Klaus Georg

The right kind of tension

Le's face it. Opera singing is not a light, relaxed activity. No matter how good you are, there is going to be some tension required. It will never feel like sitting on the couch watching TV. The issue is eliminating the wrong tensions, maintaining only the necessary ones.

In general, the wrong kind of tensions are automatically reduced by strengthening the muscles involved in the right kind of tension. I used to clench my hands terribly while singing. Try as I might I couldn't fix it. At some point it just stopped. I don't even remember when it happened--because I wasn't thinking about my hands, I was just singing better.

Think about an archer, for example. Before he can draw the bow completely, he must become strong enough to do so. Until then, his shooting is going to be erratic and lacking in power. As he tries as hard as he possibly can to draw the bow his whole body gets tense and trembles. At some point he will be barely strong enough to draw the bow, but still his arm will tend to shake and he will miss, though not as frequently as before. And now the power is there. But eventually he will be strong enough to draw the bow easily. At this point the rest of his body will begin to visibly relax. Telling him to relax before this point is counterproductive, as he might end up relaxing those muscles that are supposed to be working to draw the bow.

And so it is with singing. Yes, work to eliminate tension. But remember that bad tension is a consequence of lack of the correct kind of tension. You cannot relax your jaw while singing until you gain the strength and flexibility to form vowels farther back in the pharynx. You cannot relax your neck and shoulders on a high note until you have strong enough breathing and laryngeal musculature to produce the note in a balanced way. By all means, try to stay relaxed. But don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. Sometimes it is better to carry some tension in unnecessary areas of your body than to drop the required tension in the fundamental vocal mechanism.

The "Coup de la glotte"

Manuel Garcia is probably the most influential and most often cited voice pedagogue in history. He lived from 1805-1906, teaching right until the end, and his students conquered the world's greatest stages and several went on to become great teachers in their own right.
While Garcia is generally most often discussed as the inventor of the laryngoscope and most often quoted for his definition of vocal register, the concept that he himself considered central to his teaching is often ignored. Perhaps this is because it is a dangerous concept, which incorrectly applied can damage voices. It nevertheless bears some careful thought as the foundation upon which the greatest voice teacher of all time built his students' voices.
The idea is that of the "coup de la glotte" or "glottal attack." If you don't already know what a glottal attack is, the easiest way to experience one is to say "uh oh" and notice how sharply you initiate the sound. This sharp onset originates right at the glottis, earning it its name. Glottal attacks vary greatly in their strength and violence.
Garcia espoused a very gentle glottal attack. The benefit of such an onset is that the vocal folds begin phonation pressed firmly together, giving rise to a clean, efficient source sound which allows maximum resonance.
In contrast, a breathy, aspirate attack with an "h" at the beginning of it will tend to encourage a loose phonation which does not allow for rich harmonics above it.
Make the glottal attack too strong and the benefit is lost. If the puff of air which blows the folds open strikes with too much violence, the folds begin vibration in a way more similar to the breathy attack than the correct "coup de la glotte." Furthermore, a violent glottal attack is extremely damaging for the voice.
Once phonation is initiated cleanly, sustaining the sensation of the light glottal onset will encourage the larynx to continue naturally resisting the air from below, preventing it from rising and maintaining a clean, firm tone. I believe this is what "leaning on the larynx" or "appoggio in gola" refer to.
To practice this technique yourself, try to do the lightest, cleanest "uh oh" you can. Then try to sustain one of them. When you are singing avoid beginning sounds with an "h," no matter how light, and the resulting tone will likely have the correct onset. Introducing "h"s in the middle of a scalar run is also a common problem which the firm "coup de la glotte" onset eliminates.

Don't say don't

While I'm a voice teacher, this concept applies to all types of teaching, and even, as I'm learning with my 13 month old son, to raising kids. Don't say don't. It's easy to analyze what's wrong and point it out—the role of a teacher (or parent) is to translate this criticism into correct action.

