I feel like I've learned more about singing in the few weeks since I've found your channel than in the 4 years I've been singing and watching other videos
Had the most weird experience. Ive been stressing about mixed voice for weeks now, but this morning whilst working I was singing to some Radiohead with a straw, and the mixed sensation came to me. Granted it sounds fucking ugly atm, I still have that mix, and you were definitely right in it sounding lighter than people expect Calder ❤
@@sugar172 brilliant!! This sounds very positive. Keep going in that direction. Less is more, this is such a true statement when it comes to singing. Thanks for the comment
@@sugar172 Yeah that’s your bridge right there . This is THE hardest part of the voice, those few notes are in a world of their own. The muscles are trying to balance themselves between front and back, it will always be the weakest area of the voice, and the resonance is trying to shift up into the head. So I’d have to see what’s going on. It could be your are gripping , it could be your TA muscles are holding on too much (associated with chest voice, at front of larynx) it could be it’s swollen. …. You probably need to let go, take , like 50% of the volume away, try to go lighter . This part of the voice can become stronger and more sure of itself . But we have to work out what’s going on
This actually just helped me solve my vocal fold closure issues.. i think, at least for now, hopefully it is not a momentaty thing, i feel like i can now open my throat and also still get a very connected tone, not just hollow and soft.. will oractice this alot the next weeks and see if i can get into mix aswell! I love these videos, you do a good job of it! My issue is i use my tongue to narrow the space to get a harder tone. Not closing the folds.. creaking sounds and noticing my tongue and trying to open my vocal tract up while still mamaging to make the fry creaking sound made me realise i can sepparate the two! Amazing😁
When going up into the head voice area, I have to use a lot of support to prevent the tone from cracking (doesn't have to sing loud, but a lot of support). Is this how it should be, or should I be able to do go up without support when doing the door squeek exercise?
@@eldeberryhamster well I’d have to see what you were doing to really tell, but things should be able to stay pretty relaxed and easy feeling ideally, generally. You may be over squeezing and over using the support but I’d have to see…
Yes! This exercise helped me the most with reaching higher notes with ease and no neck straining. Along with having a smooth transition from chest to head voice. Would you say mixed voice is just a segment in your range like in the middle of chest and head? Or is mixed voice a placement or resonance spot? Like singing into the back of your throat or behind your teeth? Maybe a combination of those? Idk
Mix voice is both a muscle balance and a resonance thing . So the muscles that pull and stretch the cords towards the back of your throat must be allowed to pull back and do their job, too much bracing with the muscles at the front of the larynx will get in the way and cause strain. Holding on to chest voice too much… So we have to ease off those front chest voice muscles and gradually allow the muscles the back to pull back but without completely letting go. If you completely let go you will flip into a falsetto. At the same time as this muscle balance thing is occurring - say, as you rise up through a scale pattern, the resonance is shifting too, the resonance starts to go back and back and then up to the soft palate and over the hill and into nasal cavity, roof of mouth, behind teeth kind of territory. Training will help you feel this as it begins to shift and notice how you may be getting in the way of your own voice or where resistance and tension is creeping in, or you let go and it breaks . So we must lift and help the resonance shift like this, at the same time as the muscles start to blend. Both things occur , so we can work on these different things separately a little in different ways. Eventually you get the whole thing happening at once and can manipulate it how you want
Great video. I am starting to believe that mixed voice basically "only" means being able to keep the vocal folds together at any pitch (as opposed to only being able to sing with cord closure in the "chesty" / speaking area) and without having to rely on a lot of volume to keep the vocal folds together. We are used to speaking and also shouting / crying which is actually not that difficult, even babys do it in a way. What are your thoughts on this view?
@@tobiaswolf6630 well I think I know what you mean. If when you get higher up you end up in falsetto , which is breathy and lacks cord closure, then this makes sense. It’s a little more than that tho as it’s also about retaining a little bit of the strength of chest voice. So you get a mix of both. It also relates to how it resonates in the body. Cord closure is a great place to start in a sense though. This creaky door sound maintains that closure throughout
@@singingmatterscalder I had forgotten about the other end of the spectrum - pressed phonation/ too much pressure on the vocal folds (?). Thanks again and keep up the great work.
Hi Calder. Just found your videos. Thanks for making the effort to pass on what you've learnt to the wider community. Can I ask if you have any understanding on how to break down that habit of the larynx rising up into your dam mouth every time your range starts to rise up above an E4, (when I say 'your', I'm talking about myself). I've tried 'yawning', and 'hooting', but I just can't seem to break down this engrained habit of my larynx automatically being pulled up by the ? muscles as my pitch rises up anywhere above a C4, which becomes worse as volume is applied. Any advice would be great. thanks Calder.
