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| Jeannie Deva |
To really expand range, it is necessary to undue any reason for throat muscle tension. Of course, when I speak of expanding range, I mean having a wide “playing field” of many notes high and low within which you are able to create varied volumes, colors, textures and emotions. In Part 1 of this article, we looked at the need for vocal warm-up as the first remedy. Let’s continue our exploration of the Five Primary Causes of Throat Muscle Tension.
2. Air Over-blow - Air vibrates the vocal folds. Too much air pushing under the vocal folds can push them out of position. They will either tighten in resistance, or become blown apart. If they tighten, you will sound strained, can go off pitch, and will reach what could feel like a “ceiling” in your range. The muscles of your vocal apparatus will essentially become locked and unable to move as needed to give you faster vibrations = higher pitches.
There are, of course, various reasons for air over-blow. All of the reasons and their antidotes are fully covered in my home study course: “The Contemporary Vocalist” Volumes I and II. Here are a few: If you think you need to push up to “hit” the pitch, your body will respond by pushing out too much air. If you push-in your stomach you will force your body to push out too much air in relation to the needs of your vocal folds. In fact, as you sing, if anything happens to cause your lungs to be compressed, you will have air over-blow.
3. Over-Articulation - If you manipulate the movement of your lips and/or jaw while singing, it can tighten the muscles in the back of your throat and the muscle of your tongue. This is called hypertension (Hyper = too much). In turn, your larynx, which houses your vocal folds, is stiffened and made inflexible. The best way to sing includes the relaxation of the lips and jaw. Let your inner instrument do its job. Tight movements of the lips and wide stretches of the jaw do not assist. Rather, they prevent your inner vocal apparatus from moving easily. This gives you the apparent reality that it’s harder to sing or achieve higher notes. This is a self-imposed difficulty. Of course you have to form your consonants. You do not, however, need to exaggerate the positions of lips and tongue in order to be understood. The vowels should take the spotlight.
Next month we’ll conclude this three-part series. See you then!
This article is reprinted with the permission of Jeannie Deva. Deva is a prominent vocal coach and author, who is the founder of The Deva Method ®, A Non-Classical Approach for Singers ™ and of Jeannie Deva® Voice Studios, East and West Coasts. For more info, please visit her website: www.JeannieDeva.com.
