Stop Straining on your Lower Notes
Are you straining on your lower notes? Here’s why and what you can do about it.
Read MorePitch problems? This will help.
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There are several reasons you might find yourself singing off-pitch.
If you sing flat...
It might be because you are using too much weight in your vocal fold coordination. In other words, you’re using too much chest voice, and it’s weighing your voice down and making it difficult to go up in pitch.
If you sing sharp...
You may not be using enough chest voice, and too much head voice, so your voice is thinning out and stretching too much. This is causing you to sing above the pitch.
The Brain/Body Connection
When neither of these is the issue, it can be a brain/body disconnection. You might need to work on your ability to audiate, meaning you need to be able to hear the pitch in your head. This is how the brain tells the vocal folds what pitch to sing.
Auditation can be improved with ear training practice and by changing the way we listen.
How do you listen to music?
Singers often just listen to the vocal melody and lyrics.
If you play an instrument, you’re more likely to listen to the layers below the lyrics and melody. You can bet a drummer is listening to the beat and rhythm before they listen to anything else!
Separate the Layers of Song
Try separating the layers in your mind and hearing them individually. Then specifically listen to the rhythm layer and the harmony layer, one at a time.
Lyrics
Lyrics are the icing on the cake. They tell the story in words, and they allow the singer to play with different vowels and consonants. While the lyrics are an integral part of the song, they are not going to help you stay on pitch.
Melody
The melody lies on top of the harmony. If you can hear the bass line and start to follow along with that, you’ll hear how the melody “fits” on top of it. The harmony supports the melody. This is what the singer sings, but other instruments also get a chance to have the melody when there is an instrumental solo.
Harmony
The harmony is the instrumental layer beneath the melody. There might be a piano, guitar, keyboard, or other instruments, but I want you to listen for the bass, which is usually the lowest note you’ll hear. The bass is most often playing the root, also known as the tonic. This helps you hear the overall chord structure of the song, which repeats throughout the song. You’ll likely hear the same order of chords for the verses. The chorus or other sections will have different chords, but they will also repeat throughout the song. They also usually stay in the same key signature unless the songwriter really wants a section to stand out from the rest of the song.
Rhythm
The rhythm layer is the feel of the song. For example, the rhythm is what gives it a feel like a swinging jazz beat or a rock beat.
Beat
The beat is just the basic rhythmic unit of each measure. A song in 4/4 would have a beat like 1 - 2 - 3 - 4.
The Layers as a Whole
Each layer of the song needs to be strong individually as well as fitting together as a whole. All of the layers of a song support one another in the communication of the song’s message.
Practice Listening
When you exercise your brain to hear music this way, you’ll get better at being able to hear where the melody fits in and your pitch will improve!
If hearing the layers separately is too much of a challenge to do on your own, find a teacher or musician friend to listen with you and help point each layer out.
Practice listening like this for 10 minutes a few times a week, and you’ll hear your pitch improve!
The other benefit to listening in this way is that riffing will be easier! To be able to riff or improvise, you have to be able to always know what the harmony is doing.
Give it a try!
Let me know if you found this helpful, or if you have any questions.
Singing Pop After Classical Training
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Let’s See Some Tools In Action During A Live Lesson
Meet Lisa. Lisa was classically trained and had a wonderful opera career on the big stage in Europe for 20 years. She currently teaches classical singing, and some contemporary styles, so we focused on finding a more contemporary “pop” sound using Adele’s song “Skyfall”.
Lisa is a Mezzo soprano, so she naturally had more depth in her lower register and her chest voice has a little more weight in it.
Watch me demonstrate some acoustic strategies, vowel adjustments and tools that helped her even out her range, keep more resistance in her mix, and find a more divergent vocal tract shape.
Lisa’s Lesson
0:55 - Lisa’s singing background
2:00 - Beginning of live lesson
3:10 - Adding a "cry" to the high notes
4:15 - Using the Pharyngeal or Twang sound
4:55 - Using a straw to even the range and balance airflow
6:05 - Describing chest voice and where you feel it
6:35 - Why talking the lyrics helps connect chest voice to the high notes
7:20 - Using the Pharyngeal to "NUH" and "NO"
10:10 - Optimizing vowels
13:45 - Final take!
14:25 - Lisa's thoughts
Tools I used with Lisa
Twang or pharyngeal
You can find this by making witchy, bratty or nasty sound. Often times it’s used in vocalizes by using a bratty NAY.
