Lip trills and head voice

JurajM

My throat feels sore after doing lip trills and I've noticed that while doing them in higher notes and in my head voice (always, not just in trills) my larynx is raised. So how can i fix both of these?

HuduVudu

@JurajM Here is a video of Ken doing lip trills at about the 11:30 mark Ken starts the lip trills. You want to emulate his sound EXACTLY. If your throat feels sore like it is scratchy and itchy i.e. you are hoarse, that means you are doing things incorrectly. Work to correct your technique by copying Ken.

As to the raised larynx you can check out this video where Ken talks about the various positions and what he thinks is the better position and how to get to it. He also provides some exercises to help in working that out.

Hope that can help.

highmtn

Make sure you are doing the lip trills at low volume and low air velocity. They are to be done as if you were holding a candle in front of your face and making sure to NOT blow out the candle.

JurajM

Thanks guys

JurajM

Hey @HuduVudu i've noticed that you have linked me the same video 2 times did you mean to do that or?

HuduVudu

@JurajM No that wasn't my intent. Here is the second video I meant to link.

JurajM

I wouldnt say that my voice sounds froggy at all i just feel kind of a pressure when my larynx is raised so should i still use exercises in that video to help me control it?

JurajM

And also I've learned about lip trills from x and he does them louder than ken (You do not have permission to post other vocal method videos here.)

HuduVudu

I think you are not understanding what the lip trills are for. You are overly caught up in the loudness of them. This is irrelevant to their function. Lip trills are a warm-up tool, they also are a way to help you learn how to manage air flow. They have other functions, but volume plays no role whatsoever in their utility.

I highly suggest that you don't jump from vocal coach to vocal coach. Pick one coach that you think is going to provide you instruction that is the best fit for you and then proceed to learn from ONLY that coach. Each coach has their own approach to teaching and, mixing and matching creates a ton of confusion. This confusion for a beginning student will impede their progress markedly. Imagine if you where taking Krav Maga from one instructor and Tei kwon do from another. You will end up questioning each instructor about the other instructor. This will only create confusion for you and eventually you will drop out in shear frustration, so it is in singing.

JurajM

But @highmtn said that they should be done in low volume. Also im just using erics warmup before singing and kens videos and exercises for improvement and information

HuduVudu

And highmtn is correct. The reason he said this is because you don't yet understand what you are doing with them, and if you do them at a higher volume for an extended time you are going to hurt your voice like you did. Maybe you do them wrong at a higher volume but only a short period of time that is fine if you don't hurt your voice. If it takes you longer to understand and you do them for longer periods of time in your practice at a higher volume you will get hoarse. We want to avoid hoarseness at all costs. Going to a lower volume allows a longer practice with more chance of understanding. I will re-iterate volume is NOT relevant for these. Understanding is.

Once again I implore you. Use ONE instructor and one only. You are only going to get more confused if you continue to skip back and forth between instructors.

JurajM

Okay man thanks for being patient with me

HuduVudu

All good.

We are all here to learn.

JurajM

I think I've made a mistake. If my adams apple is raised does that necessarily mean that my larynx is too high? Because I assumed that is was based on that.

HuduVudu

For men yes.

JurajM

Could that be the reason for my throat being a bit sore after singing? And in the video you have sent me ive noticed that kens larynx also raises a bit when hes doing that exercise so im not even sure if mine is too high because im new to this and i dont understand whats the correct position.

HuduVudu

What do you mean by sore? Do you mean sore like I have a cold or do you mean sore like I lifted a lot of weights and now my muscles are sore.

JurajM

Like having a cold

HuduVudu

You are using too much air and drying out your vocal chords. It is not about your laryngil position.

They are to be done as if you were holding a candle in front of your face and making sure to NOT blow out the candle.

You need to learn to cut back on how much air you are using.

doc_ramadani

Hi @JurajM,

my name is Marco and I am from Germany. I've read this discussion carefully. @HuduVudu has given you great advice. @highmtn was the one who gave you additional tipps. From reading your description I would absolutely agree with @HuduVudu and @highmtn.

It would be a great help if you could manage to record an exercise and to upload it here. We will give you feedback.

Regards,
Doc

JurajM

Thanks, i will try to do that

doc_ramadani

Hi @JurajM ,

if you need help, do not hesitate to ask us.

Juraj is a very beautiful name - I had a colleague from Ukraine with the same name who worked with us in the hospital. He was a great guy. Are you from Ukraine, too?

Regards,
Marco

PS.: My grandfather was from Macedonia.

JurajM

No, im from Croatia actually.

Sina

Pozdrav iz Splita...(greetings from Split) !

JurajM

Pozdrav iz Osijeka