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It depends on what you are singing and how much you are giving it. You can definitely squeeze your butt cheeks to gain additional stability. It might be you are doing it without being cognizant of it when you're bracing to power a difficult note. You can see Lou doing it here at 3:27 (Sorry it's Lou again, but I wanted to show it in action.) 

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I like to squeeze other people's butt cheeks...

​EASY SEXY BEAST , we know your sexy and all... we can tell by your profile picture but, no ass squeezing of the kind your referring to on this forum.

In any regards guys... the butt cheek squeeze thing... is stupid.... I don't think there is much to it. Push down and out, through the obliques... similar to a bowl movement... but literally squeezing the "glutis maximus, I think it would be a distraction... there is no support of your singing respiration by squeezing your ass.

:zombie:

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Ok? I'll try it... but lets be clear on something... there is a difference between pushing down and out "through" the Sphincter and squeezing the glutes (you ass cheeks), Bob... an isolated squeeze of my ass cheeks doesn't do anything for my sub-glottal respiration pressure or Bernoulli physics.

:woohoo:

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Just a guess, Butt, (pun intended) I think the idea is to tuck the pelvis under the body, Not necessarily squeeze the buttocks together. Butt, the same thing happens when you squeeze the cheeks. "Squeezing the cheeks" is understandable to everyone. It gets you to tuck your butt under your belly which engages the side,Back and lower abdomen muscles. All things that you want when you "Support".

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I think MDEW explained it well. When people squish the butt cheeks together what they're actually trying to do is what I was taught as "lifting up the pelvic floor". Not sure that's actually what happens, but whatever the scientific movement is, this kind of contraction way down there creates a beneficial pressure is definitely a component of support.

Just checked this out - for me, if I don't make an effort to isolate the glutes contraction, it will naturally kick in a movement 360 degrees around the waist, tucking the abdomen in slightly, etc. But I wouldn't guarantee this is the case for everybody. I'd imagine it is possible to separate the movement in the front and the back, but I'm pretty sure you would definitely need both to get the full support effect. We want not just the tucked glutes thing but that tucked movement in the front too which I was taught first actually. But it actually looks like the glutes contraction naturally works both movements in connection on me, I'll have to test it out next time I sing lol :D

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Although waka was being cheeky in replying to me, I think the implication is that if the voice is already capable of high notes, then anchoring the pelvic floor could help, At least, that is how it read to me. I don't know if that is what he was saying but that was the implication I would infer.

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I think MDEW explained it well. When people squish the butt cheeks together what they're actually trying to do is what I was taught as "lifting up the pelvic floor". Not sure that's actually what happens, but whatever the scientific movement is, this kind of contraction way down there creates a beneficial pressure is definitely a component of support.

Just checked this out - for me, if I don't make an effort to isolate the glutes contraction, it will naturally kick in a movement 360 degrees around the waist, tucking the abdomen in slightly, etc. But I wouldn't guarantee this is the case for everybody. I'd imagine it is possible to separate the movement in the front and the back, but I'm pretty sure you would definitely need both to get the full support effect. We want not just the tucked glutes thing but that tucked movement in the front too which I was taught first actually. But it actually looks like the glutes contraction naturally works both movements in connection on me, I'll have to test it out next time I sing lol :D

​When I studied with Dr. David Alt from The University of Miami for four years, he showed me the "hip tuck-in" thing... Ive done this, I know what this is.... It never did anything for me but create a distraction and in any case, it still has little to do with squeezing my ass cheeks. Its enough to just coordinate good respiration... without having to pile on ass cheek squeezing on top of everything else. This is just "noise" that singers don't need.

Here is Dr. Alt's short bio:

http://thevocaliststudio.com/robert-lunte/mentors/

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In my amateur opinion, it is all related to your posture. Some people always stand with hips tucked under, other stand with the hips tilted forward. I think this also influences whether people feel the back or the belly expand for breathing.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hey Jarom,

I actually had some experience with something similiar. I personally had a positive experience in not  tensing the butt cheeck per se, but tensing the lumbar region(this can incule the upper part of my butt too a bit) and focusing strength there. This isn't like I'm squeezing like crazy, but I try to put my muscular load there. I have a particuarly floppy body, so when instructors tell me to relax, my body naturally falls apart. Putting the muscular load on the lumbar region helped free up the rest of the muscles in my abdominal, chest, shoulders, and neck and allowed from my lungs to do what they naturally want to do. This was EXTREMELY helpful when I sat too.

 My body is a genetic oddity, so your milage might vary.

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Again, it depends.

There are some songs where bracing or clenching anything is going to be counterproductive and others where when you are singing it, you are grounded and braced so strongly you cannot afford to let it relax.

 

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