Highlights in this segment include:
WOMEN'S
VOICES
Discover where your bridges are, and what happens when you sing through
them correctly. Avoid some common difficulties.
MEN'S
VOICES
Discover where your bridges are, and how to recognize if you're singing
through them correctly. Learn what great high notes really are.
CHILDREN'S
VOICES
Wonderful things are going on with children and music. Read about some
exciting new insights and discoveries.
THE
SPEAKING VOICE
Is your speaking voice all you want it to be? Is it consistent with who
you are and how you see yourself? Tips on finding your "true"
voice.
ABOUT
SETH RIGGS
Discover the amazing man behind Speech Level Singing. Browse his client
list and his celebrity quotes. They read like a "Who's Who"
of the world's top performers.
The key to Speech Level Singing is in understanding the bridges and the mix. Bridges in the voice are passage areas from one part of our vocal range to another. In Italian, they're called passagi-or maybe you've heard the term passagio. These passage areas are a result of vocal cord adjustments that must take place in order for us to sing high and low in our range. These vocal cord adjustments produce resonance shifts in our body.
Our first shift in resonance, or our first bridge, is our most crucial, because this is where our outer muscles are most likely to enter the picture. If they do, they tighten around the larynx in an effort to stretch the cords for the desired pitch.
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This is an extremely difficult condition to sing through. These outer
muscles can be referred to as swallowing muscles, as they raise the larynx
during the activity of swallowing. If they come into play during singing,
we are actually in a swallowing condition, which can be very damaging.
With Speech Level Singing, the larynx remains stable and comfortably low
(not raising as we ascend the scale). The vocal cords make their proper
adjustments in balance with the air, and as a result of these vocal cord
adjustments, we experience the proper resonance shifts through our bridges.
When we're in our low range, a by-product of the resonance actually can
be felt as physical sensation in our mouth, throat, or even chest. This
is where the term chest voice comes from. As we ascend the scale, (if
we are singing correctly), our voice feels as if it begins to rise and
go behind the soft palate. Ultimately, it rises higher and gives the sensation
of being high in our head. This is where the term head voice comes from.
Between our chest voice, and our head voice, is our middle voice, or as we refer to it in Speech Level Singing, our mix. The mix begins at our first bridge as the resonance starts to leave the mouth and go behind the soft palate. This split resonance leaves some in the mouth and some in the head, which produces a mixture of head voice and chest voice. This is referred to as the mix.
Many singers, both men and women, have tremendous difficulty with this area. One solution is to do less to ultimately do more. Most of us will push more air in this first bridge area to help get over the hump when ironically, just the opposite is necessary. We actually need less air the higher we sing. This is because, as we ascend the scale, the vibrating portion of the vocal cords actually gets shorter, and the vocal cords get thinner. The shorter and thinner the vocal cords become, as we ascend the scale and move higher in our range, the less air they need to support their vibration.
Speech Level Singing provides a technique which trains the proper vocal
cord muscles and relaxes the outer, unnecessary swallowing muscles so
the vocal cords can be allowed to make their proper adjustments in balance
with the air. The larynx remains stable and the resonance shifts smoothly
through all the bridges. The vocal cords remain closed and vibrating throughout
all their adjustments. This produces what we call a "connected sound"
from our lowest note to our highest note. A free, clear and flexible voice
which can be enjoyed for any style we desire is then available to all
of us.