In today's lesson, Marcus learned more about producing a good tone. When he came in for his lesson, I noticed that he was trying to speak in a lower-pitched voice than was natural for him. This is the case for many children who are caught up in trying to be macho or sultry. I could tell that his voice was contrived because it lacked the natural resonance of a good speaking voice. This resonance can also be described as "voice placement in the mask," or the area from around the lips to up around the bridge of the nose. To help him feel the placement of the voice, first I had him clench his teeth together and make a loud hmmmm noise. He noticed a feeling of vibration mostly in his nose. Then I had him try again, this time holding his teeth as far apart as possible without parting the lips. He said that the vibrations moved more towards the back of his throat. I told him that neither of these placements result in a good singing voice. Instead, I had him try saying hmmmm with his lips together but his teeth slightly parted. The correct balance for the voice is two-thirds in the front, or the oral-nasal area, and one-third in the back of the throat. Finally, I had him repeat the sound but open to a spoken ahh, trying to maintain the same feeling of resonance in both.
In order to find his natural speaking pitch, I had him say mmm-hmmm (as in "OK") a few times. I pointed out that the rising inflection of the voice was the correct pitch to speak at. I had him put his finger in his ear to help him hear better, and told him not to imitate my voice, because everyone's voice is unique. Then I had him add different vowels to the end of mmm-hmmm, such as ah and oh. I listened to make sure that the vowels were spoken at the same pitch as the high inflection of hmmm, and that he was still using the natural resonance of speaking "in the mask."
Finally, I had him do the abdominal pulse exercise from a few weeks ago while speaking hmmm and various vowels, placing his fingers just below the sternum and pressing and releasing on the abdomen to create a pulsing sound. The extra support helped him free up his voice to find the natural speaking pitch.
To work on his upper-adjustment voice, I had him imitate a high hooo sound after me. The sound began with lots of h and descended with a natural glide. I listened to make sure that he used his upper adjustment and not his falsetto voice, and watched to see that he was using abdominal support. Next, I had him use the foul shot exercise from the previous lesson, this time using the high hooo sound instead of an audible exhalation. I had him note whether or not he was using abdominal support, and he said that he was. Finally, just to make sure, I had him use the abdominal pulse exercise while sustaining a high hooo sound.
To finish up, Marcus practiced switching between low-, middle-, and upper-voice adjustments. I had him imitate a little dog, making a light yip sound, and then a big dog, making a deep woof sound. He echoed me as I switched back and forth between the two, as in a dog fight. Finally, I had him imitate me as I made different bird sounds, from a high cuckoo, to a middle caw, to a low Polly want a cracker! At the end of his lesson, we reviewed tone placement in the mask and voice adjustments with a brief quiz.
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