I can't thank you enough for teaching us this incredible technique. It was one of those OMG moments when I practiced the exercises; they literally changed my voice almost instantly from sounding flat to on pitch. Singing became effortless for the first time! You are a fantastic teacher. Thanks again!
Love how you include how to treat your voice in the mindset of live performance or mixing. Something for every instrumentalist or vocalist to think about is how your instrument fits within the mix, and what frequencies you should be taking up.
The more I watch your videos, the more I respect you. You are doing such a great service for all of us here and I can safely say that I wouldn't be half the vocalist I am today without your lessons. So thank, thank you a million times over!
I agree, Jeff is amazing and like so many of you he has helped me so much, and I'm a trained full time pro singer for more than 30 years... Please don't forget to support him financially through one of his methods.. Since his work is what keeps us vocally healthy, it's the least we can do. I Paypal him a simple $10 every so often, (something most of us can afford) surely every time I feel his teaching has pushed me further. Don't mean to rant, I just know how good we have it... thank you Jeff Rolka!!!
Thank you so much for that Chris. I always appreciate your contributions and thank you for advocating for me here in this public forum. Thank you again, and I hope all is well in your neck of the woods! Best, Jeff
For me, this is the hardest part of singing. Balancing the chest voice with the nasally/head voice. It changes like you said, depending on the genera and even the song. It is very easy to "overdue" it.
Totally. Very easy to slip to either side of it, singing too brightly or with too much darkness. Keep me up to date on how it works for you. All the best, Jeff
Perfect! As soon as you said 2Khz I knew why I perceive my voice sounding better more forward. In dense Rock/Electronic songs that I make the 2K region is the sweet spot for vocals to cut through the mix, and in mixing we tend to carve out a little space in other instruments to let the vocal sit well in a dense track. Thank you!
My pleasure! Exactly! I forgot that engineers will talk about it in those terms. 2-5k depending on the vocalist to make it pop. Those are the same frequencies that the 'singer's formant' pushes. Enjoy! Jeff
@@JeffRolka You made a good point about genres in that video, opera singers don't compete with electric guitars and synthesizers. Anyhow, I appreciate your knowledge and videos!
my dad is vvv experienced singer who tries to help me with songs i practice bc we don’t have money for voice lessons for me anymore (i took them for a while though and a year or so in choir), but sometimes he gives me notes and tips that i just don’t understand. one of those recently was singing more in the mask. this has been really helpful thank you
Words can’t describe how good you are at teaching , the examples you give are perfect and I totally get it. Love working out my voice to your videos, in fact I only go back to your videos. Thank you so much.
I have only just listened to this one Jeff. Of course I have heard "singing into the mask" so many times, but it has never been explained the way you have dealt with it. It is only 10.20am here and I don't sing in a morning, but I shall try this out in my afternoon session. I was prompted to listen to this because I first looked at your latest video regarding mask singing, so it is making sense to me already, and I look forward to adding this to my overflowing list of techniques, courtesy of you! See you later.
Thank you, Diane! Let me know how it goes! Indeed, the term 'mask singing' gets thrown around an awful lot without much explanation. I hope that I've shed some light on it all! Best, Jeff
You explain these subjects so well. I am begining to understand! I strugle with consistency in songs. Everytime is different because I don't really know what I'm doing. Thank you so much. I'm finding this very useful.
Excellent! I try to explain things as best as I can in the hopes that it will resonate. The consistency will come with continued practice that focuses on the alignment of your vowels. That will go a long way to stabilizing your performance in songs. Keep it up! Thank you for watching! Jeff
Question! I speak very nasally which I don't like in my singing voice which I am exploring. This exercise helped me to become aware of the movement of sound and breath and anatomy etc. But do I want to incorporate mask resonance when I want to sound much less like my nasal speaking voice? Thank you!!!
