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Submitted by: Tony Joett
A typical singing mistake is to sing a high note with a half open mouth. It won t get you there. All you re going to achieve is a note that sounds not-quite-there yet, if you re lucky. Worst case scenario, you ll sound just plain awful and nasal. I always tell my students, the higher the note the wider the space. And it s all in the vowels. Whatever word you sing that includes an A (AAAA) or E (EEEEH) sounding vowel, allows for spreading the mouth to articulate and to scale the note in any direction. Use these little opportunities when you sing. In this short article, I ll show you a very simple example to help you create space for your high notes.
Let s take a song like I Shot the Sherriff by Bob Marley. As the famous line goes I shot the Sherriff, but I didn t shoot the deputy , your highest octave is at the very beginning of that note with the word I . Your mouth therefore, would need to be open at its widest (but without locking the jaw) on the word I (AAAAAI).
If you go through any song, try to look at the highs and lows to ascertain how much space you may need to project and scale the note correctly, taking into account the above example. Another helpful pointer I d like to give you here is: get to know your own anatomy! Get to know how much space between the teeth produces what sound, for example. It really helps to get to know your acoustic factory a bit more. So experiment with a few ideas and see what discoveries you make. You ll be glad you did. I ll give you a couple of examples.
Open your mouth to take a deep breath and when your mouth is at its widest, immediately hit an extended long note with AAAAAAA; and then begin to slide your mouth shut very gradually. Listen to yourself very carefully. You ll notice that as you continue to close down the gap your tone and pitch begin to change. Try the same exercise again in the next key up and keep moving up key by key. All the while, continue to listen to your voice. Get to know your voice. Get to discover your voice. The more you do this, the more knowledgeable you become about what sounds your voice, in synch with your mouth, can produce. In a separate article, I will show you how to capitalize on your acoustic factory.
Creating space gives you more leverage. So instead of your tone going nasal for lack of space yes, that s one of the reasons that bring about the nasal tone you ll scale the high notes with greater ease and with good placement. So whenever you re sensing difficulty in hitting the high notes, take a look in the mirror as you sing to make sure that the space between the teeth is wide enough to hit that note. Don t leave this to chance. Calculate everything you do to ensure you re applying this very important technique.
About the Author: Joett is a singer-songwriter, vocal coach and member of the American Society Of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP). His vocal training CD
Learn to Sing with Joett
is available for purchase from US-based online superstore TripleClicks. He also publishes helpful articles and tips for singers on his blog at:
joettmusic.com
Source:
isnare.com
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