Tends to be on a bit of a raised larynx or at least neutral
Thins out the folds
Thickens falsetto
Assists in moderate adduction to smooth out the connection
Ring
In a mezzo soprano it can be common to use an acoustic “Ring” to cut through the orchestra. This is also called “squilo” in Italian.
On a physical level the root of the tongue is pulled back slightly which narrows the opening of the space right above the glottis or vocal folds. By making this space slightly smaller it resonates higher frequencies and can really carry the sound.
This same strategy can be used in pop, but we want to make sure it’s not too much or it can start to sound classical or manipulated.
Cry
This is just what it sounds like. You add a little cry or pout while you sing.
Tends to lower the larynx without imposing it and it thins the folds
Maintains adduction while allowing the larynx to rest
Thins out too much weight
Thickens up lighter/breathier vocal production
Reduce airflow and air “push”
Straw Exercises
I used the straw to thin Lisa out at the vocal fold level and also find a more consistent vowel, so she would feel more connection between her lower and upper registers.
Would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions or thoughts you’d like to share!
John Henny and I talk about Mindfulness & Meditation On The Intelligent Vocalist Podcast
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.
Top Voice Teacher and coach, John Henny, invited me as guest on his renowned podcast, The Intelligent Vocalist.
John and I discuss mindfulness and meditation and how it can help singers in both practice and performance. You can also check out my blog post HERE on this topic.
Listen below, or on any of your favorite podcast platforms.
Sign up to get this 3 minute guided meditation to help you get ready to sing, perform, or just take a breather during your day.
Meditation and Mindfulness to Improve Your Singing and Performing
THIS BLOG HAS BEEN MOVED TO OUR NEW WEBSITE. GO READ IT HERE.
When it comes to singing your best, your biggest obstacle might just be your mind.
The mind can be distracted by thoughts that are completely outside what we are doing.
These thoughts can be anything from your to-do list, thoughts of self-judgment, or wondering what you should have for lunch. Sound familiar? It happens to the best of us, and it doesn’t really benefit us when we are trying to learn a new skill or perform at our best.
This mind chatter can be especially unhelpful right before a performance. The more we try to control it, the more work it is and the more distracted we become.
Sometimes, even if you are trying to think positively or self-coach with uplifting and encouraging thoughts, it can cause over-excitement and can even cause us to produce too much adrenaline, neither of which is that helpful right before a performance.
Mindfulness can help. Perhaps you’ve heard the term mindfulness, or your teacher has told you to practice mindfully.
What is Mindfulness Exactly?
Mindfulness is being fully in the present moment.
There are a lot of benefits to this as singers and performers, and also just for life!
We have more self-awareness and compassion.
We feel calmer, have more clarity, and are less reactive to stress.
We are fully engaged in what we are doing, free from distractions and judgment.
Sounds pretty good right? I think so, too! So, how do we do it?
In the same way, we exercise our bodies to stay physically fit, we have to train our minds to be mentally fit.
How do I train my mind?
train your brain with meditation
Meditation has been a powerful tool for me in training my own mind. It’s something I have done for the better part of 20 years. It’s benefited me both as an artist and in my life in general. It’s helped me deal with anxiety (performance and other), stress, and depression.
I’ve tried many different kinds of meditation, and the beautiful thing is that there is no one right way to do it, so you can find what works best for you.
While meditation can be a part of someone’s spiritual or religious practice, it doesn’t have to be, if that’s not your thing. So, if you’ve always thought meditation was only for monks and yogis, it’s not. Anyone can meditate.
“In the same way we exercise our bodies to stay physically fit, we have to train our minds to be mentally fit.”
How do I meditate?
Meditation doesn’t need to be complicated. In fact, It’s one of those things that, in it’s true essence, is very simple.
You can do guided or unguided meditations. Guided meditations may be a bit easier for people who are new to meditation, and I like guided meditations for myself, as I feel like I am more easily able to surrender to the experience.
Practicing meditation can be as simple as:
Choosing something to focus on, like your breath.
Noticing when the mind wonders.
Bringing your attention back to the breath.
The mind is going to wander, and that’s okay. It’s not about trying to push away your thoughts and feelings. It’s about allowing them to come and go without judgement, and not follow them as a train of thought.
When you do notice the mind wondering, just gently bring it back to your point of focus.
