This is in a nice, bright part of your vocal range. Pleasing to listen to. Explore this range more. It's your "Power Band". Exploit this sound.
Good pitch, support, and energy. Say YES to challenges!
Is it Wednesday already?
Bob
Much appreciate Bob! Glad you liked it. It's an original, so I got to put in a comfortable range. The Power Band doesn't seem to come up often when I sing others songs. The pros like to sing high!
this is my first time ever of trying to record anything (even had to get a bit drunk to get through it:)
I've just recently started, lets say, paying attetion to my voice. I've purchased the "Gold Bundle" almost two years ago, and researched A LOT, but never really got to practicing. I mostly sing (&play a little;) for myself (well, as much as I can, because I have to pay attention to the neigbours, and I tend to get loud when I "let go" - now I know the loudness is a mix between the lack of support and proper technique to project the chest voice with full resonance, but much less air (or something like that:)). That being said, when I got to playing, I've twisted & turned my throat and diaphraghm in various ways, trying to get the "ping" without having to strain, and I think I even made some progress. So I kind of did practice, as well.
What I'm aiming at - I kind of understand the terminology, so I would appreciate any additional critique and advice before gazing into the VOL1 for the first time (properly, with muscle-work:)
only thing i will say is at 0.49 i cant really hear the words i've been struck down ??? baby might just be me though. Also for some reason your voice breaks a bit on the coz i knoooooooow part prabably a lack of support. Also I cant understand the phrase at 1.19 but it sounds a little pitchy be careful on your 'i' vowel more eh and same for your 'E'. It sounded pretty good though.
Hello, it's been a while since I've logged on, but I finally got some footage of me singing.
I'm submitting the first live performance with this band we did last week. We can tighten up with more practice, but the vocals are there and I'm seeking some help on a couple parts.
The youtube clip is about 10 mins long, has two songs, an original that the other guitarist wrote, (I ad lib some U2 bad lyrics on the slow intro... and yes, it needs to get tighter).
First help request, about ~ 2 mins in I'm trying to do the Bono "hoot hoots" from Bad. Maybe its a mistake for me to be attempting the Edge guitar parts at the same time, but I feel these are coming out weak.
2nd help request, about 7 mins into the video we play Jet's Are you Gonna be my Girl. There are parts in the song where I'm hitting the D above high C, but am probably going into a falsetto. Any advice on how to get a good belting glottal compression on that without stressing my voice?
I feel like Ken's DVD's have helped me to where I don't worry about my belly coming out while singing. That's helped my stamina singing as well as the tongue position helping me control my notes. I'm not where I want to be yet, but feel comfortable performing live again.
Nice demo. I apologize that your demo has been there so long without anyone commenting. For some reason, the forum didn't notify me that there were new demos here.
Your voice is sounding good. You're a little shy on the support where that one wowie was at 1:04 on the A4. Other than that, You are sounding good, and now it's time to get serious about your KTVA studies and grow your voice into a MONSTER!
Long time no hear! I hear improvements, an ease and comfort about your voice that wasn't there when you were spending more time struggling.
I think that even though you've taken some time off, you really spent a lot of time working on your voice previously, and it shows.
The difference is like night and day. Good job, you've put a lot of work into your voice. You are smooth and clean going from chest to head. Your reduction of consonants no longer sounds unnatural. Instead it's undetectable... just right!
How are you feeling about your voice now? How are you doing when you sing live?
Are your friends and family noticing how well you're developing into the singer you've always wanted to be?
To me, it sounds like your finally developing YOUR voice, YOUR sound, YOUR style...
Yes, your band could tighten up a little bit, but hey, it was your first gig, right? Anyway, the audience seemed to like your performance.
The note in Are You Gonna Be My Girl is actually an E5.
On all of your screaming high notes you need tons more support to keep from blowing out your cords. You should be pushing down on your diaphragm with all of your might when you want to belt that high. Instead of stressing your throat, you should be pressing your note, down under. That is the most important thing you can do when hitting notes that hard: Don't hit them so hard. Use the Shock Absorber of Super Support to reduce the blast of air down to more of a cushion of regulated, flowing air.
Your "hoot, hoot" is, well, too "hooty". Try to make the "hoot" more of a toot by having more cord closure and less air hooting. Even though you may be saying the word "hoot", it should be less airy and more timbral, and I think you'll be more satisfied with the way it sounds. Again, you will need a lot of support to toot your hoot without going hoarse, of course.
Not bad for a first foray into the public eye. Learn from your mistakes and make corrections. Then go back out and do it again.
@cgreen thanks for taking the time to listen and comment Cinema. You are right, I don't want to blow my voice out... so not trying to sound like Nic Cestor (Jet's Vocalist), so you are right I want a compressed sounding high mix type of sound. We'll tighten up, I suspect there were some nerves from that first outing. We needed the experience of getting out of the garage and performing
@highmtn thanks Bob, you are obviously correct, I wanted to hit the E5. For what it's worth, I didn't feel any strain or discomfort in my throat, so thats why I think I was breaking into a falsetto. I'll review Ken's training for pushing down on the diaphragm, thanks for clueing me in.
On the hoots, yeah, making the "h" sound takes some breathiness. Will work on the support.
@highmtn When I say I havn't been practicing I have still been going out singing regularly just not been doing the workouts and i've have been working on some things ken pointed out i need to work on.How are you feeling about your voice now? I am happy with how far i've come listening back to my first lesson with ken. I was a little disappointed not to get through my voice audition but think that has only made me want to get better and my audition was terrible so i'd be more concerned if i thought i did well and didn't get through (plus I know i'm not there yet). I need to work on my vibrato at some point. I've started to try and cut back on the goats wiggling but it is a difficult habit to break. I also need to start building my chest voice up a little more i do have a tendency to go into my head voice often without realising.How are you doing when you sing live?I do a few gigs I don't really actively seek them out but take them as they come from doing open mic nights etc. Some gigs go well some don't go so well a lot of that i find depends on the audience if they get into it then i get more into it if they don't then it all feels a bit flat. I could do with getting some more songs together though I have done well to have learnt 45 song by heart this year. I don't get nervous singing live don't know why coz i get nervous doing speeches etc so that is good. I think i have got a bit complacent with my singing and need to record and listen to myself back more and put myself up for criticism. I'd like to get to the point where i could nail bruno mars' when i was your man every time. going to have to start singing it live i think nothing like singing in front of people to encourage you to make the adjustments needed to get it right.
Like I said, I hear noticeable improvements in your voice in several ways since you were last posting. There were always small differences when you posted a lot, and sometimes you overcorrected one way and then another. It seems you've found several midpoints that are just right for your voice.
I would encourage you strongly to get back on the practice horse and resume your workouts.
If you want to keep growing your voice and get to a mastery level, that is just something we all need to do. We have to make a commitment to our voice if we want to reach the levels and goals we set for ourselves.
Runners have to keep on running or they will not place in the marathon or the 10K. Singers have to keep on doing singing exercises to keep their voices in top shape and growing. You're either growing or you're atrophying. When the big gig or the important audition comes along, we need to be at our best. If we don't get the gig, instead of giving up, we need to stoke the fire all the more with solid practice.
It's just a fact of life that we need solid rehearsal as a way of life, if we expect to sing on a professional level and continue to grow vocally.
