The Secret to Powerful Voice Resonance

Voice resonance is often referred to as the quality of someone’s voice. I am certain that everyone has discovered the sound of his / her voice on the phone or answering machine previously. Is your voice deep, rich and full? Or perhaps is it high, sharp, and penetrating. The sound of your voice that you hear from the answering machine is largely contingent on your vocal resonance.

As we have discussed previously, sound is manufactured from the swiftness and vibrations of air by means of the vocal cords. Resonance is determined by the cavity in which these air vibrations take place. Think about the difference between a violin and cello. The two instruments have a analogous string structure, nevertheless the major differences in quality of sound are generated by the differences in size and shape of the hallow cavity that the strings vibrate over.

In men and women, the hallow cavities are found in our throat, mouth, chest and nasal cavities. The differences in the shapes of your physical cavities is why everyone has different sounding voices. When you have a cold, and your sinuses get blocked, your voice also does not resonate as well. This describes why people have a propensity to sound strange when they're sick.

Try practicing the following voice resonance exercise to elevate your particular sound quality. Hum any note at a comfy pitch. Transfer the pitch slightly lower. You ought to pay special focus on how your chest feels. Keep the note and continue to hum until you can feel the vibrations within your chest. Be sure to improve the intensity of the humming vibration. Next, move the pitch slightly two octaves higher and pay special attention to how your head feels. Feel the vibration in your head and chest and try to increase the intensity of the humming vibration. Open your mouth and hum until you feel the vibrations in the tongue and lips, at the rear of and above the mouth area. Persist with humming till you can sense the disparities. Try to increase the vibration intensity. Redouble your awareness to the vibrations in your chest once more. Repeat this exercise 5 times, remembering to end the exercise with the focus on your chest in order to build up a full, vibrant sound.

Sidenote: refrain from driving oxygen when you are humming. At the same time don't forget to breath frequently. Cease if you get light headed.

Eye Contact: The Singers' Power

“the eyes are the door to the mind” is a popular saying that reflect the importance of the eye to the human body as the interpreter to our external environment and our thought. In fact the eyes say a lot more about a person’s state of mind and reflect our reactions to certain thoughts and activities going on around us.

For example the eyes play a very important role in non verbal communication when a person is being looked at from head to toe. This can be associated with assessing the person as either a potential threat or as a sexual partner.

Overtime I’ve learnt eye contact makes our heart to flutter. Oxytocin also known as the ‘love’ or ‘cuddle’ hormone plays a big part in that. It’s a feel good chemical that is released when we feel bonded with someone, either emotionally or physically. This can be triggered by eye contact.

Eye contact during a musical performance should bring about connection. It means spending time with members of the audience so that they feel like you are just talking to them and that you care about their reactions. This set you in a position to relate in a one-on-one connection. That makes you easy to listen to and engaging.

Eye contact can also increase participation from the audience because it makes them feel more included. This can force the audience to pay attention more.

Eye contact can help us feel incredibly bonded with the audience as it makes you appear more attractive and appealing.

Eye contact gives you a strong presence and makes you appear confident. In fact it reduces your nervousness.

The magic is simply to maintain eye contact with the audience when you sing. A smile can also add to the magic when it’s done subtly with a positive resolve. Seeing the audience is the key word. Not just staring but looking at their facial expressions, look for their reactions to what you’re singing.

When next you’re singing, remember maintaining eye contact will add power to your performance.

Remember to drop your comments or questions.

Protecting Your Voice During Winter

We are back in that winter season were many singers do complain of cold and the adverse effect this would have on their singing voice. I will be telling you some things you need to know about the weather and how it affects our singing voice. I would also be giving you useful tips on how to keep your singing voice at its best. Also, things you should avoid this winter in other not to suffer the many effects that comes with it.

Winter is generally characterized by a significant drop in temperature and everyone usually trying to get them warm. Most importantly for singers it is the time when singing takes much effort to be done. It is most likely in winter to catch cold which would adversely affect the singer productivity. It is therefore very important to keep yourself warm in this cold season.

Cold weather can lead to other serious health problems as the body initiates responses to conserve the heat in the body and to increase heat production.

This includes vasoconstriction, cessation of sweating, shivering, secretion of norephinephrine, epinephrine and thyroxin.

All this responses of the body to cold are not without some adverse effect. Being too cold will result to poor thyroid functioning which include hyperthyroidism. Also, the effect of cold on the cardiovascular system can also be damaging as it can result to heart attack as the blood viscosity increases, blood pressure changes, and the heart has to work harder.

Now as a singer what effects has cold on your singing voice? The common one is inflammation in the vocal cords or of the surrounding membranes and tissues, which modify the amount of air that passes between the cords when we articulate sounds. Because the vocal cords are very thin, to begin with, even the slightest change in their thickness is enough to trigger a massive modification of pitch and intonation in the voice. These can be frustrating for a singer who had made great effort to keep his voice in shape only to face the harsh consequences of a cold weather. In more severe cases, the singer will find it even difficult to speak except in whisper when the vocal cords can no longer vibrate resulting in laryngitis.

So my advice to all singer is to avoid getting cold as much as possible and to stay warm. Ways you can actually avoid getting cold:

1. ·         Stay warm in some winter jumpers. Avoid exposing your body to the dry wind.
2. ·         Get those sweats on and exercise.
3. ·         Keep away from cold drinks.
4. ·         Remember to use your blanket when going to bed and ensure you get enough sleep.
5. ·         Start your vocal exercise by humming for 5-10minutes and gradually starting from your middle range sing without hurting your vocal cords.
6. ·         Take a lot of water, warm water at room temperature.