Ep.45: Singing Higher is Easier than You Think - Tip# 2 of 5
Singing higher is easier than you think with tip # 2!
What do you do when you reach the top of your voice? What do you do when your voice starts
straining, cracking and it wants to flip into falsetto?
Here’s another effective and powerful way to eliminate cracking, breaking and straining
as you sing higher. Inside this video, I’ll show you how to do it.
Hi! I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing.
New environment! I’m actually in my teaching studio where I teach voice lessons in Bountiful,
Utah, USA.
For many of us there’s a certain place as we sing higher where our vocal cords want
to break apart.
(Vocal Demo): Oh
Singing Higher is Easier Than You Think with Tip #2
Here’s a solution that works very well for many singers. It’s called the “Dopey Gee”.
It sounds like this: Gee Gee Gee.
The first thing to do is to make that dopey sound. Say “duh” like a teenage making
fun of a friend. “Duh”. Not a regular duh, but a dopy or stupid duh. Similar to
the cartoon character “Scooby Doo”. Duh!
As you say “duh”, feel your Adam’s Apple, which is the Larynx. What direction does it
move when you say a dopey duh? It should move downward. If it’s not, then you need to
add the dopey sound.
The dopey sound activates some muscles that pull the larynx downward. If you can maintain
the dopey sound while you sing through the first bridge of your voice, which is where
the break occurs, the larynx will stay where it is when you speak or at your speech level.
The goal with the dopey gee is to maintain the larynx at speech level. This will help
keep the vocal cords connected as you sing higher from chest into head voice. It also
prevents tension and squeeze from the external neck muscles which occurs with a rising larynx.
The dopey sound needs to be maintained on all the notes in the vocal exercise. If you
do, it will sound dopey on the lower notes and sound hootie on the higher notes. [Demo]
If you lose the dopey sound as you sing higher, the larynx rises and it’s likely you’ll
feel the added tension and squeeze and the vocal cords will disconnect. [Demo]
Vocal cords split apart because I lost that dopey sound. Let me demonstrate not losing
the dopey sound, now. It’ll go hootie on the top. [Demo]
Ladies, you could do the same thing starting here. [Demo]
You might feel like you are breaking into falsetto because the head voice is so free
and without tension. If you maintain the dopey and hootie sounds which impose the larynx
down, it’s likely not falsetto.
Once you’re able to maintain the larynx at speech level without tension and connected
vocal cords from chest to head voice and back, discard the dopey sound.
For some singers the hootie feeling is like a yawn. [Demo] I call it hootie because it’s
like a hoot owl. [demo] It has a hollow feeling. [Demo]
If you do this scale and you find yourself at the top feeling tension and strain and
no hootie sound, it’s likely the larynx has come up. Let me demonstrate what both
sounds like. I’ll go up the scale without the dopey or hootie sound, and then while
on the high notes I’ll add the hootie sound, which will lower the larynx. [Demo]
You can hear the difference. If you maintain that hootie sound the Larynx is staying down.
Singing Higher is Easier Than You Think - Bratty Ney vs Dopey Gee
The “Dopey Gee” is a low larynx exercise. This is different from the “Bratty Ney”
discussed in Tip #1. As a result it’s closer to speech level than the bratty ney. Both
exercises help thin and keep the vocal cords connected.
The dopey gee has the added benefit of eliminating some tension of a high larynx. But the bratty
ney seems to help the singer get deeper into the vocal cords.
Ideally we want to be able to do both. Neither should be used to sing songs and, as mentioned,
should be discontinued when the goals are met.
If your larynx is rising as you sing higher your vocal type is likely Pulled Chest/High
Larynx. If the vocal cords disconnect as you sing higher or flip into falsetto, your vocal
type is likely Flip-Falsetto.
Do you know your vocal type? Do you know what you tend to do when you sing into the first
bridge of your voice?
Visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test, which I call the PowerTest. Take the quiz
and discover your vocal type. Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about
your vocal type.
Download the free exercises for your vocal type. They’re designed to give you the exact
exercises you need to improve your singing quickly.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher, with beauty confidence and
power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
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