I'm feeling pretty good about my voice, but I also need to carve out more time to develop it further in the ways I want to grow it. Life has lots of demands on my time, but I have to seize the moment and spend more time doing solid workouts just like everybody else. I'm gigging a lot, and if I get lazy with my workouts, it will show. My performances are at their best when my practice is at its most consistent levels. If I really expect the results I want from my voice, I just simply have to stay in shape.
Likewise, I'm a runner. I get too busy to keep up with my running. Then I go out and run up hills I used to be able to make it up and end up walking to the top... Why? I lose my conditioning, by letting other things take up my time so that I put off my running.
Probably the best thing for you to do to get rid of the goat's wiggle is to start learning to do a proper vibrato. Many singers I listen to that have a little nervous wiggle in their voice just don't know what to do with the stream of air. It's actually harder to hold a still stream of air than it is to do a nice, smooth, moderate speed vibrato, when appropriate. That will really put an icing on the cake with your voice, to have the ability to add just a touch of vibrato on sustained notes.
You don't want vibrato all the time like an opera singer. You want to add it as a way to resonate on certain notes in songs for emphasis and effect.
Get back to your workouts, and work on a few songs each day. You'll see that with a renewed increase in focus, your skills you have built will sharpen and increase again. You just can't stop running and be a runner.
That is a serious tune and I think you did quite well. I am impressed that you have plenty of stamina to keep singing hard all night.
I would love to be one of your guest singers at Deseo! Nice band and the sound too... went on Utube and checked out the other videos. Plenty of good stuff, you have a good show
Your pitch is mostly on. When you do the "ANNND ANNND ANNND you put the load right on me" the pitch is wandering around. That part should be done by different people, each one holding their own note, anyway.
Your tone is a bit thin for a song like this. You could get more cord closure and support to beef it up a little.
Emphasize the AH vowels and elongate the vowels a bit, while lessening the consonants to make it a little more sonorous. I would speed the song up a bit as well. Most bands play this song way too slow, and it tends to drag more the longer it goes.
What I hear is that you're singing almost entirely, throughout the range demonstrated, with mask. You're putting all your tone forward on the cords and in your nasal cavity.
Also, when you're rasiing in pitch you're not using open throat, you're pinching which is why you don't hit the notes. The only real reason you don't squawk when you do it is because you're using so little power to do it. That's what I hear.
Re: Billy Joel.
As a guy who taught himself to sing and then was further unleashed by Ken Tamplin, Billy Joel can stuff it.
@Joshua sounds a little flat on the bits 'it's not in the way' think you are going too heavy on the W consonant in 'way' i think you should sing it more 'it's not in the oo(as in you) eh that you hold me' so you don't have to move the mouth as much.
I'm wondering if some people don't suffer as radical effects of closing down as quickly because either the size or range of their voice?
I notice the pitch issues too; I don't think they are horrible, but not awesome. But something I do notice is that my voice does sound forward and small - and I do not have a small voice.
I was just singing a song and I noticed that there are high pitch phrases that I can get through without open throat but when I noticed I did it, I went back and reset my voice for open doing that same passage and I realized how much bigger or better/richer it sounded.
I'm almost wondering if part of my "problem" is that my voice is so big at points that it's not as easy for me to notice that I'm not using open throat...unless the effect is dramatic, like pitch, or overly forward sounding tone; or pain, in the case of distortion. I think I'm going to post a "how I did this" video for that song. Because I'd like to discuss that...
Your singing isn't very strong and is not under control. It sounds like you're singing only from your mouth/throat without actually getting into chest resonance. It's not a particularly high song and the tone makes me think that you're aiming at the notes versus just letting your vocal tract do the work with support.
What I would try to do, to isolate the problem so that you can hear it for yourself, is try to sing that song at about triple the volume you are now and I think you'll find that 1. you'll lose air and 2. you'll be painfully out of control on the notes and 3. you probably won't like the tone.
You should be able to glide through those notes without having to work so hard to stay on track. That's what I hear.
hi Josh, thanks for the critique ! ..ya, i had already done a song b4 this one, and it was after 11pm and didn't wanna sing too loud (neighbors))..lol ..but i know what u mean (kinda) but not too sure why i should try singing it at triple vol. to get those 3 results ?? i do use air/diaphram..but this kind of song seems kinda delicate to handle vocally? no, it's not vocally (range-wise) too demanding, but focuses more on control i think...i may try the song again..i think i can do it better yet..
The vocals are a little muddy and slightly distorted on the recording. The reverb is mushy and the mic not so crisp. I can hear that you have a good voice, but it sounds to me like your voice is untrained. That's not such an easy song to do as a demo, but I understand you doing it in memory of your sister. It has special meaning in that regard.
You have good pitch, and decent range. You could use more breath support and a brighter tone. The ending got away from you. That's where the support is most needed. You have the potential to be a really good singer, but need some training and practice to get there.
@ravi - that's my point, he'll expel more air and complicate the problem of his technique. In this particular case, the vocals are soft and smooth and he's having control issues. That's either, bad open throat or bad support, or inexperience.
Singing it harder or louder will show him which one that is.
I like your demo. As I was watching and you got to the line at about 4:11 where the pitch gets off track, my impression was that you let go of your support. You had to keep up support prior to that for the higher notes, but to my ears, you let go of support when you got to the lower phrase.
I feel like in order to keep pitch from wobbling or drifting, that it is necessary to maintain a certain constant pressure down below, below the diaphragm, in order to maintain a consistant pressure up above in the chamber where the lung reside, the upper vocal mechanism. You seemed to let go of the diaphragmatic back pressure, which causes the imbalance in the cavity containing the lungs. Think of it like when you let go of a balloon, and it goes in circles wildly as it loses pressure. Just a word-picture, of course, but they can be useful.
I like that you are using analogies and word-pictures in the discussion at the beginning of your video. The mental images we have in our brains while we are doing this can have a big impact on the sound that comes out of our bodies. Some discourage this type of imagery, because, after all, it is imaginary, but if it helps you to put you into a place where your voice does what you want it to, it's just the psychology of singing, and we all know that that is something that really affects our voice.
This is a good way to get into some good discussions that many here will learn from. So don't stop now...
To me - I'm not letting go of diaphramtic support, I'm slowing down the horsepower that's coming out of my mouth. The MOMENT that happens (never used to notice that I did it) the ability to land the next note is hard, ususally impacting pitch, usualy on descending notes -
what's SUPER interesting, since I have access to pitch detection software, whats SUPER interesting is that that scale to which I miss that first note is always proportional on ensuing notes, usually to the end of the phrase. Meaning, if ti's off 30cents, the remaining notes are off that same amount.
So for me, I have to pre-plan where those probable drop points are and focus my energy on keeping the firehose at a consistent (not necessarily full) throttle.
Usually - I do it on the least memorable parts of the phrase. People should start calling me money note, because those are the only notes I can hit without trying. HAHAHHHAHAH
Then it's most likely a matter of not knowing the exact interval of the first "off" note from the last "on" note. What I'm hearing in the perceptible loss of girth in your voice when the off note happens, may be the lack of confidence because you aren't certain of the note you're about to execute?
It's common for the subsequent notes to be off by the proportional amount once a singer gets "off track". From the point that a singer takes a wrong melodic turn, they're "on-track" to an incorrect interval.
The trick is to learn to more accurately estimate the intervals on those tricky jumps between the descending steps. Sometimes the interval is less than you think, sometimes more. If you're off by a half-step or even less, you can get into trouble that's hard to ignore.
