Hi Happy New Year
katwhite
Pro Posts: 4
Hi I'm Kath. Just ordered the Pro set (am downloading as we speak!). I've sung as a kid / teen in school & church choirs and choral society. In my 20s and 30s basically stopped singing in public until I joined rock choir just for fun in my 40's.
Never had any singing lessons, always had problems with the top end of my range with my throat closing up. Now 5 years since joining RC my RC colleagues are nagging me that it must be my turn to try out for a solo and ...... I'm nowhere near ready to sing a solo, we had a couple of long sets before christmas (like 1 hour constant singing at the top end of my current range which isnt enough) which left me feeling tired and worried about the damage sustained singing without training could be doing to my voice.
So I gave myself an xmas pressie of Ken Tamplin and am planning to slowly work through the lessons little and often to start with re-learning how to breathe, how to relax, etc. Worst case scenario I preserve my ability to sing as long as I continue enjoying it. Best case scenario I might end up strong enough to solo (luckily I can already sing in tune - currently that seems to be my main contribution to my chohir section - the ability to sing in tune which keeps them in tune).
I'm looking forward to seeing how much my voice can improve over the coming months.
Kat
Never had any singing lessons, always had problems with the top end of my range with my throat closing up. Now 5 years since joining RC my RC colleagues are nagging me that it must be my turn to try out for a solo and ...... I'm nowhere near ready to sing a solo, we had a couple of long sets before christmas (like 1 hour constant singing at the top end of my current range which isnt enough) which left me feeling tired and worried about the damage sustained singing without training could be doing to my voice.
So I gave myself an xmas pressie of Ken Tamplin and am planning to slowly work through the lessons little and often to start with re-learning how to breathe, how to relax, etc. Worst case scenario I preserve my ability to sing as long as I continue enjoying it. Best case scenario I might end up strong enough to solo (luckily I can already sing in tune - currently that seems to be my main contribution to my chohir section - the ability to sing in tune which keeps them in tune).
I'm looking forward to seeing how much my voice can improve over the coming months.
Kat
Comments
Follow Ken's instructions, and come here if you get stuck or want to bounce something off of other singers.
It really helps, if you've been a self-taught singer, to finally have some instructions to follow. It's also very helpful if you've been taught incorrect information, to leave that at the door, and come in as a blank slate, ready to learn.
Welcome!
Bob
Already I can feel things that I need to change about how I sing - tense muscles mainly where I can feel if I relaxed them I would probably get another couple of notes higher.
One question - as I get to the max of my range do I skip down an octave and carry on, or just sing the notes I can sing and leave out the ones I cant get to yet.
And omg I am struggling with the lip roll (dont know why i thought an ex trumpet player would be ok at lip rolls but it is a different technique and I am struggling to keep my lips relaxed enough as i head up towards the top of my range - they bloody tighten like I am playing the trumpet in increasing scales).
Regarding your question, you when stretching chest voice, and you can't sing any higher, you can skip ahead to the next place that is within your range.
Make sure you aren't starting the scales an octave high to begin with. If that's the case, you may not be starting low enough. Just don't strain to sing higher.
You should also be doing the exercises twice through. One time stretching chest and resisting going into head voice. Another time through you should allow your voice to go into head voice and work on bridging and connecting your registers.
The lip roll can take a while to get. It actually took me a few years. Now I can do them effortlessly. I figured out that I was just too tense in the facial muscles, including the area around the lips. Also I was too wide with the area I tried to burble. I find it easiest to just burble the central part of the lips. That keeps a small stream of air that is easy to relax with, and allow to flap the lips.
It's not a deal-killer if you can't do the lip trills, but they are a great exercise, especially for connecting chest and head. So keep trying but don't let it frustrate you. You'll have an AHA moment if you keep experimenting. Low volume, relaxed facial areas, great support with a downward push.
Bob
Your question has already mostly been answered, but for the lip rolls it might be an idea to check out the PRO basics videos for dudes or divas in the PRO VIDEOS section in the forum. At least in the Basics Dudes videos, the lip roll is very well analysed.
Try not to get frustrated with the lip rolls too much, you will get there.
Cheers,
Ben
good luck
ciao
Martin