Ep.88: How To Strengthen Your Singing Voice #2
In Episode 87, I talked about the importance of the vocal cords coming together firmly (adduction) in order to stop the air from leaking and getting a light, airy sound when you sing.
This is not an easy habit to change. Today, I’ll give you a few more tips to strengthen your vocal cords’ ability to hold back the air to get more vocal power!
There isn’t anything magical about this. When you get the vocal cords to come together wonderful things begin happening.
When my 3 oldest daughters (I have 5 daughters….and 3 sons…) were in junior high and high school, they had light and breathy singing voices. We began studying this technique together.
One of first things our teacher did was to help the girls get their vocal cords together. This had an immediate impact on their singing.
My daughter, Sara, auditioned for her school madrigals. As soon as she finished the audition, her teacher who knew she had a breathy, airy voice, was shocked by how much stronger her voice was now.
The simple answer was she was now singing with her vocal cords coming together more firmly. She made madrigals and we were so excited for her success.
These exercises may seem strange and maybe too aggressive, but singing is aggressive! We must get our vocal cords together. They must adduct! [Examples]
How To Strengthen Your Singing Voice
Here is another great exercise to continue to develop your ability to adduct the vocal cords. It’s the word “Go”. Simple right? Only if you do it right.
Use it on the 5 Tone scale as before.
Pitches for men begin on the D below middle C. Women’s begin on the G below middle C. Both voices go up 6 half tones and back down.
Here’s how you do it. [Demo] Be firm when you pronounce the G. Make sure it’s a hard G.
Men begin.
Now the ladies.
Once you are able to do this firmly without breaking or cracking, add this second exercise.
On the same pitches use the word, “Guh” as in “mud”.
How To Strengthen Your Singing Voice – Benefits and Tips
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These two exercises will help bring the vocal cords together firmly and increase the ability of the cords to resist the air from the lungs.
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This helps the vocal cords create a stronger sound without having to push the voice harder.
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Be firm when saying “go”. Think of being bossy and issuing orders to get up and “Go”!!! Or “Guh”!!! [Demo]
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Use medium to medium loud volume in order to get the vocal cords together. There’s little to no progress with a soft or light “go”.
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If you have a song you want to practice, substitute the strong, firm “Go” and “Guh” in place of the words and sing the song on the word “go”.
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Then sing the words of the song with the same strength you felt with the “Go” or “Guh” [Demo]
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These exercises will strengthen your voice by helping your vocal cords balance with the air from your lungs. The results is a stronger singing voice that projects when you sing and speak.
This is another exercise that will greatly benefit the singer with the vocal type Light Chest – No Chest.
It will also help singers who have a high larynx to better stabilize the larynx by getting the vocal cords appropriately adducted.
Do you know your vocal type? I’m not referring to whether you are soprano, alto, tenor or bass. Your vocal type is what you tend to do when you sing. In other words, if you tend to sing with a light and airy voice, chances are your vocal type is Light Chest.
Visit PowerToSing.com and take the vocal test, which I call the PowerTest. Take the quiz and determine your vocal type.
Then visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type and download the free exercises. They’re designed for your vocal type and will help you improve quickly.
I’m Chuck Gilmore with Power To Sing. You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power.
I’ll see you inside the next video.