You may need to train on some varying, descending intervals in these register ranges to build agility and accuracy specific to melodic descents. The Volume 3 inverted scale on track 9 of the audio exercises would be something like this, but I think you need even trickier, closer intervals to follow.
You might just take some sections from songs that you experience this in, and use the tricky phrase as the exercise, and move it up and down the scale in successive repetitions. Then do the same with other hard-to-discern intervals from other songs or phrases. Move 'em up and down and inside out until you can do them forwards and backwards, faster and slower.
So I've had the course for just over a week, and have been working on Vol 1 almost every day, at least once, usually twice. I think I hit an "Aha" moment yesterday with the support "feeling". I was practicing a song that I recorded on the 19th, and about half way through, I felt a slightly different sensation of support that I had not felt.
Still struggling with 10 years of "not open throat" singing, trying to re-learn that, so my tone has a ways to go for sure, as it's not where I'd like it... and I missed a few notes key-wise, but I am finding singing many songs a LOT easier as I go, even just this far into it!!...
I'm not sure if it can be heard or not to any of you, but I'm curious.
I'd love feedback and suggestions.
First recording (before what I think was my "Aha" moment):
Thanks for all the great posts and information... I think so far the many posts about "pressure", "tire tubes", "holding breath back" etc., have been what helped me feel this sensation.
Yes. Your voice has new, pleasing tone, more rounded, less nasal, from the gut rather than the throat... seems to have reserve power to spare... AHA!!! You are making very good progress. Keep up the diligent work. It pays off. Keep pressing on that inner tube!
After about 4 weeks in the program I insisted on redoing the vocals on this track. My drummer didn't think it was necessary but afterwords he was very glad I did and said"wow what a difference!" This is an original track about the self-fulfilling prophecy of domestic abuse. I'm doing vocals,guitars and bass. It's got a few issues to my ears but its absolutely an improvement from before KTVA. @highmtn Bob I wanted to tag you because you have been such a help to me so far and I thought you should see what I am about musically. Sorry if the mix has to much low end. It was done with headphones.
@cgreen Thanks for listening and for the suggestions. I will take another run after I have been in the program awhile longer. I'm one of these guys trying to unlearn years of bad habits so I'm really working hard in volume one..Thanks again!
@cgreen I just listened to the two spots where I changed The A vowel to E. I tried it and felt how it closed the throat. I don't even know why I do that!! But now I know so I'll watch for it! Gotta redo the vocal for sure. Thanks man Josh
@highmtn Thanks for taking the time to listen Bob and thank you for the compliments! This forum is a goldmine of knowledge and encouragement that augments the program perfectly. I really appreciate the dedication you all have for this program and our growing community. Have a good weekend and good singing to you!
Thanks, @jre. and you're welcome for my compliments, they're sincere. I'm happy to be helpful to you and everyone else that has an appreciation for what I do. I'm far from perfect, and make mistakes, but I do know Ken's program and techniques, and I've become fairly adept at helping students to understand how to get to the next step.
Had a good gig this evening and looking to do the same tomorrow! Ken's program really works.
Found a great song for working the head voice and on keeping the voice connected as it moves back and forth from mixed voice to head voice:Michael Jackson's " She's Out of my Life"
Nice job. I would suggest more support in general. Specifically at 0:26 the pitch was just a bit uncertain, and it seemed to be support-related. Otherwise your pitch is good.
At 1:45 you are getting a distortion that sounds like oversinging, not glottal compression. That kind of distortion doesn't sound healthy.
Good job on staying connected. As a bit of feedback, you might back off on the consonants a bit to keep the vocal tract open and flowing more continuously.
Good job on the Vowel modifications. Nice tone, it could be a little brighter, but you have a nice rounded tone. You are supporting well, with the exception that you are pulsing your breath, and the scales should be one long, smooth breath consisting of individual notes. Also, try a little more support on the lowest parts of the scales. The lowest notes are a little shaky.
Your breath pulses a little too much on your individual notes. It should be more legato. Yes, I tell others they are slurring the notes too much, but try to reduce the pulses and just make them individual notes, and in your case it should slur together ever so slightly, while maintaining the individuality of each note. The thing to do with that is to just keep the breath more even while changing notes, so it sounds more like a melody. When someone sings a song, you don't want to hear them pulsing on each word.
There are a few places where your bridge clicks into place with a slight yodel. You should work that a bit to get the pressure just right to move past those points unnoticeably. It's pretty close, but that's something to work on.
Your range is sounding good. You do go into head voice, and as I mentioned, some of those transitions need smoothing, but your head voice does match up nicely with your chest voice.
You had a little more trouble with the EE scale around minute 12. I think the pulsing of your voice may be contributing to the sudden clicking from head to chest and vice-versa. If not, then its just a little too much air pressure.
A note of interest on "Lah-ah-OH, ooh" exercise: It should be Lah ah ah ah-OH, ah, ah, ah ah. When the high note gets high enough, later in the scale, the Ooh part comes in when the high note on OH modifies to Oooh. That's the Ooh part of this exercise, when it modifies the high AH and OH to Ooh. Listen carefully to Ken on that one. Not a big deal, but that's the way this one should be practiced.
You have a nice quality to your voice. I can tell you've been working on this. As to whether or not you're ready for Volume 3, that's up to you. I would suggest you work on the pulsing thing and get that evened out before moving on. The scales move faster in Volume 3 and that might not be the best environment for you to get that issue tackled. You also should work on smoothing your connections. When that speed bump happens, stop the CD and just work on that particular connection point. It's only certain ones that you get caught on. I think if you do some focused examination and practice on those particular parts of the scales, your voice will work it's way through and find the right air pressures and muscular positioning for those transitions. Best to get those nailed.
You are very close, and it wouldn't be the end of the world for you to move on, but you might find yourself with too many issues to solve at once, with the higher intensity of the Volume 3 scales. I would suggest you dial in those adjustments I pointed out, and then move ahead.
Good work. You've come a long way in a short time.
Very good. I will work on these things! I really appreciate the time and thought you put in to your comments and will be spending quality time toward improving those areas. I love this process and everything about KTVA.
Another useful song for moving in and out of the head voice, with most of the notes of the song all around the male voice's natural break zone: Have I Told You Lately:
I also must say that after a lifetime of barely being able to hit E4 it feels really amazing to be able to hit G4 at will with the open throat technique. Really curious to see how much higher I can move my voice. I can hit B flat 4 doing scales but it's not yet part of my working singing range.
Just keep doing the workouts faithfully. Really pay attention to what's happening with your voice when you do them. Are you into Volume 3? Those workouts really help you to expand your range. It's a matter of moving beyond hitting the notes to getting more comfortable with them and being able to dwell on them. First we have to get to the point where we can just touch them. Then we hit them a little bit. Eventually we sing them, and sustain them.
The vowel modifications can help us to get there, and to feel more comfortable there.
I move around the volumes depending on what I want to work on. Head voice extension is my present agenda. Here's my first video post. Did this on my IPhone actually as Singsnap has an IPhone app. The sound quality is not as good as when I use my computer but I wanted to watch myself singing to see if there is any strain where there shouldn't be. This is Music of the Night from the Phantom of the Opera:
@earwigger I think your main problem as bob says is the pulsing sounds like you are throwing an H in front of every new note the L opens up the throat so you can then sing the scale on one breath. This should be quick to put right and i would post a new video soon so you know you have corrected this.
