revisiting "the straw" video

[VideoHere]

i had to bring this back up, because i never realized how beneficial this is.

this is proving to a be a guaranteed way to reposition, or raise the placement of your voice. it's a fantastic warmup/warm down, and it helps as a quick voice repair technique when you're feeling a little blown out or swollen.

thank you dr. titze!!!

[Shanks Voice Studio]

Yes! The straw can be used many ways. It's important that the breath stream is directed through the straw. Some people blow haphazardly, with air going through and around the straw. The air going through the straw balances the breath and the slightly open-throated position IF (BIG IF) the hum is felt at the straw, and not in the throat. The tongue should rest toward the front of the mouth, as always. When most of my beginning students first try this, they over-blow and force the air, instead of allowing the air to flow, and they hum in the throat with the tongue pushing the larynx down.

Notice how crisp and clear your speaking voice becomes after a few minutes of straw work?

[VideoHere]

yes. i use to for polyp maintenance too since i opted out of surgery and i'm back to singing again.

[Trip]

Holy shit, that's an amazing exercise

I couldn't keep from blowing air through the nose at the start, but I finally managed to cut that airflow and when I tried a scale without the straw my problems with the lower end of the passaggio (Bb3-C4) had disappeared! I'm sure my muscles will have forgotten that skill by tomorrow, but then again straws are cheap and practice is free :)

[VideoHere]

yes, and the exercise has a way of lifting the voice out of the throat and placing it higher. you probably heard your tone get a little higher pitched as well.

[Trip]

Actually, I've always had this problem with excessive nasal resonance, also when I speak, to the point where people have asked me on occasion if I have a cold when I didn't.

I'm used to feeling the tone buzz strongly in the bones of my nose and I've kinda thought it's how it is supposed to be. After the straw exercise I don't really feel in that much there, but when I record myself, that whistling overtone (squillo is one of the terms for it I think) is more focused than I'm used to hearing it from myself :)