Probably the number one topic I am asked about on the technique of singing has to do with bridging the chest voice to the head voice, hiding the break, and creating one voice.

Depending on your vocal style and your individual voice, you will tend to sing in either more  of your head voice or chest voice.  Head lends itself to more of a classical sound while chest is more pop.  Musical theater can land somewhere in the middle.  But no matter what, as a singer, you will be challenged to access the full pitch range that your larynx possesses.

The following exercise, that I have up on my YourTube channel, practices just this issue; taking your voice from the bottom to the top while evening out the break in the passaggio, between head and chest voices.

Add this vocal exercise to your daily regimen.

http://www.youtube.com/user/VoiceLessonsToGo?feature=mhum#p/a/u/0/NGqZmzX04O4

Smooth singing to you!

Ariella Vaccarino

Written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of  Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of  Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

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I am inspired.  Jacob Lusk from American Idol sings soooo good.  What is so great about him?  You may be listening and know how his voice makes you feel, but technically, why is he so good?

Simply put, he sings in the perfect “pocket”.

As a voice teacher, I can tell you that what he is doing is anchoring his voice to the bottom of his range (which is fabulously low) and stretching up from there.  He never loses that anchor, and that is why his voice is so thrilling.   You do not lose the bottom of his sounds, even in a high note.  And as he goes higher, rather than reaching or lifting up in his larynx and body, he just stays grounded and opens up more doors of resonance and sound.

Jacob Lusk knows how to access his sound using his body and he does not get in the way of it.

It is like we are born with trap doors in front of all our resonating areas.  When we sing we are constantly doing vocalizes and visualizations to unlock and remove these doors to free our sound.  You cannot push through these doors or you will encounter muscular tension.

The resonators are in different places, your chest- the back of your head and neck, the front of you face near your eyes, and the top of your head to name a few.

Jacob Lusk has the ability to hold on to an open chest resonation as he opens more and more doors of resonance as the pitch rises.

As a human being who’s just listening to him sing,  I hear that he opens his mouth, gets out of the way and just lets the music flow through him.  Some may say, “divinely”.  He is in the raw, which is so exciting to listen to and travel the vocal journey with.  His voice rides a wave of free sound.

Here’s the link to hear his performance of “A House is Not a Home”

http://www.americanidol.com/videos/season_10/performances/jacob_lusk_a_house_is_not_a_home/

Just lovely.  You sing it Jacob Lusk!

Ariella Vaccarino

Written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of  Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of  Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)

I am regularly receiving questions from singers regarding the subject of vibrato; people wanting to change theirs, add more, make it less, etc…
So, I thought it would be good to write a blog on vibrato to address some of these issues.

First of all, what is vibrato?

“Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterized in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation (“extent of vibrato”) and speed with which the pitch is varied (“rate of vibrato”)^[1].”- from Wikipedia

Please read the full explanation on vibrato from Wikipedia here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibrato.

Your vibrato is a direct result of the release of tension in your voice.  If your voice is free of muscular tension, you should have a natural lovely vibrato, not too strong or too slight.  Vocal tension though, can cause your vibrato to be off in two extremes: out of control fast and heavy, which can lead to a warbled pitch or a speedy flutter, or sometimes when pressing on the larynx unnaturally, your vibrato can be stifled and repressed causing a straight, often flat, tone.

Good healthy singing is what you as a singer need to focus on.  As a result you will find your natural vibrato.

There are different styles that then lend themselves to varying degrees of vibrato as well.  On one end of the spectrum is early music classical singing.  In this style, very little vibrato is preferred, and singers sing it with a straighter tone, which they manipulate to do so.  On the other hand, in Romantic Opera the vibrato is rampate, but hopefully not overpowering.  Both of these sounds can be effected or manipulated, but it is ideal to sing the style in which your voice naturally lends itself so that your voice remains healthy and pliable.  So for example if you are born with a naturally straight-ish vibrato, Verdi may not be for you.

I often have people writing me asking me how their vibrato can be like some other voices that they like.

Everyone has their own natural healthy vibrato.  To sing like someone else would not be healthy for you.  You, of course, can mimic another sound, but that is a skill of impersonation as opposed to great singing.

Sing well, sing true!

Ariella Vaccarino

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Written by Ariella Vaccarino creator of  Voice Lessons To Go (singing lessons on CD) and author of  Vocalize!

Want a professional opinion of how you sound?  Sign up for my Vocal Assessment. Then send me a link or mp3 of you singing (audio/or audio visual) with your questions and I will get back to you with my feedback right away.

Check out my instructional videos on my YouTube Channel:

http://www.youtube.com/voicelessonstogo

Listen to my weekly podcasts on iTunes:

My itunes Podcast

Friend me on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/voicelessonstogo

Follow me on twitter:

http://www.twitter.com/voicelessons2go (I love a good retweet!)