Good to hear from you again. I have a few suggestions for you from this demo.
First off, I hear continued improvement in several ways, subtle, but your improvement is ongoing.
A few things I think would help: A simple one is at 0:41; your "k" consonant is too dominant going into the "oooooh..."
So it becomes "Lie-Kooooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh... " I know you know how to fix that.
The bigger issue I would like you to consider is the overall tone of your voice in this demo. I think this is an area that would benefit you a lot. To be direct, your voice sounds a little like you have a cold.
You know, when someone says "I hab a bad code" and they mean "I have a bad cold". It's a matter of the opening between the nasal cavity and the oropharynx, at the soft palate. The uvula area... An adjustment at the velopharyngeal port.
So I know there are a lot of criticisms of various singers as being "too nasal". And yes, there are a lot of singers with what I would call too much nasal quality. Willie Nelson and Hank Snow are a couple that come to mind. But the opposite of that, I suppose, would be insufficient airflow through the nasal passages. Let's call it MASK.
Now, I also know that too much mask WILL sound "nasal", and that's not what I'm proposing. I'm proposing an adjustment to bring in SOME mask to the point that your N's, M's, etc. will have a bit of air being directed like Ken describes in his videos, up, to the top of the head, and forward. Well, we know that there are no air passages through the very top of the head, but there an is an air passage that goes into our nasal cavity, and from there branches to all of our sinuses, which can lead to sympathetic vibration throughout the skull, and help put a ring into our voice that otherwise is not there. We need that high, bright component to be blended in with the full sound of chest and head to make a more Hi-Fi sound come from our voice.
This is the sheen we want on top of the nice bottom end you presently have on your voice.
There are a few places that your notes sound just a skoshe flat, and I know that a darker sound tends to sound acoustically flat, and that the use of a brighter, more ringy sound is easier to attain more accurate pitch, due also to acoustical principals.
I realize that we may have to play around with getting the best tonal blend for your voice, but I think this is an element that will really make your voice SHINE in a way that we haven't gotten around to quite yet. We may have to overcorrect and then undercorrect before we get it right, but I think that's something that needs to be adjusted to find more clarity and precision in your voice.
I also know that you are a doer and you will take this feedback and use it for the betterment of your voice. It is meant only to help you see and hear what is difficult to judge for yourself.
After a couple weeks, I've hit some highs and some lows, it seems.
I seem to be struggling most with Low notes, and figuring out how to soften my tone, and my register break.
These two videos were after doing a warmup, which I thought went well, however, I also seem to be tiring fast, and running out of breath faster while practicing than I used to before doing these exercises.
It seems that as I practice more (in a session), it gets more and more difficult to get to my "normal" high notes, too, if I don't take breaks.
Lah exercise, after practicing and singing for a little while, scratchy, hoarse, hard to do low notes, seem too tight on high notes, but cannot get there w/o being that way... not sure if that's "stretching" my chest voice, or just "pinching" my vocal chords...
Yes, Ray, you are hitting high notes and low notes.
On the low notes, you're getting that rattle in the back of the throat. Make sure you're open very wide at the back of the throat where the tongue and back of the throat can rattle against one another. Keep the tongue forward and touching the back of the front teeth, and down flat in the jaw, unless you can furrow it low in the center and higher on the sides.
Remember to support the low notes, too. It can be easy to underestimate support at your lowest notes, and they can become unstable. Remember that cord closure can be an important factor in having plenty of breath to make it through the longest of notes. If we leak too much air through the cords, we will run out too soon.
On your tongue exercise, bring the tongue more forward, out of your mouth a little bit. In doing that, move the back of your tongue forward, to create space in the back of the throat, as if you were making an Open Throat AH! Remember, that this exercise is supposed to be done very lightly, and is intended to be done as a connecting-to-head exercise, to work on bridging at the passagio. If I'm not mistaken, I think you may have been in chest voice the whole time, and went all the way to B4 in chest on your tongue exercise. That's great for chest, but not helping you to work on your bridge. It sounds like you are pushing a little, rather than doing the tongue exercise lightly. That will tend to keep you in chest voice, rather than releasing into head voice.
Also, I notice your chest coming up with each breath. As you know, you should be maintaining ribcage expansion, and that should take place over the full exercise, and at the end of the exercise you should release the expanded ribcage. Meanwhile you are supposed to take individual belly breaths for each scale in the exercise, while maintaining the ribcage expansion. This may help you with your breath management.
The LAH Exercise: Again, the rattle at the back of the throat. Keep the back of the throat as AH as you can, very open, like the beginning of a yawn. Make sure everything back in the throat, like the opening of the throat and the back of the tongue, are in the proper place and not rattling against one another. I would like you to try to get your Lah a little brighter. Really make it pop and ping. Like Ken when he demonstrates "It's the LAH!!! AH!!!!" That bright sound has a lot of cord closure in it, and will really project. You should smile into the sound, as well, with your upper teeth showing and your cheeks raised. This will help to lift your soft pallet and brighten the tone. Drop the jaw a skoshe. Not to where it's uncomfortable or ridiculous, but a little more open would be good if you can. Direct the sound towards the hard surfaces (hard palate, front teeth) and also bring in a little bit of mask.
Your scales sound a little labored, like it's hard for you to keep up with the speed. If you need to, stop the playback and practice slowly and get used to the scales, then try to speed them up gradually. The scales will get faster in Volume 2, and even faster in Volume 3, so now is a good time to get comfortable being able to keep pace with the exercises. Also, you are sounding just a bit too stair-steppy on the scales. They should be a little smoother, more legato. You're doing a good job of individualizing each note, but they should link together a little more smoothly. This may help you to be more at ease with the pacing of the scales if you sing them a little less segmented.
So now to the AH itself. This is the basic building block of your new voice, so we want to be a little picky about how it sounds. You need to make it more AH!!!! REALLY AH!!!
As you are singing your scale it's laxing a little towards uh. There's that point in the video where Ken says to make it really AH!!! and you momentarily snap out of the uh and into the AH, but then you relax again into more of a mix of an Ah and an uh sound. THEN, I'm not hearing you progress through your vowel modifications. That is most likely why you are tightening up as you get to and beyond G4. You almost make it to the B4, and you're in chest voice the whole time.
So where is your bridge, and where are your vowel modifications?
I think you know that you're supposed to be doing two different approaches to this, which are 1. Bridging and connecting smoothly, and 2. Stretching your chest voice. So I guess this is stretching your chest voice, which is fine, but you should be going to Aw as in loft (probably anywhere from about F#4 to G4, and then to oo like look (similar to uh but more oo) anywhere around G4 to B4, and then to Ooh (like who) anywhere from about Bb4 to C#5. These mods will help you to relieve that tension that is causing you to tighten up for the high notes. Also, remember to push down on your insides for the high notes as you begin to feel tension in your throat.
Keeping the AH really AH in the beginning of your scale is important so that you have somewhere to go when it's time to reshape your vocal tract for the high notes.
This may seem like a lot of things I'm bringing up, but they are all components to stabilizing your voice and building your technique. I think you're going to take to this like a duck takes to water, as soon as you get your sea legs planted underneath you. You're going through "Moving Targets Sea Sickness" right now, as there are so many of them to get control over.
