How to sing clearly without tensing my throat? (Beginner Voice Lessons)

So maybe you’re stuck in this situation.

You’re trying to go for a clear strong sound but when you do so.

It feels incredibly tense.

And so then, naturally you try to relax your throat as many have told you on the internet.

But then this happens.

You try to relax and what happens is your voice ends up being breathy and weak.

And so you begin to get caught in this loop

So today I want to break this cycle and share with you a very practical/simple exercise. And it’s not going to be this typical advice of keeping an “OPEN THROAT”

Real quick! For those of you who don’t know me. My name is Ivan, I love making music and also teaching singing to students all around the world. On this newsletter my goal is to make learning to sing simple. If that’s up your lane, consider subscribing. If you want to improve your voice faster, check out the links down below for ways to work with me

If you want to inspire our next episode! Drop in the comments below what you want me to talk about next.

Anyway let’s dive in

The first thing to understand is

Getting a strong sound comes for good closure and resonance

Good closure of the vocal folds is NOT the same feeling as tensing the throat.

Instinctively when we think stronger, clearer sound. We think squeeze, grab, something tightens.

Now this could result in 2 things.

1) We literally constrict and tighten the muscles around the throat. Which have got nothing to do with making a sound)

2) We press our vocal folds together really hard and don’t blow enough air giving this feeling of oversqueeze.

Now we can learn to relieve the bad habits. Learn how to not constrict the throat. Learn how to not press those cords really hard.

But what we can also do is realising that the feeling of GOOD closure is often more subtle and definitely easy. And focusing on that instead.

And most like this is something you can already do.

And this brings us to our exercise.

EXERCISE:

1) Let’s see if we can find a place where you’re already feeling good easy closure. And let’s try to observe it

Personally I like starting with speech. Somewhere in that range is perfect.

See if you can find a clean easy confident speaking voice.

[DEMONSTRATION]

Now notice this?

How is it that you’re getting this clear easy sound, without it feeling laboured? There’s a presence here, but at the same time it doesn’t go weak and breathy.

Now if you’re already noticing tension/grip in your speaking voice. I recommend fixing it here before going higher in the range. Since this will bring in another level of complexity.

Can you experiment and find a way for you to keep it clear and confident without that feeling of grip in the throat? What can you relaxed? What can you keep?

2) Once you have this, here’s the next challenge.

Can you introduce pitch change WITHOUT losing this feeling of easy cord closure?

[DEMONSTRATION on a MUM]

Now over here, I’m just looking to keep that same easy connection that I found in the first exercise as I change pitch.

Now if you lose this feeling or things get harder

What this tells me is.

1) Either we just lost the feeling of easy closure and we just need to try it a few more times

2) Or we’re not engaging enough stretch in the voice to make the pitch change. Sometimes the lack of it! Can cause us to compensate with other muscles including pressing harder on the cords

Now understanding the feeling of pitch/stretch is a whole another topic in itself so if this is you.

I want you to remember this. Episode 129. Check it out after this episode. This will show you how to engage the muscles that are involved in pitch change which once again will be a slightly different feel from good easy closure.

Now if you can do this! Just simply work through these exercises and see if you can make it feel automatic. Combining this easy closure you found in your speaking voice AND the feeling of pitch change.

Anyway! That’s all. If you found this episode useful, please share or give it 5 star wherever you’re listening from. This really helps spread the word and means the world to me. If you’d like to study with me, links are down in description. Take care!

Extra Links/Resources

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