Description:
Welcome to Part 1, intentional cracking. Learning to crack on command is a great way to understand the limits of each register and eventually avoid cracking. While vocal cracking is a natural protective mechanism, it can also be an artistic tool, especially in contemporary music.
Why Do Voices Crack?
Vocal cracking is a way the body protects the vocal cords, similar to changing gears in a car. It happens when we don’t have the right vocal support or resonant shape for a particular register, and our body switches registers abruptly.
Exercise A: Chest To Head Crack
Start with intentional cracking from chest to head voice. When we sing in chest voice, we generally have a brighter, more forward sound, with the mouth spreading open like a megaphone. Try sliding up your range on a wide open "Hey" and let your voice naturally crack as you ascend. Notice how your voice jumps into a lighter head voice when it gets too high. Try this again while focusing on letting your voice crack.
Exercise B: Head to Chest Crack
Next, let’s crack from head voice down into chest voice. Sing an "EE" vowel in head voice and slide down until you crack into chest voice. Once you’re comfortable, try the diphthong "Yaye" by separating the two sounds: EE - AYE. Start in head voice and lean into the sound. This will help guide your voice to crack on command.
Lessons:
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.