First High C

[RowboCaup]

So today, I sang my first truly full voiced High C. Those of you familiar with me know that I have been diligently chipping away trying to pass Bb4. I am almost completely positive I figured out why I couldn't do it before. Three days ago, I realized that my posture is not only suboptimal, it is actually quite poor. I took a profile picture of my normal standing position, and noticed that my head protrudes forward, and my thoracic spine is excessively curved. This condition is called "kyphosis". I decided to research ways to correct it, therefore, I have been really focusing on good posture for the last few days. Today, I made one of these:

Using this, I did an exercise to help improve thoratic spine mobility, thus improving my posture. Upon completion of this exercise, I felt like it would be a good idea to sing now that my body is in a better position. The result was a high C. Here is my second High C:

https://soundcloud.com/rowbocaup/second-full-voice-high-c

I have a little bit of laryngitis today, and I was still able to do it. Clearly, this is an issue with my posture. Now here is a question: Does head protrusion prevent the larynx from tilting optimally? Maybe my larynx could not tilt any further because of my head/neck position? Thank you all for your help!

[Jens]

Congrats well done!

[gno]

Nice powerful C5! Not sure about bad posture making it difficult to stretch the folds. I'm going to look into kyphosis and theoretic spine mobility as I too have not the best posture.

[ronws]

Sounds really full and good, to me.

[MDEW]

Posture is one of the first things noted in most Technique books. A clear open pathway for the breath.

Sustain a note and tilt your head side to side, forward and back, up and down and notice the difference in sound.

Notice the difference in your breathing when you slouch and when stand straight and tall.

[gno]

Thanks to this thread I have researched kyphosis and am doing a series of exercises to guard against it. Modern electronic devices - especially smart phones and tablets, require your eyes to look down and consequently pull your head down. It is really easy for anyone with a smart phone to accidentally develop kyphosis these days.

[Martin H]

I believe it's important to realize that posture is normally not the cause of vocal problems per se. It just happens that when people correct certain postures they optimize their breathing.

So, IF you know how to control your breath management it doesn't matter how your posture is (of course to a certain extend). You can find opera singers lying on the floor or in other positions and still sing well.

[VideoHere]

some nice notes there buddy.

[RowboCaup]

Thank you for the compliments! After doing some research, it seems like bad posture/kyphosis pulls your ribs forward, completely disturbing the breathing apparatus. I have been playing with this a lot for the last few days, and I am noticing an EXTREME improvement in the consistency of my voice. Here is a video I found that explains how to correct your posture when sitting (which is probably what the majority of us do all day):

[wabba_treads]

Wow dude that was an awesome clip. Love these kind of success story articles. You inspired me to post this here. I was trying to hit the C5 with the same level of weight as my A4s and wow I had to really support like mad to do that! I also had to modify the ah vowel to more towards the UH. After quite a few tries I finally found that "pocket" of resonance and could finally sustain that note convincingly. I did it in more of a siren kind of way though, the way you did it was much more challenging. (for me anyways) Anyways this is my first real convincing C5. Now translating this same sensation to real songs is the tricky part

https://app.box.com/s/e2d4ektl2jetab2eluni

Congrats man, on your discovery! Wish you the best in your singing journey.

[wabba_treads]

On that note (pun intended) I just am wondering..

How much of a role does posture actually play in singing, once you get down the fundamentals of good support and having consistency in the rest of your technique?

[RowboCaup]

Awesome High C, wabba_treads!!! I'd say posture is definitely important. If your ribs/spine/chest/shoulders/head/neck are not in the correct position, how is your breathing apparatus supposed to function correctly? Even if you get away with singing with bad posture (which I and many others do), you are not maximizing the efficiency of your instrument. It wasn't until I fixed my posture that I was able to get the high C out, and that really made it clear to me that posture is something I should give attention to along with the rest of my routine.

[m.i.r.]

Yes very nice c5 to both of you. I liked the cover you used and backed off to, have always liked that timber wabba. I accidentally downloaded on my phone your clip. I was listening to some music and had it on random. Boom high c, then on to the next song ha ha. I was like, well there ya go lol. As for posture, I know modern tone, it really only effects my vibrato, not really range or anything. However, if i continue with it, i do notice it start effecting stamina a bit, so i am prob over/under supporting through phrases. However, in opera, bad posture for me really effects my vibrato and anything above a g4 sharp, also stamina and tone all through the range.