Tension & The Voice

Singing is all about co-ordinating the correct muscles at the correct time with the smallest amount of effort to get the best results.

I notice in many singers today that they are putting a lot of unnecessary tension in their voice. This can have various consequences: First of all and most importantly it can be damaging, secondly a loss of tone quality can occur and thirdly it can have an effect on the efficiency of the vocal folds.

To allow your throat, neck and voice to be free of unnecessary tension you have to start with your breathing and air flow. Once you have the correct air flow and pressure (I go into detail about this in my lessons) then it allows the voice to be supported. Your voice should then have a feeling of suspension and be able to do whatever you want it to do.

You might wonder...why do I crack? Cracking occurs when you push to much air through the vocal folds and they have no choice but to pull apart because of the air pressure. This is when the neck muscles start to get involved in controlling the flow of air which you don`t want to happen. Cracking can be solved very easily by controlling the air flow.

Next time I will talk about breaks in the voice and chest and head voice.

Have fun singing!