Q & A with Breck Alan

 

Hi There,

I write a column in every edition of Singer Magazine called "Ask the Coach." Following are several Q&A's that can be found in that column. I'd love to hear your questions. Pick up Singer Magazine at your local Bookseller.

Email Breck a Question

 

 

Pulsing/Pant breathing Technique

 

Q: HI there,

I have been taking some lessons through a system that involves
the pulsing/pant breathing technique. We create a lot of volume by pushing from the diaphragm in both head and chest voice. I'm told that this is supposed to free the voice and develop strength of the vocal cords. Seems a little scary. What are your thoughts on this method.

Thank you,
Tracy
Washington DC

A:Dear Tracy,

You have asked a very good and important question for the world
of voice training. Your instincts to be nervous about this method
are right on. I do not like the pulsing/pant breathing technique.
I feel that it is a very lop-sided approach to vocal training.
First, the vocal cords are not muscles, despite the well
worn myth that the voice is just a muscle that gets stronger
simply by using it. The vocal cords are in fact unique
multi-layered bands of ligaments with a thin muscular center. Their
job is to produce the initial pitch and tone of voice and then
allow resonance from the body to magnify and color those tones.
Second, the diaphragm is not the only component of the support
system (breath control). Breathing in singing is affected by
muscles from about three to four inches below your navel all the
way up to the magical diaphragm. Teaching diaphragm strength for
it's own sake creates pushy, forceful singing. The support system
(breath control) needs to be coordinated in connection to
whatever type of singing you wish to sing, i.e. loud, soft, airy,
full voice, etc. Therefore the initial subject should not be
"strengthening the voice" but rather "coordinating the
voice." When this comes together, adding energy for
a bigger voice will actually turn into something that sounds
good, has a lot of tone variety and is healthy. Start by working
on a nice tall open posture. Then work on gently singing in your
lower-middle range right out of your speaking voice. Sing some
melodies you know in that comfortable part of your range. If part
of the melody goes a bit high, it's OK (for now) to let it release
into your little, falsetto, head voice (or whatever you happen to
call it). In "The Art of Body Singing" I refer to this tone as
the "Mouth Horn" because it is very important to distinguish it from the
resonance in our body. The point here is to get comfortable first. Then we can add the size,volume , power, etc. later. The only way to do this effectively
is to take a tour of all the pieces that make up the instrument
called voice and to begin to coordinate them together. I cover
this in a step-by-step procedure in my vocal instruction
books "The Art of Body Singing Volumes 1-4."

Good luck and have fun singing,
Breck Alan

Imitation

 

Q:Hi Breck,

I'm a fairly advanced singer and am comfortable with my voice,
but unfortunately I sound just like my favorite singer...I won't
say who. How do I fix that?
Signed, the Imitator
Boston MA

A:Dear Imitator,
As it is for any musician on any instrument, to grow you need to
understand the beauty of new techniques and ideas. But critical
to that is applying these techniques with emotional content. If
you're singing with muscle memory singing based on how you've
taught yourself to imitate another singer, then it will be hard
to convey your own emotions and your own style. I like
to teach singers techniques that allow them to see a lot of
possibilities. For example is a tone airy? Which types of
resonance are you hearing on the tone? Are they buzzy or dull or
throaty etc.? I like for singers to pick a few tool songs
(anything you like) and sing those songs in as many ways as
possible. Sing them in different parts of your range (different
keys), sing them quietly like you're singing to a baby, then sing
them as though you need to reach the back of the concert hall.
Only do the loud stuff if you are advanced enough to do it
properly and are well warmed up. Once you have learned that you
can sing any song in many different ways and have really taught
yourself to execute the techniques necessary to do so, then it is
very important that you remember the next key thing, "Singing is
Acting." Here you must learn to connect your techniques to
your emotions. I teach this through something I call "Tone by
Attitude." Get a bunch of cue cards and write several different
emotions on them: happy, sad, mad, confused, tired, anxious,
etc. Then take some songs and start randomly flashing these cards
at yourself. Not too quickly, 2 or 3 per song is fine and start
interpreting the song with the emotion in front of you. Don't
worry if it's not right for the song - we're practicing. There's
no wrong answer. However you choose to interpret an emotion is
fine as long as it's honest. Some would interpret angry with very
loud singing, some would interpret it with quiet seething tones.
That's the beauty of it. As you begin to really put a personal
touch into your singing then you will no longer sound like
another singer, you will sound like you! And that's cool.
Have fun,
Breck Alan

Unhappy w/ Sound of Voice

 

Q:Dear Mr. Alan,

I don't like the sound of my voice but I really want to sing.
What can I do about that.
Jim Attwood
New York NY

 

A:Hi Jim,

You can do a lot about that. The key is to learn to find tone
variety in your voice. Once you can do that you will have many
choices of colors and can begin finding many things in your voice
that you like the sound of. You need to spend some time working
on resonance. Resonance is the sympathetic vibrations that occur
in your body to the initial vibrations begun in your throat by
your vocal cords. I break resonance down into three chambers
1.The Chest (Bass) 2.The Mouth Horn (midrange) 3.The Nasal Horn
(treble). It is important that a singer can really work these
resonance chambers individually so that they can then begin to
blend them together to produce the kind of tones that match the
emotional content and the overall esthetic they are trying to
deliver. Record yourself singing and listen back. Make some
adjustments, record yourself and listen again. Repeat procedure
several thousand times.

