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Hi singers!
My name is Justin Stoney
and I'm the founder of New York Vocal Coaching
here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 98 (so close to 100)
of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to answer
your singing questions from all over the world.
And, our question for the day comes from
Nhan C. in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Nhan writes, "Dear Justin I love your episodes.
But some of the topics are very advanced.
I'm just a beginner starting off.
Could you do an episode on where to begin?"
Now Nhan, yes we can.
Yes we will.
That is a great question.
But, may I say that the greatest singers out there
realize that they're beginners at heart.
I once did an interview with the great Tony Bennett
for Huffington Post.
And I asked Tony about the secret to his longevity.
His answer was that he never wants
to stop getting better.
Even in his 90s, he still sort of
feels like a beginner.
So, no matter where you are on your vocal journey,
I hope that today you can consider
yourself to be a beginner.
After all, the curious beginner's mind
remains at the core of every true genius.
And so, today Nhan, we are all beginners.
And that leads us to step one of our
twelve step journey.
Step one, it all starts with belief.
You really have to believe first
before you can sing well.
You have a god-given right to sing.
Not everybody's meant to be a big star.
But everyone is meant to sing.
Once you believe and own your right to sing,
you definitely will find your voice.
Don't listen to the people who tell you no.
Listen to that voice inside you that tells you yes.
It's as easy as this...
The voice is muscular.
It's very similar to training at the gym.
If you want to get in good shape, you will.
It's all about that belief, that focus,
that attitude, that commitment.
Same thing is true with singing.
But, Justin, I thought I had to be born with it?
No! [ Hits piano ]
That's the biggest lie there is.
The truth is, really everybody
has some kind of training.
Whether they sing in church,
or some choir,
or maybe you just sing every day when you walk to school.
Something is making you into the singer that you are.
But, the transformation really happens when you
start to believe you're a singer.
That can happen at any stage.
Even today.
So isn't it time to believe,
to follow what you know is inside you?
Isn't it time to do something for you?
Isn't it time to train your voice?
Yes, yes it totally is.
Which leads us to step two.
Getting your breathing right.
Singing doesn't take as much air as we'd think.
But, what's the first thing that happens when you
try to hit that high note that you're scared of?
[ Gasps ]
That's right, a big gasp.
And, that's chest breathing.
It's not what we want.
Why?
Well, it's too much air and no control over that air.
There's the tendency to force the voice,
and the neck muscles also get involved.
Yet, the body and the mind
naturally think that more is the only answer.
But it's not.
What do we really want?
Well, first belly breathing.
Belly breathing allows the diaphragm to
descend easily and freely.
Try it!
Inhale, open it up.
Exhale, bring it in.
That's very good.
One more time.
Inhale, open.
Exhale, bring it in.
Very good.
This breath is relaxed.
It's deep, it's efficient.
You won't get too much and you won't use too much.
Next, rib breathing also helps.
Place your hands on your rib cage.
Inhale, open.
Exhale, bring them down.
One more time.
Inhale, open.
And exhale, bring them down.
You want your ribs to be flexible
and free to expand and move.
Now, combine belly breathing and rib breathing together
and you've got the ideal combination.
Remember, always take what air you need
and what feels comfortable.
And when you go to sing,
let your air out gradually and efficiently.
There's never a reason to force it.
There's always a reason to relax and let go more.
Which, is appropriate for step three.
Eliminate physical tension.
Good singing is usually blocked by
holding tension in a few key areas.
Before we can make our best sounds
we have to eliminate tension in those areas.
One of those areas is the neck.
Before you start singing, stretch your neck.
It's really as easy as just going side to side,
up and down and in diagonals.
Take the time to stretch before you start singing.
Next, you could also stretch your
jaw and your tongue.
They hold a lot of tension too.
You can open and close the mouth.
And move the tongue side to side.
Stretching through those muscles really
makes a big difference.
Finally, we hold tension in the upper body.
Don't let it collapse too much.
But also don't let it lift too much.
Both are bad habits that cause tension.
Just have a nice, tall, confident sternum.
Once you've found freedom in the neck,
the jaw, the tongue, and the upper body,
it's time for step four.
Understand your larynx.
Your larynx is where your vocal folds are located.
The vocal folds vibrate hundreds, even thousands, of times per second
to produce your pitches.
The larynx lifts up when we swallow
and drops down when we yawn.
