>>I've got the Seth Rigg's book "Singing For The Stars". Could anyone
tell me how to relax the neck muscles while singing? My larynx will
rise as I sing higher. I don't want to struggle with this problem
forever... I'm not fortunate enough to have a voice teacher. It's so
hard to find good one in such a small town as Äetsä...
>>Thanks in advance,
Martti Savijoki
Dear Martti,
if your larynx starts too rise higher and higher as you sing into the higher
ranges it's probably because you're only using your chest voice instead of
mixing your chest and head voice for the higher notes before going into your
head voice.
Try playing around with the first exercise in the book, the "lip bubble". If
you can't get to the bubble at all try this: many students think at first
that they need to "blow air" in order to get the lips to roll, however this
is triggered only by the voice, and not trying to blow extra air on top of
that. In other words, imagine you were to sing (or actually speak) "boo";
your teeth are apart and your tongue resting on the bottom. Now just close
your lips and lift your cheeks with your fingers, and do the exact same
thing. Once you get that going you might lose the bubble on the top notes.
At this point check if your larynx is rising; if so try the scale again with
a "hooty" sound underneath, sort of what you'd get if you were trying to
speak and yawn at the same time. Make sure you keep that weird sound all the
way up. If then you lose the bubble on your way back down, check to make
sure you're coming back into your chest voice (it helps to think about
coming back into your mouth, sensation-wise). If you experience a flip or
break in your voice on the way up and/or on the way back down, don't worry
about it at first. Your goal is to lighten up your voice gradually on your
way up, with every note a little more, and reverse the process on the way
down. Once you achieve that the flip will be gone.
You'll know you got it right when the bubble gets slow and consistent, and
the sensation you have while singing up the scale (and back down) is that
your voice travels from your chest to your mouth and upwards through the
palate to go up into the back of your head (and back down the same way),
without you having to "help" in any way. Try not to focus on sound at first;
just worry about comfort even if it flips at first. Another helpful exercise
to experience how the voice travels through the body is the "humming"
exercise a few pages further. When you do it, imagine you're savoring the
last great meal you had and going "mmmm...yummy". You should feel that "mmm"
buzzing on your lips, not in your throat, and that's the sensation you want
to try keeping all the way up and back down. It'll travel up via your upper
lip, which might feel weird at first. Again you teeth should be apart and
your tongue resting on the bottom.
Let me know how it goes and we'll take it from there. Feel free to e-mail me
privately as well.
BTW, where do you live (what country)?
Best Regards,
Rocio Guitard
Seth Riggs Associate
rocioguitard@h...
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