Hi there, yes you can train yourself to sing a kind of dopey sound . Where you massively lower the larynx. The yawn may not quite do it enough , so a silly ‘dopey’ voice is a way to start lowering the larynx. But this will be way too much, but what it does do is train you to be able to move and co trio the larynx. If you can pull it too low like this, you can therefore aim to lower them a tiny bit or at least control them from rising. Certain vowels will make this harder. If have to demonstrate this in a video to make more sense. You could also try singing with your tongue out. Right out 😛 Coz it’s all attached it could be the tongue root and swallowing muscles getting involved and pulling the larynx up out of habit. It’s very frustrating but have faith you can totally train yourself out of this stuff I know you can, I’ve been there. It’s horrible in the middle of it. But it can get easier and easier as you get more control and awareness of what you feel going on. I hope it helps, I may try a video response tonight to some of these questions as I haven’t made a vid this week.
you probably push out too much air while going up your range. of course, your issue might be something else, but the first thing to look after is breath support.
@@sugar172a very good starting point is trying to sing while using the least amount of air possible, while maintaining the loudness. a very popular vocal exercise is exhaling through an sssss sound like how a deflating balloon sounds
@@jdjdjddjjdjjjdjjdj what I like to do that might help is almost whisper level door creek exercises. Then as I get comfortable with the flow of chest voice to head voice. I add more volume gradually. I just find it easier. It might help
Ok, not surprising and you’re not alone in that ! It will sound ugly, good ! Ha ha. Often training the voice is anything but pretty. It can and will improve with time, while your voice gets used to finding that balance and almost gains confidence singing on the bridge. It will get better and better if everything is set right.
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I feel like I've learned more about singing in the few weeks since I've found your channel than in the 4 years I've been singing and watching other videos
That’s such a great comment and I’m so glad it helps
Had the most weird experience. Ive been stressing about mixed voice for weeks now, but this morning whilst working I was singing to some Radiohead with a straw, and the mixed sensation came to me. Granted it sounds fucking ugly atm, I still have that mix, and you were definitely right in it sounding lighter than people expect Calder ❤
@@sugar172 brilliant!! This sounds very positive. Keep going in that direction. Less is more, this is such a true statement when it comes to singing. Thanks for the comment
@@singingmatterscalderThanks! I have one issue, in the range of Eb- A4 I can mix but it sounds really croaky/fry-like , is this common?
@@sugar172 Yeah that’s your bridge right there . This is THE hardest part of the voice, those few notes are in a world of their own. The muscles are trying to balance themselves between front and back, it will always be the weakest area of the voice, and the resonance is trying to shift up into the head. So I’d have to see what’s going on. It could be your are gripping , it could be your TA muscles are holding on too much (associated with chest voice, at front of larynx) it could be it’s swollen. …. You probably need to let go, take , like 50% of the volume away, try to go lighter . This part of the voice can become stronger and more sure of itself . But we have to work out what’s going on
@@singingmatterscalder Thanks very much 👍
I’m doing it. Love this!!! So much fun. I really need to heal my vocal chords.
YES THIS IS HELPING ME. Thank you. 🖤🎤🎵🎸
This actually just helped me solve my vocal fold closure issues.. i think, at least for now, hopefully it is not a momentaty thing, i feel like i can now open my throat and also still get a very connected tone, not just hollow and soft.. will oractice this alot the next weeks and see if i can get into mix aswell! I love these videos, you do a good job of it!
My issue is i use my tongue to narrow the space to get a harder tone. Not closing the folds.. creaking sounds and noticing my tongue and trying to open my vocal tract up while still mamaging to make the fry creaking sound made me realise i can sepparate the two! Amazing😁
This sounds really promising ! Good stuff
When going up into the head voice area, I have to use a lot of support to prevent the tone from cracking (doesn't have to sing loud, but a lot of support). Is this how it should be, or should I be able to do go up without support when doing the door squeek exercise?
@@eldeberryhamster well I’d have to see what you were doing to really tell, but things should be able to stay pretty relaxed and easy feeling ideally, generally.
You may be over squeezing and over using the support but I’d have to see…
Yes! This exercise helped me the most with reaching higher notes with ease and no neck straining. Along with having a smooth transition from chest to head voice.
Would you say mixed voice is just a segment in your range like in the middle of chest and head?