Some days this will feel easier than others. Sometimes a lot of thoughts and feelings will keep coming into the mind. That’s fine. We want to gently stay with that exercise of bringing the mind back to the point of focus, no matter how it feels. That’s the exercise. The act of bringing your focus back is what meditation is.
“We are training the mind to have the ability to be intensely focused on one object, yet be aware of everything else. This creates a state of mind that is focused on the one hand and relaxed on the other. This is a state of flow.”
- Excerpt from a Headspace meditation with Andy Puddicombe
Benefits for learning
Benefits like increased awareness and improved focus come in handy when it comes to learning or improving your singing skills.
I always take my students through a mini guided meditation at the beginning of each lesson, and I consistently notice an increase in focus, relaxation, and a willingness to learn.
Awareness is so important when learning to sing, especially on a physical level. There are so many sensations that we feel when we use our voices. It’s helpful to deepen your awareness of your body to be able to map these sensations, so you can recreate the ones that work.
Benefits for performing
When the body is stressed, it triggers the sympathetic nervous system to release stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol into the blood stream, causing a fight or flight response.
This can result in the heart pounding, sweaty palms, and tunnel vision, which can be enough to make some people not even want to perform.
Meditation can help keep the mind and body relaxed, the parasympathetic nervous system kicks in and causes the body to stop releasing all those stress hormones.
Meditation can help us learn to condition the body to relax when we need it the most, allowing for a more optimal performance experience.
Think of a cheetah in the wild, still and relaxed, in no rush at all, yet ready to pounce at any moment. This condition of being relaxed and focused at the same time allows us to be in a state of flow, present in our minds and bodies. We are able to more easily tap into our intuition, allowing the “magic” of the present moment into our experience, letting go and trusting ourselves.
Just like singing, Meditation takes practice
daily practice
Like most skills, we get the most benefit from meditation when we do it as a regular practice. The brain reacts just like our body does when we stop exercising. It likes to go back to it’s old ways.
So, to keep these benefits and continue to increase them takes regular practice on our parts, so we are continuing to train the brain.
Creating a habit of it by doing it at the same time each day and attaching it to another habit like brushing your teach, can be really helpful.
Even 10 minutes a day can cause positive changes in the brain.
Science Can Motivate Us to practice
Proof that it works can keep us going on the days we just don’t feel like it
The science behind the benefits of meditation is growing rapidly, and it can really motivate us to keep a regular practice.
Functional MRIs have allowed us to actually observe what happens in the brain when people meditate. Meditation can literally change the brain. Studies show that it can rewire neural pathways that improve both the mind and body by building new positive neural pathways and decreasing the negative ones. This is called neuroplasticity.
Studies showed an increase in gray-matter density in the hippocampus (where learning, memory, self-awareness, compassion, and introspection happen in the brain) and decreased density in the amygdala (otherwise known as the lizard brain, which processes fear, anxiety and stress). The amygdala is also involved in the processing of emotions triggering the fight or flight response.
Meditation also effects the medial pre-frontal cortex, the “me center” of the brain, from where we primarily interpret the world. This part of the brain is involved in regulating feelings of fear and anxiety. Meditation can decrease the neural connections to the “me center”, allowing the brain to less focused on yourself, so when bodily sensations of fear and anxiety come up, you have the ability to not respond as strongly to them.
Your ability to assess momentary physical sensations for what they are increases, so you allow them to come and go without becoming caught up in a story about what they mean. This allows you to be less reactive and feel more balanced.
Don’t forget to grab your free 3-minute body scan guided meditation
Further Resources
Headspace - Headspace is currently offering a year of Headspace Plus for anyone who is unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is an incredible resource for learning and maintaining a regular practice.
Deepak Chopra’s 21-Day Guided Meditations - Deepak Chopra regularly offers free 21-Day Meditation Challenges that are wonderfully insightful and another way to start the habit of meditating regularly.
Waking Up - Created by neuroscientist and philosopher Sam Harris, Waking Up is a guide to understanding the mind, for the purpose of living a more balanced and fulfilling life.
INLP Center - Mindfulness Training: Experience the Benefits in Your Life - More about mindfulness and training opportunities here.
Sources for this article:
https://www.headspace.com/blog/2015/01/30/which-parts-of-the-brain-are-most-resilient-to-change/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/05/15/the-effects-of-meditation-on-the-brain/#5e2c08272ddb