Translate your don't into do. This isn't just about feeling good or being nice. Self-control is an exhaustible resource, as anyone who has tried to simultaneously be on a diet and keep the house clean and be patient with annoying co-workers knows. Don't taxes our mental stamina and introduces tension.

Compare the following two statements:

“Don't lift your shoulders while breathing in”

“If you take a full, relaxed breath you'll notice your shoulders stay low and relaxed.”

The first is much more likely to cause shoulder tension in a student. Now pile on a couple of other don't instructions, like “don't spread the top note” and “don't jut your chin” and self-control is exhausted while tension is at a maximum.

The fact is, many teachers understand this concept and still get it wrong. The reason is sometimes do masquerades as don't. Compare again:

“Don't lift your larynx as you go up the scale.”

“Keep your larynx low as you go up the scale.”

“Take a low, deep breath and maintain your inspiratory posture as you go up the scale.”

The second statement is much more likely to be perceived as synonymous with the first. The reason is a do has to be specific. It must be a “how to” (or perhaps a “how do”) rather than a “just do this.” The third statement goes beyond keeping the larynx down and tells you how to achieve this goal.

In the spirit of the post, let's get specific. When you notice a behavior you want to correct

1. take that don't

2. rephrase it as a do in your head

3. then formulate the “how do”--get specific and explain what to do that causes the desired behavior

It's easy to stop at the second step. Don't.

Vibrato and Airflow

Recent research suggests that vibrato rate is, to a certain extent, volitional. Specifically, singers were able to change their vibrato rate in response to hearing a recorded sound with a target vibrato rate. I experimented in my own voice and found that trying to get the vibrato to be a little faster improved my airflow and resulted in a "headier," easier sound. Especially in sustaining a high note, thinking about a fast vibrato ensured I sang the note rather than just held on to it.

I did find that if I was not careful, overdoing the exercise tended to produce an overblown sound and raise my larynx. But in moderation, listening for a quick, healthy vibrato seems to be very effective in singers who are habitually too heavy, chesty, or unsupported. Try it!

Some of my favorite tenors of the past seem to have initially had problems with vibrato that was too quick. Specifically, Giacomo Lauri-Volpi and Franco Corelli come to mind. And both of them had thrilling, spectacular, and natural high notes. I wonder if there isn't something there...

Schubert's Winterreise: A Translation

In the process of preparing the program for my first DM recital I decided to do my own English (non-singing) translation of Schubert's Die Winterreise. Rather than let that work go to waste after the recital has passed, I'm providing it here on this website for download. In order to obtain permission to use this translation in your own program, simply email kgeorg (at) gmail (dot) com

For student recitals and other free programs, the translation is free of charge, but I'd still like to hear from people who used it just so I know I'm not just throwing it out into the abyss and never hear from it again...

Download Text and Translation

Singing Too Loudly

Almost every singing teacher I know has at some point had a student that had to be constantly told he or she was singing too loudly. It is common wisdom among singers that singing too loudly all the time is bad for the voice, that it shows poor singing technique, etc. But why? Aren't we opera singers. Isn't singing loudly the point?

I'd like to unpack the issue a little.

The core problem in singers who sing too loudly is actually a question of balance. Producing a good singing tone requires many different muscles working in careful coordination. And the whole is only as strong as its weakest link. Habitually loud singers tend to favor a "thick" or thyroarytenoid muscle dominated form of production. (In singer's jargon, too "chesty" or "bright.") While a correctly produced forte certainly requires a healthy TA muscle component, if the production is constantly too thick the coordination is thrown off. With time, the lengthening or cricothyroid muscles are not strong enough to balance the overly heavy production.

As always, I like to compare singing to sport. Singers are athletes of the voice. An athlete who does too much weight training, especially of only certain muscle groups, is going to hurt his or her overall performance eventually. And so it is with the habitually loud singer. Exercises can be done to isolate nad strengthen the "heady" side of the voice, of course. But I find that the best training reinforces and builds the actual coordination of singing rather than breaking it down and isolating it too much. This means singing at a variety of volumes (and, incidentally, on a variety of vowels and consonants and pitches--getting stuck in any given exercise is likely detrimental.)

