Vocal Techniques
There are many different aspects of singing that when you put all together give you the means to create your own unique voice. Any serious singer should grasp as many techniques and ideas to help gain their true potential and ensure a long lasting career.
I have developed my own structure of teaching with many methods to enable all my students to find their voice and to take singing to the highest level. These methods cover these various areas:
Breath control and support
Breath control is the most important aspect of singing that all vocalists should learn. You may have heard the terms "belly breathing" or "diaphragmatic breathing". The breathing technique is the same, whatever it is called, there are just many exercises and ways to get the best out of your respiratory system. With the right breath support, you will find that everything you do in singing is a lot less effort and much more controlled.
Vocal range
Every singer is unique and every singer has a slightly different range. You may have heard of "soprano" or "tenor" for example. These are good ways of defining your vocal range but you must realise that there will be differences from one tenor to the next - everyone is different! We all have our own natural voice and there are sections�that we find easiest to sing in, however, we can all expand our range, giving us more options in terms of creating vocal interest.
Vocal registers and breaks
Vocal breaks are areas where vocalists switch from one section/register to another (e.g. chest voice to head voice). All vocalists should gain the ability to bridge these breaks making these transitions smooth and unnoticeable.�
Power
Within extreme singing, it is very important to have a big strong voice, displaying a great powerful ability. To gain a good powerful voice, you need to have a good grasp of breath support, resonation, laryngeal configuration & projection. It's very easy to use your body in a harmful way to create power, usually ending up with damage to the vocal folds. With the right training, powerful vocals are not as physically demanding as you may believe and can assure a healthy long lasting career.
Rasp
We all have our own natural voice and some people are born with a raspy tone already. I know many vocalists who wish to create this tone & this requires a good understanding of vocal anatomy and the use of the correct use of false vocal fold closure or vocal fry techniques.�
Growling & Screaming
These techniques use the same ideas as creating rasp, however, think of rasp as adding a grit to a note, where as screaming or growling is just pure grit! These two sounds are very similar but using different registers of the voice. Much the same as any other vocal ideas, every vocalist is different, so the sound that will be produced is going to be different for each vocalist. The key for these vocal techniques is to go for it... If you hold back, you won't be using the voice in the right way and you won't get the sound you are wanting. You must let yourself go and be relaxed. Never try to "make" your voice sound a certain way. Be yourself!
Flexibility
Every vocalist should aspire to having a flexible voice. This is the idea that you can jump around your voice quickly with great ease and control.
Stamina
As a prolific performer myself, I know what it is like to need vocal stamina. If you are looking at going on tour or spending some time in the studio, you need to have the ability to keep going. There are various exercises and techniques to help maintain vocal stability and stamina in these contexts.
Warm-up
All vocalists should develop a good warm-up routine. What works for you may not work for someone else so it is important to tailor your warm-up (and cool-down) to suit your specific needs.
There is so much to learn about the voice and you should want to continue your development throughout your whole singing career. The things I have written about on this page is not everything you need to learn as a vocalist, just SOME of the things I techniques I teach.