Keep on looking, your voice is in there.

Breck Alan

Vibrato

 

Q: Is the vibrato learned through the technique using slow to faster pulsing a "real" vibrato," or is it contrived? Could using this technique do harm? Is there a better way to develop the vibrato and is it true that other ways take a very long time?

Terry Coleman, Boulder, Colorado:

 

A:Once long ago as a youngster I was in Berlin pre unification. Like all tourists I had one thing on my mind - the Berlin wall. I asked a local person how I could find it and she grumbled, "don't look for the wall. It will find you." Years later I asked a great voice teacher Peter Elvins how to get vibrato. He said something reminiscent of the crotchety Berliner, "don't worry about your vibrato. It will come when it's ready." It took me awhile to understand what he meant but it did eventually become clear. When you focus on good tone production, vibrato becomes a natural element that falls into place. The vibrato I teach to singers is something I call "Open Body Vibrato." This true vibrato is a natural balance of breath and resonance. It is possible only when a singer is capable of an open, unforced and sustained tone. When you sing a well placed, non airy sustained tone practice patience first. Listen to this tone and begin to make adjustments. This is best done when a singer has a good understanding of how resonance and placement work. The first place to focus on placement is at the post nasal position inside your mouth. This is right where your uvula hangs down. This is what I call the "Anchor" in singing and is basically the sound board of the voice. This is the beginning of resonance for the voice after the initial pitch and tone created by the vocal cords. All other resonance from the nasal passage, the mouth and the chest is attached to that initial placement. If you are well-Anchored and your support system (breath control) is even and not pushy, you will begin to hear the vibrato happening naturally. Because this true "Open Body Vibrato" is a type of echoing effect of the resonance in your body it is adjustable by making slight changes in resonance. If you direct your resonance upwards towards your nasal passage, it will become faster because that is the smallest resonance chamber. Conversely, if you direct your resonance more into your body (chest) it will slow down because that is the largest resonance chamber. Does this kind of vibrato take more time and patience then the type you described in your question? Yes it does. But it's worth it because it's real and when a singer finds it through this kind of process there are so many other things that come to them along the way.
The technique you described is indeed capable of causing harm if you are creating too much pressure on your vocal cords and larynx. And yes, this type of vibrato sounds very contrived and phony. Singing is largely about conveying emotion, and as in any type of communication honest emotion is desirable. That said I always maintain that anything a singer tries as long as it doesn't hurt him/her is fair game. A huge part of learning and continuing to enjoy any instrument is in experimentation and discovery. So if you are careful with it, you might find some interesting embellishments that you enjoy.

Have patience, the slow way is the fast way.
Breck Alan

 

Bruised Larynx!!!!

 

Q: My toddler accidentally head-butted me in the throat and now I can't
even talk without discomfort, much less sing. Very disconcerting! I
have a performance scheduled in a month. Do you know if it
should be better by then?

Linda Morrell
Anchorage, Alaska

 

A: You should probably be fine in a few days. If it's still within the first 24 hours I would ice it like any other trauma with swelling. Crushed ice would work best. The larynx is like a little box of cartilage woven together by muscle tissue. Unless you really damaged the structure of this you should be fine when then swelling goes down and the bruising subsides. I would go to a health food store or natural pharmacy and get some Arnica. It's magical for bruised and damaged tissue. If you fear you might have damaged the structure of your larynx, then you do need to see a doctor!!! I understand how scary that is for a singer. I won't allow anyone to even touch my throat.
The answer to when you can sing again depends a lot upon how good your singing habits are. If you're not a singer with great finesse then I would probably wait for about a week. If you have great control, then you'll know when.

I wish you the very best,

Breck Alan

A week later Linda e-mailed back:

My voice is doing great. Thank you so much for the wonderful advice!

 

 

Mumbling

 

Q: I sing in a rock band and really enjoy it. I've had several people tell me that they can't understand what I'm singing. My girlfriend says I sound like I'm mumbling? What can I do about that.

Stan Bloodworthy, Detroit MI:

 

A: You need to think a bit about articulation. Articulation is best achieved by the ear. This simply means "want to be heard and want to be understood." Often singers mumble because they're not confident in some part of their presentation. Maybe it's their lyrics, maybe it's their tone, maybe it's their stage presence. If you want to be understood then be clear in what you're saying/singing. So much of that is achieved by listening to yourself. Something you'll hear me say a lot is "the first part of voice is the ear."
That said, the first thing is to understand about articulation is the concept "Living on the Vowel and Skipping off the Consonant." We sustain vowels and connect them with consonants. Really learning how to think of singing as "phrases" and not just notes and words smoothes a singer out and makes their singing more liquid. I also like to purify a singer's vowels early on by teaching them about diphthongs. Diphthongs are two vowel sounds glued together to produce a vowel. For example: "I" = ahh eee and "A" = ehhh eee. You can only sing one of these sounds at a time and be clear.
These are a few of the main things. We'll talk more about this and related subjects soon.

Have fun seeking clarity,

 

 

Truly Yours,

Breck Alan