's a good thing.
This stretch is ultimately the best way
to achieve our higher notes.
But higher notes are often accompanied by habits
like getting louder, raising the larynx,
or straining the extrinsic muscles.
How do we solve it?
Easy.
We start by letting the vocal folds have their way.
If we just tell our folds "mix, darn it!"
They may say, "interesting proposition, but what's in it for me?"
And it's like that in life, right?
When we do something nice for somebody else,
they're more willing to do something for us.
In the same way, the vocal folds don't like to be bullied around.
So start by letting them get to higher notes
in the easiest most effortless way possible.
You ready to try it?
We're gonna do it with a little yodeling pattern.
It sounds like this...
♪ OO ♪
We'll have guys and ladies in the same octave.
And here we go!
♪ OO ♪
That's it!
♪
Right on!
♪
Nice yodels.
♪ OO ♪
Good.
♪
Letting it break.
♪
That's how to do it.
♪ OO ♪
Ahuh.
♪
Highest for now.
♪
And coming back down.
♪ OO ♪
Good.
♪
Keep it breaking!
♪
Ahuh.
♪
And two more.
♪
And here's the last...
♪ OO ♪
♪ ♪
Excellent work with step one!
Now let's move to step two, vocal fold strength.
♬
Let's look at vocal fold strength,
adduction, medial compression.
This can be revolutionary for your voice
and it also explains why the mix has such endless possibilities.
I want you to try a little game with me.
Take your hands and put them in front of you,
now press them very firmly together.
Then lightly, then kind of vary the pressure in between them.
Notice how many variations you can do.
I'm sure if you practice that for a while
you could find dozens of different variants.
So the question is this,
if your hands are willing to do that for you,
why not your vocal folds?
They're really no different.
At least they don't have to be.
We can actually learn to have these kinds of fine motor skills
with our vocal folds.
For example, breathy,
♬ Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live oh ♬
Clean...
♬ Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live oh ♬
Pressed...
♬ Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live oh ♬
Or maybe even a combination of lots of them...
♬ Easy come, easy go, that's just how you live oh ♬
Cool.
So, how will we develop these skills?
Well first let's try it out in your speaking voice.
Let's find some of the extremes.
Say for me, breathy voice.
Very scary.
Good.
Now say, clean voice.
That's very nice.
Now say, pressed voice.
Ahuh.
After we've done this with speaking,
we can actually start to do it with singing.
The little exercise sounds like this...
♪ MEHM ♪
What we're doing here is coming from our lighter sounds
and going into our crispest and cleanest sounds.
This teaches the vocal folds to find some really great adduction
but coming from a light place.
It's very effective.
We're going to have guys down here,
♪ MEHM ♪
And ladies up here,
♪
And here we go!
♪ MEHM ♪
Nice!
♪
Breathy, cleaner, cleanest.
That's it.
♪
You got it!
♪ MEHM ♪
Excellent.
♪
Good for you.
♪
You know it!
♪
Right.
Breathy, cleaner, cleanest.
Excellent job.
♪
And here's the highest!
♪ MEHM ♪
Great.
♪
That's how to do it.
♪
A few more.
♪ MEHM ♪
Correct.
♪
And here comes the last...
♪ MEHM ♪
♪♪
It's a fantastic job.
And now we're on to step three, breath pressure.
♬
Breathing for singing is quite a bit simpler than we usually think.
When we breathe we're really just looking for these three things...
Location, amount, and usage.
For location, we want to make sure
that our breath is deep in the body.
I'm talking low abdominals, low ribcage, and low back.
Give it a try, breathe down there...
That's looking good.
One more time deep in the body...
That's very nice.
Now for amount, we actually need a lot less than we think.
Whenever we tank up too much
we're often surprised when we run out of gas faster.
Try taking a more moderate breath.
Go ahead, nice and easy.
That's it.
And another easy one...
Awesome.
Now as for usage, we don't want to push our air out too fast.
Instead we keep nice alignment, and feel a sense of expansiveness
and openness as we sing.
Try an SH.
SHHH
Go go go...
SHHH
That's very good, stay expansive.
One more of those...
SHHH
Yes you did!
So now how does that apply to the mix voice, Justin?
Well, ultimately our breath controls our volume.
Greater amounts of breath pressure equal
louder, fuller sounds.
Lesser amounts equal lighter sounds.
Neither is right or wrong.
But again, we don't want to go to the extremes.
We want to find the in-betweens.
And we will, with an exercise.
With this one we're going for gradations of volume.
Or, messa di voce if you'd like to check out
episode 78 of our show.
It sounds like this....
♪ AY ♪
As you do this, you're again moving between
the extremes of your voice, learning to find balance.
We're gonna have guys down here...
♪
and ladies up here...
♪
And here we go!
♪ AY ♪
That's it.
Soft, medium, loud, medium, soft.
♪
Very nice.
♪
Soft, medium, loud, medium, soft.
Good for you.
♪ AY ♪
That's how to do it!
♪
Right.
♪
And here's the highest!
♪ AY ♪
Awesome.
♪
You know what you're doing.
And soft, medium, loud, medium, soft.
Good job.
♪
And here comes the last...
♪ AY ♪
♪ ♪
Awesome job!
And this is just the start.
We've learned to control your vocal fold length,
strength, and breath pressure.
Next time in part two we're going to go even deeper
into finding your mix by looking at your larynx,
your resonance, and the secret ingredient.
So stay tuned to the end of this video for your vocal benediction.
But first here are some more things
that are going to help you find your mixed voice.
[♪] Sing Like Never Before is the new book by Justin Stoney.
[♪] Get ready for a singing book that is truly like no other.
[♪] For more information visit SingLikeNeverBefore.com.
[♪] For voice lessons or Skype lessons with the NYVC staff
[♪] visit us at NewYorkVocalCoaching.com.
[♪] If you'd like a vocal course that you can do at home check out the
[♪] Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course.
[♪] This twelve part program takes you on a singing journey
[♪] from beginner to master level vocal exercises.
[♪] You can find it at VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com.
[♪] Or, if you'd like free vocal tips sent to you each day
[♪] sign up at DailyVocalTips.com.
[♪] And now, here's Justin with this week's vocal benediction.
Do you ever have days where you think,
I'm the worst.
Nobody likes me.
I'll never get where I want to be.
Sure, we all do!
And then there's days when everything's going right.
Nothing can stop us!
We wish it could always be this good.
The truth is most of life is a mix.
Isn't it?
So come on with me, friend.
Take that artist's soul that you've got
and say I celebrate the mix.
I cherish the mix.
I'm grateful for the mix.
And if you can do that, just think of what it will do
for your singing.
We'll see you next time in part two.
♬