Thanks for your question! Some amount of mask resonance is necessary in our 'finished' vocal timbre. Awareness is key in these exercises as different genres use more or less mark resonance. So with your increased awareness of how the resonators affect your vocal sound, you can remove a bit of that nasality when you're singing so as not to emulate your speaking voice. Great question! All the best, Jeff
Hi Jeff, thanks for this video that I am now just watching. 2 questions really: 1. It does help me achieve singing on my mask by crying on pitch (correct me if Im wrong on this one), much like the 'nay nay nay' exercise. 2. The issue I'm running with this is that depending on the key and pitch of the song, it gives a different sensation by that I mean the tension and push that is needed to sustain a line of a song. My theory is that the lower the pitch is the less nasal or that crying on pitch is needed but still singing on the mask. Thanks a lot!
Hello! Thanks for your question! In brief: 1. Can do. That's another way of achieving the same result. Some folks will respond better to that sort of exercise. Both are not the end result, however, just a means to experience the sensation of the resonance. It has to be integrated into your concept of vowel alignment to get the best overall balance and control. 2. Different areas of our voice respond differently. More or less can be largely genre dependent - musical theatre in general uses more overall, classical, a bit less. If it's changing dramatically throughout your range, that might be alright, but it could also be an indication that your vowel alignment isn't consistent. You'll have to listen and evaluate. Great question! Jeff
Thank you Jeff for making this agility exercise, it is just what I needed to fit into my voice exercises repertoire. An exercise that is short but effective. I will definitely make this my voice exercise routine. I know you have another agility exercise video, but I believe I like this one better. I will start contributing to your channel. Please keep doing what you do, and don’t stop. You are the best so far that I’ve found on RUclips. ❤️❤️❤️ Note: This was supposed to be for the agility voice exercise, however I will leave the comment here.
Hello Angelica! Thank you so much for your kind words! I appreciate it! Enjoy the channel - there's quite a bit of agility practice nestled into it! All the best! Jeff
I'm afraid not, at least by definition. In practical usage, however, I can see how one might use those terms interchangeably. Mask resonance is synonymous with singer's formant, or brilliance in vocal production. Pharyngeal voice, by definition, is referring to the practice of balancing out vocal sound between registers to achieve voce piena in testa, the sound of chest voice in head. Mask resonance, or singer's formant, is an aspect of pharyngeal voice practice. I hope that helps! Jeff
Mike Patton would disagree w no one wants that nasal sound…😂 🐸 Brilliant! Thank you! The “hung” tip worked! I can never get the feeling in my nasal area. I can resonate my old house windows…but idk enough about singing…it feels like it’s coming from my lungs
Great lesson, Jeff. Are you still doing the interactive lessons from England ? If so, what day and time? I’m located on the west coast of the US and I think the time difference is 8 hours. I’m a retired Classical Guitar teacher with a great deal of appreciation for your teaching techniques, and passionate
Hello Ron! Thank you for your kind message! I still teach and would be happy to talk with you about it. If you send a message via my website www.jeffrolka.com/connect-2 we can get everything sorted! Thank you for being here! Jeff
Question, when I sing in the mask, should I keep my soft palate raised? I find it hard to use the "mask" when I'm singing with a raised soft palate. Is there like a sweet spot? Is it impossible to sing in mask with a raised soft palate? Thank you !!
Thank you very much for a very good lesson, Jeff! I really like the way you are explaining . I would like to ask you if you could make a video about breathing. Diaphragm and etc. Maybe some exercises. Finely I start getting what is about. I just need to train my self so it will seat in my body. So if you have any tips you want to shear. I will appreciate very much. If it is already existing I will look through your videos again.. Thank you !
You're welcome! Thank you for watching! I'm going to answer your question here: ruclips.net/video/SlDKfYsKZ18/видео.html If you can't watch live you can watch the explanation and exercises afterwards. RUclips will publish it as a standard video! Thanks for a great question! Jeff
Hi Jeff, Should we practice your vowel alignment vocal exercises with mask resonance across our whole range or higher chest range? Is this same for the mixed register? I’ve been practicing the ng sound but don’t apply the feeling/ sing in the mask doing vowels. Thank you!
