Description:
Time for high notes! Perhaps you’ve already guessed it: high notes require more space, energy, and depth than low notes. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean I’m asking you to sing loudly or giving you clearance to strain or reach for those high notes. No. Never.
So what’s the goal? To stay RELAXED while maintaining adequate SPACE. Remember that visual of the vocal cords as rubber bands or balloons that stretch out for higher pitches? We need SPACE for that to happen: space in your mouth and your throat, AKA your vocal tract. More specifically, we need our throat to be open and our palate to be lifted.
This is a personal favorite, because it’s so effective. We’ll call this the “dopey MUM”. Please, please, please: don’t try to sound pretty. This is an unfinished sound. Remember, our goal is staying relaxed while maintaining enough space. The dopey mum will help us do just that. First, practice this dopey sound with me on a single pitch. It should be yawny and spacious. The pattern for our exercise is 8-5-3-1.
[Exercise: dopey MUM 8-5-3-1]
Lessons:
- 1: Introduction
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2:
Three Principles
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3:
Low Notes
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4:
High Notes
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5:
Conclusion
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.