Improving the middle voice

Hey everybody,

I've been singing for almost 10 years now (I'm 17 now) and have been taking voice lessons for almost a year now. I'm new to Harmony Central.

Currently, it's rather easy for me to sing in my chest voice and also my head voice. Effortless. Not having too many problems there. However, I find that my larynx rises greatly (along with my throat tensing up altogether) when I have to sing higher notes in my middle voice. I've watched myself in a mirror and as I do scales (using my middle voice), my larynx rises as the scale rises. It's almost as if my larynx is tied to the pitch of my voice -- my larynx goes up when the notes go up; my larynx goes down when the pitch is lower.

So how do I break this bad habit of mine (larynx being tied to pitch)? Are there any exercises that you guys have found helpful to relaxing the larynx? I want to hit a higher note without my larynx suffocating everything!

My voice teacher is aware of my singing habits and what I'm struggling with, but there's nothing that she's done so far that has made the lights go on for me (no "AH HA!" moment yet).

As an extra note (dunno if this is helpful), my voice does not go hoarse after trying to hit these high notes. It's just so frickin' hard to hit those high notes and I know that I shouldn't be tensing. It's almost like my body braces itself for a high note -- it shouldn't be that way!

Let me know. Thanks in advanced.

Ian

Hi Ian, welcome to Harmony Central!

The best exercise for your concern can be found in Roger Love's Set our Voice Free, and it involves scale work using a series of sounds--gug, for example--designed to keep your larynx in position as you move up in your range. Check it out--it works wonders!

Our own moderator, Al Koehn, has a version of the exercise on his Singer's Bible lessons, available for download here:

http://www.vocalvision.com/

Funny you mention that. I just started really focusing on my mix and head voice bridges.

I second Jersey Jack's advice on Roger Love. Although I have a different book, Sing Like The Stars. It comes with a companion CD. The book mainly highlights developing the middle voice.

It's under $20 at the book store, and I have REALLy been enjoying singing to the CD.

The last two tracks on the CD are warm-up excercises for the male and female voices (20 min each). As Jersey Jack mentioned, the excercises have you go through a variety of sounds like Gug, Goog, No, Nay, and Mum. He uses scale runs that go from chest to middle to head. The idea being that these sounds allow you to learn where the bridges are and how to create a mix.

The male warm-up excercise goes a little bit into head voice. But to work on my head voice to middle bridge, I have also been doing the female warm-up excercises. I have a 35 min drive to work, and sing as much of them as I can on the way in. I have done this for the last week and a half and already I have noticed a HUGE improvement. I still need to keep at it for a while because I am *just* starting to figure out exactly where those bridges are and how to mix them the best.

Yep, "gug gug gug" is the bomb for fixing hiking larynx issues.

Hey everybody, I've been singing for almost 10 years now (I'm 17 now) and have been taking voice lessons for almost a year now. I'm new to Harmony Central. Currently, it's rather easy for me to sing in my chest voice and also my head voice. Effortless. Not having too many problems there. However, I find that my larynx rises greatly (along with my throat tensing up altogether) when I have to sing higher notes in my middle voice. I've watched myself in a mirror and as I do scales (using my middle voice), my larynx rises as the scale rises. It's almost as if my larynx is tied to the pitch of my voice -- my larynx goes up when the notes go up; my larynx goes down when the pitch is lower. So how do I break this bad habit of mine (larynx being tied to pitch)? Are there any exercises that you guys have found helpful to relaxing the larynx? I want to hit a higher note without my larynx suffocating everything! My voice teacher is aware of my singing habits and what I'm struggling with, but there's nothing that she's done so far that has made the lights go on for me (no "AH HA!" moment yet). As an extra note (dunno if this is helpful), my voice does not go hoarse after trying to hit these high notes. It's just so frickin' hard to hit those high notes and I know that I shouldn't be tensing. It's almost like my body braces itself for a high note -- it shouldn't be that way! Let me know. Thanks in advanced. Ian

Have you tried blending in more head into your mix? A rising larynx could be a sign of too much chest. Have you tried placing the sound a little less farward? You could also try to adopt some of the vowels into slightly more of an o-sound. Some vowels naturally bring your larynx up and some naturally bring it down.

i can add another recommendation for the roger love exercises they're great.

my vocal teacher also had me practice saying things in a Sylvester Stallone voice - all relaxed, dopey, and almost drunk sounding - to get used to the feeling of the dropped larynx. put your hand on your larynx and relax it, then say a famous stallone quote like "yo adrian" from rocky or something, and try and imitate his dopey vocal quality. that will help you key in on the feeling of the dropped larynx, and when you isolate that, you can get a bit more control over it.

also, welcome to HC!

The "chest voice," "head voice" and the "falsetto" are simply words to describe different ways the vocal cords vibrate and function as we sing from lower to higher notes. When the change between the chest voice and the higher registers is sudden and abrupt it is usually noticeable and not desirable. So good singers mix some of the heaver chest voice with some of the head voice as they move between the two. This "mix" or "middle voice" usually involves 5 or 6 half steps. Higher than that and the head voice begins to take over more and more, leaving the chest voice to work less and less. This creates a much smoother transition. The falsetto is a beautiful and unique sound because the vocal cords create the sound vibrations in a completely different way than the chest or head registers. (To understand more about the vocal registers type "chest voice," "head voice" "middle voice." "falsetto" or "vocal registers" into your finder

The main trick is to train the larynx to stay low in the throat as we sing higher, and a great way to practice this is to use the sound "gug". Sing that on a comfortable low note and repeat it as you sing a major arpeggio up and down. (C - E - G - C -(repeat the C 4 times) G -E - C)

The "gug" sound will bounce your larynx (Adam's apple") down toward the bottom of your throat, and it should keep bouncing down as you hit the higher notes. Don't force this to happen! Use your imagination to work it. As you continue to do this exercise, repeating it over and over again, each time a half step higher, your larynx will learn to stay low as you sing higher. If your voice "breaks" into the falsetto at the top, move back down a couple of notes and try again. If it keeps "breaking" give it up for a while. Don't keep forcing the high notes. They should be light and thin.

Singing this exercise often, using different vowels will bring the "mix" into your voice. Remember: don't force the larynx down. "gug" it down. Then try "mum" with the same exercise. Repetition is the key. Don't rush things.

Find a voice teacher who understands the "mix" or "middle voice." (Not all of them do), or order a good recorded singing course. I advise you check the websites of teachers who are offering recorded courses to see what they believe concerning the "middle voice" or "mix." Check out Seth Riggs, Roger Love, Mark Baxter, Brett Manning or my own Singers' Bible. It really helps to hear the exercises on recordings.

Al

Thanks Al:thu:

hmmm.....

this is topic is a struggle for me.

i heard that i should place the sound more forward. i tried that the other day.

i sounded more nasal in my head, but my mom sed i didnt sound too nasal to her.

anyway, its helped me and smoothed the transition.

but i also suffer from a severly hiking larynx, it used to seriously constrict my throat. a member here helped me with that but not completely. my throat still contricts a little but not nearly as much. i've tried the mum,gug dopey sound exercises but they only work in chest voice. the moment i start into mix my larynx goes up.