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Hight notes and vocal tract modification

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Keith

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So, for the first time EVER, I sang the F above C5 (F5?) It was kinda a fluke - I overshot a note. I have been on this "don't strain" kick and trying to ease into notes above A4 - so I don't "gut punch" them. Here is what I noticed about hittin that note: When I got there, the back of my tongue had almost closed off the airway to my mouth and alot of air was coming out my nose. I tried to reproduce that note with no success. So I guess my question is this. When singing notes that high, and the notes leading up to them, is it normal for the back of the tongue to raise up towards the soft pallate? And also, is it normal for the soft pallate to lower, thus redirecting most of the air (and I assume resonance and sound) up through the nasal passage and out the nose?

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Well, not really, I'd say.

Redirecting air through the nose makes you nasal. One thing about the nasality is it sounds good in your head. Not so sure about the audience though. Your tongue should lift, but towards the hard palate. Imagine it relaxed in a kind of idiot-drooling way: it rests on your lower lip. But if you both keep it relaxed and tuck the tip behind the lower teeth, it kind of arches on its own.

That's what you should be looking for, not stuffing it back towards the soft palate.

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Keith - at first when I starting singing in that range what you described is exactly what happened to me. However, because I train with the Tamplin videos, I noticed that on "ah" and "eh" he keeps a concave tongue all the way up. It took me a long time - in that range - C5 and up - to be able to get the tongue to sit flat or concave in the back and raising the soft pallet. I think it is natural at first to do it with the "closed off" tongue / pallet - but if you can train yourself to open that part off - especially in that range - it make a huge difference in power. You gain a tremendous amount of power and clarity when you open that up.

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Keith, I notice that a slightly elevated tongue position helps guide the note into the head resonators. Such as the position of the tongue with the ee sound. Was the sound really come out of your nose or was it just a sensation that you are not used to feeling?

Just as there are some people who, when they first learn to use those smaller resonators, "think" it's nasal even when it didn't sound as such to others.

Singing is mental. I really mean that. First, was the sound really nasal and what made you "think" that? Second, was there anything wrong with the note and is the nasality wrong? (I invite you to listen to Vince Neil in his upper range.) Is he good or bad? An opinion on that would be, dare I say it, yes I dare say it, mental.

The trick with the tongue is to not close off completely against the soft palate. For the note, even if you resonate in the sinuses, is coming out of the buccal opening, not totally unlike a flute. That's why the jaw has to drop, just slightly. Let the note out.

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Keith, try the "Register 4 & Extreme Scream Pitch" vocalizes from your copy of "The Four Pillars of Singing 2.0"... it is designed to open up the 5th register. Have you worked with that vocalise yet?

Not yet Robert, I have been focusing thus far on the first 6 vocalises. I am going to add the one you just mentioned to the list now lol.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read what I posted and respond :)

~Keith

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Keith, try the "Register 4 & Extreme Scream Pitch" vocalizes from your copy of "The Four Pillars of Singing 2.0"... it is designed to open up the 5th register. Have you worked with that vocalise yet?

Love that vocalise! I could see what it was making me do up there. I love it!

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