VOCALS
Ryan Luchuck is a teacher trainer for Vocology In Practice , an international organization of vocal instructors . ( www . vocologyinpractice . com ). He currently works with 60 students a week in his downtown Toronto studio .
For more information , visit www . torontovoicelessons . com .
By Ryan Luchuck
How I Train the Voice
Hey singers ! Voice training can mean a lot of different things to different people . Every teacher has his or her own spin on how the process works , so it can get very confusing !
Here , I ’ ve broken down my philosophy . I ’ ve been fortunate to study with some incredible people , and 20 years of voice and teacher training have led me to approach training the voice with the following steps .
1 . Remove Excess Tension At some point , every singer will have to deal with excessive muscular tension . One reason it ’ s so common is that great singing is usually very dramatic . This means that singers have to “ live on the edge ” and communicate extreme emotion to their audience . It can be very difficult to do this without over engaging the muscles inside and outside of your larynx .
Another reason comes from the frustration that results when a singer can ’ t do what they want with their voice . Many of us will try to force the instrument to do our will . As you likely already know , this doesn ’ t work out very well ! I use all kinds of exercises that relieve tension and encourage flexibility so that , in time , your instrument will survive and thrive with the demands of serious singing .
Each singer will need different exercises , depending on what kind of tension they ’ ve built up ( jaw , laryngeal , breathing , etc .). It is my job to find the right vowel and consonant combination to help them find release . Each vowel and consonant can help or hinder , depending on the situation . Straw and lip trill exercises are also very helpful .
2 . Build Coordination The qualities that singers strive for – range , power , consistency – are directly related to how much coordination exists in your larynx . Most singers have a hard time singing strong higher pitches without “ flipping ” into a much lighter tone / timbre . This can be useful
32 • CANADIAN MUSICIAN for style but we want the control to decide when it happens .
The thyroarytenoid ( TA ) and cricothyroid ( CT ) muscles are particularly important . It ’ s my job to give you a workout that teaches these muscle groups to play nicely together . As you learn to transfer necessary muscle tension between these two muscle groups with a lot of accuracy , your sound will become consistently stronger over a very large range . Vowels and consonants become very important because how you pronounce them ( shape your vocal tract ) has a direct effect on your vocal folds and how much air they require to open and close , aka phonation threshold pressure . It is this coordination work that gives you the freedom to maximize your power .
3 . Build Strength Technically , strength comes from coordination ; however , I ’ ve found that it ’ s necessary to approach our exercises a little differently when it comes time to “ finish the tone ” – especially on higher pitches . For this , I ’ ll avoid consonants at first ( consonants are generally harder to sing on high notes with a strong sound ) and use vowels with a higher first formant . ( Google “ formant .”) When flexibility and strength training are combined at about an 80 / 20 per cent ratio , growth happens fast . It takes repetition then to be able to sing words with your newfound power . This is usually more difficult than the exercises .
4 . Apply New Skills to Songs As your voice grows , we are always working on injecting your songs with these new skills . This requires making a lot of vowel and consonant adjustments so that the vocal folds get as much help as possible . Songs are challenging because the emotion that comes with singing actual music can sabotage our technique in the beginning . Emotion is a very important part of singing ; we just need to learn to thrive within that state of mind . Removing words and singing instead with a helpful vowel / consonant combination on every syllable works wonders . Eventually , transitioning from workouts to songs becomes very fluid .
5 . Constantly Increase Musicality & Style Style and musicality are what thrill your audience , even more than range and power ; therefore , I make a point of adding as much musical work to your training as possible . I will sometimes play chord progressions instead of scales as you work your exercises . This really helps with advanced pitch development . We ’ ll also add clapping and drum work to learn better time and feel . Believe it or not , singing in time is actually more important than singing in tune . I also encourage all my students to learn to sing harmonies , which I love to teach . If you can sing harmony well , you ’ re a much better vocal musician .
6 . Encourage Freedom & Connection to Meaning At the end of the day , we never want to be overly technical . It ’ s so important to always take some time to just sing without over thinking . Try to choose songs that you connect to emotionally . Never obsess about your vocal technique on stage ! If you ’ re really into your song , your chances of nailing it go up dramatically . We sing to make our audience feel something , whether it ’ s joy , sadness , or anything in between .
So there it is . I should point out that training your voice is not a linear process . Sometimes , I work on only one concept with a singer , sometimes all six at the same time . Good luck and never forget that singing is supposed to be fun .