Start here to gain confidence, consistency and expressive power.
When singing, store your air here. Keeping air high in the chest puts undo pressure on the cords. The lower abdomen (between the hands) has much more capacity to shoot the air through the instrument in a timely fashion. Breathe slow and low. A good singing breath is unseen and unheard.
Do you sing up to high notes? Don’t be fooled with all the chatter about head resonance and chest resonance. The voice functions more from front to back; low tones at the teeth, tongue and lips and top notes to the rear behind the molars. To achieve this, try adding the sensation of the beginning of a yawn when making the move to a top note.
Do you use the two-register system? Singing low notes with one type of sound. And then you sing high notes entirely another way. An unfortunate by-product of this system is the “break” that comes from thinking of the voice as two separate systems of notes. The ’break” or “crack” becomes unmanageable when thinking in terms of this two-voice method.
Or, maybe you use the three register system for singing? This imagery is even more troublesome than the two register system. In this system, you have two potential break points to negotiate. This makes singing to the top notes even more difficult.
It’s better to think of every note as being a register unto itself and with brilliance and depth substituted for head resonance and chest resonance. Singing to the front and back while being mindful of combining brilliance and depth will provide much smoother transitions to the top of your range than thinking in terms of up and chest and head.
Did you know the singer’s “mouth” is not up front but behind your molars. Are you singing with the “beginning of a yawn sensation” at the back of your throat when sustaining a top note? This ensures a more rounded tone and greater expressive power. If you keep this yawn-like feel in the back of your throat, you’ll be singing open rather than with a closed instrument. If you can imagine singing with a ping-pong ball resting on your tongue –gently pushing up the roof of your mouth while pressing down your tongue, that would be a desirable mouth position to achieve while holding any sustained top note.
When singing top notes, do you aim your voice forward, up or back? Actually, the best shape to keep in mind when singing a climax note is to send it back away from the front of your mouth. You can achieve this by opening your mouth which will lean the column of vibration, back behind your molars; it will then continue up and around to the upper resonators behind and above the eyes – like the shape of a baseball player when throwing a strike.