Try it.
Place fingers on your larynx and swallow.
You'll notice it raises.
And now, with fingers on larynx, go ahead and yawn.
[ Yawns ]
And your larynx drops.
Now it's important to know that we don't
want the larynx to be a pitch changer too much.
That sounds something like this...
[ Uses larynx to change pitch ] [♬]
What we want is...
[ Uses vocal folds to change pitch ] [♬]
Very little movement.
What don't want the larynx to
raise up for high notes or drop down for low notes.
This is where most of the vocal strain
that you might feel comes from.
Now, some larynx movement is unavoidable
as we navigate our entire range.
But, as you're learning to sing
do your very best to not lift it up for high pitches
and drop it down for low pitches.
Whatever strides you can take to
minimize this movement,
will translate into vocal control.
Speaking of which, it's time for step five.
Exploring our vocal registers: chest voice.
Chest voice is the strength of your voice.
For those of you wanting a powerful sound,
this is your foundation.
Now it's important to not take chest voice excessively high.
But it's just as important to have it.
Some people avoid chest voice
because they've been told that it's bad.
But really, it's one of the
most critical parts of your voice to explore.
For men and also women it's typically your speaking voice.
In fact, it's almost always your shouting voice.
But women, and sometimes men,
avoid singing in chest voice fairly often
because, chest voice ain't pretty.
But I've got a big secret for you.
Getting to be a good singer ain't pretty either.
You have to be willing to make all kinds of
weird and wild sounds.
And we're gonna start that process
with a chest voice exercise.
Say something for me,
say, power!
That was nice.
One more time, say, power!
Great.
And it helps to do the fist too.
Now we're going to put it to an exercise.
We'll start off with the guys
and then we're gonna bring in the ladies.
Here we go!
♪ POW - ER ♪
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That's right.
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Good for you.
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Now bring in the ladies.
♪ POW - ER ♪
Right.
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Keep it strong.
♪ POW - ER ♪
Yes.
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Good.
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Nice and tough!
♪ POW - ER ♪
Right.
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A few more.
♪ POW - ER ♪
Right.
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Last one strong.
♪ POW - ER ♪
♬
Oooh...That was filled with power.
So, now that we've explored our vocal power,
step six, let's explore our vocal flexibility.
Explore your head voice and falsetto.
These are your flexibility.
It's head voice if you're a female
and falsetto if you're a male.
Now, remember what we said,
singing is muscular.
You're a vocal athlete.
You need to train both your strength and your flexibility.
Head voice and falsetto are signs of vocal health.
They're also sustainers of vocal health,
keeping you healthy.
And they're also the number one way to
build your range over time.
Try something weird for me,
say, yoo-hoo!
This was great.
One more time, yoo-hoo!
Yes, very nice!
Now, that's your head voice and your falsetto.
We're gonna put it to pitches just like this,
guys and gals on the same notes...
♪ YOO - HOO ♪
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Beautiful.
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Right.
♪ YOO - HOO ♪
That's it.
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Mhm!
♪ YOO - HOO ♪
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Coming down.
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Excellent.
♪ YOO - HOO ♪
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A few more.
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Last one
♪ YOO - HOO ♪
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Feeling that flexibility,
that resonance, that stretch.
Next time in part two
we're gonna learn how to blend that
flexibility with the strength that we already learned.
But for now, that's the end.
If you've got questions that you'd like to see answered on our show
you can send an email to
Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com
Remember, don't lose that joy. [♪]
Don't lose that passion. [♪]
Don't let people tell you that you can't sing. [♪]
You and I both know, it's not true. [♪]
Get with a great voice teacher in an area near you, [♪]
or if you're in New York City [♪]
or you'd like to Skype with one of our staff [♪]
you can visit us at [♪]
NewYorkVocalCoaching.com. [♪]
If you'd like a vocal course [♪]
that you can do in the comfort of your own home [♪]
check out the Voice Lessons To The World Vocal Course. [♪]
A 12-part course that takes you on a singing journey [♪]
from beginner to master level vocal exercises. [♪]
You can find that at VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com. [♪]
If you'd like daily vocal tips sent to you for free each day [♪]
sign up at DailyVocalTips.com. [♪]
Until the second part of our journey, [♪]
keep that beginner's mind. [♪]
And, keep making a joyful noise. [♪]
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