Me singing a little Dream Theater

[Keith]

I felt like taking it easy today, so I decided to do basic warm ups and lots of humming - Still trying to isolate my "Mask"- So I sang a bunch of songs like this one.

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11050094&q=hi&newref=1

I'll be looking forward to some insight on this one.

~Keith

[Keith]

Here is another one..

http://www.soundclick.com/player/single_player.cfm?songid=11052053&q=hi&newref=1

[akarawd]

Keith, are you sure you haven't entered head voice in that 2nd one ? They both sound great but

quite frankly when I tried to sing the 2nd one ( what an amazing song) I discovered they it "sits" right on my passaggio ;

I had to properly employ mask & clown manic grin, support and lightly stretch my folds all the way up to those notes to pull it off without strain.

The it was a matter of memorizing that openness for this tune and not let go - or else I'd fall on falsetto and I haven't had that for months!

When you sung "oh Lord" how did it feel ? It really sounds beautiful and full on the recording.

[Olem]

Keith, this sounds great! You have a very nice voice, suitable for this kind of songs. I would suggest you practise first and foremost on your vibrato, speed it up a little and listen to the song carefully, your rhythm was a little off at times. But overall, a very nice performance.

[Keith]

When you sung "oh Lord" how did it feel ? It really sounds beautiful and full on the recording.

It felt like i was singing in a light chest voice.. I could feel my voice switch to head at the top - if you listen close, you an hear it. And, you could also hear the poor XLR cable loosing connection lol - time for a new one.

[akarawd]

I guess you'll have to sing this song quite often now to establish that feeling. You really have a very very beautiful voice man.

[Keith]

I guess you'll have to sing this song quite often now to establish that feeling. You really have a very very beautiful voice man.

Thanks! What I did was made about 1 hours worth of songs to sing that are soft and airy and right around my breaking point. So I do about an hours worth up warmups first, then the hours worth of covers. THEN, I try and sing my bands set lol.

[akarawd]

That's pretty much what I have to do too. Instead of the soft songs I do my scales from ktva, then sing soft songs (but non airy - I avoid breathy singing at all costs), then I go on to the "hard" stuff.

[Keith]

Is airy bad? should I not be doing that?

[akarawd]

I'm not 100% why it's wrong but your best bet is to avoid it till you can get into head effortlessly.

Most metal head voice singing does not involve breathiness because it dries and tires the cord. Also,

it usually creates the tendency to push more air than we should. On the contrary, I'm quite certain that

meaty tenor singing involves air compression - like singing while holding your breath but without any strain.

Please remember that I'm an amateur myself

[Keith]

lol yeah, I'm not even an amateur yet. I try and take in as much info as I can; throw out what doesn't work, and keep what does.

[Keith]

Dude (akarawd) I was just singing and I think for the first time I felt head voice! It was like all the tension in my neck went away, and a clear tone came out. It happened at around g#4 - I could not raise or lower the pitch - when I tried, I lost it. But, now I know what it feels like. Now, if I can only do it again!

[akarawd]

A g#4 without tension has got to be head voice, congrats!

Strange you mentioned you couldn't change the pitch, you should definitely be able to go higher without any problem.

I think that if you start a line by using falsetto and then hold back all the air you should find headvoice again - it might sound really weak

at first but keep at it and in time all the tiny muscles will be able to co-ordinate and be strong enough to allow for a meatier sound.

Good news man!

Thanos

[Jugulator]

Great voice! Clean and smooth :)

[gno]

Sounds Great. I really like both those - the first is one of my fav DT songs. Your voice is well suited for this style.

[ronws]

Hey, 8, I really liked how you did these songs. And I checked out your link, looking for answer to question of mine. I hear something of an accent that is not northeastern or New England-ish. Along with your name and how it is spelled (in old German.)

Sind Sie aus Deutschland? Mein Grossvater (durch meine Mutter) war aus Deutschland. In 1923, kommt er zu Amerika. Er spaeter ist in US Army gearbeiten, durch WWII. Im Europe.

Entschuldigen Sie mir, bitte. Ich studiert Deutch 1981 und 1982, nicht jeder Jahren seit dann.

