no furrowing of eyebrows?

[bigmike092]

Assuming a facial posture of surprise, as some teach, is just plain silly from both an aesthetic and a practical standpoint, as no singer would ever apply it during a performance because they would both look ridiculous and sound no better. Raising the eyebrows, furrowing the brow, creasing the forehead, flaring the nostrils or widening the eyes are not linked to the lifting of the soft palate nor to enhanced resonance balancing. Instead, they produce tension. These exaggerated facial postures are not to be confused with the elevation of the zygomatic muscles of the face that is associated with a more open resonating space.

http://www.singwise.com/cgi-bin/main.pl?section=articles&doc=VocalTractShaping

yet when i furrow the eyebrows i think i notice better resonance, less tension, as well as feeling like there's expression on my face instead of blank. and as for no singer would ever apply it, looking pics of a singer like pavarotti(since she's a classical teacher) says otherwise as he can be seen furrowing and lifting his eyebrows in google images. so is this teacher right or wrong?

also, another example of vocal teachers out there saying one thing then others saying the direct opposite. i think for that reason im not sure id be comfortable training with anyone other than people on this forum.

[Owen Korzec]

i think it's nonsense. furrow them all you want. Go look at your favorite singers and notice what they do...

[bigmike092]

some of my favorite singers are dave grohl, corey taylor, shaun morgan, all of which do it at times. but i was thinking maybe it has to do with her being a classical teacher, yet even looking at famous classical singers it's shown which is strange as she says no singer would do it in a performance...

the singing for dummies book also says this

One area that commonly generates tension is the forehead. If you notice your forehead wrinkling as you sing, stick a piece of clear tape vertically on your forehead between your eyebrows. You can feel the tape move when you tighten your forehead.

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-singers-releas-tension-in-the-face-and-head.html

[Mivke]

I agree with Phil.

Also, as I understand it, assuming a facial posture of surprise is not about the eyebrows It's about what that posture often does subcounsciously for the vocal tract setup that is desired. Once you learn to map those sensations, you can do what you wish with the eyebrows, they are no longer important xD

[Felipe Carvalho]

I think mostly what she is saying is: you dont have to furrow your eyebrows to sing.

And I understand there are people who actually says to do such thing. If you create a mystic value to it, it can be a problem.

But its not something to be worried about, unless you are doing it all the time to the point of becomming an annoyance or distractive to people watching you.

As Phil said, there are other things much more relevant. :)

[bigmike092]

shes saying more than that, she's saying people who do that look ridiculous which means she indirectly insulted pavarotti

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FNUKgN-nC93c%2F0.jpg&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Farticle.wn.com%2Fview%2F2013%2F05%2F07%2FLuciano_Pavarotti_50_years_since_the_singers_forgotten_UK_de%2F&h=360&w=480&tbnid=IFkxfB7lDlwAnM%3A&zoom=1&docid=vpcNlQhZiykxcM&ei=xBRhU__jDJa3yASgiYCwAg&tbm=isch&ved=0CBAQMygIMAg4ZA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=887&page=6&start=103&ndsp=25

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.capecodonline.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcsi.dll%2Fbilde%253FSite%253DCC%2526Date%253D20070906%2526Category%253DNEWS11%2526ArtNo%253D70906001%2526Ref%253DAR%2526maxH%253D230%2526maxW%253D370%2526border%253D0%2526Q%253D80%2526cb%253D20070906093800&imgrefurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.capecodonline.com%2Fapps%2Fpbcs.dll%2Farticle%3FAID%3D%2F20070906%2FNEWS11%2F70906001%2F-1%2Frss01&h=230&w=249&tbnid=DHvQxRjIiL5NyM%3A&zoom=1&docid=5zw0HYCLZkw05M&ei=XhRhU4SqGIyfyAS-k4GoBw&tbm=isch&ved=0CFsQMygAMAA&iact=rc&uact=3&dur=830&page=1&start=0&ndsp=11

jk, but looking at this pictures of him above, you can tell he's not just singing the song worrying if there's to much tension, but he's feeling the music and showing expression.

all quite worrying about it and even if was a top notch singer i still probably wouldnt. maybe im not clearly hearing it, but i dont think it makes it harder to sing a higher note or anything like that, instead it just feels unnatural and a distraction.

Does this author even sing anywhere live?

she's been in musical theater group, rock bands, and churches.

[VideoHere]

excellent book "singing for dummies."

such a misleading title.

[ronws]

BIgmike I've heard your voice and you do not have to worry about "eyebrows" there are much bigger fish to fry to get you the voice you are after. Don't worry about it!

EVery unnecessary movement brings in tension but the real question is: DOES IT MATTER?

Moving around on stage, dancing and just...well...PERFORMING brings in unwanted tension. BUT DOES IT MATTER?

Getting into the song and getting emotional brings out unwanted tension. BUT DOES IT MATTER?

Does this author even sing anywhere live? Let's be real. Hopefully we are all performers here. We are artists. At least that is where I draw my line. I am a performer FIRST before a singing coach. . I will sacrifice perfect technique to be a perfect performer. Not that i possess any sort of perfection, I certainly don't. My point is I only EVER set out to learn technique to enable me to sing the stuff I want. That's all I ever learned technique for. I didn't learn it to be able to do fancy whistle tones. I couldnt' care for it because I don't need it. Some do for their style but I don't.

Learn enough technique to sing things "clinically correct" then start breaking the rules and see how far you can bend it to achieve the sound or style you want. You then find a balance that lets you get the sound you're after but doesn't degrade the freedom in your voice so much.

Practice your scales as clinically correct as you can so that when you perform you can just do that: PERFORM and let your boring scale work be the time where you bring the body back into balance.

Who the hell cares about your performance if you stand up straight and tall, don't move an inch and ONLY isolate the required muscles to sing correctly? No one will even care because wehre's the performance?

I'm not saying it's bad to seek that level of perfection (if anyone makes a comment saying I am saying that then you are WRONG), I'm saying LEARN ENOUGH TECHNIQUE TO GIVE YOU FREEDOM NOT TAKE IT AWAY. USE THAT FREEDOM TO ENHANCE YOUR STYLE AND PERFORMANCE NOT LIMIT IT. If you are worried that furrowing your eyebrows will prevent you from hitting "the note" then yuo've got bigger things to worry about. It is a minute thing, focus on the large tension problems not the 1% of it.

The. Best. Post. Ever.