Losing voice or connecting properly

rayven1lk
rayven1lk Member Posts: 31
edited April 2012 in Off Topic
Hey guys,

i'm on volume two and have been on the program for almost 4 months...so some strange stuff has been going on with my voice since the beginning of the week...i've noticed a higher tendency for my voice to flip into head although i sound more connected, i'm not sure if its coz before i've been pushing my voice unhealthily to get there before...

also now when i do my LAH's, LA (as in flat) and EEs i don't get that airy sensation that comes from falsetto, but it just sounds smoother overall

here's the part that worries me though, I do the exercises meant for pure chest and now that I think about how I used to do it before last week, i might have realised that I was pushing back then (again maybe unhealthily) and now feel like i'm connecting which feels kinda strange although I sound a little more like I'm breaking and some of the notes today were a little harder to get to probably because I might be pushing too much air since I'm not used to this new sensation. So when my voice breaks it kinda sounds like when I don't connect properly on the lighter exercises and just lose the whole note. moreover it feels like I'm dropping weight when I go up towards the passagio too...

after the workout I took a half an hour break and started singing some of my usual clean songs and decided to try a few pantera songs like cowboys from hell, i'm broken and the art of shredding, and today i felt a lot less tension when singing up those notes [and new notes too :)] compared to before and feel like i might have been shouting those notes in the past, but now most of that tension is gone. And I can definitely feel a connection...its like doing the light exercises but a much stronger feeling although I still sound chesty (is this the mix?)

So i'm jus worried and want to make sure if you guys have experienced something like this...does this sound like i'm losing my voice or am I realising how to drop the weight at the passagio? and is the breaking a result of a not strong enough headvoice to support the chest in there?

I got a battle of the bands at college tomorrow, so this has been really on my mind haha thanks
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Answers

  • highmtn
    highmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,048
    edited April 2012

    rayven1lk,

    If you were pushing too much previously, you may have what I refer to as a "hole" in your range.  It seems that the upper mids are fragile and the first part of the voice to lose when you overdo it.  It will come back if you give it a rest, but it takes a while to recover.   Try to remember to spare your voice from being overblown.  Once you realize it is happening, it may be too late and you'll have to recover. 

    You may have a tendency to push at your passagio when you have a loss of upper midrange.  This will make your voice flip at the bridge.  If you are flipping, you are using too much air pressure and need to ease off until it smooths out.

    If you are noticing that your head voice is sounding more "connected" maybe you mean it is beginning to develop a stronger tone?  Connected usually means no flip at the passagio, but as your head voice grows stronger, it will grow in tone and sound more like chest, which means you are making progress.  

    You may want to do some passagio connection-building sliders.  They're very helpful to use for practicing smoothing out the speed bump.

    Use a little discretion to avoid blowing out your midrange by pushing too much too soon.  Three to four months is a good start, but it takes a long time to build up your body to do all of the things your are trying to teach it to do.  You will get there, and you are on your way.  Just don't get in such a hurry to get there that your voice can't keep up with your aspirations!  Give it time and keep up the good work!  The notes will come.

    Bob 

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  • rayven1lk
    rayven1lk Member Posts: 31
    hey bob thanks for the reply, so you think i'm losing my upper midrange here? it just happened so suddenly which is what really surprised me. and what do u think recovery consists of?

    and speaking of the "hole"...its like when i head towards the upper mids its just this feeling i get that my voice is trying to connect and sound chesty but its like trying to connect with head at a volume thats too loud for me at times which is why my voice kinda breaks and then i almost get this squeaky/whistly tone out of it...but then I took a 2-min break and today I hit a chesty A4 which barely gave me any tension

    in the videos ken talks about pulling chest...does it sound like i'm at the beginning stages of what pulling chest truly is and the muscles required for my voice are beginning to understand this process and just need some time and effort to develop into something bigger? if it helps, when I did the full chest exercises, towards the F#, i would notice my eyes pretty much headed up to the ceiling which rings as a sign that I might be pushing it too hard

    thanks for the encouragement
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  • voodoo
    voodoo Pro Posts: 250
    As always, Bob has some excellent info here based on what you've described. With of the many things that you've listed it could more than one factor at play. At four months, diaphragmatic support is possibly not as strong or consistent as it needs to be and lack of support is another possibility why you fall into head early.

    One other possibility is if you are not doing the vowel mods at the right places in relation to your current true register or maybe not enunciating a mod correctly. Maybe when you can, post an audio clip which would help to eliminate any analysis that may not be applicable to what you're doing.

    It does sound like you're going in the right direction, you have to "let go" (open throat) and then find the way to control it. A strange feeling means its different than the way your muscles remember doing it before, this is a good sign as you have to break and then forget old habits. Less tension in chest and mids is always good. Also remember that not every day is going to be a great workout as far as how you sound, range, etc. Everyone has those days, but the further along you get the variance in your performance during those bad days decreases.

    Good luck in the competition. Ken had a series of posts on the KTVA twitter on how to prepare for contests. Lots of great tips that you may want to look at. https://mobile.twitter.com/#!/KTVocalAcademy
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  • highmtn
    highmtn Administrator, Moderator, Enrolled, Pro, 3.0 Streaming Posts: 15,048

    Good feedback, voodoo.  Your advice is always right on the money!

    raven1lk can sure cover a lot of territory in a short post, but it shows that he's eager to learn and ready to put in the time and effort.

    raven1lk, voodoo is right about his suggestion that if you provide a link to some examples, then we can give you more focused advice, that will be tailored to what we hear in your voice, rather than what we think you might be doing with your voice.  A voice is difficult to type about, especially if you haven't heard it.

    We're glad to help you along the way, raven.  With your desire to improve, it is a matter of certainty that you will do what it takes to get there!

    Bob

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  • rayven1lk
    rayven1lk Member Posts: 31
    hey guys,

    so as of y'day I can really feel a change in the way i'm producing notes when headed into passagio...its like when I go to the high note on the scale, I can feel the weight drop a lot and its like the sound gets more focused or pointed if that makes any sense...i was definitely maintaining the open throat too (was lookin at the webcam), and now I'm beginning to understand the support sensation a little bit, it actually made me feel a tiny bit dizzy when I was doing some of the songs lightly haha, I can definitely feel how it helps with dropping the weight and relieving throat and neck tension. Basically I think the proper techniques just decided to creep up on me and stay there haha

    @bob, sry about the information overload haha, like I said before, it was the week of this competition and I was just freaking out because my voice started changing on me. And you're right, sometimes I expect things to happen too quickly...

    @voodoo, thanks for the link to the posts about the contests...and I'll try to get a recording done soon so you guys could hear whats really going on lol
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