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Felipe Carvalho

Moderator & Review Specialist
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Everything posted by Felipe Carvalho

  1. @MDEW Yes, boring. Because: - I´ve made a clear case and provided real world evidence demonstrating what I am talking about, and why. - "But I don´t think it is so because you have to consider numerology" Is not an argument or a discussion. I´ve made an effort to have a conversation, and every single time an attempt to change subject was made. - The sample is fair, there are others way worse. - My input on the specific subject of music cognition is on the thread about it, it´s very clear, and I don´t care enough to talk about it more than I already did. This is just another atempt to distract from the subject of this thread. And this thread is not about music cognition, it´s about technique/coordination and the confusion that crossing the underlying aspects that I´ve mentioned, as well as the misuse of references, will cause. What is bull is to think that because people want to have an opinion on stuff they don´t even understand, or because they think they can divinate *intent*, I have to put up with non-sense indefinitely. Sorry but it is not happening.
  2. Sup! Good stuff, we have now a group on Facebook messenger for live chat and exchanging audio samples on the fly. Join us here! https://m.me/join/AbaMTBP3g9tLhKss \m/
  3. Sup, it will be possible yeah. Falsetto does not work well on Scorpions, in special not on Still Loving You, that's why it's sounding off. With practice you can get it sure. Tenor or baritone depends on other stuff, don't worry about it much, it won't matter to sing what you want.
  4. I agree, but I am not defending the removal of visualization and sensations, I mean I see no problem on someone learning just by it. On the contrary, I am also saying that a good deal of the relevant stuff there is to learn on singing technique exists only in experiential knowledge and can not be transmited just by saying "now increase the space in your pharynx while keeping the interarytenoids engaged and preventing the TA from over contracting". And it´s exactly because I think that these tools are important that I believe it´s very important to see how, where and why they fail. Because it does and it even fails more often than people report it does. I am defending that one of the primary reasons they fail is because they are simply a tool to transmit experiential knowledge, not the knowledge itself. And so when you have something like classical teaching where almost all is done through visualization and sensation, having the tools without the master intervention is like buying a fancy pants chisel and expecting it to sculpt wood by itself. Or in simple terms, these are just tools, and as such they are as dumb as they can be useful. The quality of the intervention will depend on the person using them. For someone that is starting out picking this information alone... What will happen is what I am linking here.
  5. More on the subject of applying strictly practical ideas without orientation, and how it can lead to confusion, another post from reddit: "I wish I never got into ‘support’ Ever since I learned about breath support I haven’t sang well basically 90% percent of the time. Before I learned about support the odds of me singing really well were a lot more common than when I go out of my way to support. I think I’m going to go back to that and just hope that I find it then at least I can be like okay so what I’m I doing? What did I do... Does anyone else feel this way? " When asked about taking lessons: "When I say learned support I haven’t learned how to support but I mean that I learned I should support. So I am trying and failing to support." Picking descriptions of sensations and mental references such as "pretend you are inhaling" without checking/asserting whether it is producing a positive result has a very high chance of doing nothing, or hindering, instead of helping.
  6. Very good man, love the energy. The open notes like the "cry" on the ending are freaking awesome More! Since you are asking for a critique, on the start I believe it would sound better if you defined the vowels a bit more, and on some spots before the chorus it wavers off pitch a bit. It's nothing too distracting and it seems that you did this in one take, so it's nitpicking. Again, good stuff.
  7. Took a listen to the first and last songs (Sia and Camilla). On both songs the lower verses are sounding nice: confident, good energy and clear. When the pitch starts to rise, it's audible that you are squeezing a bit to keep things together and your voice don't respond well anymore, not as clear and it's apparent that you push to go high, on both songs the same problem happen on the highest points, you turn into a very obvious falsetto. Ever took some voice lessons? About being baritone or tenor, your voice sounds light on the samples, and as you said you are not using a good approach for the mid-high area (what you call chesty mix), so it's like trying to sing without the last 7 or 8 semitones of your normal voice. Probably once you do that, it will be tenor. About the reflux... That indeed needs attention since it makes everything much harder to handle. Did you go to a doctor already? Following the recommendations? But I did hear the same coordination issues on both the before and after. Anyways in resume, take some lessons to figure out the middle area, think once you get some control there your concerns with having a too low of a voice will go away.
  8. Its antagonic to the instinctive action @MDEW. For male voices in special its almost alien. Granted that pretty much all singing on the mid range is counter intutive, it is messed up in a special way to adjust the vowels and keep the intensity/energy still high enough.
  9. Nah, "random non-singer dude singing on the shower" quality, by anyone who is being honest standard. And certainly by the standards of "someone who actually has a clue about vocal technique", a bad joke. It is yet another example of what I am talking about here.
  10. As expected excuses. "its acapella", "its dry", "its wet". It's just lame. And it perfectly represents the issue.
  11. Not really, my point did not rely on a perceived attempt and a perceived failure. I simply brought up a bit of non-sense people write due to their own confusion. You were the one who proceeded to mind read the intentions of the dude, to that I said, and I repeat: "who cares?" And no, the whole people "think they learned" does not convince me one bit, you for example believe that you learned stuff from these videos don´t you? Let´s have a listen: The very fact that you actually believe you are in position to talk about practical matters while singing like this is more evidence supporting my claim that it just leads to random useless stuff. There is nothing in-between the lines to read when we look at the actual outcome, it is just poor. Drop the mental gymnastics and get real.
