I need help fast please (volume 1 begginer)
Dragoee
Pro Posts: 5
I watched the videos on volume 1(until video 17) a few times, and my English is pretty good but it isn't my native language, and I understand most of what Ken is saying 90% of the time (he talks fast) and I try to follow. But when I really want to practice I just don't know what I actually have to do:
I understand that I need to practice one hour per day 5-6 days per week in order to improve faster, and I'm up to that.
I understand that there are audio workouts and I need to practice with them, but I they are only 34 minutes and not an hour so what do I do?
I read the audio workouts part in the PDF file that is in the volume 1 folder and it says there that there are 2 different workouts, which I don't understand half of the stuff that is written in those two parts section. I try my best to understand but when I just don't know what to do and how to practice, for example:
''Start to “hand off” the chest voice into the head voice where you feel comfortable.''
Ken says in the videos that we shouldn't work on our head voice right now and we need to do chest voice and strengthen it. but if I need to “hand off” the chest voice into the head voice where I feel comfortable, in which audio part? How do I know when to hand it off and things like that?.
One more thing, if I need to do 2 separate workouts do I need to do the second one also with the audio workouts part(just replay it from the beginning after I am done with the first workout)?.
I just don't really get all of this stuff, I'm a beginner and all of this is new to me (and to be honest the information is a bit overwhelming).
Please help me and focus me, I just want to get started quickly and start practicing
.
I understand that I need to practice one hour per day 5-6 days per week in order to improve faster, and I'm up to that.
I understand that there are audio workouts and I need to practice with them, but I they are only 34 minutes and not an hour so what do I do?
I read the audio workouts part in the PDF file that is in the volume 1 folder and it says there that there are 2 different workouts, which I don't understand half of the stuff that is written in those two parts section. I try my best to understand but when I just don't know what to do and how to practice, for example:
''Start to “hand off” the chest voice into the head voice where you feel comfortable.''
Ken says in the videos that we shouldn't work on our head voice right now and we need to do chest voice and strengthen it. but if I need to “hand off” the chest voice into the head voice where I feel comfortable, in which audio part? How do I know when to hand it off and things like that?.
One more thing, if I need to do 2 separate workouts do I need to do the second one also with the audio workouts part(just replay it from the beginning after I am done with the first workout)?.
I just don't really get all of this stuff, I'm a beginner and all of this is new to me (and to be honest the information is a bit overwhelming).
Please help me and focus me, I just want to get started quickly and start practicing
.
Comments
You will probably find that some of the exercises are harder for you to do well than others. You should repeat those exercises which are more difficult for you, so that you will improve on those exercises.
Otherwise, you can simply go through the audio exercises two times.
When you do the first exercises, the Lip Burbles and the Tongue Exercises, you will probably notice that your voice shifts up to a higher, softer voice when you get up higher in pitch (around E4, F, or F#). Your voice may break or yodel there, as you shift into the higher sounding voice.
That higher voice is your head voice. On the Lip Burbles and Tongue Exercise, your voice will usually automatically shift into head voice. That is normal.
When you are doing the exercises that you sing on LAH, or LAA, or EE, you should try to avoid going into head voice, and instead try to stretch your chest voice. Ken says that it's OK to experiment or "dabble" in head voice, just to get the feel of it, but for the most part you should work your chest voice up as high as you can take it.
The reason for this is that you need to build the strongest chest voice that you can. If you let your voice go into head voice, it will not grow your chest voice. You want to grow your chest voice to go as high as you can take it. It takes a long time to get the chest voice up very high. If you build a strong chest voice by stretching it, you will be able to sing much higher and stronger than you can if you give up and go into head voice.
It's OK to go into head voice whenever you do the lip burbles and the tongue exercise. Otherwise, you should avoid head voice and just stretch your chest voice as high as you can, so that your chest voice will grow.
If you do train your voice to go into head voice early, you will have more difficulty getting much range out of your chest voice. To grow a strong chest voice, you have to stretch it as high as you are able to.
After several months of stretching chest voice, and after completing Volumes 1, 2, and 3, you will be ready for the program called "Building Head Voice". At that point you will be working your head voice a LOT.
After working to build both your chest voice AND your head voice to the maximum, you will then be working to combine both into Mixed Voice. That is later on. You have a lot of work to do before you get to that.
IF you do not want to build a strong chest voice, or strong mixed voice, and only want to sing softer music like R and B, for example, then it's fine to go ahead and bridge your voice into head voice all the time. But that will keep you from being able to grow a powerful chest voice that has an extended range, or at least it makes it a much longer process. The most efficient way to proceed is as I described where you first stretch your chest voice.
There is a lot to learn. Don't feel too overwhelmed. We all had to go through getting this sorted out at the beginning. It starts to make more sense as you go along. You will do fine.
Give yourself time to get a better understanding of how this will work. You'll begin to see improvements in your voice that you will really like.
Get started doing the workouts and things will begin to make more sense to you.
All the Best!
Bob
So just to make it clear for me:
I will practice one hour, 5-6 days a week on the audio workouts:
Each hour I will do all the audio workouts twice so it will count as on hour, and in the exercises I'll focus on the chest voice only and try to stretch it.
Is that correct?
And 2 more question (I hope that it's OK to ask this stuff
1. I tried 3 or 4 audio workouts yesterday (I remember that I did the first ones in the play list: the Lip Burbles, the Tongue and 1 or 2 exercises that came afterwords), and I tried to do it in the chest voice only, but I didn't felt that my voice broke, yodel or shifted to a higher voice.
I tried to hit the notes and I did go high all the way. Is that normal?
2. I don't know when the E4, F, or F# come in the exercises. How do I know?
E4, F4, or F#4 are common places for many males' vocal break to occur. Yours may be within that range or lower, or higher. Each individual has their own location for the passaggios.
You say you are not feeling a break. That's fine. Many students have a hard time avoiding the vocal break. They would love to trade voices with you.
All the Best!
Bob
You rock!
You don't disregard Ken's emphasis to do the exercises lightly, but you do have to add a little bit of volume in order to avoid going straight into head voice. You aren't disregarding his instructions, you are interpreting them to adapt to what you are doing.
He didn't say be so quiet that you can't sing in chest. He said do it lightly, and start out light, and add volume as you are able (lean into it a little more and a little more). Yes, exactly, you use just enough volume to avoid the break AND to remain in chest. Stretch, don't strain. Don't blast. Work on the notes and the air and the volume. Use just enough pressure to accomplish this. You have to find the right balance for your own voice. Keep trying. You'll find it.
All the Best!
Bob
In Vol 1 in the manual on page 11 at the bottom Ken says to "do the workouts twice. One time, Stretching your Chest Voice. One more time, bridging into Head Voice".
You explained beautifully how to do the first round and that we are to stretch and stop prior to head voice. But on the second time thru do we sing softer and allow ourselves to go into Head Voice. And if so do we stop there or continue up in head voice? (I think Ken mentioned singing the second round softer).
FYI....I have a difficult time going out of Chest voice so I feel it is important I understand how the two times thru the exercises differ from each other.
Thanks in advance.