Hey all
_DT
Member Posts: 4
Hey all, im new here at ktva.(I apolagyse for my poor speling)
im 27 years old from new zealand,have been playing guitar and bass for around 10 years and i also wright my own songs the music and lyrics. but i dont consider my self a singer ive never had any lessons,But thats what i hope will change.for me i have never sung above speaking volume and so i lack power and meatieness which i have always dreamd to have.my range also lacks i think because i have never maneged to tap into my head voice whenever i tried it always whent extremly off key and tone.
ive just bought volume 1 yesterday and have spent around 6-8 hours on it so far.mostly just working on posture, diaphragmatic breathing, rib cage expansion, the lip roll and the tounge exsersise. its actuly amazsing to find out so meny bad habits i already possesed. and even though its only been not even half a days worth i can see a slight diffrence with power mostly because of the change in suport i think.so i cant hardly wait to see were 6 mounths of practising this will take me.
i dabled in the open throat and the vowl sounds though i was woundering what people mean when they say you over youse constanent sounds i found alot of thoughs comments in erlyer posts in this forem.
other then that i cant wait to get fully involved in this forum so hi.
also i will be buying the other dvds lol i just wanted to buy them as i go so i dont get ahead of my self so i actualy take my time to improve rather then rush through it all.and do you think its importent to do a session with ken before moving on to each volume.
Comments
_DT,
Welcome to KTVA! Although you're new to singing, the good news is that you probably have fewer bad habits to hold you back from learning to do things right!
Pay very close attention to exactly what Ken says and shows you about opening up your throat for "It's the LAH! AH!" It's a short demo, but very important! From now on, you need to position your throat open like this for all vowels, because all vowels hinge off of the AH! The AH is the most vertical open vowel, and then the AA, and the EE become progressivlely more Horizontal, but just as wide open.
You'll find out later that the OOH also is an adaptation of the Open AH.
Because the AH (and all other Open Throat Vowels) are SO OPEN, this is why we need to learn to turn down the normal emphasis that we use in speaking consonants. All consonants are a closure of some sort. B, K, D, T, TH, Bw, Z, etc, ALL involve closing the lips or taking the tongue and stopping the airflow sound to make another abrupt closure sound. Even the "H" and the "S" involve some opposition to the airflow.
This stopping of, or closure of the sound gets us away from the Open Throat. We have to re-establish Open Throat after every closing-down action. By lightly pronouncing consonants, or even slurring past them (without making it obvious) we are able to maintain that constant AH! foundation on a continuous basis.
Ken refers to some of this being like ventriloquism. When I was a kid, I got a ventriloquist dummy for Christmas one year. It came with a little book, a two page article on "How to be a ventriloquist." I remember the author (Paul Winchell) talked about trying to minimize lip movement by smiling all the time, and maintain jaw position to keep people from seeing you move your mouth. He suggested replacing hard consonants like P with softer consonants like G, to minimize lip movement. So the example of "Glease continue" was given to substitute for "Please continue."
In KTVA, we also de-emphasize consonants, not to make it look like our lips aren't moving, but in order to keep a solid and continuous "Tube of Air" feeling coming from our throats. As long as we feel this Open Tube of Air coming through in our AH, our AA, our OOH, and our EEE, we are helping to maintain Open Throat. The less interruption of this Open Throat from Consonants, the better, because we have to recover the open throat position Every Time we shut it down for a consonant.
Common language and singing involves Constant Consonants on a Continuous Basis. We need to learn to look at ways of making our consonants more transparent and our Open Throat More Consistent, More Constant, and Less Consonant.
Nice to meet you,
_DT
thanx for that awsom explanation that made it alot clearer for me. nice to meet you to.
i think im geting there spent a few more hours on it today and its become a little easyer i know i got a long way to go though.
is it just me or am i acualy going to lose alot of weight doing the diaphram exisisess.
_DT,
You know, there are a lot of really great singers who have a lot of girth. The larger the girth, the more diaphragmatic area you have. You are probably feeling your diaphragm ache a little like any muscle does when you use it more than you ever have before. This is normal, and will subside as your diaprhagm strengthens.
That said, nothing is wrong with working out a lot on your vocal exercises, and possibly doing more aerobics to help with your singing and your general health.
Bob
yeah its starting to ache a little for me so i shouldnt be woried about it aching so its normal.
is it true that the fiter/healther you are the more stamina you will have during singing
or does that have to do with the diaphram.
_DT,
Being healthy is ALWAYS a good idea. Personally I run (uphill) every week. Miles and miles. You don't have to do that, but it definitely will build your diaphragmatic stamina to do any aerobic exercise. You still need to do Vocal diaphragmatic exercises like the HA-HA scales in order to develop the right set of muscles. You also need to connect with your diaphragmatic engine while singing. It does no good to do diaphragmatic exercises and then go on to sing and forget about the belly breaths and chest expansion.
Bob