  12. Nope. People of course *claim* they learned stuff and yada yada. The practical outcome however tells a very different story. lol even on my own videos where I try to constrain things as much as I can and show simplistic versions of things, I am pretty sure the "omg I did what you said and it worked" comments would have practical outcomes that are just completely off. You can acquire a sense of how things are supposed to go, but to actually learn even with accurate mechanical descriptions and clear sound references it is already very hard, just with the practical advices on sensations and references it becomes random. You send your voice here, feel that, and something comes out. Heaven knows what that something will be.
  13. Nah, he could not have "tried" anything in classical technique training for the short period of time he reported before, besides that, you are again mind reading and attributing whatever you imagine the motives of the person as "intent". It does not matter if he said that because he had a gun to his head, or because he believes he will save the world. In fact the guy himself is irrelevant, it´s the fact that this kind of thing happens that is relevant to the subject (information and avoiding confusion). Tenelli and Trimble might have their styles, sure, but I am not talking about styles of communication. And no, I have no intention of telling people how they should write or make content on technique. I am simply pointing underlying ideas that seems to be present when people talk about technique and stating that being aware of it can prevent confusion and allow information to be useful. I am also saying with it that on the practical aspects (references and sensations descriptions), the possibility of the information being of any use will depend highly on the skill of the source, because they are attempts to directly guide to experience. And of course it will also be much more effective when working directly with the person. Pretty sure if you listen to 10 different singers that learned "appoggio" from a youtube video you will get 10 different things and none will have anything to do with the actual technique.
  14. Another example of why I feel its necessary to say this clearly no matter who gets bothered by it. Someome made a thread on a video from Michael Trimble on reddit, a video on appoggio. A guy ,who on another thread said that he was studying singing for like 2 months, says this about the video: "Don’t listen to this clown. Anyone who knows anything about breathing knows that pulling in the abdomen or compressing the ribs or thorax in general are actions that align with exhaling, not inhaling... pulling in the abs to inhale forces clavicular breathing and prevents costal diaphragmatic breathing. This guy is a fake teacher making shit up. You can’t “lean the breath” against the chest. It’s just made up nonsense" And sure enough a lot of people would (and did) believe this dude writing such certain and definitive words on breathing tech. It's sad, first because you can count that a couple of years from now this guy will either regret the wasted time or sill be locked to his religion that originated such opiniated contribution. Second because probably will take a few along the ride. And third because a bunch of other people gets suspicious about technique due to the conflict of *apparently* equaly valid opinions.
  15. Certainly. And some might have strong beliefs about it. But it's their skill you want to tap in, not their religion. I use the ideas of forward placement and focus myself. Its part of the reason I made this thread, because these concepts will not survive much longer if they are not taken for what they are and they are useful to pass on concepts that can not be made explicit, to communicate notions you can only acquire experientially. But these are just practical ideas that lose meaning without the experience and skill that originated them to support it because they will depend heavily on context to have a chance of working. And it's this dependence on skill that will no doubt trigger a bunch people (already does) since they will be excluded. Which is very fun , but oh well who cares? Predicting a possible argument, no it does not mean that skill by itself is enough to justify anything you say, it means that being able to do something is the least necessary to talk about practical aspects of such something. Trivial, but for some weird reason on singing it's necessary to say it out loud.
  16. It can be taken in a number of *metaphorical* ways and the literal one too! People come up with the weirdest theories to explain it. I remember a guy that thought that chest resonance meant that the chest bones affected the sound for example. People believe the silliest stuff if they invest enough of themselves on it. That's not the point though. The point is to identify the information as having the potential of being useful (currently a lot of people are just discarding it) and realize that it's *insufficient* on it's own to describe a concept (so that people are not going on the internet wonder about their forward placement problem).
  17. More from reddit: "Just like all parts of the voice there seems to be conflicting statements regarding falsetto. I've heard that learning to drag your falsetto down helps you to develop a mix but i've also heard that it messes with your muscle memory and makes it harder to use your chest voice." Though this is more of the usual problem of lack of definitions. At least 5 terms in there would need clarification: falsetto, drag your falsetto down (specifically how?), mix, muscle memory (coordination?), chest voice. "My vocal coach told me that I have problems with "forward placement" and need to get my tongue down. I don't even understand what that means." A description of a sensation, that somehow is also a problem, and an association of that with a mechanic idea of low tongue position. Again very incomplete (and low tongue usually does not feel forward at all).
  18. Just to point how important the subject is, the reason I brought it up is exactly that a weird instruction like "sing through your eye sockets" actually can work, and so it should not be discarded because it does not hold up when compared to the mechanics. Once you know that it is a sensation then you can proceed into looking at other aspects, for example the sound being produced and probable mechanical adjustments that go with it, IF possible of course.