So, in conclusion, the problem isn't singing too loudly. It is singing too loudly in an unbalanced way. The way to tell if your forte is properly balanced is simple. Ask yourself (or your teacher or coach) the following questions:

1. Can I make a smooth diminuendo on this sound?
2. Is the sound warm and round rather than bright and brittle?
3. Is my vibrato even and not too slow?

The Magic of "Messa di Voce"

One of the most famous, and most difficult, exercises for building the voice is the messa di voce. Basically, the object of the exercise is to swell a single note from the softest volume to the loudest and back to the softest. What makes it so difficult is that, in order to properly execute it, especially in the upper middle and upper part of the voice, it requires the muscles inside the larynx to dynamically adjust their balance with respect to each other. Imagine holding a bucket straight out in front of you as someone adds water to it and then drains water out of it, and your job is not to let the bucket rise or fall with changes in weight.

The exercise is most difficult in the range where the registers mix, so from about middle C to the C above that, or in the lower middle of the female voice and the upper range of the male voice. In this range, it is possible to execute in three ways: you can start in a heady production and swell to the limit of that configuration, you can start in a chesty production and grow to a chesty full voice, or you can start in a heady production and switch (the switch can be disguised but it must happen because the vocal folds change vibratory pattern) to a chesty production and back.

In performance, for men you would probably choose to stay in the chesty production all the time, while women (and countertenors) would probably choose the heady production. But for exercising the voice, the better choice is probably the one that makes you switch registers, as it will stretch, strengthen, and coordinate the intrinsic muscles of the larynx more than the other two.

It is difficult to master, but I highly recommend it. This is an exercise which, if done with minimum muscular tension, literally will build your voice and vocal coordination. Do not try to take it to the extremes of your voice until you have mastered it in the middle, though!

Note: by "heady" and "chesty" it is understood that I mean the vibratory pattern in the vocal folds themselves, and not a resonance phenomenon or sensation in either the head or chest, which a given singer may or may not experience. "Heady" is really synonymous with "falsetto" for the sake of this post.

Voice Science: A Reading List

As I prepare the bibliography for the final project in one of my courses this quarter, I thought I'd share a (very condensed) reading list for those of us interested in the mechanics of the voice.

1.  Miller, Donald G. - Resonance in Singing
   Concerned mostly with formant tuning (the adjusting of vowel formants to reinforce the harmonics of a sung tone, also known as vowel modification) but full of interesting insights. Comes with a VoceVista software CD!
2. Sundberg, Johan - The Science of the Singing Voice
   One of the most eminent scientists who takes an interest in the singing voice, this book is comprehensive and all conclusions are well-supported. The bibliography alone is worth the price of admission.
3. Nair, Garyth - Voice Tradition and Technology
   Most interesting in this work is the careful attention given to the resonance of consonants and the joining of vowels and consonants in singing, using spectrographic analysis to achieve best results. There is also a chapter by D. G. Miller
4. McCoy, Scott - Your Voice: An Inside View
   Structured like a textbook, with exercises and questions to end each section. There are recommendations for further reading within each topic. He gives explicit and valuable insight into exactly what voice spectrography in the teaching studio can be used for most effectively, as well as the best physiological review I have seen. Unfortunately, he doesn't take all available research into account as of the writing of the book, including contradictions to the source-filter theory and the Bernoulli Effect in singing, but the book is a very valuable resource.
5. Reid, Cornelius - Bel Canto Principles and Practices
   An exponent of the somewhat controversial method of separating, strengthening, and recombining the vocal registers, Reid nevertheless makes many great points about the actual coordination of the muscles which comprise the voice source that are applicable to all pedagogical belief systems.
6. Titze, Ingo - Principles of Voice Production
   I have not yet been able to get this book from the library, but will update this annotation when I do. Most of the books above cite it heavily.

