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How to get rid of your vocal break?
This is one of the most popular topics in voice lessons. When I sit down with a new student, and I’m learning more about their singing goals, it’s like they all have that one thing on their mind. I can imagine why. No one wants to feel limited when it comes to expressing themselves. We all want to feel like our voice is going to be there for us when we need it the most. And it can!
In today’s video, we’re going to be discussing what is a vocal break, why vocal breaks happens, and how to get rid of a vocal break. Take what resonates with you, and leave the rest for now.
Great singing is not just about knowing a lot of information; it’s about embodying an understanding, and building healthy habits. All that I ask is that you have a spirit for exploration. Treat your voice like a new frontier to be explored. That attitude will make all the difference.
So what is the break?
The vocal break is usually characterized as an imbalance of coordination’s as you sing through your vocal range. That’s it. It’s just a point where balance is lost; an adjustment is made; then balance is found again. The crazy thing about singing is that there are lots of things happening on the inside of you at the same time. So, think of the break as having two major components to it.
1. Air flow
2. Musculature
Airflow
This is a big one for people who identify with a type of singing called “belting.” To put it into simple terms, belting means singing loudly.
Let’s say, we’re singing a song. And it’s one of those big power ballads. As the song progresses, the demands for the voice increase, right? It’s getting more and more emotional and dramatic. And we are shoving all this air through our bodies in order to keep up with the demands of the song. We may even know that, that big note is coming up, and get a little nervous about it. So what do we do? Push a ton of air through our vocal cords. This makes them slam together! Not good. Air pressure builds underneath the vocal cords like water in damn. Eventually, the vocal cords can’t take it anymore and have to relieve that pressure. The breaking sound is the result.
How to get rid of vocal breaks caused by airflow
Slow the air down. Let’s try a sound together, which will build consistency in the voice. Close your mouth; allow the tongue to rest on the roof of your mouth from back to front. Just behind your teeth. Put your hand on your stomach, just below your rib cage. Now, we are going to whimper a sound out for a count of 4. You can vary the pitches you perform this sound with. Either way, it will help your chords compress the airflow, and follow through until the end.
Keep the air flowing out in front of you. This allows your vocal cords to take control of your column of air. The airflow stays consistent. The support is steady from below. This keeps the pressure inside your body from building.
Musculature
This refers to the connecting muscles inside your larynx that govern many things, including your tone quality and vocal range. When these muscles are weak, you will experience a loss of breath support, a breathy or squeezy tone quality, or a wobble or honking sound in between coordinations.
The biggest frustration with singers in regards to musculature is that they feel the sound is too singy, or too heady. The whole idea with getting rid of your vocal break is to balance, right? So we have to teach your vocal cords how to coordinate pitches in a really refined way. Too little of a cord connection, results in a heady sound, whereas too much squeezing on your vocal cords resulting in yelling. Your voice should feel connected to speech at all times. You are simply going to discover your speech in a broad variety of pitches.
How to get rid of vocal breaks caused by musculature
Make a “spoiled kid who didn’t get their way” sound. You can even put your hands on your hips and cock your head to the side. (Watch the video above to hear an example.) Feel that quick cord closure there? You probably felt a little contraction from the diaphragm as well. Now try to vary your pitches quickly. This exercise is great, because it will teach the chords how to coordinate quickly, but without squeeze. If you place your fingers on your larynx to register how it feels inside, you will notice that it’s really rather still. And there is a lot of vibration happening on the inside, as well.
Royalty free music for intro and outro from www.audiomicro.com | Copyright: "Sentimental Stories" by Katzy