@@JeffRolka thank you! I forgot to mention in terms of mixed voice, I mean the transition from TA muscle to CT (passagio). I definitely feel more resonance within the eye area at this point and the more CT dominant I go, the sensation travels to the skull area. 👍🏽
So I just worked on "the mask" here and my, does it work! I know how important it is now, so once again, thank you Jeff. Just moving on to your latest "mask" video now.
I have a question.....I sing in the mask a lot just because it gives me a thicker sound and it is how I was trained. How do you use it in your head voice.
Great question! Those resonances are crucial in the zona di passaggio and above the secondo passaggio in order for us to sound in tune. The higher overtones make that possible. They are also a good indication that we are not over-using the thyroarytenoid dominant singing voice muscles (chest voice). That is somewhat of a chicken and egg situation. We need to cultivate release of the vocal fold in order to allow for that resonance - and the presence of that resonance is a good indication that we're cultivating release of the vocal fold and surrounding muscle tissue. Best! Jeff
Another great video thank you. I have a question though. I do these exercises but I never feel any of the sympathetic vibrations in any area in the "mask" from inside my body. If i gently put my fingers on and around my nose I can feel vibrations but I can not feel any once I open up the ng sound into a vowel. Is there a physiological thing going on here? Or am I possibly doing something wrong? I will also say that even when I am doing the ng sound I don't feel much ring at all. TYIA
Thank you and thank you for watching! The response from your nose pinching sounds as if things are quite well aligned. Physical sensations are largely subjective, what one person feels in their mask another may not. I don't personally feel a ton of sensation there when I have more ring in my voice, but what sensations there are I've learned to associate with that sound. In your practice, try recording yourself and listening to see if you have the amount of mask resonance that you want or that is appropriate to the genre you're singing. If it is not enough, try pinching your nose again, but trying to direct a little more air that direction and notice if/when the fingers feel more vibrations. Record again and see if there is a difference. I hope that helps! Jeff
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
35 years later, college, grad school, countless RUclips instructors later... and I find this guy. Thank you for making content
Thank you Paul! You're very welcome! Enjoy the videos and may they serve you well!
Jeff
I can't thank you enough for teaching us this incredible technique. It was one of those OMG moments when I practiced the exercises; they literally changed my voice almost instantly from sounding flat to on pitch. Singing became effortless for the first time! You are a fantastic teacher. Thanks again!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! Thank you for watching and enjoy the channel!
Jeff
I watched almost all videos on youtube regarding singing, I practiced for hours, and can't hit a note without a tuner app in front of me
Love how you include how to treat your voice in the mindset of live performance or mixing. Something for every instrumentalist or vocalist to think about is how your instrument fits within the mix, and what frequencies you should be taking up.
The more I watch your videos, the more I respect you. You are doing such a great service for all of us here and I can safely say that I wouldn't be half the vocalist I am today without your lessons. So thank, thank you a million times over!
Thank you very much for your kind words! I really appreciate it!
Best!
Jeff
I agree, Jeff is amazing and like so many of you he has helped me so much, and I'm a trained full time pro singer for more than 30 years... Please don't forget to support him financially through one of his methods.. Since his work is what keeps us vocally healthy, it's the least we can do. I Paypal him a simple $10 every so often, (something most of us can afford) surely every time I feel his teaching has pushed me further. Don't mean to rant, I just know how good we have it... thank you Jeff Rolka!!!
Thank you so much for that Chris. I always appreciate your contributions and thank you for advocating for me here in this public forum.
Thank you again, and I hope all is well in your neck of the woods!
Best,
Jeff
@@JeffRolka You are most welcome.
This title means something way different now...
You said it. Didn't see that one coming....
Best,
Jeff
This really helped! Completely cleared the mystery of singing through my mask and made it easy! Thank you so much!!!
For me, this is the hardest part of singing. Balancing the chest voice with the nasally/head voice. It changes like you said, depending on the genera and even the song. It is very easy to "overdue" it.
Totally. Very easy to slip to either side of it, singing too brightly or with too much darkness. Keep me up to date on how it works for you.
All the best,
Jeff
mprater86 Im late but me too.
