NEW ROBERT LUNTE LESSON : STOP HITTING HIGH NOTES!!

[Robert Lunte]

HERE IS A NEW ONE, TMV VOCAL ATHLETES! I HOPE YOU FIND IT TO BE HELPFUL AND ENTERTAINING... LOVE YOU GUYS...

Students of singing spend a lot of time chasing the physiology involved in singing technique. This approach neglects the need to better understand the role that the acoustics of singing play in helping a singer's voice transcend to new levels of world class excellence.

Beyond the acoustics, there is another realm of consideration, the mental programming of singing. Mental programming involves how you use visualization to influence the acoustics of singing, which then then calibrates the physiology of great singing. In short, a chain reaction that starts with proper mental imagery, moves to tune the proper acoustics for singing, which in turn, configures the physiology required for a high performance phonation.

In this video Robert Lunte, author and producer of "The Four Pillars of Singing" discusses and demonstrates the importance of beginning every singing note with proper imagery. One particular problem that singers create for themselves is constantly referring to their struggle to sing higher frequencies as "Hitting a High Note". This is creating a problem for singers, watch this video and learn why.

[VideoHere]

great vid rob....one of your best videos to date.

so much of this has to do with mental programming, positive thinking, and imagery.

you're so right, you don't "hit" or reach, or go up to, or pull up to any high notes. you don't want to associate high notes with difficulty.

talk to your voice...it will see that you get your wish.

[Owen Korzec]

Great video Rob! All our beginners and even intermediate students on the forum need to watch this.

This was a big wake up call for me personally, I've been doing a lot of visualizing both deep AND high and it is definitely working overall, but now you have me thinking more critically - perhaps if I remove all high/low programming and just go deep for high notes, that might free up my mind and physiology to sing a similar way but with greater ease, less anticipation, less unnecessary tension....

The only thing height-wise I seem to find helpful is purely physiological - I feel like as I go higher, the resonant space needs to open up more vertically - the soft palate needs to be raised fairly intentionally - but even that kind of thing may be screwing with my mental programming because it can confuse the mind into thinking my notes are also higher too - not just the resonate shaping. But i think youre right - whenever the mind starts thinking about changing height of anything, you're subconsciously programming in increased strain. And I'm definitely trying to reduce that on my high not--I mean, uh, deep notes. :|

[Gneetapp]

WOW! I literally had to grab my legs to avoid standing up and clapping my hands at the end of the video. I'm definitely changing my mental imagery and stop trying to hit the poor high notes, and start to singing the beautiful ear-piercing high notes. Amazing video, as always Mr. Robert Lunte! Thanks for all your hard work. :D

[Robert Lunte]

Thanks guys! I worked real hard on this... it actually took a lot of takes to get it to all happen in one take... Im pleased to hear you enjoyed it. If anyone has questions about "The Four Pillars of Singing", Im excited to share more with you about it... and please subscribe to my YouTube channel!

[Guest]

Thanks guys! I worked real hard on this... it actually took a lot of takes to get it to all happen in one take... Im pleased to hear you enjoyed it. If anyone has questions about "The Four Pillars of Singing", Im excited to share more with you about it... and please subscribe to my YouTube channel!

Robert no disrespect but what is your singing "vocal range" and what range of notes does the TVS 3.0 system aim to develop?

Was your current range developed by using the systems/tools in TVS 3.0 (if so which ones worked for you?)

- JayMC

[Robert Lunte]

Why would that question be "disrespectful"?

On a good day, my highest note is usually a G#5... "The Four Pillars of Singing" has vocal workouts that play up the 6th octave to accommodate women and others... the idea of having content that was created to develop vocal range up to a certain point is not really realistic, or how it works... any good content would develop your range as high or low as you want it to go.. its not up the content, its mostly up to you and your voice type... Having said that... certain workouts, onsets and the respiratory glottal bleed techniques are all found in "Pillars" and I would say they would be things you would work on to address vocal range expansion ideas... but range is up to individual, not the scales.

As for MY range and development... mostly due to workouts I did years ago when I was a student of the late Maestro David Kyle... the workouts that I did back then are part of today's "Pillars" vocalize collection... For me and my growth... my own techniques have contributed more to muscle growth, coordination and formant tuning... but as I try to do with "Pillars"... its ALL in there... anything you want to learn.. anything that is in any of the other major products are all found inside of "Pillars"... "Pillars" is the lexicon that covers the most ground... that has been my objective. Do you have Pillars?

[ronws]

Great video, Robert. I especially enjoyed the part where you use C5 as a anchor note for some blues riffing.

Bravo.

[Validar]

Excellent video, and a great example of how certain terminology and visualizations can actually be a detriment.

A few years ago, I had an acquaintance working on Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose" to add to his band's setlist. He mentioned the G5 note in the song. ("fly" in the "I'm gonna pack my bags and fly" lyric.) He said he had been struggling with it, but felt he would "pound it out" eventually, comparing the experience to the bell and hammer game you see at carnivals. I told him it wasn't the best way to look at it because if the mind perceives it as a strenuous dogfight, the body will follow.

