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What am I doing wrong?


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no, not only that song, but everything I sing. That's actually one of the easiest songs for me to sing. How do I notice? Well I feel pain, I sing for 3-5 minutes and my throat starts to feel dehydrated(dry) and then it hurts when I sing and swallow. If I don't stop singing I'll feel that my voice gets less powerful, I feel like I have to push to get volume, as if my voice isn't resonating properly. It gets better after an hour of rest and honey. Honey helps a lot actually, with the pain.

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That sounds very much like my own problem. I'm in the middle of figuring out how breath support is supposed to work... and I've seen huge improvements already. I suggest you try to make sure that you know how breath support works, and then worry about any remaining issues.

 

I can't guarantee that the following will help you, but this is my current understanding of support:

 

After inhaling (properly, i.e. your chest does not rise much, but your tummy may move outwards a bit, as well as your hips and lower back), the diaphragm wants to relax (it does so when you sigh, for example), but if you try to sing on a sigh, it won't sound very well and you'll be out of air in a second or so.

 

So what do? You activate other muscles that RESIST the diaphragms relaxation, or slows it down, kind of. It's a bit like... hmm. If you hold your arms out so as to form a "T", and then relax your shoulders instantly, your arms will fall by gravity. This would be analogous to a sigh (total relaxation of the diaphragm). But if you instead relax your shoulders SLOWLY and in a controlled fashion, your arms will not fall, but descend at whatever rate you choose.

 

There are muscles in and around your torso that can slow the diaphragms relaxation down, as it were. I haven't found them fully yet... but I'm pretty sure that you find the most important ones by the following exercise:

 

Put your hands on your lower ribs (where ribs become hips, pretty much), take a deep and natural inhale, and as you begin to exhale, push your hands into your body, as if you wanted to collapse your ribcage.

 

But! While your hands push inwards, use whatever muscle comes to mind to counteract the forces from your hands. The muscle that does this is also the muscle that can control the relaxation of the diaphragm, and by extension the outwards airflow.

 

The idea is that if you can control the airflow, your vocal cords will receive the optimal airflow at all times. Optimal airflow is a function of pitch, volume, and other things, and if you can't control the airflow, you can't guarantee that the next note or next crescendo or whatever is comfortable.

 

Uhm, yeah. That's what I've gathered so far, at least. I hope it helps :]

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@neverbeefrustrated,

 

I think Masklin is right from the standpoint that your support is incorrect.

 

It sounds to me that when you sing the repeated phrase "Is that alright" on a G4 at the high note, you are punching out the air too hard and that is very hard on your vocal cords. It doesn't take much to dry them out and make you hoarse. Support is a resistance to the escape of the air. It's holding back the breath. You use support as a shock absorber for your voice. Without it you will wear your voice out quickly.

 

Your voice sounds dry from the very first line.

 

You have good pitch and your tone is good. I think you're just wearing too hard on the cords.

 

Bob

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Oh believe me I've read tons of material on "support" and I watched a lot of videos on YouTube, including the videos of Ken Tamplin( I assume you're from his academy), and I think I'm breathing right, apparently the problem is exhaling. That's what I'm doing wrong=D I learned that I should breath deep low, so that the lungs are effectively working and the diaphragm is working too, my stomache(belly) sticks out a bit, so I think I'm inhaling correctly. Also I do SSSSSses every morning for 20-30 seconds in continuous flow and staccato. and about that dryness in the beginning, I think that's because it's the 10th take) see I didn't record the song from the first try. and yes you're right, when I sing "is that all right" I do push my voice really hard I even feel a "crack" and my throat hurts a little, but I don't know why I do it. I need some help=(

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thank you big time! But I know that all. I've done a lot of exercises on "diaphragmatical breathing" and I think I breath that way)) Anyway that information is controversial. Some people say you have to keep the diaphragm in the "inhaling" position and others say you have to let it go but slowly. Either way I've noticed no difference between breathing deep low making the diaphragm move a lot and breathing not so low so that the diaphragm moves not so much. I didn't notice a difference be it in the pitch or tone or anything. So I assumed that breathing is not that important as long as you don't breath too much and don't push your breath out too much.

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@neverbeenfrustrated,

 

One thing that you don't seem to understand about support is that what you do with support is RESIST the outflow of the air by maintaining a BALANCE of pressures down low in the abdomen, as well as in the diaphragm itself, and you oppose the release of the air. Support is the shock absorber for your vocal cords. By reducing the flow of the air while compressing it slightly, you greatly thicken the tone of your voice and also protect your cords from excessive airflow and glottal shock. Support is the regulation of the air you sing upon.

 

You are correct that the release of the air is the problem, and the problem is that you are lacking proper support as you release the air. That's why your voice hurts and that's why you need to learn support before your voice is damaged.

 

All the Best!

 

Bob

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OMG - you need to read this book!!! - Loads of practical tutorials and goes through how to sing without strain... It also teaches you to get to know your voice and understand what it can do - plus deals with starting to sing effectively - If you get to check it out - it's only $5.00 on Amazon. If you're at all interested, here's the link: http://www.amazon.com.au/Voice-Factor-Shower-Stage-Steps-ebook/dp/B00PG8QPHS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1416046005&sr=1-1&keywords=the+voice+factor

Or you can search for it under amazon.com under The Voice Factor.

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