Body Singing by Breck Alan

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How to Learn Scream Vocals

September 29, 2016 by Breck Alan

How to do Scream Vocals without hurting yourself.

The Question From John H.  Buffalo NY……….is……..
I was trained with a classical background. My teachers always taught me to sing with a clean tone, and stressed that singing with a throaty or growly tone would cause permanent damage to my throat. However I find this limiting when I try to sing certain styles of music that seem to require a more guttural feel. Can I get the gravelly/throaty/screamy tone that some singers get without damaging my voice?

The stock answer to the growly or throaty tone question is that it’s only achievable if the singer is born with a speaking voice that has the same growly or throaty quality. I however do not subscribe to this stock theory. I refer to this throaty tone as throat resonance and seeing this tone as resonance is the key to safely learning how to add this color to your palette.

There are gillions of examples of singers out there that have successfully navigated the “Edgy tone” and had long and fruitful careers. The key is as with all singing that it must be accomplished without excess pressure on the vocal cords. It is not screaming!! In fact if you pay attention to singers that use the edgier tones correctly you’ll hear that most of them are not excessively loud. The throat tone projects very well as does Nasal resonance, but that is not synonymous with screaming. It is the projection of this resonance (and the illusion of screaming) that makes it so appealing for more aggressive music. It carries well over other instruments.

Placement is the key to this as with all resonance.  The first focus of placement as with all healthy and good sounding singing is to “anchor” your tone.  This refers to the age old voice term “singing over the throat.”  What this means is that the beginning of all resonance is at the top back of your mouth where your uvula hangs down.  Once the vocal cords produce the initial pitch and tone then the sound must initially vibrate at this spot in your body before being magnified and colored by additional resonance from your nasal passage, mouth, chest and throat.  When you’re good at anchoring your tone and can produce a non-airy clean tone without strain and harshness then you are in a position to re-direct your resonance back into your throat and attach the growly throat resonance to your tone.  Direction of resonance is a multi step learning process that cannot be covered in a single magazine article.   There are many techniques I use to teach singers to direct their resonance from their brightest nasal resonance down to their deepest chest resonance and all points in between.  Once a singer is good at going from one direction in resonance to the next then they must learn to work in both directions at the same time.  Meaning attaching the bright resonance to the deep resonance so we can hear them both at the same time.  That is the same thing that must be done with attaching some throat resonance to a solid well-anchored clean tone.  It’s a bit of walking and chewing gum but if you’re patient with the steps then you’ll be able to put them together in time.
Practice in your middle lower range first, feeling what it feels like to direct the resonance up and down from your chest to your nasal passage. Doing this can best be described as going from a yawny low larynx sound “umb” for the chest sound up to a buzzy eeee sound for the bright nasal tone.  Be as gentle and quiet as you can and really work on doing all of these placements with a non-airy tone. When you are good at this and have spent enough time to understand how to blend these resonance’s well and move them at will, then you are ready to begin gently trying to direct resonance into your soft palate and throat area. There is a mild compression (slight constriction in the throat that goes against everything we first teach a singer) involved in this maneuver but it must not create excess pressure in the throat. Finesse. This is the safest type of throat resonance but it is not to be used until there is an effortless quality to it. That comes with careful practice. You must also be well warmed up before you even begin playing with it.
The other type of throat resonance often heard is of the glottal fry nature. These are the edges of the vocal cords creating the buzzy resonance. This is often used by singers to get that smoky kind of rasp.  This one is more associated with a slightly airy tone.  You should allow this one come more or less on it’s own to you when experimenting with resonance.  This can be successful for some but dangerous when a singer using this tone tries to amplify it too much. They end up pushing through the throat and invariable cause vocal health problems. The earlier mentioned non-airy type of throat resonance is far more desirable for high projection instances. In conclusion, growly/throaty/screamy tone is a learnable technique, but takes a lot of skill and patience. If it hurts, you are doing it wrong.

Filed Under: Articles on Singing Tagged With: effective Vocal Technique, project your voice, Sing Louder, Tone in Singing

Sturgill Simpson – It’s great to get inspired

April 16, 2015 by Breck Alan

sturgill-simpson-headerI was recently exposed to one of the coolest singers I’ve heard in a long time, Sturgill Simpson.  I was listening to some bands at The Basement on South 8th in Nashville when in-between sets I heard some music that really caught my attention.  It was immediately familiar, and yet I new that it was new.

It had this very early 70’s  country music vibe, yet it was very fresh and current and the songwriting was actually pretty edgy.  I immediately loved it.

I’ve since spent a lot of time listening to various Sturgill Simpson recordings and I’ve definitely become a fan, and am excited to be inspired by a new discovery.

It seems that Sturgill has been making the rounds lately, playing everything from The Dave Letterman Show to The Grande Ole Opry.  I actually got to see the Opry show, and the only downside was that he only got to play two songs.  His live energy was great, and I look forward to seeing more shows.

There are a lot of very good singers in the world but it’s rare to hear someone that is truly captivating.  Someone that can just pull you in from the energy and emotion radiating through their voice alone, with no need for glitter and gloss.  Sturgill Simpson has a voice that is organic, rootsy, honest and delivered with amazing vocal clarity and a powerful rich, deep tone.  It’s like listening to a strange mix of Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard, with a dose of the songwriting spirit of Kris Kristofferson thrown in.  And yet it’s completely unique and belongs entirely to Sturgill.

If you’re working on some of the aspects that make Sturgill’s voice so cool, check out some of the free vocal technique video lessons listed below.

Check him out and feel free to share any singers that have inspired you lately and why you find them interesting.

Free Voice Lesson Videos:

Natural Diction
Projection
Power
Great tone

Filed Under: Singing Blog Tagged With: Better voice, effective Vocal Technique, Tone in Singing, what is resonance

True Vibrato in Singing

June 14, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Better voice, Learn to sing, Tone in Singing

Energy in Singing

June 14, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Better voice, Learn to sing, Tone in Singing, Vocal Expression

Vocal Dimension and Tone

June 13, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Belt, Better voice, Tone in Singing, Vocal Expression

Vocal Textures

June 13, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Better voice, Learn to sing, Tone in Singing, Vocal Expression

Natural Diction in Singing

June 13, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Better voice, effective Vocal Technique, Learn to sing, Tone in Singing, Vocal Expression

Mixed Voice with Vibrancy

June 13, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Better voice, effective Vocal Technique, Expand Range, Learn to sing, Tone in Singing

Get that Aggressive Screamy Tone

February 24, 2014 by BreckAlan

Filed Under: Free Voice Video Tagged With: Artist Developement, Better Musician, Rock and Roll, Tone in Singing, vocal health, what is resonance

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