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help with singing pentatonics


iamanders

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Hi!

I did an interesting singing experiment. We all know the chirlden's teasing rhyhme (look at the link for sheet Music). The first note I ended with was a note very close to G (octave below middle C) and the third note was not the note I was supposed to sing. In the C major pentatonic scale the note is not really A but a not between A and Bb. That note was too high for me to sing naturally. Now, this means that I can't even sing the most simple chant any small child is supposed to sing (According to experiments done). This made me a bit frustrated with my singing. Why is doing this eassy task so difficult for some people? What is going on with our singing?

 

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Hi!

I did an interesting singing experiment. We all know the chirlden's teasing rhyhme (look at the link for sheet Music). The first note I ended with was a note very close to G (octave below middle C) and the third note was not the note I was supposed to sing. In the C major pentatonic scale the note is not really A but a not between A and Bb. That note was too high for me to sing naturally. Now, this means that I can't even sing the most simple chant any small child is supposed to sing (According to experiments done). This made me a bit frustrated with my singing. Why is doing this eassy task so difficult for some people? What is going on with our singing?

 

Hi! A soundcloud clip of your attempt would be really good. Can you post one?

 

I don't actually know which teasing rhyme you are referring to, either, but I am imagining that it's the one that is similar to the song, "it's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring...he bumped his head on the wall and he woke up in the morning."

 

Anyway, I'd like to hear you actually sing it. It would be much better than a description of what you are doing.

 

I tried a lot of kid's songs when I started out, although I am not as musically knowledgeable as you are to be able to figure out the notes. I remember struggling with POP goes the weasel. I simply couldn't hit the POP note for quite a while! Initially, I didn't even notice that I was flat, until somebody pointed it out. I do have recordings, but sadly not of the really flat attempts that I posted on soundcloud back then. (I keep a lot of clips so that I can track progress).

 

Now, after much training of breath (pressure) control, it's really easy.

 

Kid's songs are terrific training material. You'd be surprised how many folk rush out and attempt some difficult Beyoncé song, even though they'd struggle with the song you mentioned.

 

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^OK, that's the teasing song I had in mind.

 

You are not retaining enough air pressure to sing that third note. When you sing, you need to maintain a reservoir of air pressure, but you are rushing at that third note to try to compensate for lack of air pressure.

 

Take a comfortable breath, not too deep, and then try to sing at normal volume but letting as little air as possible escape. Don't tighten your chest. Relax your chest completely and let your diaphragm and stomach muscles control the air flow. Just take the breath and let your stomach muscles relax back more slowly than normal -- just enough to feel the right amount of air pressure at your larynx.

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^OK, that's the teasing song I had in mind.

 

You are not retaining enough air pressure to sing that third note. When you sing, you need to maintain a reservoir of air pressure, but you are rushing at that third note to try to compensate for lack of air pressure.

 

Take a comfortable breath, not too deep, and then try to sing at normal volume but letting as little air as possible escape. Don't tighten your chest. Relax your chest completely and let your diaphragm and stomach muscles control the air flow. Just take the breath and let your stomach muscles relax back more slowly than normal -- just enough to feel the right amount of air pressure at your larynx.

​Ok,I'll try that. The thing is: I read that children all over the world sing this. It's supposed to be natural to them. And thus I thout really fit into vocal cought I should be able to do so but I guess that's not the case. I guess the natural way of singing get's lost when you get older (even though you're just in your 20's). Is that the reason why I failed a children's rhyme?

 

Anyway, there is something called classical technique and jazz technique. Those are broad terms and very much generalisations but there is a difference between let's say Ella Fitzgerald and Pavarotti. Does a children's rhyme like this even fall into any ofthese two categories? I experience that this is a bit different from normal singing (or talking). What would an expert say about this? And please say something practical about this.

 

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Children practise and learn through play. That is what we tend to lose as we grow older. We get told to learn by study, to the point that many of us are embarrassed or ashamed to learn through play. A child is not born to be able to sing "nah-nah-nanah-nah". They listen, copy and refine through play, until they get it right. And, as children tend not to be too critical, they have the freedom to learn without pressure.

 

If and when you feel too old to play, you have to replace learning by study, otherwise there is nothing to sustain what you have learned (especially as your voice, itself, is changing, particularly through puberty.) It is like anything else. You learn to run. It is the learning process, not the running, that is natural. If you stop running, and then take it up again in your twenties, it will take some time to become adept.

 

Children may not look as if they are learning and improving, but they are.

 

I like the videos of Franco Tenelli. He is a classical singer and has many videos on singing on YouTube. In one of them he discusses various techniques, including Jazz. In terms of closeness to the speaking voice, he mentions Bossa Nova. Classical style, on the other hand, requires some quite sophisticated coordinations which usually require a teacher or maestro to impart. It is not something you can easily learn naturally, just by listening and copying.

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