Perfect! As soon as you said 2Khz I knew why I perceive my voice sounding better more forward. In dense Rock/Electronic songs that I make the 2K region is the sweet spot for vocals to cut through the mix, and in mixing we tend to carve out a little space in other instruments to let the vocal sit well in a dense track. Thank you!
My pleasure! Exactly! I forgot that engineers will talk about it in those terms. 2-5k depending on the vocalist to make it pop. Those are the same frequencies that the 'singer's formant' pushes.
Enjoy!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka You made a good point about genres in that video, opera singers don't compete with electric guitars and synthesizers. Anyhow, I appreciate your knowledge and videos!
phew if only you knew how much this helped me. going from “ng” to a note is the best exercise i’ve seen!! this helped so much, thank you!!!
my dad is vvv experienced singer who tries to help me with songs i practice bc we don’t have money for voice lessons for me anymore (i took them for a while though and a year or so in choir), but sometimes he gives me notes and tips that i just don’t understand. one of those recently was singing more in the mask. this has been really helpful thank you
2:14 lol I'm actually here because that's great placement for a tunnel throat scream in deathcore, Infant Annihilator is a great example of this
This is exactly what I was looking for! Thank you for the practical breakdown of these exercises.
Words can’t describe how good you are at teaching , the examples you give are perfect and I totally get it. Love working out my voice to your videos, in fact I only go back to your videos. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that! Enjoy the channel!
Jeff
Jeff is my go-to vocal instructor because he explains vocal concepts in a way that is understandable and applicable to my singing journey.
Thank you for that! I appreciate it!
Jeff
From Panamá thanks you for all your videos of baritone. Help me a lot.
I have only just listened to this one Jeff. Of course I have heard "singing into the mask" so many times, but it has never been explained the way you have dealt with it. It is only 10.20am here and I don't sing in a morning, but I shall try this out in my afternoon session. I was prompted to listen to this because I first looked at your latest video regarding mask singing, so it is making sense to me already, and I look forward to adding this to my overflowing list of techniques, courtesy of you! See you later.
Thank you, Diane! Let me know how it goes! Indeed, the term 'mask singing' gets thrown around an awful lot without much explanation. I hope that I've shed some light on it all!
Best,
Jeff
@@JeffRolka INDEED! Will be back Jeff.
i’m definitely going to practice this!
Love you Jeff!
Thanks you so much with your style of explaining this I am now comfortable and feel that sensation. Thank you.
From where I'm from we call this vocal twang. Sadolin talks about it beautifully in her Complete Vocal Technique.
You're welcome! Enjoy!
Jeff
Great video Prof. 🙏
Thank you!
thank you very much !
With patience, we can do it, thanks a lot for this lesson!
Love your channel. Hugs from Brasil!
You're very welcome Danielle! All my best to you and yours in Brasil!
Best,
Jeff
You explain these subjects so well. I am begining to understand! I strugle with consistency in songs. Everytime is different because I don't really know what I'm doing. Thank you so much. I'm finding this very useful.
Excellent! I try to explain things as best as I can in the hopes that it will resonate. The consistency will come with continued practice that focuses on the alignment of your vowels. That will go a long way to stabilizing your performance in songs. Keep it up! Thank you for watching!
Jeff
Holy crap. This helped me a lot. Thank you, new sub.
Awesome! Thank you for watching and keep me up to date on your singing!
Jeff
Make a video for mix voice please
Excellent video Jeff. You explain that so well.
Thank you!!
Jeff
Thanks man this was good!
I am 60 and I love to Sing at Nursing Homes and Making People Happy Having Happy Memories which Songs Inspire Jeff
thank you so much for this
Thankyou this really helped me🤗
THANK YOU! This is really helpful! Subscribed and liked!!
Thanks for the sub!
Can we utilized mask while belting in mix head and chest?
Sure. It’s an aspect of our vocal resonance.
Best,
Jeff
Thank you so much Jeff for your explanations ! I have never tried it before, it's really better !! Hello from France !
You're very welcome! Enjoy!
