Please help me troubleshoot a 10-second spot

Please help me troubleshoot the vocal glitch at 2:58 and thereafter. What can I do to improve that? My range seems to be from C2 to C5. The highest note in the trouble spot is G4. Thanks very much. Jerry

 

 

 

">> </A>" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344">

 

I'm not a voice teacher, but from what I can hear, it seems like you have a naturally higher voice than I do. So the G4 should not be a problem.

 

However, it does seem like you are struggling a bit to maintain control, even when you DO hit it without error.

 

Without hearing what you do when you sing even higher in your range, I can only guess that right around that G4 or lower might be your natural transition point, where under ideal circumstances, your use of the passaggio should be kicking in.

 

Without starting some sort of passaggio blend process at or before (lower than) that G4, it is probably difficult to do soft notes like that at the upper end of your chest range.

 

Of course, attempting a diagnosis from hearing one broken note on an attack is difficult for me, not being a voice teacher, but I will say that what I'm NOT hearing is a more "open" sound that I usually hear with a chest/passaggio/head voice blend.

 

Of course everyone's voice is different and I could be completely off base about my guesses.

Try to add some vibrato!

What a great version of a gay song!

 

video looks like jacob's ladder

Stand up. You are not breathing well sitting.

Stand up. You are not breathing well sitting.

 

I'm guessing that this is not necessarily the problem. Many people, including me, do sit-down acoustic gigs all the time, with no problems at all. My usable range is no different sitting or standing.

 

The only difference is that I might not be able to sustain REALLY long notes for quite so long. For example, maybe a 20 second note standing up might last 18 seconds sitting down.

 

However, I would guess that maybe when working on fixing vocal problem areas, it IS probably a good idea to do your exercises standing up.

 

 

Al, do you want to chime in here?

Sitting is the worst possible scenario for delivering vocals,there is nothing associated with a sitting posture that isn't fighting the machine.

 

I'm sure there are some people that do fine sitting, I can sing sitting, but I don't.

 

I haven't listened to the clip , do you have any where we don't have to listen to 2 or 3 minutes before your issue shows up, or a cropped clip ?

 

Have you been singing long, do you have access to voice teachers?

 

+ Good luck with it.

As for sitting while singing, I have to agree with strat2 here. Also, sitting gives you a false feeling that your diaphragm is supporting you, but then when you stand up, you suddenly can't lean on it, cuz the posture while sitting made diaphragm support easier.

I say, learn it all while standing up, then you can do the same while sitting. Doesn't work so well vice-versa.

 

... I say, learn it all while standing up, then you can do the same while sitting. Doesn't work so well vice-versa.

 

 

Yes, this.

Stand up. You are not breathing well sitting.

 

Agreed.

 

There are careers dedicated to supportive posture for singing, probably singing under water is only slightly worse than giving someone the for sitting to sing.

 

I have alot of proffesional vocal instruction under my belt. I can hear a distinct lack of projection being cuased by the sitting. Probobaly not breathing well enough sitting.

Some of the advice you're receiving is good, like the breathing part. But the most important is the fact that you're belting, which 7string hinted at. You have to change registers and blend a bit less of chest and more head. The more you belt, the more obvious the break. Virtually, you have to "be" there, where the note is, not stretch from one point to another. Try dropping into the note from above, as opposed to reaching from below it.

Belting to access high notes using your chest voice is unpredictable and will cause vocal strain. Belting blows so much air past your vocal chords that they become "overdriven".

 

You need to access middle voice, which is above your normal chest (speaking) voice, but below head voice (which is just below falsetto).

 

With middle voice, instead of overdriving your full-length vocal chords, you shorten the vocal chords and regulate the proper amount of airflow... if you were to belt it by pushing too much air while using this technique that wouldn't work either- because you'd again blast too much air past your vocal cords.

 

Also check to see if you have a high larnyx. Feel where you adam's apple is- now try to sing high... does it move up more than 3/4 of an inch?

If you talk low like Yogi bear "Heyy boo boo" you will feel your adam's apple go down. This is the exercise to get your larnyx to stay low. It takes lots of practice to break the high larnyx.

 

Everything I know about this subject I learned from Roger Love's book "Set your voice free" (he works with pros).