twang and the hoarse throat

[Steven Fraser]

NCdan, I only noticed how weak my twang was when I was quacking very quietly. I sometimes go lie down next to my cat when she's snoozing and have a little meow chat with her (I get to cuddle her and practice my twang at the same time). When I do that, I meow with very little volume. Doing quacks and stuff at normal volume tricks you (well, me, anyway). Making sounds very quietly reveals so many faults that get hidden behind volume, in my opinion. Do you find it as easy if you do it with very little volume?

Hi, Matt! Ooooooooo. Twanging on very soft tones is what makes them keep from being 'fluffy'. Since the thing that causes twang is a posture of the lower pharynx (actually, the epilaryngeal area), you can sing any note, any volume, any vowel, with twang if you want to. Its a particlar feeling, not tight, forceful or even energetic.

A very important, if not essential aspect of singing with power, endurance, range and expression is keeping the twang in the tone. You see... its the 'stem' from which the tone quality develops. Its what people refer to as 'ping' or 'focus'. In a larger (classical baritone) voice it would be called 'snarl'... an essential element in depicting aggression, anger and ill-intent. In a positive context, it carries great power and emotional content. For a listener, even if its very, very soft, it attracts our attention and connects with the 'sweet spot' in our sense of hearing... the sounds that pull on our heart-strings. When twang is present, even medium-soft singing seems firm and powerful... feels easy... sounds powerful? That is a recipe for very fun singing.

So, BY ALL MEANS! Mew with twang to your cat when you sing. If you can do it softly, without strain, then there is _no_ _big_ _deal_ in doing it at louder levels. I would suggest that you could sing into a Shure Beta 58 about that loudly and be heard anywhere in the venue... with that kind of twang.

I hope this helps,

[jonpall]

I think that the original name for this sound was actually "ping" (like Steven Fraser wrote about) or even "ring", and not twang or even quack. If I'm not mistaken, "ping" has been used in classical singing for a long time, way before twang.

[VideoHere]

I think that the original name for this sound was actually "ping" (like Steven Fraser wrote about) or even "ring", and not twang or even quack. If I'm not mistaken, "ping" has been used in classical singing for a long time, way before twang.

it seems like twang just gets incorporated into your voice, just becomes a part of your voice. after a while, it hard not to sing without it.

do you folks agree?

[ronws]

Something else I didn't catch the first time I read this thread and it's in the very title. But there is some good advice here, nonetheless. What I wanted to say was that, in response to twang and hoarseness, nothing in any proper style of singing should lead to hoarseness or damage or soreness (but any reasonable muscle fatigue, even my jaw muscles can tire from talking.) If it does, something is wrong. Either being done wrong, or the presentation of the technique is wrong, or the understanding of the student is not getting it. I'm not saying that it's speech level singing. What I am saying is that any sound you can "learn" is a sound you can already do, you just have to develope the habits to make those sounds consistently without damage. Twang can be done without making the voice hoarse. In fact, I would say that hoarseness is not from the twang but from air overpowering the vocal folds (just my layman's opinion.) Anyone here was borning crying. That is a timbre or effect that we are literally born with. What is different in singing is to have the habit of using that in a certain part of the range. That's the actual training. And the crying is not really a matter of the vocal folds doing anything different. They should be fully adducting, regardless. Crying is all about resonance. Someone go ahead and prove me wrong.

Anyway, whatever you are doing, Matt, it should not be harming you or leading to damage. There is no valid vocal training system that should require you to undergo "recovery" from a malady, such as hoarseness. If it does, it's a scam.

[jonpall]

Yes, but it's like that will lots of vocal techniques. F.ex. it becomes hard for many singers to sing in falsetto, i.e. high, breathy, low volume notes, if they have been working on non-breathy, more powerful sounds in the high register for a while. But if you want to sing without twang for the fun of it, just make fun of some singer who uses very little twang. If I remember correctly, Nick Cave uses little twang.