Description:
Today we talk about one of the most sought after techniques in contemporary singing for range extension. This is our Chest-dominant mix also known as belting. While this is a lot of fun and can make for an incredibly powerful sound and expression, it requires a careful process of vocal discovery to stay balanced and not tip over into unhealthy shouting. Just attempting to belt without proper vocal training and daily conditioning is where a lot of injury occurs.
The key strategy for today is to find and use resonance from the right vowel shapes before adding too much extra pressure from our lower abdominal muscles. Belting uses a lower fundamental resonance than head-dominant mixing that is closest to our speaking voice. We then slowly open the vowel shape until we drop into the right type of resonance for healthy belting. Alright let’s get to work.
Exercise 1: Nuh Nayeya Exercise 575757543 Groove Dom7
First let’s get into a balanced mix by switching chest and head voice more rapidly like we did in day 9. For this one I’m bringing back our fun groove. Allow the groove to displace any hyperfixation and allow yourself to just follow the sensation. First go for a clear switch from chest to head voice.
Now start working the groove a little faster as we get more comfortable moving back and forth between these two spots. Make the vowel changes more subtle as we try to find that in-between place when the resonance starts to mix. You may notice your support start to feel active almost the entire time.
Exercise 2: I Win/Won Belt 5-8-9-8765 stepwise down
Now that we have a more balanced mix, let’s start leaning into our belt with this exercise. The W here helps to keep the reins on our chest voice resonance so we don’t drop into shouting. Keep the “Ih” vowel tall and narrow. You can even pinch your cheeks ever so slightly to keep yourself in the right position. Make sure you stay grounded with your support muscles and avoid letting your head and neck jut out too much as it will quickly accumulate unwanted tension this way.
Now try opening up to Won but try to keep that same sensation you got from using Win. For some extra character, I like to imagine I just won a competitive game and I’m busting out with joy. You can also imagine you are an annoying or sore winner who is taunting the other player after a difficult game.
Exercise 3: Wang Whine slide up to 1-5-3-5-3-5-3 (Millennial Whoop)
Our final strategy is to use a whine effect to narrow and boost the resonance of our vowels with a bit more spreading. This style can be grasped by imitating the sound of a baby whining. When a child whines or cries like this, they can amplify sound very quickly and usually move to incredibly high notes rather quickly. We will use that W to help us stay balanced but this time add the slight nasal sound of an NG. It's very slight and feels like a spreading of the muscles above your upper lip that extends through your palette. The tongue moves up slightly as well.
Try imitating this whine sound with me on a Wangh for a bit. One helpful tip is to place your fingers here between your nose and cheeks and notice your naso-pharynx constricting ever so slightly creating lots of buzz. Now move it around like a siren.
Okay now let's try an exercise using the whine tactic. I’m using the iconic millennial whoop for this one, back and forth from 5-3. Feel free to quickly slide up to the first note to get a firm connection to your support. Feel free to drop out if you end up squeezing too much to create the whine.
Audio:
Lessons:
- Day 1: Welcome And What To Expect
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Day 2:
SOVT's
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Day 3:
SOVT’s Into Vowels
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Day 4:
Low Chest Voice Extension
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Day 5:
High Chest Extension
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Day 6:
Low Head Voice Extension
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Day 7:
High Head Voice Extension
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Day 8:
Tension Release Strategies
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Day 9:
Finding Balanced Mix
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Day 10:
Head-dominant Mix
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Day 11:
Chest-dominant Mix
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Day 12:
Vowel Strategies Moving through Registers
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Day 13:
Advanced Sweeping Exercises
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Day 14:
Congratulations!
Instructor: Abram Poliakoff
Abram Poliakoff is a singer, guitarist, pianist, teacher, conductor, and composer. He received a Bachelors of Music in Vocal Arts from USC’s Thornton School of Music and has been teaching music for 8 years. He is currently both the Associate Artistic Director and a tenor in the L.A. Choral Lab, which recently released its first studio album Sonic Visions in the fall of 2019. Abram teaches and performs a wide range of genres including Classical, Jazz, Folk and Popular music in the Los Angeles area. He has also sung with the San Francisco Opera and Pocket Opera in the Bay Area. His teaching mission is to help his students utilize vocal technique to find their authentic and healthy voice while maximizing genre flexibility and a naturalness of expression.