Serotonin

Absolutely, probably the most useful for me so far. Actually, wind and release was at first the only phonation I could use in my head voice and passagio. I strongly advise OP to practice it if they haven't already.

Robert is right. Your octave sirens are very good. Obviously as you approach the passagio it will get harder to do it seamlessly but the onsets are designed to make that easier. Your Q&R is very good. Have you tried wind and release? I don't know what stage you are at but W&R is incredibly helpful for both learning to bridge and mastering the different vocal modes. Q&R involves lots of compression while W&R involves a lot less compression and a falsetto mode. So transitioning from Q&R to W&R is vital for training to bridge and training vocal modes.

Welcome! I'm fairly new to this too so I can't really give informed advice. But I will say, keep at it. Bridging and connecting is literally the holy grail of singing. Nearly everything you do in 4Pillars is specifically designed to help you bridge the passagio. But it isn't an overnight thing. It might take months to hear results and longer still to be able to bridge seamlessly. Right now it probably feels like you're sitting on your own for an hour making stupid ugly noises that sound nothing like singing, but keep at it and the benefits will come later.

Hey Serotonin, great job!  This is insightful, it seems you have been training the TVS techniques. You would have to, in order to realize this. Alternating between the two extremes of compression, Q&R and W&R is a great routine.  

Robert is right. Your octave sirens are very good. Obviously as you approach the passagio it will get harder to do it seamlessly but the onsets are designed to make that easier. Your Q&R is very good. Have you tried wind and release? I don't know what stage you are at but W&R is incredibly helpful for both learning to bridge and mastering the different vocal modes. Q&R involves lots of compression while W&R involves a lot less compression and a falsetto mode. So transitioning from Q&R to W&R is vital for training to bridge and training vocal modes.

Welcome! I'm fairly new to this too so I can't really give informed advice. But I will say, keep at it. Bridging and connecting is literally the holy grail of singing. Nearly everything you do in 4Pillars is specifically designed to help you bridge the passagio. But it isn't an overnight thing. It might take months to hear results and longer still to be able to bridge seamlessly. Right now it probably feels like you're sitting on your own for an hour making stupid ugly noises that sound nothing like singing, but keep at it and the benefits will come later.

Okay, I won't be able to book lessons for awhile for financial reasons but I hope I will be able to in future. Until then I'll keep progressing on my own, not as effective but the only viable option at the moment. I'll use the demonstrations to gauge whether I'm doing stuff right.

It's now been a few weeks since I got the programme so I have got well into training. So, given that this is a progress thread, here is my "step 1" recording. Something that other people did in their threads so I'll do it too. It's a song that I'm fairly comfortable with as there aren't many high notes. Please Please Please by the Smiths. As I progress I'll probably upload more but this will be the last recording I post for at least a month or so. So yeah..here it is.
 

Hi

I was overjoyed to finally be able to afford Four Pillars, and I can't wait to jump right in.

I've seen other users create progress threads for their journey through the training programme so I thought I might as well do the same. This is where I'll ask questions/embed sound files of me doing the various exercises in the programme and singing songs so that people can give feedback.
BTW, I was just wondering if I should approach the book like a sponge and just read it cover to cover absorbing everything or if I should dip in and out as and when I need to, using the videos to guide me through my journey then referring to the book when necessary. Which approach would be better or do I need to do a bit of both. I can't wait to get started, but I hope you'll forgive my being slightly intimidated by it. That said, it is a challenge that I am now willing to take on more than I was before.

Hi

I was overjoyed to finally be able to afford Four Pillars, and I can't wait to jump right in.

I've seen other users create progress threads for their journey through the training programme so I thought I might as well do the same. This is where I'll ask questions/embed sound files of me doing the various exercises in the programme and singing songs so that people can give feedback.
BTW, I was just wondering if I should approach the book like a sponge and just read it cover to cover absorbing everything or if I should dip in and out as and when I need to, using the videos to guide me through my journey then referring to the book when necessary. Which approach would be better or do I need to do a bit of both. I can't wait to get started, but I hope you'll forgive my being slightly intimidated by it. That said, it is a challenge that I am now willing to take on more than I was before.