As you become more accustomed to keeping these things in check, you will find more consistency in your voice, as well as the beginnings of resiliency and stamina that you previously have not had at your command.
@highmtn this is actually nice criticism as one of my problems i had with ken last time was that i was going into my head voice too early so maybe I have overcorrected this or am focusing on staying as much in chest as possible which is taking away from my high frequencies? I'm not sure if part of the 'i have a cold' tone you were hearing might be because I had been singing all day and singing pretty hard stuff and was starting to get slightly hoarse. So in summary you are saying I need to add more mask?
Yes I hear that I go flat a few times during it and often i think that is because I am covering the sound, sometimes on descending notes. I struggle a bit With keeping Diphones (think that is the right word?) from sounding flat particularly with the A vowel as in stay day etc.
When you say the kooooooooooooooooo bit do you mean my transition from like to the ohhhhhhh is too harsh and that I should throw an H in there or transition straight from like to ooooooh being more gentle on the k of like?
@rcrosier one more thing to add to what Bob said is you are dragging your vowel mods down with you you need to open back up to Ah at the bottom. But as Bob says everything needs to be more its the LAh Ah Ah. Really focus on it being bright and keeping the tongue dropped.
Diphthongs is the correct spelling. I have problems with that word, too.
On the "souds like you hab a bad code" thing, I think it's a matter of the velopharyngeal port and how open or closed it is when you sing. You might watch this video for some ideas:
On the Koooooooooooo, we really shouldn't hear the K as the onset to the Ooooooh. So you might end the word "like" with a very soft, almost nonexistent K. In a lot of cases, a soft "g" is used as a substitute for harder consonants, but you don't want to say Gooooooooooo either. : ^ ) Whatever you end up with, it needs to be really under the radar or almost silent. Perhaps a short silence before the start of the oooh. Listen to the original. Bruno Mars says "it all just sounds like" and then an overdubbed voice that sounds totally different says the Oooooh, ooh, oo, ooh. There is a very short space between them, but it's not the same voice or the same take on the recording.
Ouch. Sorry. It's in the Pro section. I was thinking you had the ProPack.
Well, to sum it up, what Ken says is that there is a balance between nasality, the absence of all nasal sound, and a good blend of Open Throat with Mask.
You don't want too much of a good thing, but you also don't want to be totally without the ring that can be a part of your voice when you employ a little bit of mask. So basically you vary the amount of how much you raise the soft palate to still allow some of the airflow through the velopharyngeal port without overdoing it. Somewhere in there is the right balance for your voice, that will have that high-frequency component to compliment the full tones of the Open Throat.
Well, maybe you have, but you just haven't requested to upgrade your status in the forums. You are listed as "Enrolled" which usually means you have one or two of the KTVA volumes, but not all three.
If you have all 3 KTVA Volumes, then you should have the ProPackage bonus files. Maybe you should look at your downloads in your computer to see if you find Propacks 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, and 4, along with Volumes 1, 2, and 3.
If you have all three volumes, then you should paste a copy of your receipts from KTVA into an email and request Pro Status in the forums.
Send your email to ktvahelp@gmail.com. If you have all three volumes and have not received the ProPack Bonus videos, you can also request that.
@Highmtn: Wow! Thanks Bob! You answered several questions that I was unsure which way to go, such as opening my jaw wider vs. staying relaxed, and sticking my tongue out vs. a more relaxed position. I've struggled with "slurring" too much, I thought, so maybe I went overboard on these... seems that I do have more trouble on the scales with such a "hard" step on each note.
On a good "rested" day, I can do all of the scales, with relative ease, in chest voice, which seems to be a double-edge sword for me, because I REALLY struggle with head voice and need to learn to smooth out the transition there. I have a pretty high head voice, but there is a HUGE break between the two, and NO overlap... I guess that's how I learned it many years ago w/o any "proper" training.
When I "shift" into my head voice, I cannot seem to get any chord closure at all, and run out of breath really fast... that's my big hurdle.
Thanks for such a great reply... I will work on all of this more.
@Highmtn: Say, Bob. Using the information you shared with me, I practiced the tongue and the Lah scale a BUNCH of times tonight after warming up, as long as I felt I could without straining myself, and I was able to get to a point where I think I felt something I've never been able to do, which was sing light enough to nearly eliminate my break!!
It seems that around G#(4?) is where I was having the most trouble with it, but I worked from an F(3?) (near the top of the exercises), all the way up to a C above the G#, and back and forth a few times, and it got easier and easier to get over that "speed bump"... I also ran into (and out of) what I think might have been "support" a handful of times while doing so... LOL
Thanks to this, I think I've found a few exercises that will really help me to work on what has been "not working" right for years... At least I hope so.
The "triggers" that seemed to do the trick for me were basically "stick your tongue out more" and "smile into the sound with your cheeks raised"... in doing these, I was more easily able to keep my throat open, and the sound where I was not feeling that "tight" sensation... but I certainly could not (yet) do it loudly, like I'm used to... but I'm sure that will come with time, and I hope then I'll be able to move in and out of chest much easier.
(Sorry, I'm not sure exactly where, on my keyboard, the "3", "4" and "5" octaves are... I think it's shifted one octave higher by default, and I'm starting on the G nearest the bottom on a Yamaha E423, 61key... I'm not a keyboard player, just use it for practicing & telling my guitar player what key a song is in...)
Comments
@overdriveisclassy
Wow! I missed your last few demos... not sure why I didn't see them.
Lotsa Rise Above! Sounds good. I like the background vocals you're adding. 800 subscribers, eh? Not bad...
Of this batch, Tragedy+Time is my fave...
Oh, it's almost Wednesday already!
Bob
@goran
Nice demo. I apologize that your demo has been there so long without anyone commenting. For some reason, the forum didn't notify me that there were new demos here.
Your voice is sounding good. You're a little shy on the support where that one wowie was at 1:04 on the A4. Other than that, You are sounding good, and now it's time to get serious about your KTVA studies and grow your voice into a MONSTER!
I look forward to your progress!
Bob
@marc,
Long time no hear! I hear improvements, an ease and comfort about your voice that wasn't there when you were spending more time struggling.
I think that even though you've taken some time off, you really spent a lot of time working on your voice previously, and it shows.
The difference is like night and day. Good job, you've put a lot of work into your voice. You are smooth and clean going from chest to head. Your reduction of consonants no longer sounds unnatural. Instead it's undetectable... just right!
How are you feeling about your voice now? How are you doing when you sing live?
Are your friends and family noticing how well you're developing into the singer you've always wanted to be?
To me, it sounds like your finally developing YOUR voice, YOUR sound, YOUR style...
I'm very happy for you!!!
GOOD JOB!!!!
Your hard work is paying off!
Bob
@hodgepodge,
Yes, your band could tighten up a little bit, but hey, it was your first gig, right? Anyway, the audience seemed to like your performance.
The note in Are You Gonna Be My Girl is actually an E5.
On all of your screaming high notes you need tons more support to keep from blowing out your cords. You should be pushing down on your diaphragm with all of your might when you want to belt that high. Instead of stressing your throat, you should be pressing your note, down under. That is the most important thing you can do when hitting notes that hard: Don't hit them so hard. Use the Shock Absorber of Super Support to reduce the blast of air down to more of a cushion of regulated, flowing air.
