Via: uk.ac.leeds.scs; Wed, 16 Dec 1992 18:51:43 +0000
Distribution: world
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Date: Wed, 16 Dec 92 18:52:27 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers
Organization: The University of Leeds, School of Computer Studies
From: ross-c@scs.leeds.ac.uk
To: usenet@phaze.cam.org
Cc: 
Subject: Re: Vocal Exercises...

In article <1992Dec14.184812.7232@pixel.kodak.com> you write:
>
>	I have been given the task of being lead singer of the band I currently
>drum with.  While my voice isn't the worst in the world, it certainly isn't 
>high caliber either.  What I was wondering is, on top of regular scales, what
>sort of exercises I can do to a) strengthen my voice and b) improve my range.
>E-mail responses at gross@eksignal.kodak.com (NOT the address in the header)
>are greatly welcomed.  I will post a summary of what I get, if there's 
>enough interest.  Thanks in advance!

Somebody else said "post to the net" so here I go.

I'm of the opinion that a teacher *REALLY* helps in vocal training. There
are just *SO* many techniques etc. Also, some are quite complex so I find
that I (at least) need feedback on whether I'm doing the right thing or not.
I'm not always able to hear my own faults until they're pointed out. Just
recently I was surprised to learn that I wasn't even completeing some
of my words. "It's beeeeecccccaaaaaauuuuuuu".

Improving range? Do you sing through your break or belt? If you don't use
your upper register, then smoothing the break can give tons of range. Mark
Baxter in "The Rock and Roll Singer's Survival Manual" (Pat Leonard Publ.)
discusses this at length.

Strength. Increasing general resonance is a good way. Cicely Berry (?)
in "Your Voice, what it is and what to do with it" (Virgin) describes a lot of
exercises to increase resonances. This is a book for speaking mainly (Ms
Berry is voice coach for the Royal Shakespeare Company) but it seems to me
that the exercises help singing as well. Americans may not appreciate what
she has to say about US Newscasters.

Also, last night I was reading the chapters on voice in "The Science of
Sound" by Thomas Ross-???? (Rossling?). (Actually a book on musical acoustics
in general). He mentioned that many untrained singers raise their larynxs
when they sing high notes (Mark Baxter mentions this and says it limits
range because if you raise your layrnx to get high notes, you can only
raise it so far!). Rossling then mentioned that lowering the layrnx (sp?) can
create another resonating cavity. I tried this and was surprised to get
a highly resonant sound I hadn't been able to obtain before.

He also mentions more complex methods, such as tuning the resonances of
the vocal passage to the note being sung. He doesn't give exercises, but
has some references at the end.

DISCLAIMER: I am not too good a vocalist, but I can safely claim to be
reading widely, practicing hard, and improving.

>From my limited experience I would strongly advise that people do look 
at different systems. There seem to be several different schools of thought
about what's important in singing. Rossling admits that the voice is not
yet well understood.

Hoping this is something vaguely approximating useful information,

Cheers,

Ross-c
Xref: sparky rec.music.makers:11450 rec.music.makers.guitar:888