The Noble Position

Recently I've been thinking a lot about posture. I used to think posture was important only insofar as it affects your breathing and support, but try this experiment to see how fundamental the effects of posture can be to the voice source in singing:

1. Stand in a normal position, the way you are used to.
2. Start singing a nice, rich "ah" vowel, at a comfortably full, sustained volume.
3. Without stopping the "ah", jut your chin forward and out as far as it will go.
4. Now pull it back again, even farther back than your starting position if you can.
5. Observe what happens to your sound.

If my explanation was clear enough and you were able to do this experiment, you will have noticed a perceptible change in both the resonance of your tone and the color of your vowel. Jutting the chin forward robs the voice of presence and ring, and modifies your vowel towards "uh". This is because it puts an upward strain on your larynx, causing it to rise (or, at the very least, to make you work hard to keep it in a lower position, resulting in tension.)

This exercise alone is enough to convince most students (and myself) of the importance of posture. At first, posture corrections are necessarily conscious, and somewhat stiff. With time, you begin adjusting your posture reflexively, in response to the sound itself.

To establish a good singing posture, check the following:

1. Bring your shoulders back, expanding your chest.
2. Keep your head high and straight above the shoulders. Avoid jutting the chin or tilting your head up. If anything, you may feel that your are tilting the head slightly forward and/or pulling it back at the chin, though avoid doing either of these in excess, as well.
3. When breathing and singing, the shoulders do not rise. The chest stays expanded. As a consequence of these two principles, you will feel your breathing lower in your abdomen and across your back. It is not necessary to exaggerate these outward sensations, but welcome them.
4. At the upper extremes of your voice, you may need to consciously increase the core muscles in your abdomen to generate the pressure necessary for these notes. An excellent post about what elite breath support feels like can be found in the post Appoggio: An Actual Support System on Dr. LaFond's blog, Kashu-do: The Way of the Singer.

I think of the expanded chest, relaxed shoulders, and straight neck as the "frame" within which all singing occurs. Once this frame is established, you can move around on stage, sit, stand, or lie down, sing while gesturing with your arms, etc. But the frame is the fundamental core of technique. Without it there can be no efficiency in the vocal source and tract as well as no proper breath support.

Concentrated Relaxation - How to Practice

I can't teach you to sing. But you can learn to sing. The difference in attitude is everything, and at its core is the concept of practice. Perhaps the most important skill teachers can impart to students is to teach them how to help themselves. It is also the most difficult thing to teach. Building on my post about The Perfect Wrong Note by William Westney, I would like to paraphrase his guidelines for practicing and apply them a little more specifically to singers.

A. Mental Preparation

1. Awaken your body -- stretch your back, shoulders, neck, jaw and tongue. Take some deep breaths. Move around to get your heart rate up a little and get the blood flowing.
2. Connect to your voice -- do some simple humming, grunting, ahing, whatever feels natural and comfortable, without putting stress on your singing mechanism.
3. Focus your mind -- set some general intentions or goals for this practice session. This can range from working on a particular piece of music, vocalise, technical exercise, diction issue, etc.

B. Focus on the Music

1. Choose a section -- clearly define a beginning and ending point.
2. Imagine in detail -- with all the energy of actual singing, imagine the passage and how you want it to feel. (Not how you want it to sound.)
3. Go for it! -- sing it with energy and gusto. Don't be cautious. Big, honest mistakes are how you will learn. Remember, energy means vitality and passion, not necessarily volume.
4. Observe the results -- again, focus more on how it felt than how it sounded, though of course we must notice the sound as well. Improvement is going to come from the physical activity, and thus the feeling more than the sound. Unfortunately, Sounds can be deceiving.
5. Relax and reset -- take a moment to digest and get rid of whatever tension crept in.
6. Decide -- repeat, consolidate your gains and stop, or move on to something else.

C. Take a Break

1. Every twenty minutes or so, take a break and relax your brain. This sort of concentrated work is mentally exhausting even if you don't immediately feel tension in your body. If you have the ability to take a nap after a concentrated practice session, even better!