He didn't have much of a response, and I think he might have dismissed it as some sort of Zen Master hogwash, but who knows. I haven't seen him since then.

[ThePowerOfOne]

Cool vid Robert. It's also annoying when on all those reality singing shows they always go "Wow, you really hit those high notes" or " I gotta hit that high note or I'm going home" etc. Always gets under my skin.

[ThePowerOfOne]

A few years ago, I had an acquaintance working on Loverboy's "Turn Me Loose" to add to his band's setlist. He mentioned the G5 note in the song. ("fly" in the "I'm gonna pack my bags and fly" lyric.) He said he had been struggling with it, but felt he would "pound it out" eventually, comparing the experience to the bell and hammer game you see at carnivals. I told him it wasn't the best way to look at it because if the mind perceives it as a strenuous dogfight, the body will follow.

He didn't have much of a response, and I think he might have dismissed it as some sort of Zen Master hogwash, but who knows. I haven't seen him since then.

Maybe he died trying to "pound out" that G5. Give him a call, see if he's OK.

[ronws]

And I am good with the bell and hammer. Because it is technique. Here is how you ring the bell.

The strike pad has different tensions in it. Most people need encouragement, so it is dialed in to go about 1/2 way on a really hard swing.

However, aim to the part of the strike pad nearest you, not the center, not the back edge.

And when you swing, you don't "power through" with your arms, you drop your whole body with the hammer.

So, even pounding with a hammer has a technique. You would not learn it if you insisted all hammer strikes had to be of a certain strength. But some people do just that.

Same with singing. People are going to blindly go on talking about hitting notes. Followed by histrionics and wailing and great gnashing of teeth resisting the zen Buddha master advice of changing how you describe something, which will change how you view it and approach it.

And people will go on with the hammer and all you can do is watch, like a car wreck or train wreck. Macabre but hard to peel your eyes from. You cannot stop such people. Just try not to get any of the blood and gore on you.

[Robert Lunte]

When I hear students say, "hit the high note" I cringe... I like the video too... the more I watch it, the more I like it... its making a really important point about how a simple think like bad auditory imagery can set up a chain reaction that prevents you from doing all the things you need to do... and its a great way to Segway into discussing what is really going on, formant shifting.

[Adolph Namlik]

Excellent video, Maestro !!!

So now I find myself asking the Founder to upload videos to the "Social Home Page" :lol:

[Robert Lunte]

I understand bud... send me an email to remind me... thanks!

[Jens]

Great video! This is the shit :)

[Robert Lunte]

Thanks Jens....

[ThePowerOfOne]

Check this out. Another take on what Robert is saying. Same great concept, only a different mental visual.

[VideoHere]

yes, it's a matter of adopting it and maintaining it, because at first it will feel very unfamiliar.

[Danielformica]

To help my students understand there are no high notes just notes I always draw a line a say look at it this way

A--------b not this way A/\b . Look at it like you are reading. You don't read up and down you read across the paper.

Once you start your phrase if you start a nice resonant tone leave it there don't reach up or go down, you will take it right of of the "pocket" if you do that. You want your tone consistent. And you don't want to reach up for anything that just causes strain. Great video Robert!

[Adolph Namlik]

I understand bud... send me an email to remind me... thanks!

I know you're extremely busy coach, AND, my email was once again "down" for most of the day yesterday, so I took the liberty of uploading the video to the "Social Home Page". Hope you don't mind....

Again, EXCELLENT !!!!

[ronws]

I have also heard of thinking of notes as similar to being on a piano, right to left, rather than up and down. But I tend to do kind of what the guy in Power's linked video does. All the notes end up in the same "place" or level.

[Sun]

Great concept here Robert. The concept of "notes being high" is so generally accepted that most of us are blind to the fact that as you said; notes don't have altitude. Really great.

I've known not to think of notes as high and low, but thinking of them as Deep and less deep or shallow is really a great concept.

[Robert Lunte]

Thanks Sun... or you could think of them as "shifted"... since its really about shifting formants... but ya, we ALL forget... thinking about frequencies as up / down & low / high is hard to not do... you have to remind yourself.

[Owen Korzec]

Sun's idea brings up a good point...

Rob, what if we are descending, or catch ourselves trying to "hit" a low note, then what is the best visual imagery to stop the problems with reaching down in that direction? Would it be to think of singing more shallow, or more forward, as we descend?

A similar kind of follow up question would be, in the lower range where the formants naturally align themselves because they are always close to the nearest harmonic (which I'm sure you've heard Steven talk about), does this singing deeper visualization no longer work because there is no more intentional formant shifting?

I know this is a bit nitpicking and over thinking but I'd just be interesting to hear if this mental trick applies outside of simply bridging the passaggio. Things like struggling to "hit" a low note, or even simply making a tough pitch change in a comfortable range...I'm sure students can get caught up in "reaching" issues there too with tough intervals (I myself have felt this), so I'm wondering if the same visualization applies.