Here is part 4.

10 Facts About the Voice, Part 4:

1.  The oldest known recording of singing was an “ethereal” 10 second clip of a woman singing a French folk song. The recording of “Au Clair de la Lune”, recorded in 1860, is thought to be the oldest known recorded human voice. A phonograph of Thomas Edison singing a children’s song in 1877 was previously thought to be the oldest record.

2.  The amount of air pressure used and needed for rock singing is almost 3 times that of pop and country singing and 5 times that of jazz and most R&B.

3.  You lose up to 30% of your breath support while sitting compared to standing when you sing.

4.  Good technique is good technique whether it is applied to Rock, Country Opera, Pop, or R&B.

5.  Often, it is best to work up difficult songs without the use of consonant sounds. When consonant sounds are present they cause “jaw shifting” which generally closes off the air passage way in the back of the throat constricting the air supply.

6.  Many people think that the “high range” songs are the most difficult to master, but in fact the songs that have a lot of range are harder to master.

7.  Many times the terms falsetto, head voice, head register and so-on are quite misunderstood. They have become so watered down now that the terms are practically interchangeable.  Often when someone says “head voice” or “Falsetto” they mean the same thing.

8.  The over-use of caffeine and or alcohol can shrink the blood capillaries in your body and make it more difficult to access the oxygen needed to perform at maximum.

9.  Women generally have easier access to the upper registers, particularly head voice compared to men. In contrast, men have a much stronger command of their lower registers because of the size and shape of their vocal folds (cords).

10.  In the long run, it is best to think of the voice in terms of; as a whole (like your leg) – instead of breaking it up into chest voice, register break and falsetto (like your quad, knee and calf). The reason for this is over time you will get them to all function together as a whole, like the leg, instead of the confusion of compartmentalizing and individualizing them.

I have seen so much bizarre information on various forums that I am glad to answer this.

If you are a KTVA program user, you would remember that I said “Vibrato” is the last in the “food chain” or “Release Valves” (the vowel modifications I have you do in the volumes to relieve and release tension).

Once the correct vowel modification is achieved (with correct support), it “pings” to that little sweet spot (amphitheater in the back of the throat with good vowel placement) that sounds like the note is easy and soaking in reverb.  This is only truly achieved by open throat technique.  It’s at this point, vibrato is released, so as to “relax” the note and allow “resonance” to take over.  Remember I said it was “resonance” that grow the voice?   Not “powering” through the sound.

Once this “resonant vibrato” starts to oscillate, it gets more robust and fills up the room without the tension of what it would take to “power” out a note like that without proper technique.  AND it is this sound that GROWS the voice instead of tearing it down like when we “power” through a note.

So now the question was raised:

“So, from the note being held, does vibrato oscillate upwards or downwards?”

Think about this guys.  If Vibrato is the last in line for relieving tension, wouldn’t common sense tell you it oscillates downward (usually 1/8 to 1/4 tone.  Some people have a very wide vibrato and oscillate a 1/2 tone or even more like Bruce Dickinson).   If, when you are learning to develop vibrato, you try to oscillate “upwards”, you will actually create tension (of course…the note is going up).  If you oscillate downward, you are relieving tension and is more natural.  This is not to say that people like Freddie Mercury have a vibrato that oscillates upward. Sometimes it sounds like it does and sometimes it doesn’t.  But in candor, I am not a fan of his vibrato.  I prefer, Aretha, Sam Cook, Nat King Cole, Dio, Mariah, Mickey Thomas, Pavarotti,  and many others.  I would consider those as standards for healthy vibrato. So in my professional opinion, in order to maximize you final release valve, vibrato should oscillate downward approximately 1/8 to 1/4 tone below the root note.

Start out slowly to get the feel of it.  Then gradually speed up the vibrato until it feels more natural.  This will take some practice. But it will be worth it in the end.  Also: Do not “over-use” vibrato. This can be a crutch for bad pitch and vowel placement issues.  Use it sparingly so that its beauty stands on its own

Each week we will be publishing 10 Facts About the Voice, here is part 1:

10 Facts about the Voice

1. The voice is a muscle, and like any muscle in the body can grow and get stronger even into your 70′s when trained correctly.
2. People that are diagnosed with “nodes” or “polyps” can in many cases avoid surgery with proper vocal techniques and vocal exercises.
3. Most singers have no idea what their “true” vocal range is. Many resign themselves to “lower” vocal registers because they do not know how to access their upper register.
4. Many female singers “flip” into their head voice registers too early which inhibits power in the mid voice.
5. The over-use of air is one of the biggest “enemies” of the voice.
6. When experiencing cold or flu, it is better to continue to “exercise” the voice with proper training which will maintain more consistent vocal health and lessen “down time” from singing.
7. The voice has a biological clock and likes to be warmed up at the same time every day.
8. Most singers have a much higher range than they realize but due to “panicking” they quickly “squeeze off the air in the throat” which seriously impedes and inhibits range.
9. A tenor can actually sing well into the soprano range when trained correctly.
10. A baritone can actually “stretch” his chest voice well into the tenor range safely.

