flmason Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Hi All, New to singing but not young, LOL! So my interest is in the vocal sounds of Classic Rock for the most part. Twang seems to be at the center of it. However I can't find a clear explanation of how to actually do it. Here's an example of what I mean by clear, (as opposed to so technical I don't know what they mean...), but from the art of impressionists. I once had someone good at "voices" tell me these methods, which I can actually execute: 1) "Thruston Howell III" - Push your lower jaw out so that your bottom teeth are beyond your upper teeth, speak in a low voice, learn Bacaus's infectlions and accent points. 2) Kirk Douglass after he had a stroke - Push tongue to one side and hold it between your teeth. 3) Dan Ackroyd charcter "Todd" - Push jaw to side, speak in a mildly "autistic" manner. I'm afraid things like the following, though they may be technically accurate... leave me without a clue how to actually do anything: "Twang is 1 of 6 original Estillian vocal modes and 1 of 7 TVS vocal modes. Twang is characterized by a contraction of the Aryepiglottic Sphincter, Vocal Fold Closure and narrowing of the epiglottic funnel to amplify frequencies. It is a specific physiological set up or "configuration" that produces a very specific kind of phonation." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCdan Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Just talk like Betty. It's a very easy vocal effect to do. You will sound a bit silly, but you just need to mix it into your singing voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flmason Posted July 26, 2011 Author Share Posted July 26, 2011 LOL! Hillarious video. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Fraser Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 Just talk like Betty. It's a very easy vocal effect to do. You will sound a bit silly, but you just need to mix it into your singing voice. NCdan, et al: Watch some Looney Tunes cartoons. The voices of Buggs Bunny and Tweety Bird are the quintessential twang examples :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akarawd Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 The voices of Buggs Bunny and Tweety Bird are the quintessential twang examples So true. There's this film where Jim Carrey plays this double character and his "2nd" self uses really pronounced nasality but also twang : 02:00 here http://videosift.com/video/Tony-Clifton-Jim-Carrey-Sings-Volare Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 I once had someone good at "voices" tell me these methods, which I can actually execute: 1) "Thruston Howell III" - Push your lower jaw out so that your bottom teeth are beyond your upper teeth, speak in a low voice, learn Bacaus's infectlions and accent points. 2) Kirk Douglass after he had a stroke - Push tongue to one side and hold it between your teeth. 3) Dan Ackroyd charcter "Todd" - Push jaw to side, speak in a mildly "autistic" manner. All of these ideas are very likely to cause tension in your throat. They're very bad ideas, don't do them. Listen to the others on this thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 the late actor paul lynde made us all laugh with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Validar Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 hahahaha, as a kid, I remember doing impressions of him when he was Uncle Arthur on Bewitched. Another that will help give you an idea is Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor, which I now have an urge to see again after mentioning it. My God, that Stella Stevens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrator Robert Lunte Posted July 26, 2011 Administrator Share Posted July 26, 2011 This is funny,,, but in some sense, these samples are hitting at the right idea. Honestly, I dont have time to write a big huge thing right now as I have a lot to do today... but in my new training system, "The Four Pillars of Singing" 2.0, there is a 20 minute lecture in high definition video that covers 3 techniques that are used to develop the strength and coordination for being able to twang... Or if you train with me over the internet, Ill show you how. In the meantime, try quacking like a duck on a G3 (chest voice), then go up an octave to a G4 (head voice) and quack like a duck again... then quack 4 times on the G4... on the fourth quack... hold and sustain. Ex" " quack, quack, quack, quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack". I hope that makes sense... then modify the vowel to "quake", Ex: "quake, quake, quake, quaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake".... NOW your twanging through a good training vowel, "Eh" and making progress. This is one of the three techniques I offer in the "Pillars" video lectures. I hope this helps... and you choose to take it to the next level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VideoHere Posted July 26, 2011 Share Posted July 26, 2011 hahahaha, as a kid, I remember doing impressions of him when he was Uncle Arthur on Bewitched. Another that will help give you an idea is Jerry Lewis in The Nutty Professor, which I now have an urge to see again after mentioning it. My God, that Stella Stevens. val, my all time favorite part is when he's in the bar as the cool guy, and he says "please, mister bar room brawler"....... mint scene! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzu6OfwIRNE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flmason Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 All of these ideas are very likely to cause tension in your throat. They're very bad ideas, don't do them. Listen to the others on this thread. They aren't singing methods, they are impressionist/comic methods. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srs7593 Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 Do youtube SLS teachers call this pharyngial voice? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIDJNUBVHfc ↠I feel awful for finding this as funny as I do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flmason Posted July 27, 2011 Author Share Posted July 27, 2011 Do youtube SLS teachers call this pharyngial voice? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIDJNUBVHfc ↠I feel awful for finding this as funny as I do. Being new to all this, I had to look up pharynx. It looks like a cavity. So while I can do the "nay" thing without knowing how, what's it got to do with the pharynx exactly? Since it's a cavity, i.e a space... can't exactly flex it like a muscle, etc? Is this to say that "twanging" means making the sound resonate in the naso-pharynx, by whatever means? Seems we can all say, "Well, it's like Bugs Bunny" but that's not really a description of what's going on in the same sense as a statement like, "Curling is pulling the hand closer to the shoulder by contracting the biceps". Granted speech and singing where learned in an intuitive manner when we were very young (well, pehaps just vocalization) so such a description could be useless in trying to get there vrs. "Bugs Bunny". But as a point of clear understandng, perhaps useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonpall Posted July 27, 2011 Share Posted July 27, 2011 ok, flmason, I just had a hard time detecting if you were kidding or not :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Validar Posted July 28, 2011 Share Posted July 28, 2011 val, my all time favorite part is when he's in the bar as the cool guy, and he says "please, mister bar room brawler"....... mint scene! It makes me miss the days when acting and good scripts carried movies, not CGI crap and remakes of everything under the sun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flmason Posted July 28, 2011 Author Share Posted July 28, 2011 ok, flmason, I just had a hard time detecting if you were kidding or not Oh, no worries. I wasn't sure I was being clear. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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