Make your fortissimo and pianissimo notes easier and more resonant in three steps.
To a singer, dynamic range is every bit as important as melodic range. Though many singers are chasing those high notes, the smart ones are pursuing power in the process. In doing so, they prepare themselves to have the force of expression necessary in giving an unforgettable performance and, as an added bonus, to add multiple notes to their top voice. To give your voice the power it needs---power to be large, small or anything in between---there are a few things you must do. The following three-step technique is drawn from the work of vocal researcher Catherine Sadolin of the Complete Vocal Institute.
Instructions
More Powerful Singing in Three Steps
1. Reduce the flow of air and find your "support." Singing with a full, powerful voice requires little air, but much support. Support, in voice pedagogy, is the force with which we resist the natural flow of our exhalation during vocalization, though many amateurs take it to mean a forceful pushing of breath from the lungs. To experience support, take a deep breath in through your nose, as though smelling a flower, and hold it. Now, while attempting to hold the smell within your lungs, say "ah", as though reveling in the fragrance. A small amount of air will have to escape to make the sound but, if done correctly, only the bare minimum necessary. This is produce an efficient, well-supported vocal tone . Try speaking with minimum air flow and, if that's comfortable, try a line from a song.
2. Shift your resonance into your "mask," which is the front of your face. Redirect the resonance of this low-flow vocal production to the mask, or front, of the face. Sob or whine in your brattiest voice, or quack like a duck if that is more natural to you. Put your finger under your nose, as though it were a mustache, and practice shifting and balancing the resonance (indicated by the vibration you feel while singing) above and below your finger, keeping it forward and not letting it fall into the throat. Once you've achieved the feeling of resonance in the mask, apply it to speaking, then to a line from a song. Don't be alarmed if it sounds funny. I's best, at first, to practice this feeling in an exaggerated, unmusical tone.
3. Sing a powerful note with the messa di voce exercise. This practice technique, common since the 18th century, is the safest place to start and the fastest way develop powerful singing. On a comfortable pitch, whine the syllable "yay" as softly as you can while maintaining the bratty, forward placed tone. Then, as slowly as you can, swell the syllable to the highest volume you can achieve without losing the placement in the mask. Last, slowly decrescendo to your original volume and, if it's comfortable, try opening the vowel up to an "aa" sound, as in the word "cat", along the way. Give it a couple weeks of practice, and soon you'll feel an enormous new sound, a new sense of control and, in most cases, a few bonus notes on your top end.
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