Your "hoot, hoot" is, well, too "hooty". Try to make the "hoot" more of a toot by having more cord closure and less air hooting. Even though you may be saying the word "hoot", it should be less airy and more timbral, and I think you'll be more satisfied with the way it sounds. Again, you will need a lot of support to toot your hoot without going hoarse, of course.
Not bad for a first foray into the public eye. Learn from your mistakes and make corrections. Then go back out and do it again.
Bob
I think i have got a bit complacent with my singing and need to record and listen to myself back more and put myself up for criticism. I'd like to get to the point where i could nail bruno mars' when i was your man every time. going to have to start singing it live i think nothing like singing in front of people to encourage you to make the adjustments needed to get it right.
@marc,
Like I said, I hear noticeable improvements in your voice in several ways since you were last posting. There were always small differences when you posted a lot, and sometimes you overcorrected one way and then another. It seems you've found several midpoints that are just right for your voice.
I would encourage you strongly to get back on the practice horse and resume your workouts.
If you want to keep growing your voice and get to a mastery level, that is just something we all need to do. We have to make a commitment to our voice if we want to reach the levels and goals we set for ourselves.
Runners have to keep on running or they will not place in the marathon or the 10K. Singers have to keep on doing singing exercises to keep their voices in top shape and growing. You're either growing or you're atrophying. When the big gig or the important audition comes along, we need to be at our best. If we don't get the gig, instead of giving up, we need to stoke the fire all the more with solid practice.
It's just a fact of life that we need solid rehearsal as a way of life, if we expect to sing on a professional level and continue to grow vocally.
I'm feeling pretty good about my voice, but I also need to carve out more time to develop it further in the ways I want to grow it. Life has lots of demands on my time, but I have to seize the moment and spend more time doing solid workouts just like everybody else. I'm gigging a lot, and if I get lazy with my workouts, it will show. My performances are at their best when my practice is at its most consistent levels. If I really expect the results I want from my voice, I just simply have to stay in shape.
Likewise, I'm a runner. I get too busy to keep up with my running. Then I go out and run up hills I used to be able to make it up and end up walking to the top... Why? I lose my conditioning, by letting other things take up my time so that I put off my running.
Probably the best thing for you to do to get rid of the goat's wiggle is to start learning to do a proper vibrato. Many singers I listen to that have a little nervous wiggle in their voice just don't know what to do with the stream of air. It's actually harder to hold a still stream of air than it is to do a nice, smooth, moderate speed vibrato, when appropriate. That will really put an icing on the cake with your voice, to have the ability to add just a touch of vibrato on sustained notes.
You don't want vibrato all the time like an opera singer. You want to add it as a way to resonate on certain notes in songs for emphasis and effect.
Get back to your workouts, and work on a few songs each day. You'll see that with a renewed increase in focus, your skills you have built will sharpen and increase again. You just can't stop running and be a runner.
All the Best!
Bob
Yes, @bluedevils!
Good to hear from you again, and glad to see you are still working to build your voice.
Keep at it and the improvements will continue!
Bob
You ROCK, Joshua!
Your voice is really sounding good!
Bob
@overdriveisclassy,
Unfortunately I can't do a very good job of giving feedback on this link, because I can't access this one.
Bob
Here is a clip of "The Weight (Take a load off Fannie)" at Open Mic.
I am trying to work on singing in pitch.
Am I on pitch for the most part?
Thanks -- Ravi
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/3439557
http://www.tubechop.com/watch/3441601
Am I mostly on pitch? I have pitch problems but think I did better pitch-wise on the last verse.
Ah, much better, @overdriveisclassy... this one works.
Nice instrumental intro, big baritone verses, and the overdriveisclassy background singers chiming in on the choruses.
You just keep cranking out good sounds. Your camera crew was making me dizzy, though!
Bob
@Ravi,
Your pitch is mostly on. When you do the "ANNND ANNND ANNND you put the load right on me" the pitch is wandering around. That part should be done by different people, each one holding their own note, anyway.
Your tone is a bit thin for a song like this. You could get more cord closure and support to beef it up a little.
Emphasize the AH vowels and elongate the vowels a bit, while lessening the consonants to make it a little more sonorous. I would speed the song up a bit as well. Most bands play this song way too slow, and it tends to drag more the longer it goes.
All the Best!
Bob
I have watched the videos of Billy Joel's Q&A sessions with college music students.
In it, he says that he firmly believes that one must be born with the ability to sing in key. -- it cannot be learned.
While those that have the natural talent must certainly develop it and improve upon it they must still be born with that basic ability to sing in key.
I struggle a lot with pitch even on simple melodies without any particularly high notes.
So is it possible that I am one of those people that does not possess the basic natural ability required to sing in key?
I think you may be on to something, @Joshua.
I think we can probably all learn a thing or two together from your video if you decide to do that.
Bob
@bobbo65,
Your link doesn't seem to work.
Thanks, Joshua for making bobbo65's video viewable.
@bobbo65
The vocals are a little muddy and slightly distorted on the recording. The reverb is mushy and the mic not so crisp. I can hear that you have a good voice, but it sounds to me like your voice is untrained. That's not such an easy song to do as a demo, but I understand you doing it in memory of your sister. It has special meaning in that regard.
You have good pitch, and decent range. You could use more breath support and a brighter tone. The ending got away from you. That's where the support is most needed. You have the potential to be a really good singer, but need some training and practice to get there.
All the Best!
Bob
Will we be expelling more air? Or is it possible to sing louder with the same amount of expelled air?
@Joshua,
I like your demo. As I was watching and you got to the line at about 4:11 where the pitch gets off track, my impression was that you let go of your support. You had to keep up support prior to that for the higher notes, but to my ears, you let go of support when you got to the lower phrase.
I feel like in order to keep pitch from wobbling or drifting, that it is necessary to maintain a certain constant pressure down below, below the diaphragm, in order to maintain a consistant pressure up above in the chamber where the lung reside, the upper vocal mechanism. You seemed to let go of the diaphragmatic back pressure, which causes the imbalance in the cavity containing the lungs. Think of it like when you let go of a balloon, and it goes in circles wildly as it loses pressure. Just a word-picture, of course, but they can be useful.
I like that you are using analogies and word-pictures in the discussion at the beginning of your video. The mental images we have in our brains while we are doing this can have a big impact on the sound that comes out of our bodies. Some discourage this type of imagery, because, after all, it is imaginary, but if it helps you to put you into a place where your voice does what you want it to, it's just the psychology of singing, and we all know that that is something that really affects our voice.
This is a good way to get into some good discussions that many here will learn from. So don't stop now...
Bob
Then it's most likely a matter of not knowing the exact interval of the first "off" note from the last "on" note. What I'm hearing in the perceptible loss of girth in your voice when the off note happens, may be the lack of confidence because you aren't certain of the note you're about to execute?
It's common for the subsequent notes to be off by the proportional amount once a singer gets "off track". From the point that a singer takes a wrong melodic turn, they're "on-track" to an incorrect interval.
The trick is to learn to more accurately estimate the intervals on those tricky jumps between the descending steps. Sometimes the interval is less than you think, sometimes more. If you're off by a half-step or even less, you can get into trouble that's hard to ignore.
You may need to train on some varying, descending intervals in these register ranges to build agility and accuracy specific to melodic descents. The Volume 3 inverted scale on track 9 of the audio exercises would be something like this, but I think you need even trickier, closer intervals to follow.
