Practice and Technique:
Great sprinters learn to incline their body forward about 5 degrees as they drive their legs up and out ahead. If you want to be a great sprinter, practicing and refining that technique would help you run faster. Because this technique is an action, the more you practice it, the better you get. Deciding to do 100 sprints doesn’t mean you will run any faster, but running 100 sprints with just the right body position does. This is why, in the end, focusing on honing and improving specific techniques is the fastest route to success.
This is true for singing as well. If you practice a song 100 times with no goals in mind, you will not improve your technique the same way you would if you sang with purpose and awareness. The most effective technique to improve purely vocal technique that will build range, flexibility, freedom from strain, strength, and endurance begins with our lip trill. The lip trill helps manage the air flow so that your vocal folds adduct (close) firmly, evenly, and in a low, stable position. If you are serious about becoming a great singer, this tool should be consistently used. How do you use it? It’s quite simple. Sing through any song you sing on a lip trill. As you sing with the lip trill there are indicators that it is or is not working to its maximum effect.
• Put your hand on your larynx and swallow. Notice that it goes up and down. When singing we want the larynx low and stable (not moving or jumping around)
• If it is jumping around or high, use the dumb and/or hooty sound to help keep it down. Try not to use your tongue to keep it down.
• Pay attention to how fast your lips are vibrating. If they speed up it means you are not regulating the airflow evenly. Do your best to let your lips vibrate at the same speed regardless of how high or low the notes are.
• Finally, check your nose. The vibrations should not be in your nose, although they may be around your nose and in the mask (cheekbones and head).
• Try plugging your nose as you lip trill. If you feel the vibrations in your nose, do something to remove those vibrations.
If you practice consistently with this tool and awareness you will find that singing is easier, more in tune, and more enjoyable, your range will increase, you will be able to sing through the notes with greater agility and freedom, vocal strain will diminish, and you will sing fuller and longer. The better you sing, the more expressive you will be and the more fun you will have.
