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How to develop power when singing...


LydiaN

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First of all, I apologize if I have started a new topic on something that was already discussed...I couldn't find what I needed when I did a search.

My husband and I have gone out a few times to do karaoke and I have noticed something... I don't have problems singing high notes or holding long notes, but compared to many of the singers, I feel like I'm whispering. Unless I have the mic right up to my mouth, I just don't seem to have much volume. The others seem to have such power to their voices that I just don't seem to have. I'm not sure what to call it--projection, belting, or what?

My husband said that when he was little and was learning to sing, he was told to sing as if he was singing to the very back of the room, just as loud as he could. He told me not to be too concerned about it--but it's really bothering me. How do I develop the power--I'm afraid to just start trying to sing as loud as I can because I'm worried about damaging my voice. Can someone help? What do I do?

Thanks...

Lydia

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Bob, she's a good example of what I would like to do, others are Ann Wilson, Kelly Clarkson and Pat Benetar...but I really mean being able to hold the mic even a foot away from my mouth and still have enough power (projection?) that I can be heard. Technically, I think I do really well--for example, I can hit the notes in Barracuda...but I lack the power and I think that is just as important as hitting the notes.

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good tip practicing aiming your voice at the opposite wall. Do VVVVVVV and ZZZZZZZZZZ. Important: make sure every single vvvvvv/zzzzzz is reaching the wall as strongly as the onset and that it doesnt start to die off immediately after the onset.

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Power can be done by technique. Also by relaxing the correct muscles in your throat and engaging others. Post a clip of you singing so someone here might be able to help. I really recommend it.

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Matt--thanks for the tip..I will definitely try that.

Jonpall--should i post an audio clip or video? Probably a stupid question, but I thought I'd ask anyway...lol

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Bob, she's a good example of what I would like to do, others are Ann Wilson, Kelly Clarkson and Pat Benetar...but I really mean being able to hold the mic even a foot away from my mouth and still have enough power (projection?) that I can be heard. Technically, I think I do really well--for example, I can hit the notes in Barracuda...but I lack the power and I think that is just as important as hitting the notes.

oh, you've mentioned some real powerhouses alright...lol!!!!

well, you know i'm a real stickler for support and an open relaxed throat. but here's a suggestion i've come across a number of times:

after a thorough warmup, just relax your throat, open up your mouth as if to yawn, tongue behind the teeth, watch not to constrict, and not with any kind of throat involvement, loudly (don't scream) just say loudly "hey" like you might if you were to see your car about the get stolen, don't hold back (key point) and try to focus and concentrate so much that you really do think your car is getting stolen. the key is to let the emotion drive the power to prevent you from paying attention to the vocal. basically, to trick the body so the emotion disassociates you from the vocal.

no singing here, just say "hey." if you do it right you will get a nice powerful belted "hey" without calling in any constrictions, and you should feel a bouncing in your belly because you will automatically kick in support. do this on a regular basis and you begin to feel more power in your voice. then you might want to extend the duration of the "hey" or try a "may" instead of 'hey" to change it up. the voice will begin to connect more to the power system (the belly muscles). a powerful voice is very much "willed" by the singer, very much driven by an intent to be powerful. hope this helps.

with no disrespect meant, women are often taught to not express this side of themselves, this more agressive side.

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Lydia - are you singing in chest? Maybe the issue is that you are singing everything in head and you need to learn how to develop your chest voice. That's what Ann, Kelly and Pat Benetar are doing.

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I'm having good luck these days with opening my throat but NOT my mouth that much. I think I was previously opening my mouth too much on the high notes which sometimes tired me out. But I guess you can do it both ways.

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First of all, how do you define "Power"... what do you mean by that. More respiration support? A stronger Belt? The ability to twang so you can amplify more? These are all things that need to be done that can give you , what people would describe as, "more power". However, my "gut feeling" on this, based on my experience is that your singing is probably windy.

When you sing, is it windy? Does your singing have a windy quality to it? This is a very common problem for women, who tend to sing with little to no intrinsic anchoring (twang, tongue leveraging & laryngeal dumping), until someone points it out to them and they train to stop singing what I call, "the puffy-puffs" and start singing with real tone.

Cutting to the chase, my guess is you need to learn to twang. You need to learn to get more compression in your singing, meaning, the vocal folds are closing more tightly and thus... removal of the wind in your singing will ensue. You need better vocal fold closure... how do you get that? You need to train and learn how to twang which does two very important things. 1). removes the wind blowing through your glottis and creates a real tone and 2). amplifies the frequencies.

There are probably 400 discussions on this forum about twang... but I can show you how in about 20 minutes in an internet lesson or there are some good books and DVD systems that can show you how as well. Reach out to me if you like and we can discuss... but Im sure this is probably your problem and its very common for females with little to no vocal training... .and pretty easy to fix once you understand what your suppose to be doing.

I hope this helps....

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Yes, I am singing in chest voice...well actually more of a mix. It's actually easier for me to sing in my higher range and I have more volume there than in my lower range. My husband says that as he watches me sing that he is amazed at how effortless it is for me to hit the high notes. He said that probably a good description of what I want to do is increase my amplification.

Robert--I'm not sure exactly if what I am thinking is what you are referring to. For example, a lot of female vocalists are really strong in their lower range, but when they get up to the high notes they sound thin and airy. If that is what you mean, then no, I don't have a windy quality to my voice. At least I don't think I do.... :P (I asked my husband and he said no also.) I'm going to record a session the next time my husband and I go over our cover songs...I'll try to post something out here a little later tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for all the advice so far!! :D

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I'm having good luck these days with opening my throat but NOT my mouth that much. I think I was previously opening my mouth too much on the high notes which sometimes tired me out. But I guess you can do it both ways.

jonpall, that's exactly what i'm also getting more aware of. i figured how to keep the back of the throat opened up in the back even though i appear somewhat closed in the mouth. i see a lot of singers not that opened at all, and they still sould resonant and unobstructed.

another one of those "revelations" or "re-revelations"...lol!!! now i'm learning to re-yawn...this stuff never ceases to amaze me.

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