You might just take some sections from songs that you experience this in, and use the tricky phrase as the exercise, and move it up and down the scale in successive repetitions. Then do the same with other hard-to-discern intervals from other songs or phrases. Move 'em up and down and inside out until you can do them forwards and backwards, faster and slower.
Just a thought...
; ^ )
Bob
Here's my newest cover:
@overdriveisclassy,
Nice blend of lead and background vocals. Your co-vocalist is a very good ventriloquist, as well! ; ^)
Good Job!
Bob
@Cinema
Thanks. You made my day! Nice!
Bob
@rcrosier,
AHA!!!
Yes. Your voice has new, pleasing tone, more rounded, less nasal, from the gut rather than the throat... seems to have reserve power to spare... AHA!!! You are making very good progress. Keep up the diligent work. It pays off. Keep pressing on that inner tube!
Bob
@jre
I got this message from your link:
Sorry! We can't find that track.
Did you try to access a private track, but were not logged in?
Maybe the track has been removed.
Josh
Sounding Good, @jre!
You're coming along nicely. Good tune, good vocals.
I will be interested in hearing what you do with it after a little more time in the program.
You could sing this with a little more girth, but I personally like the way you are doing it now.
Bob
Thanks for taking the time to listen Bob and thank you for the compliments! This forum is a goldmine of knowledge and encouragement that augments the program perfectly. I really appreciate the dedication you all have for this program and our growing community. Have a good weekend and good singing to you!
Thanks, @jre. and you're welcome for my compliments, they're sincere. I'm happy to be helpful to you and everyone else that has an appreciation for what I do. I'm far from perfect, and make mistakes, but I do know Ken's program and techniques, and I've become fairly adept at helping students to understand how to get to the next step.
Had a good gig this evening and looking to do the same tomorrow! Ken's program really works.
Bob
@tkzuspan,
I got "This video has been removed by the user" from your YouTube video.
Bob
@tkzuspan,
Nice job. I would suggest more support in general. Specifically at 0:26 the pitch was just a bit uncertain, and it seemed to be support-related. Otherwise your pitch is good.
At 1:45 you are getting a distortion that sounds like oversinging, not glottal compression. That kind of distortion doesn't sound healthy.
Overall you did a good job.
Bob
@derrick
Nice to see you posting demos, long time no hear!
Good job on staying connected. As a bit of feedback, you might back off on the consonants a bit to keep the vocal tract open and flowing more continuously.
Good work on this song!
Bob
@earwigger,
Good job on the Vowel modifications. Nice tone, it could be a little brighter, but you have a nice rounded tone. You are supporting well, with the exception that you are pulsing your breath, and the scales should be one long, smooth breath consisting of individual notes. Also, try a little more support on the lowest parts of the scales. The lowest notes are a little shaky.
Your breath pulses a little too much on your individual notes. It should be more legato. Yes, I tell others they are slurring the notes too much, but try to reduce the pulses and just make them individual notes, and in your case it should slur together ever so slightly, while maintaining the individuality of each note. The thing to do with that is to just keep the breath more even while changing notes, so it sounds more like a melody. When someone sings a song, you don't want to hear them pulsing on each word.
There are a few places where your bridge clicks into place with a slight yodel. You should work that a bit to get the pressure just right to move past those points unnoticeably. It's pretty close, but that's something to work on.
Your range is sounding good. You do go into head voice, and as I mentioned, some of those transitions need smoothing, but your head voice does match up nicely with your chest voice.
You had a little more trouble with the EE scale around minute 12. I think the pulsing of your voice may be contributing to the sudden clicking from head to chest and vice-versa. If not, then its just a little too much air pressure.
A note of interest on "Lah-ah-OH, ooh" exercise: It should be Lah ah ah ah-OH, ah, ah, ah ah. When the high note gets high enough, later in the scale, the Ooh part comes in when the high note on OH modifies to Oooh. That's the Ooh part of this exercise, when it modifies the high AH and OH to Ooh. Listen carefully to Ken on that one. Not a big deal, but that's the way this one should be practiced.
You have a nice quality to your voice. I can tell you've been working on this. As to whether or not you're ready for Volume 3, that's up to you. I would suggest you work on the pulsing thing and get that evened out before moving on. The scales move faster in Volume 3 and that might not be the best environment for you to get that issue tackled. You also should work on smoothing your connections. When that speed bump happens, stop the CD and just work on that particular connection point. It's only certain ones that you get caught on. I think if you do some focused examination and practice on those particular parts of the scales, your voice will work it's way through and find the right air pressures and muscular positioning for those transitions. Best to get those nailed.
You are very close, and it wouldn't be the end of the world for you to move on, but you might find yourself with too many issues to solve at once, with the higher intensity of the Volume 3 scales. I would suggest you dial in those adjustments I pointed out, and then move ahead.
Good work. You've come a long way in a short time.
All the Best!
Bob
@derrick,
Nice song, nice job.
Feedback: A little more support on the "my heart" line and other places where that melodic line comes in.
Also if you open up and put a little more MAH-HAH-t on those lines, it will give some more sustain to "My" and make it less of a short "muh".
You do nice work, Derrick. Good job dancing back and forth around the passagio.
: ^ )
Bob
@derrickt,
Just keep doing the workouts faithfully. Really pay attention to what's happening with your voice when you do them. Are you into Volume 3? Those workouts really help you to expand your range. It's a matter of moving beyond hitting the notes to getting more comfortable with them and being able to dwell on them. First we have to get to the point where we can just touch them. Then we hit them a little bit. Eventually we sing them, and sustain them.
The vowel modifications can help us to get there, and to feel more comfortable there.
Bob
@derrickt,
BRAVO!!!
Nice job!
Bob
Hi, @marc,
Good to hear from you again. I have a few suggestions for you from this demo.
First off, I hear continued improvement in several ways, subtle, but your improvement is ongoing.
A few things I think would help: A simple one is at 0:41; your "k" consonant is too dominant going into the "oooooh..."
So it becomes "Lie-Kooooh-oooh-oooh-oooh-oooh... " I know you know how to fix that.
The bigger issue I would like you to consider is the overall tone of your voice in this demo. I think this is an area that would benefit you a lot. To be direct, your voice sounds a little like you have a cold.
You know, when someone says "I hab a bad code" and they mean "I have a bad cold". It's a matter of the opening between the nasal cavity and the oropharynx, at the soft palate. The uvula area... An adjustment at the velopharyngeal port.
So I know there are a lot of criticisms of various singers as being "too nasal". And yes, there are a lot of singers with what I would call too much nasal quality. Willie Nelson and Hank Snow are a couple that come to mind. But the opposite of that, I suppose, would be insufficient airflow through the nasal passages. Let's call it MASK.
Now, I also know that too much mask WILL sound "nasal", and that's not what I'm proposing. I'm proposing an adjustment to bring in SOME mask to the point that your N's, M's, etc. will have a bit of air being directed like Ken describes in his videos, up, to the top of the head, and forward. Well, we know that there are no air passages through the very top of the head, but there an is an air passage that goes into our nasal cavity, and from there branches to all of our sinuses, which can lead to sympathetic vibration throughout the skull, and help put a ring into our voice that otherwise is not there. We need that high, bright component to be blended in with the full sound of chest and head to make a more Hi-Fi sound come from our voice.
This is the sheen we want on top of the nice bottom end you presently have on your voice.
