Thinking “up” and “down”

I was doing one of your warm-up videos today, and you state that we should think down and back for higher notes, which sounds counterintuitive. And in another video, you state that we should think up as we descend in pitch, which also seems counterintuitive. Could you please elaborate on these concepts so we can better understand how to implement them (and why they work)?

Thank you.

Hi, Kevin! This is because we naturally strain, squeeze, or "reach up" for high notes, leading the larynx to also rise and other tiny muscles to tense up. None of that helps us reach those notes! Thinking down helps to counteract that tendency. Similarly, we naturally scoop or "reach down" for low notes, causing the larynx to drop and our tone to become overly dark, muffled or "dopey". Thinking "up" helps prevent that!