Browse KTVA Singing Lessons

Most people compress air in their throat and literally “squeeze” off the air choking their way up into their notes.

At Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, I teach the proper way to “hold back the breath” and compress the air to not allow too much air to pass across the chord and not let it dry out, while keeping the throat open so you DO NOT CHOKE your way to higher notes.

This is my Open Throat Technique.

Until you keep the throat open (like a cross between yawning and drinking a glass of water), while you sing, you cannot obtain safe healthy compression.

Build the open throat mechanism FIRST. Then start adding compression.

I will be doing a LIVE webinar session for my KTVA subscribers on this and you will be able to ask questions while I do it.

I will demonstrate different kinds of compression so you will see and hear the difference.

Compression is not just for “distorting” the voice. It is THEE way to control breath.

You can do it with less pressure (for pop singing) and it will give more power, control and range, OR you can really “lean” into the sound (over time, not right away) and add “safe” distorted compression (which rock singing is harder than pop singing btw ..it is the same compression….it’s just that rock singing takes more support and stamina. But the concept is EXACTLY the same).

This is an old very mis-understood bel canto (operatic technique) concept, I have just pushed it too its limits by combining mask, pillars, rib cage expansion and other forms of support to sustain “belting” singing.

I want to improve my voice and improve my tone and all, but I don’t want to change my voice to like a rock singer or something. I want to have a pop/R&B vocal. I guess John Mayer, The Killers, Bruno Mars, Ne-Yo, Elliot Yasmin kind of thing…somewhere between all those.
So is open throat singing for pop and r&b or just rock? I also want to increase my flexibility, pitch accuracy and speed I can do runs. (the poppy thing)

I noticed in a lot of student videos they are just belting and really powering out notes, which for 80s rock and stuff I guess is good but I want to have a smooth connection with everything.
Right now I can sing through my bridge but I have to immensely increase support around an E (above mid C).

Can I ask what you mean by saving breath? I breathe from my diaphragm but maybe I’m not doing it the best way…

Anyways, I hope through my videos and messages you can see what sort of thing I’m going for. Sorry bout all the questions, I just want to be the best vocalist I can be.

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Ken Tamplin:

Here’s the thing.

Good singing technique is good singing technique regardless the genre or style.

Aretha Franklin is one of my all time favorite singers,

The people you mention (Bruno Mars, Ne-Yo, Elliot Yasmin ) are just wimpy versions of those singers.

Mariah is more in that vein as far as power and strength are concerned.

To sing rock a “heavy soul” (like Aretha) requires 3 times the amount of diaphragmatic support.

Singers like John Mayer, The Killers, Bruno Mars, Ne-Yo, Elliot Yasmin etc. only need 1/3 of that support.

It’s still the same technique and support, you just don’t need to be a ”buff” so to speak.

Good vowel modifications, release valves, mask, pitch and all that still apply.

The approach is exactly the same.

To sing like Bruno Mars is much easier than singing like Lou Gramm.

Lou Gramm could singing Bruno Mars, but Bruno Mars could not sing Lou Gramm..

Good technique is good technique, regardless of the style you apply it to.

A very soulful approach to singing much like Aretha Franklin. Ken has created a series called ‘Licks & Tricks” that walks you through step by step these soulful vocal “riffs” and has also placed youtube videos on the site to show you where Adele got some of those licks so you can go
straight to the course!

Have fun clicking on and listening to the greatest soul singers who have ever lived. For more information go here:
http://kentamplinvocalacademy.com/licks-and-tricks/

Ken Tamplin:

The vocal folds, also known as vocal cords, are composed of twin infoldings of mucous membrane stretched horizontally across the larynx.  They vibrate, modulating the flow of air being expelled from the lungs during phonation.

False vocal folds (Vestibular fold)

The vocal folds above are  ”true vocal folds’ to distinguish them from the false vocal folds.  These are a pair of thick folds of mucous membrane that protect and sit slightly superior to the more delicate true folds. They have a minimal role in normal phonation, but are often used to produce deep sonorous tones in Tibetan chant and Tuvan throat singing, as well as in musical screaming and the death growl vocal style.

The false folds are also called vestibular folds and ventricular folds.

False vocal folds, when surgically removed, can regenerate completely.