There are a few places that your notes sound just a skoshe flat, and I know that a darker sound tends to sound acoustically flat, and that the use of a brighter, more ringy sound is easier to attain more accurate pitch, due also to acoustical principals.
I realize that we may have to play around with getting the best tonal blend for your voice, but I think this is an element that will really make your voice SHINE in a way that we haven't gotten around to quite yet. We may have to overcorrect and then undercorrect before we get it right, but I think that's something that needs to be adjusted to find more clarity and precision in your voice.
I also know that you are a doer and you will take this feedback and use it for the betterment of your voice. It is meant only to help you see and hear what is difficult to judge for yourself.
Thank you, Marc.
Bob
Nice High C at 2:39, by the way.
Yes, Ray, you are hitting high notes and low notes.
On the low notes, you're getting that rattle in the back of the throat. Make sure you're open very wide at the back of the throat where the tongue and back of the throat can rattle against one another. Keep the tongue forward and touching the back of the front teeth, and down flat in the jaw, unless you can furrow it low in the center and higher on the sides.
Remember to support the low notes, too. It can be easy to underestimate support at your lowest notes, and they can become unstable. Remember that cord closure can be an important factor in having plenty of breath to make it through the longest of notes. If we leak too much air through the cords, we will run out too soon.
On your tongue exercise, bring the tongue more forward, out of your mouth a little bit. In doing that, move the back of your tongue forward, to create space in the back of the throat, as if you were making an Open Throat AH! Remember, that this exercise is supposed to be done very lightly, and is intended to be done as a connecting-to-head exercise, to work on bridging at the passagio. If I'm not mistaken, I think you may have been in chest voice the whole time, and went all the way to B4 in chest on your tongue exercise. That's great for chest, but not helping you to work on your bridge. It sounds like you are pushing a little, rather than doing the tongue exercise lightly. That will tend to keep you in chest voice, rather than releasing into head voice.
Also, I notice your chest coming up with each breath. As you know, you should be maintaining ribcage expansion, and that should take place over the full exercise, and at the end of the exercise you should release the expanded ribcage. Meanwhile you are supposed to take individual belly breaths for each scale in the exercise, while maintaining the ribcage expansion. This may help you with your breath management.
The LAH Exercise: Again, the rattle at the back of the throat. Keep the back of the throat as AH as you can, very open, like the beginning of a yawn. Make sure everything back in the throat, like the opening of the throat and the back of the tongue, are in the proper place and not rattling against one another. I would like you to try to get your Lah a little brighter. Really make it pop and ping. Like Ken when he demonstrates "It's the LAH!!! AH!!!!" That bright sound has a lot of cord closure in it, and will really project. You should smile into the sound, as well, with your upper teeth showing and your cheeks raised. This will help to lift your soft pallet and brighten the tone. Drop the jaw a skoshe. Not to where it's uncomfortable or ridiculous, but a little more open would be good if you can. Direct the sound towards the hard surfaces (hard palate, front teeth) and also bring in a little bit of mask.
Your scales sound a little labored, like it's hard for you to keep up with the speed. If you need to, stop the playback and practice slowly and get used to the scales, then try to speed them up gradually. The scales will get faster in Volume 2, and even faster in Volume 3, so now is a good time to get comfortable being able to keep pace with the exercises. Also, you are sounding just a bit too stair-steppy on the scales. They should be a little smoother, more legato. You're doing a good job of individualizing each note, but they should link together a little more smoothly. This may help you to be more at ease with the pacing of the scales if you sing them a little less segmented.
So now to the AH itself. This is the basic building block of your new voice, so we want to be a little picky about how it sounds. You need to make it more AH!!!! REALLY AH!!!
As you are singing your scale it's laxing a little towards uh. There's that point in the video where Ken says to make it really AH!!! and you momentarily snap out of the uh and into the AH, but then you relax again into more of a mix of an Ah and an uh sound. THEN, I'm not hearing you progress through your vowel modifications. That is most likely why you are tightening up as you get to and beyond G4. You almost make it to the B4, and you're in chest voice the whole time.
So where is your bridge, and where are your vowel modifications?
I think you know that you're supposed to be doing two different approaches to this, which are 1. Bridging and connecting smoothly, and 2. Stretching your chest voice. So I guess this is stretching your chest voice, which is fine, but you should be going to Aw as in loft (probably anywhere from about F#4 to G4, and then to oo like look (similar to uh but more oo) anywhere around G4 to B4, and then to Ooh (like who) anywhere from about Bb4 to C#5. These mods will help you to relieve that tension that is causing you to tighten up for the high notes. Also, remember to push down on your insides for the high notes as you begin to feel tension in your throat.
Keeping the AH really AH in the beginning of your scale is important so that you have somewhere to go when it's time to reshape your vocal tract for the high notes.
This may seem like a lot of things I'm bringing up, but they are all components to stabilizing your voice and building your technique. I think you're going to take to this like a duck takes to water, as soon as you get your sea legs planted underneath you. You're going through "Moving Targets Sea Sickness" right now, as there are so many of them to get control over.
As you become more accustomed to keeping these things in check, you will find more consistency in your voice, as well as the beginnings of resiliency and stamina that you previously have not had at your command.
Stay the course!
Hang in there and keep on practicing!
You're making headway!
Bob
Diphthongs is the correct spelling. I have problems with that word, too.
On the "souds like you hab a bad code" thing, I think it's a matter of the velopharyngeal port and how open or closed it is when you sing. You might watch this video for some ideas:
http://forum.kentamplinvocalacademy.com/discussion/3603/the-velopharyngeal-port/p1
On the Koooooooooooo, we really shouldn't hear the K as the onset to the Ooooooh. So you might end the word "like" with a very soft, almost nonexistent K. In a lot of cases, a soft "g" is used as a substitute for harder consonants, but you don't want to say Gooooooooooo either. : ^ ) Whatever you end up with, it needs to be really under the radar or almost silent. Perhaps a short silence before the start of the oooh. Listen to the original. Bruno Mars says "it all just sounds like" and then an overdubbed voice that sounds totally different says the Oooooh, ooh, oo, ooh. There is a very short space between them, but it's not the same voice or the same take on the recording.
Good Singing to You, Marc!
Bob
Ouch. Sorry. It's in the Pro section. I was thinking you had the ProPack.
Well, to sum it up, what Ken says is that there is a balance between nasality, the absence of all nasal sound, and a good blend of Open Throat with Mask.
You don't want too much of a good thing, but you also don't want to be totally without the ring that can be a part of your voice when you employ a little bit of mask. So basically you vary the amount of how much you raise the soft palate to still allow some of the airflow through the velopharyngeal port without overdoing it. Somewhere in there is the right balance for your voice, that will have that high-frequency component to compliment the full tones of the Open Throat.
Bob
@mark,
Well, maybe you have, but you just haven't requested to upgrade your status in the forums. You are listed as "Enrolled" which usually means you have one or two of the KTVA volumes, but not all three.
If you have all 3 KTVA Volumes, then you should have the ProPackage bonus files. Maybe you should look at your downloads in your computer to see if you find Propacks 1, 2A, 2B, 3A, 3B, and 4, along with Volumes 1, 2, and 3.
If you have all three volumes, then you should paste a copy of your receipts from KTVA into an email and request Pro Status in the forums.
Send your email to ktvahelp@gmail.com. If you have all three volumes and have not received the ProPack Bonus videos, you can also request that.
Bob