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Humming exercises

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jzhang172

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Any tips on how to improve my humming exercises?

I've been looking at alot of videos and help guides and they say that you should feel a buzz on your face, but I don't sometimes. But I want to get it 100%...what are some tips to keeping that buzzy feeling on your face especially when you go higher up the scale?

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I used to have this problem all the time. Now I can get the buzzing 70-80% of the time, but after maybe 30 minutes of trying I get it for sure.

For me it was about two inter-related issues.

1) Breathing and support: I would try to use my neck, throat muscles to initiate the tone rather than punch a slight bit of air through (and engaging the whole support mechanism from the pelvis, back, sides, ribs and intercostals) to close the vocal folds. Air is necessary to close the vocal folds and it also needs to be sustained consistently as an uninterrupted stream.

2) My tongue would always move back as I got higher. I found this was a way for my vocal tract to compensate when I was not supporting correctly. So once I realized how to actually use my breathing for this, I focused on just sticking my tongue out and having it passive while humming to train it to not move. The tongue can be an obstacle to having an optimal resonance configuration.

I learned this from TVS Pillars from Robert - The smirking thing where you shape the lips seems to really help my resonance all throughout my voice. I don't know if this applies to everyone, but I use it all the time and it gives me an easier and fuller sound with only the effort of moving facial muscles to shape the resonant spaces.

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humming gets better in time.....when you do your humming, try to really relax the facial muscles, the jaw and the neck. concentrate and mentally visualize the air going between your eyes. when it's really buzzing nicely you should feel the upper lip, the nose, even the eyes vibrating.

i wouldn't worry too much about range in this exercise.

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Any tips on how to improve my humming exercises?

I've been looking at alot of videos and help guides and they say that you should feel a buzz on your face, but I don't sometimes. But I want to get it 100%...what are some tips to keeping that buzzy feeling on your face especially when you go higher up the scale?

jzhang172: For a bit, use the voiced TH, as in the beginning of the word 'The'. Sustain the sound, and put a finger on the bridge of your nose, cheekbones or forehead... you will be able to feel the vibrations with your finger.

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