Want to sing better? Understand this idea

Author

Ivan Lu
February 20, 2025

Want to sing better (understand this idea)

If you want to sing better. You need to UNDERSTAND this concept.

And I see this all the time.

“I’m been trying to relax my throat”

“I’m been trying to sing from the diaphragm”

“Why is it that I still struggle when I’m singing?”

And it’s because of this.

When we’re training the voice from a technique lens. There’s really 2 problems we’re trying to solve.

(1) DISENGAGE anything else that’s unnecessary the EXTERNAL muscles.

(2) COORDINATE the internal muscles.

Most of the advice above, is purely focused on DISENGAGE the external muscles but it doesn’t tackle the 2nd half.

Let’s break this down today, I want to share with you how you can start to tell which problem you need to tackle.

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.

The first thing here is let’s DEFINE.

What are the INTERNAL muscles?

Internal or intrinsic muscles because they are usually deeper in the neck.

Why do we care about them?

Well they control things that we actually care about.

For example from a technique lens, to sing well.

We need to be able to change pitch and dynamics with ease.

To do this, we have very fine muscles deeper within the neck that are in charged of this.

Muscles that bring the cords together to resist airflow and create power and create sound.

And muscles that stretch and thin the vocal folds to change pitch.

Now we can get really science-y and list out all the anatomy, but I don’t think it’s required.

Just know that you need to get good at coordinating these muscles.

What about the EXTERNAL muscles?

External/extrinsic are the muscles around that for example the swallowing muscles that tighten your throat.

But also, beyond the neck. For example the MUSCLES that lift and move our head, that move our jaw, move our tongue which can also add to tension.

Now why is this important?

Both of these problems

(1) Learning to disengage the EXTERNAL MUSCLES when they are engaged out of habit.

(2) Coordinate the INTERNAL muscles to make them more accurate.

Require a different set of solutions.

Often to solve this, it’s about learning to let go. Trust that it doesn’t need to work. And allow time for the habits to die.

To solve this, it often requires finding a way to feel these internal muscles. Examples, changing pitch without changing anything else

And so really the first step is for you to figure out which problem are you even trying to fix?

Is what’s getting in the way, because you’re simply engaging external muscles too much OR is it because you lack coordination of the internal? Or maybe it’s a mix of both.

Now how do you know?

Here are some general cues.

Some general cues if you are gripping with the external muscles.

  1. For me if i’m engaging swallowing muscles there’s a general tightness around the throat

  2. The voice feels potentially stiff you use

  3. For some of us who grip extra hard, you might even notice distortion/grit in the sound.

  4. You might also notice you have a lot of unnecessary movements (clench your jaw, move your head in a certain position)

  5. Or you have to press really hard on the stomach.

Now what about if you lack coordination of the internal muscles?

Some general cues if you lacking the ability to coordinate the internal muscles

  1. You don’t necessarily grip or have this tight feeling. But you feel like you don’t have control

  2. Like sometimes it might hit a wall

  3. Or maybe it flips into falsetto.

  4. Or sometimes when you’re slightly off the voice wobbles.

  5. Or sometimes you have to get louder.

Anyway, those are the general cues based of what i’ve observed personally but also with student. Explore it yourself and let me know in the comments below where you’re currently at!

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!

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