Singing Lessons

You like music.

In fact, you love music!

You love singing and you want to be better at it.

You go in a lesson and you are told to do some things which are impossible.

You don’t understand what is said to you and you pretend that you do, to not embarrass yourself.

You think you are the problem.

You’re not the problem.

“Fill Up Down Here.”

The teacher pats his stomach and says, “Fill up down here, with your air.”

Wrongo, Dummy!

Just the facts, ma’am:

Air in the abdomen will send you to the hospital and is an emergency.

Your lungs don’t extend beyond your lowest ribs.

You have run into an ignoramus and the lies go back to the mid-1800s.

When you inhale and your diaphragm contracts downward, it presses on the organs below it, including the stomach, the liver, the intestines and other organs. Since they do not exit through your pelvis, the abdominal wall bulges outward, and also your lower back, slightly.

If you don’t want to look like a pot-bellied pig, do not push out your abs because over time you will get a pot belly. Most people don’t find that to be attractive and we live in a visual world.

Pushing out on your abdominal muscles doesn’t gain more space. Air goes into the lungs, not into the abdomen. Singing teachers should know basic anatomy, so as to not misinform or mislead their students.

“Sing From Your Diaphragm.”

The teacher says to “sing from your diaphragm”.

It’s not possible and isn’t how it works.

Just the facts, ma’am:

The teacher has told you to do the impossible and that’s not the worst of it.

Ready?

The diaphragm has no proprioceptive nerves. Your arms have them and you can feel where they are and the position that they are in.

You cannot feel your diaphragm and you cannot see it from outside your body.

So, you’re told to do something with something that you can’t feel. That’s the first problem.

The second problem is that the diaphragm is the INHALE muscle and doesn’t push out your air at all!

Read more.

“Place The Sound ___________”

In the blank goes: “in the masque” or “up and over” or “in your eyes” or other places.

You are confused by the instruction. It’s not your fault.

Just the facts, ma’am:

People who know anatomy of the larynx and pharynx know that there aren’t magic valves to direct your sound in one direction or another.

What are you supposed to do, get hold of your sound with your hands and put it somewhere or maybe use a spoon?

What is the speed of sound?

1,235 km/h or 767 mph is the speed of sound. From the larynx to the lips is how far? How long does it take sound to exit through the mouth and how can you place it? You can change timbre, and end up sounding nasal.

You can raise your soft palate and lower your larynx, elongating the resonating chamber in between, but even that doesn’t place the sound, as too many misinformed teachers have told their poor students to do.

The truth will set your singing free. Seek truth.