Jeff
Question! I speak very nasally which I don't like in my singing voice which I am exploring. This exercise helped me to become aware of the movement of sound and breath and anatomy etc. But do I want to incorporate mask resonance when I want to sound much less like my nasal speaking voice? Thank you!!!
Thanks for your question! Some amount of mask resonance is necessary in our 'finished' vocal timbre. Awareness is key in these exercises as different genres use more or less mark resonance. So with your increased awareness of how the resonators affect your vocal sound, you can remove a bit of that nasality when you're singing so as not to emulate your speaking voice.
Great question!
All the best,
Jeff
Greta van fleet is notorious for using a lot of mask and it sounds amazing
Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for watching!!!
Jeff
Hi Jeff, thanks for this video that I am now just watching. 2 questions really:
1. It does help me achieve singing on my mask by crying on pitch (correct me if Im wrong on this one), much like the 'nay nay nay' exercise.
2. The issue I'm running with this is that depending on the key and pitch of the song, it gives a different sensation by that I mean the tension and push that is needed to sustain a line of a song. My theory is that the lower the pitch is the less nasal or that crying on pitch is needed but still singing on the mask.
Thanks a lot!
Hello! Thanks for your question!
In brief:
1. Can do. That's another way of achieving the same result. Some folks will respond better to that sort of exercise. Both are not the end result, however, just a means to experience the sensation of the resonance. It has to be integrated into your concept of vowel alignment to get the best overall balance and control.
2. Different areas of our voice respond differently. More or less can be largely genre dependent - musical theatre in general uses more overall, classical, a bit less. If it's changing dramatically throughout your range, that might be alright, but it could also be an indication that your vowel alignment isn't consistent. You'll have to listen and evaluate.
Great question!
Jeff
Thank you Jeff for making this agility exercise, it is just what I needed to fit into my voice exercises repertoire. An exercise that is short but effective. I will definitely make this my voice exercise routine. I know you have another agility exercise video, but I believe I like this one better. I will start contributing to your channel. Please keep doing what you do, and don’t stop. You are the best so far that I’ve found on RUclips. ❤️❤️❤️ Note: This was supposed to be for the agility voice exercise, however I will leave the comment here.
Hello Angelica! Thank you so much for your kind words! I appreciate it! Enjoy the channel - there's quite a bit of agility practice nestled into it!
All the best!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka You’re welcome!
Hi Jeff, Do you know why when playing an acoustic version of any song sometimes it changes the key of the song?
Thank you very much for the video! I have a question, is the "mask resonance" the same thing as the "pharyngeal voice"?
I'm afraid not, at least by definition. In practical usage, however, I can see how one might use those terms interchangeably. Mask resonance is synonymous with singer's formant, or brilliance in vocal production. Pharyngeal voice, by definition, is referring to the practice of balancing out vocal sound between registers to achieve voce piena in testa, the sound of chest voice in head.
Mask resonance, or singer's formant, is an aspect of pharyngeal voice practice.
I hope that helps!
Jeff
are you related to john c reily
Mike Patton would disagree w no one wants that nasal sound…😂 🐸
Brilliant! Thank you! The “hung” tip worked! I can never get the feeling in my nasal area. I can resonate my old house windows…but idk enough about singing…it feels like it’s coming from my lungs
Great lesson, Jeff. Are you still doing the interactive lessons from England ? If so, what day and time? I’m located on the west coast of the US and I think the time difference is 8 hours. I’m a retired Classical Guitar teacher with a great deal of appreciation for your teaching techniques, and passionate
Finishing up my previous post. I’m passionate about trying to improve my vocal skills and would love to participate in your classes. Thanks, Ron W.
Hello Ron! Thank you for your kind message! I still teach and would be happy to talk with you about it. If you send a message via my website www.jeffrolka.com/connect-2 we can get everything sorted!
Thank you for being here!
Jeff
Question, when I sing in the mask, should I keep my soft palate raised? I find it hard to use the "mask" when I'm singing with a raised soft palate. Is there like a sweet spot? Is it impossible to sing in mask with a raised soft palate? Thank you !!