  19. I can understand that a yell or crying is a natural/instinctive reaction. And I can understand that it happens by using the larynx which is itself primarily a *valve that protects the lower respiratory tract*. From that to saying that covering, or even falsetto break, is a protective action, seems like quite a stretch. Same logic could be used to say that all voiced sounds are protective actions... which does not say much tbh. In many senses covering is a deliberate reduction of some of the constrictions associated with the *yelling* position. I am not aware of some natural situation where we use covering, for alerting/protection, or some other reason. Even sobbing, that could pass as curbing perhaps, but even so... I would like to know one though!
  20. Oh yeah I am not so into the criticizing the information part (yet hehe). lol usually if a source writes *chords* as a serious reference to vocal folds (cords at the very least), and leaves it wrong for what, a decade, being told several times that it is wrong, unless there is some really exceptional results (and it's not the case), I would not even bother reading. I think it's good however to see gaps in there and how the information itself is distorted even before we consider if it´s correct or not, this kind of thing happens all the time and it's something that I have to police myself to at least try not mixing up. It's a reality we have to deal with and I propose trying to perceive and minimize it, not something we can fix. I believe that trying to fix it is a mistake and will exclude many information sources that may not be writing about "vocal chords", but perhaps express their ideas in a too flowerish way for example.
  21. I don't think it is ignored. The problem is always how to deal with that in practice. Our ability to imagine sounds is subject to how accurately we represent sounds in memory. And then coordination/function is the about only way, for now, to bring that into reality (which is what actually matters). Usually the solution is to practice these 3 in parallel, but very, very often the weak link of this chain is memory acuity and vocal function. The reason for the first is that we normally don't need lot's of accuracy for the day to day life, in fact the very way our cognition works (it's great on finding patterns and abstraction) tends to leave gaps in memory. We don't really recall what is there in the real world, instead we have a compressed/blurred profile of what we experience, with just enough information that would allow recognition later on. The reason for the second is that it's normally not explored to the extent it would be necessary for singing early in life. I can see this clearly in practice living on Brazil where music education in early life is still a privilege of a lucky bunch of people, and being exposed to students from countries that are more advanced in this regard. For example it's very common around here to have to walk people on how to do something like changing pitch and it often is confused with vowel and timbre changes. The full path is Hearing - Aural Memory - Audiation (imagination) - Singing. Or for a more general idea perception -> memory -> imagination -> creation. A very good practice for aural memory is to do what I see some people calling active listening sessions, listening to a high quality recording while paying attention to specific element of a song, then stopping the playback and recalling/imagining it, making an effort to retain the detail and being precise. The more detail, the better. This is where a skilled musician can be quite helpful, because they can bring attention to details by showing and highlighting them in real time along with the song playback. And of course another essential practice is to make use of the tech and record/listen, since it covers the full path from perception to creation. A possible step to represent imagination without the coordination properly developed is to be able to use some sort of music notation to bring that memory into existence (at least a bit of it), but I also see this as the major flaw on classical music theory education (specially when little or no attention is placed on solfege) because it can easily replace audiation with symbolic/mechanic representation, and limit the amount of detail retained in memory. Then it becomes a big problem because it creates a gap in that pathway. It's relatively common to see this problem on musicians that play tempered instruments (such as piano and guitar) when they want to have a go on singing. In this case then I would say that yeah, the weak link in this is audiation, and a good practice would be something like what you see young children doing when they learn a nursery rhyme, very loose, no concern for acuity and as intuitive and fun as possible. As for the use of the metronome, it's a reliable reference, steady and simple beat pattern. And as any tool it is about how to use it. For very basic rhythm acquisition, learning to clap in 4/4 along a click, and other basic rhythm divisions, is a really good start even if it is quite boring, and can make the difference between struggling forever with it, and just moving on to singing. And for the vast majority of problems the solution of having an audible reference of what is correct and working your execution closer to it will be the best way to solve them. Exactly due to the problem of acuity of memory. Long story short: listen to high quality music, sing, record and listen to yourself without lowering your standards.
  22. Well that's the thing, when people were studying the mechanics of swallowing they looked for these muscles on people. Most people don't have them, and in those that do have them, they are atrophied (not used). And this is part of the swallowing mechanics, we do it all the time to eat, so it is also not something that only a few mutants do :P
  23. Hummm I don´t know, it seems to me that if it was just this, the coordination at 42:00 minutes would look different than that, and she says the singer was just playing with the idea, which she just acquired. For that to happen in that specific manner it would require that the thyroid was strapped, and that as the thyrohyoid space closed the tongue compensated the movements so that it´s shape was more or less the same as the hyoid approached the thyroid. It would take quite some training to reach a point where it seems to be perfectly stable on visual feedback no? And the folding would require up and down approximation on that area, that does not seem to be happening, that bulging seems to happen without the upward displacement of the larynx, and it also seems to be happening higher, above the hyoid bone. Narrowing the thyrohyoid space is also something I experimented before, it really feels bellow the *other thing* that I am experimenting with. Testing here and monitoring with my fingers I can feel that the other one can happen even with the thyrohyoid space open (and the larynx lowered). Seems to be happening on the position I marked in green, instead of the position I marked in pink (in the real time MRI on the video).
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