Volume

[khammett1962]

I'm still very new to singing. Im just now learning where to place my voice for best sound and letting go of all tension in my thoat. When I sing a very slightly lower than my speaking volume it sounds really clean clear and full, but any time I try to sing just a little louder than speaking volume it gets less clear, kind of muddy and losses resonance. I cant seem to not let it get that way. Do I just need to keep working at it or does it just happen when you try to get more volume?

[Steven Fraser]

I'm still very new to singing. Im just now learning where to place my voice for best sound and letting go of all tension in my thoat. When I sing a very slightly lower than my speaking volume it sounds really clean clear and full, but any time I try to sing just a little louder than speaking volume it gets less clear, kind of muddy and loses resonance. I cant seem to not let it get that way. Do I just need to keep working at it or does it just happen when you try to get more volume?

Hi, khammett1962: Muddiness in the tone when attempting to get louder happens because the singer has upset the balance of breath and laryngeal muscle action. Usually, this is because the body is responding to the desire for louder sound by supplying more exhalation force without also making the subtle adjustment in the larygeal muscles to compensate.

IMO, a very simple way to begin to learn this is to take a soft, clear sound, and to crescendo it a bit very slowly, and then return to the original volume smoothly. This exercise is called the 'Messa di Voce'.

Pick a note in your middle, very comfortable part of your range, onset a medium-soft clear tone on any vowel you like, and then do a very small cresendo for a few seconds, and then follow it with a decrescendo until you return to the original volume. Your tonal goal as you do this is to keep the tone clarity continuous, while ou make the volume change very smooth and small.

What you will discover is that you can make a note get some louder without really doing very much at all, other than 'wanting' it to be a bit louder. Practice this for about 10-15 mins a day, for a week.

After the week, you can begin to use different notes. After 4-5 mins on the original note, Move to the note 1 step higher, and repeat for 4-5 mins. You will sense that there are very small differences in the performance of the exercise on the different notes. Repeat these 2 notes for 1 week.

Add a 3rd note and a 4th note the next week. If at any time, the tone gets muddy, you are crescendoing too fast, or too far, for your ability to maintain balance. be more patient.

When your 4 notes are in good shape, then you can begin to make your crescendo go to a louder volume. Find the place where it gets muddy, if it does, and go to almost that loud. With a week or 2 of practice at this, you will find the adjustment that you need to get louder without upsetting the balance.

Let us know from time to time how things are going with this, and if you have any questions.

[khammett1962]

Thanks for the tips. I will work on that.