Carrying weight

jordan_beats

Hi guys

I've been practicing through volumes 1 and 2 and I seem to carry too much weight as I go up in pitch. I understand that at the passagio it's a case of altering vowels and air pressure but I seem to struggle with that flip. I end up either pulling chest and with it too much weight, which causes me to "break", or I end up easing up too much on the sound which makes the passagio sound weak or sometimes breathy.

Is it a case of strengthening the right muscles and disengaging the wrong ones with exercise, or is a case of how you think of the sound and where you place it?

If I start with head voice and go down, the head voice feels better placed and the bridging not as squeezed, but going up it feels like I choke at the bridge and end up with a larynxy head voice.

I'm just waiting for that aha moment when it all comes together.

highmtn

You have to reduce the volume to get the voice to bridge smoothly. Once you get it to smoothly transition, you can take note of exactly the feelings of engaging the transition and learn to replicate that smooth exchange of registrations.

Then you have to very gradually build the ability to add volume, very slowly and gently, until you learn to keep that balance, even at full volume. That all takes a little bit of time.

The passaggio is always there. You just learn how to finesse your way through it, and it stops being such a stumbling block.

It's a lot like learning to drive a stick shift vehicle. You coordinate between two different vocal registers, and learn to do so smoothly. After you learn it, it's not a problem. It's a feel that you develop for it.

bentk

In your chest stretching there is also an area where you kind of cross the passaggio, around the first vowel mod. So on Ah -> Ooh. You kind of shift gears in your throat/soft pallet. Keep the sound bright, and don't push with your throat, let your support carry the weight. If you are beginning, try to carry very little weight. Let the voice thin out and resonate when going higher. Good resonance and tone is always better than more weight and bad tone/resonance.

Good singing to you

jordan_beats

Thanks for the comments guys, it seems to be a case of practice makes perfect, but practicing the right habits. I seem to do better with exercises than with actual singing.

By the way, what do you guys think of this guy? What he is calling head resonance sounds to me that it is still in chest register and not so much going into head resonance, am I right? I can't see how he would sing an Ian Gillan song without having to ascend into his higher register.

X Sorry but you can't post links to other vocal methods hereX

bentk

Practice does make perfect. Don't worry if the exercises go better than the singing for now. Applying it to singing is another part of the journey. It's good to try and sing songs, maybe not extreme songs to start with. Get a feel for it, try and apply the vowel mods and check if you support well, are not pushing your throat etc. All the signs Ken describes.

I got really frustrated at times, because i go quite high in my exercises, but struggled to sing in my higher range. There were multiple things that went wrong, and slowly i started to remove bad habits and take more control of my voice with the right technique. Now i have improved tremendously.

The exercises are the foundation of your singing, but during singing there are some things you need to keep in mind and implement. Check out the PRO VIDEOS section, both the DIVA and DUDES videos are great information. The videos with Adam really helped me a lot.
They are a valuable addition to the course.

Be patient, never lose focus. When frustration kicks in, take a rest. Watch some videos of Ken etc. and try again when you're up for it. However, don't take weeks of. It's good to fill your week with 4-5 singing workouts.

Good singing to you mate,

Ben

KevinGrem

You are struggling with the toughest challenge every singer has to face. Building that connection between the registers takes years of proper training. Don't give up.