​​Dear Friends
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This is the first in a series of three or four linked contributions to the blog from Johnny and me.  In this first one, I have written about how poetry helps me feel better.  In the next two Johnny and I will write about music.  As you read, you may like to think about music that helps you feel better, and please do share that with us if you can.  Problems can make you feel lonely, but sharing ideas helps us to feel connected again. 

Your ideas and suggestions will be drawn together into the fourth (and maybe fifth and sixth) contribution to this blog.  Or, of course, you could just write a contribution to the blog yourself :-)

Either way, please do tell us all about music and poetry that helps you at difficult times!  
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Best wishes,

Tim

A few years ago I was given a delightful book – “The Poetry Pharmacy”.  The author suggested that poetry is a powerful mood influencer and that it can (for example) help us to feel calmer if we are frustrated, happier if we are sad, and more determined if we are unsure.
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I really liked this idea, as it reflected my own experience, both with poetry and with music.  I mentioned this idea to Johnny a little while ago and he suggested that we write this blog.  Please do share your ideas…..are there special “go to” poems or pieces of music that really help you?​

For a budding singer there are several milestone events that mark a break-through in vocal technique and lead to a noticeable improvement in his/her vocalism. There are, of course the essential prerequisites: proper posture, breathing and breath support, and the concept of deep (beginning-of-a-yawn) inhalation, that all singers start from, but for many the really momentous experiences are:

• Realisation that singing is actually prolonged speaking, and adopting that concept.
• Discovery of the “head voice” for male singers
• Having said the above, realisation that the “chest voice” has to be further strengthen, because it will greatly assist the head voice, and the production of a consistently resonant sound throughout the vocal range; in short: finding resonance in voice.
  • Female voices experience a similar kind of step change once they find the way to produce a full, resonant voice in their high middle range and upwards ( from E5 up).

All of the above starts with a proper tone onset.

Tone onset (sometimes called “attack”) designates the beginning of phonation – setting the vocal folds in vibratory motion and thus initiating the sound.

The singing voice can only be as good, as good the tone onset is. In the well-regulated and balanced tone onset lies the germ of all good vocalism, and preparatory to it is the proper, deep inhalation.

Nothing in technical accomplishment in singing is more beneficial to the vocal instrument than the proper positioning of the vocal folds for a clean tone onset. The combination of laryngeal muscle action and exact degree of lung pressure and air flow provides the basis for good singing.
Many singing errors are corrected by going back to and practicing the clean attack.

If you can commit to only a few minutes on vocalising daily, the time best spent may well be to practice the balanced tone onset.

But before we consider the production of proper onset, let us first clarify what kind of voice will we use for that? We can sing a note in several ways, using different vocal positions, resulting in very different timbres.

Most schools of singing agree that teaching proper vocalism has to start from the speaking voice. But then, teaching singing via speaking voice requires to start from a proper tone onset. So, the two topics are inter-related, and I will cover them in a single article, starting with the description of how “singing is prolonged speaking”.

Singing is Prolonged Speaking
“What kind of voice to use when I start singing?” may sound like a funny question, but I cannot emphasise the following strongly enough: to sing by attempting to “sing” will not produce good vocal sound! The brain needs to be retrained to think differently about singing. “Singing” sounds hard, but “prolonged speech” sounds much easier. When you think of singing as “singing” it becomes difficult. This is because as soon as we start to think of singing as anything but prolonged speech, we try to sing, we try to make our voice sound like something it is not. And that is where we go wrong. Instead, we should focus on speaking and just holding the notes for longer. Singing is intensified speaking, elongated and musical, and the same is equally true for a beginner as it is for an international opera star; the latter sing the most demanding arias with conversational smoothness. To achieve it, a singer must have the ear that directs the instrument, and a sensitivity to manage the breath for a prolonged speaking voice. Many pedagogues point this out, but none as succinctly as J.A Cohen in his “Powerhouse Singing” book.

Let us illustrate the speaking-to-singing conversion. Say the word “no”, as if saying no to an unacceptable proposal. Then again so, but holding the “no” a bit longer. Now again but holding it for about 3 seconds; the sound may seem dull to you, but that is absolutely fine, the listener hears it differently. Finally, you say “no” as if calling it out to someone across the street who is about to fall in a ditch. Really give it a go and, while supporting the sound, hold the “no” for 5 seconds and let the voice ring. The two “no” sounds illustrate the kind of voice that you ought to produce when you sing notes in the low and the high registers. In vocal terminology, they roughly correspond to the “chest” and “head” voices. Lower notes are like a conversation with a friend, the high notes are like calling out to a friend across the street.

Starting with the speaking voice leads to mastering the free singing voice - one of the pillars of good singing. In the higher echelons of vocal mastery, freedom of voice ranks above the beauty of voice, because the latter can be fully developed only after the former has been perfected. The freedom must be nurtured from the beginning of vocal training: the singing voice must be taught to be free and unconstrained, and the throat, neck and jaw have to be relaxed at all times, irrespective of the vowel or the pitch sung. – Something hardly conceivable by an amateur singer.

How do we achieve a free voice?
It is essential to remove all constrictions. It is a constriction in the throat what causes the voice to sound poorly, and to feel that the voice is not free. This constriction problem is so important, that it merits an explanation in slightly more technical terms: The bulk of vocal folds consists of the vocalis muscle; it can tighten and loosen the folds, thus changing the pitch of the sung note (one of the three available pitch adjustment mechanisms in singing). However, sitting on top of the vocalis is another muscle whose function is solely to close the glottis when swallowing. We call it “false” vocal folds. We instinctively tend to tighten that muscle, and this creates a constricted larynx. To pass air through a constricted larynx requires an increase in lung air pressure. The true vocal folds consequently face high lung air pressure and must close tightly to control the air flow – causing constriction and the tension in the sound produced. The singer must be trained to retract the false vocal folds at all times. False folds naturally retract during sobbing and laughing. Use laughing to practice retraction; the feeling in the throat is one of width.

Exercise 1: Laugh silently and with energy for 10 seconds and observe and memorise the accompanying muscular activity. Next, voice the laugh, and then turn the laugh into a sung note on a vowel of choice.

Now you need to do this at higher pitches as well; it is trickier and needs practice.
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Note that even with the false vocal folds retracted, the true vocal folds can still act as constrictors: if you use them to control the air flow while vibrating, the voice will sound squeezed and not free. For the voice to sound free, it is essential that the outward flow of air is controlled by the muscles of breath support system and not by the vocal folds. You may wish to revisit the blog on breath control here.