Or is mixed voice a placement or resonance spot? Like singing into the back of your throat or behind your teeth?
Maybe a combination of those? Idk
Mix voice is both a muscle balance and a resonance thing . So the muscles that pull and stretch the cords towards the back of your throat must be allowed to pull back and do their job, too much bracing with the muscles at the front of the larynx will get in the way and cause strain. Holding on to chest voice too much…
So we have to ease off those front chest voice muscles and gradually allow the muscles the back to pull back but without completely letting go.
If you completely let go you will flip into a falsetto.
At the same time as this muscle balance thing is occurring - say, as you rise up through a scale pattern, the resonance is shifting too, the resonance starts to go back and back and then up to the soft palate and over the hill and into nasal cavity, roof of mouth, behind teeth kind of territory.
Training will help you feel this as it begins to shift and notice how you may be getting in the way of your own voice or where resistance and tension is creeping in, or you let go and it breaks .
So we must lift and help the resonance shift like this, at the same time as the muscles start to blend. Both things occur , so we can work on these different things separately a little in different ways. Eventually you get the whole thing happening at once and can manipulate it how you want
Great video.
I am starting to believe that mixed voice basically "only" means being able to keep the vocal folds together at any pitch (as opposed to only being able to sing with cord closure in the "chesty" / speaking area) and without having to rely on a lot of volume to keep the vocal folds together. We are used to speaking and also shouting / crying which is actually not that difficult, even babys do it in a way. What are your thoughts on this view?
@@tobiaswolf6630 well I think I know what you mean. If when you get higher up you end up in falsetto , which is breathy and lacks cord closure, then this makes sense. It’s a little more than that tho as it’s also about retaining a little bit of the strength of chest voice. So you get a mix of both. It also relates to how it resonates in the body. Cord closure is a great place to start in a sense though. This creaky door sound maintains that closure throughout
@@singingmatterscalder I had forgotten about the other end of the spectrum - pressed phonation/ too much pressure on the vocal folds (?). Thanks again and keep up the great work.
Nice one
Thanks
Hi Calder. Just found your videos. Thanks for making the effort to pass on what you've learnt to the wider community. Can I ask if you have any understanding on how to break down that habit of the larynx rising up into your dam mouth every time your range starts to rise up above an E4, (when I say 'your', I'm talking about myself). I've tried 'yawning', and 'hooting', but I just can't seem to break down this engrained habit of my larynx automatically being pulled up by the ? muscles as my pitch rises up anywhere above a C4, which becomes worse as volume is applied. Any advice would be great. thanks Calder.
Hi there, yes you can train yourself to sing a kind of dopey sound . Where you massively lower the larynx. The yawn may not quite do it enough , so a silly ‘dopey’ voice is a way to start lowering the larynx.
But this will be way too much, but what it does do is train you to be able to move and co trio the larynx. If you can pull it too low like this, you can therefore aim to lower them a tiny bit or at least control them from rising. Certain vowels will make this harder.
If have to demonstrate this in a video to make more sense.
You could also try singing with your tongue out. Right out 😛
Coz it’s all attached it could be the tongue root and swallowing muscles getting involved and pulling the larynx up out of habit.
It’s very frustrating but have faith you can totally train yourself out of this stuff I know you can, I’ve been there.
It’s horrible in the middle of it. But it can get easier and easier as you get more control and awareness of what you feel going on.
I hope it helps, I may try a video response tonight to some of these questions as I haven’t made a vid this week.
i still keep cracking as i go up my range :(
you probably push out too much air while going up your range. of course, your issue might be something else, but the first thing to look after is breath support.
@@jdjdjddjjdjjjdjjdj I feel like I am breathing through my diaphragm, what else would I need to do to fix this?
@@sugar172a very good starting point is trying to sing while using the least amount of air possible, while maintaining the loudness. a very popular vocal exercise is exhaling through an sssss sound like how a deflating balloon sounds
@@jdjdjddjjdjjjdjjdj thank you very much, I will try this
@@jdjdjddjjdjjjdjjdj what I like to do that might help is almost whisper level door creek exercises. Then as I get comfortable with the flow of chest voice to head voice. I add more volume gradually.
I just find it easier. It might help
Day 1 of actual practice: got the blend sorted still sounds ugly
Ok, not surprising and you’re not alone in that ! It will sound ugly, good ! Ha ha. Often training the voice is anything but pretty. It can and will improve with time, while your voice gets used to finding that balance and almost gains confidence singing on the bridge. It will get better and better if everything is set right.