Anyway, back to English, where I am a little more fluent, which may not be saying much. Nice, light onset, which I think this song deserves. You mentioned accomplishing what sounded like a well-connected and clean G#4. Congrats. And if you analyze what you did, might find you were allowing more access to the head resonating space, part of singing into the mask. Singing into the mask means that you can feel something anywhere from the upper teeth and up. And to really feel that means to move or raise the soft palate to allow the excited air molecules to transfer their energy into the air in those cavities, including the maximilliary cavities (as discovered and confirmed by Dr. Thomas Fillebrown and mentioned in his book "Resonance in singing and speaking"; I think it's 9 dollars on Kindle ) around the cheek bones and forehead and they are connected to the sinus cavities. By the way, resonating in sinus cavities does not cause a nasal sound. Totally avoiding the sinus will cause a nasal sound, like the sound Sylvester Stallone created for his character in "Rocky," to mimick the sound of a boxer who has been hit in the nose too many times.

The other extreme is speaking through the nose, like Chef Paula Deen from Georgia. That will not happen in your singing, either.

By the way, good luck and success with your band. I see you have a gig in October.

[Keith]

October 21st at The Haunt in Ithaca, NY! Can't wait. It will be our first gig ever. And, my fist gig singing (and playing bass). Should be interesting. I've been practicing with my PA to get used to it, and doing the Karaoke thing in front of people to get used to that as well. I live in NY (not NYC). I'm not sure what accent I have lol - My great grandparents on my fathers side were from Germany. I do not speak german, however, as it was not offered in my school. I have not been able to get that G#4 in total head voice again. I can't even describle how I got it the first time. It's like my airflow constricted, something happened in my throat, and then the sound just came out. Soon as I tried to siren it, I cracked right into falsetto. I am wondering if smoking for the last 5 years has killed me more that I thought (Which is why I quit a few weeks ago)

[gno]

It is good you stopped smoking, but the folds have a built in protection from smoke - unless you actually vocalize with smoke filled lungs - then it is bad. But there are some very famous singers - one the the worlds best operatic baritones - that are smokers.

Good luck with with your gig. Are you going to record it or video it?

[Keith]

I am not sure if I will have anyone available to record it. Maybe I can bounce a monitor mix to my iphone or something lol

[ronws]

October 21st at The Haunt in Ithaca, NY! Can't wait. It will be our first gig ever. And, my fist gig singing (and playing bass). Should be interesting. I've been practicing with my PA to get used to it, and doing the Karaoke thing in front of people to get used to that as well. I live in NY (not NYC). I'm not sure what accent I have lol - My great grandparents on my fathers side were from Germany. I do not speak german, however, as it was not offered in my school. I have not been able to get that G#4 in total head voice again. I can't even describle how I got it the first time. It's like my airflow constricted, something happened in my throat, and then the sound just came out. Soon as I tried to siren it, I cracked right into falsetto. I am wondering if smoking for the last 5 years has killed me more that I thought (Which is why I quit a few weeks ago)

I will probably catch some heat from this but, ask anyone, I usually have no difficulties upsetting people and I am most sociable when I shut up. Enrico Caruso smoked, and more than just a few times a year. That's not it and no, I am not advocating smoking and certainly can see where it can cause some singers some problems. Arlo Guthrie forbids smoking during his performances.

I don't know what it is but I could hear some german in your voice. And it's funny that I can speak more german than you can. My grandfather's name during immigration was Sergei Kuch. When they arrived in America, they changed the spelling to Cook, which means the same thing. However, my last name is Stone, which is, if I guess correctly, scottish in origin. My father was of english, irish, and scottish ancestry and I think we get the last name from the scottish clan name, Johnstone. So, yeah, I am a mongrel, if one were to use dog breeding terms. (For those who don't know, a pure breed is purebred. A mutt is a mix of any two pure breeds. Anything more than any two purebreeds is a mongrel.)

The big thing that stands out like a red flag to me in your post is how you said "something happened in my throat." Well, quit singing in your throat. Sing in your head. You should feel as if you have no throat.

[Keith]

The big thing that stands out like a red flag to me in your post is how you said "something happened in my throat." Well, quit singing in your throat. Sing in your head. You should feel as if you have no throat.

And THAT is what I need to figure out how to do.

[ronws]

Smile just a little. The same muscles in smiling also lift and/or move the soft pallate to allow access to the resonating cavities in the head. There, you will find resonance and headache-causing volume.

[Keith]

Headache causing? lol terrific!

[ronws]

Headache causing? lol terrific!

Seriously, though, give it a try. It may sound or feel different, at first. Give it some time. At least a week or two. You will have volume for days.

[Keith]

I surely will. So, smile and try and sing in head voice at the same time then?