I'll talk about this in Questions from Comments 32!
Thanks!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka awesome! Thank you, can't wait!
Hey thanx a lot for the video! I finally get it now!
Excellent! Well done! Thanks for watching!
Jeff
What if i can’t get the sound beyond my soft palette
You may be using too much force, try backing off the pressure a little bit!
Jeff
Is mask only for classical?
Not at all. It is a key component of a balanced sound.
Thank you very much for a very good lesson, Jeff!
I really like the way you are explaining .
I would like to ask you if you could make a video about breathing. Diaphragm and etc. Maybe some exercises. Finely I start getting what is about. I just need to train my self so it will seat in my body. So if you have any tips you want to shear. I will appreciate very much.
If it is already existing I will look through your videos again..
Thank you !
You're welcome! Thank you for watching! I'm going to answer your question here:
ruclips.net/video/SlDKfYsKZ18/видео.html
If you can't watch live you can watch the explanation and exercises afterwards. RUclips will publish it as a standard video!
Thanks for a great question!
Jeff
Hi Jeff,
Should we practice your vowel alignment vocal exercises with mask resonance across our whole range or higher chest range? Is this same for the mixed register? I’ve been practicing the ng sound but don’t apply the feeling/ sing in the mask doing vowels.
Thank you!
Great question! I'm going to answer you in Questions from Comments 38!
Thank you!
Jeff
@@JeffRolka thank you! I forgot to mention in terms of mixed voice, I mean the transition from TA muscle to CT (passagio). I definitely feel more resonance within the eye area at this point and the more CT dominant I go, the sensation travels to the skull area. 👍🏽
Thanks Jeff :)
You're very welcome! Thanks for staying in touch!
Best,
Jeff
WOW...what a wonderrful moment for me..no word to express gratitude
It would be helpful if you would post your credentials, given how few voice coaches on RUclips have any real credentials.
I'd encourage you to look me up on all the relevant socials. My credentials are on the public record.
So I just worked on "the mask" here and my, does it work! I know how important it is now, so once again, thank you Jeff. Just moving on to your latest "mask" video now.
it sounds not beautiful but i feel it's easier to sing with the mask
3:40
4:40
I have a question.....I sing in the mask a lot just because it gives me a thicker sound and it is how I was trained. How do you use it in your head voice.
Great question! Those resonances are crucial in the zona di passaggio and above the secondo passaggio in order for us to sound in tune. The higher overtones make that possible. They are also a good indication that we are not over-using the thyroarytenoid dominant singing voice muscles (chest voice). That is somewhat of a chicken and egg situation. We need to cultivate release of the vocal fold in order to allow for that resonance - and the presence of that resonance is a good indication that we're cultivating release of the vocal fold and surrounding muscle tissue.
Best!
Jeff
I came back to this movie after a while when I'm more aware of what I'm doing 😁🤚.
Another great video thank you. I have a question though. I do these exercises but I never feel any of the sympathetic vibrations in any area in the "mask" from inside my body. If i gently put my fingers on and around my nose I can feel vibrations but I can not feel any once I open up the ng sound into a vowel. Is there a physiological thing going on here? Or am I possibly doing something wrong? I will also say that even when I am doing the ng sound I don't feel much ring at all. TYIA
Thank you and thank you for watching! The response from your nose pinching sounds as if things are quite well aligned. Physical sensations are largely subjective, what one person feels in their mask another may not. I don't personally feel a ton of sensation there when I have more ring in my voice, but what sensations there are I've learned to associate with that sound.
In your practice, try recording yourself and listening to see if you have the amount of mask resonance that you want or that is appropriate to the genre you're singing. If it is not enough, try pinching your nose again, but trying to direct a little more air that direction and notice if/when the fingers feel more vibrations. Record again and see if there is a difference.
I hope that helps!
Jeff
Jeff Rolka Thank you so much for your reply. I will definitely try that. Thank you for being so available and giving of your time
Thanks very much for the advertisement. I could not reach the mask-singing lesson. Many many thanks!
THANK YOU