Archive for April, 2009

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FAQ–Mixed voice

April 15, 2009

The question is what is a mixed voice?

 

Form a standing wave with the vocal tract’s resonating tube-cavity.  The result is that most of the amplification is through resonance and standing wave.   If you form the standing and resonating wave correctly, it will automatically have the mixed or full sounds—because the entire vocal tract is resonating.

 

To “mix” this sound, it is more a matter of subtraction—put a barrier to muffle or absorb the head or chest voice.

 

The question now is—how does one form the standing wave resonating tube cavity to begin with?  Obviously, if your posture isn’t correct, it won’t form correctly.   And if you have back of mouth obstructions it may not form the highs correctly.   So, the first step is to get your posture correct and then your vocal structure correct, which is what is described extensively in Vocalposture.com.  

 

From a “ZenSinging” perspective, the question should be, why don’t you already have a mixed voice?  The Zen answer is that you lost it.  So, the focus should be on restoring what was lost, instead of getting the mixed voice.   The restoration techniques are different from standard singing training techniques.

 

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How to buy dynamic microphones

April 15, 2009

Dynamic mics’ create very different sounds. How do you know which one to buy for your voice, particularly, as most sellers won’t accept returns (there are also some health laws preventing returns).

1. Call the manufacturers and ask them to recommend a specific model. When their rep hears you over the phone, he can offer a suggestion.

2. Buy the mic from a seller who has a return policy on mics. Many of the major Internet sellers have this.

3. Test the mic out on your own equipment.

4. Dynamic mics frequently have lowest advertised price. If you shop carefully, you’ll find a lower price.

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Ergonomics, back, and bed

April 15, 2009

Back problems suspected due to bed

First get rid of the box springs and make sure your mattress is on very firm bedboard.  Alternatively, insert a board between the box springs and mattress. Soft mattresses do not help back problems–so may need a new mattress. 

Ikea’s clearance beds can be a real deal.   Bed and mattress for approximately 60% off.  Never know when the deals are and what’s available though.

 

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Restore vs Exercise for voice training

April 13, 2009

A key philosophical difference between standard singing exercises and VocalPosture.com’s restore concept is that VocalPosture.com emphasizes ridding muscular tension, instead of exercising muscles. 

Muscular exercise can reduce some muscular tensions; and thus so can standard vocal exercises.   But, just as we see many people needing massage therapy, yoga, shiatsu, chiropractic, and, in particular myofascia release of trigger points, we can understand comparably that there are additional treatment modalities for taut posture muscles.  If any muscle is not in tone, the entire body’s posture is thrown off.  Each body part not in alignment affects the tone and other body muscles. 

For most people, this proper body alignment is within them, and thus, their natural muscle and singing tone is within.  So, we have to examine what causes muscle tone to be lost, and then fix these–this is the major goal of VocalPosture.com

Chen Sun

www.WebAndNet.com

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Recorder review Olympus WS-321M

April 13, 2009

First review of Olympus WS-321M digital micro recoder

 

OK, I tried this.  

 

Pluses:

  1. Very compact.
  2. Can be used as a music player as well.
  3. Better than my prior Panasonic RR-US430
  4. Maybe being phased out, so can get at very good prices.
  5. Far better recordings than my Flip videocam.

 

Minuses:

 

  1. Lacks bass in recording.   This is a major problem, but to solve it may be very expensive on any digital recorder.
  2. Cannot be used with a dynamic mic.   This is also a major problem, but I’m unsure any digital recorder will solve this.
  3. Very bad voice recording in live venues.

 

I talked with Olympus, and believe their new, expensive LS-10 may be the ideal solution for portable recording devices.

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Are singing-method patents commercially viable?

April 13, 2009

Does anyone see commercial value in patenting methods to learn singing?  I just can’t see how patenting teaching methods of singing can be profitably enforced, except at institutions, and that would be difficult as well. 

Does anyone know about patents and singinging learning methods?

Thanks,

Chen Sun, www.WebAndNet.com

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Vision and revenue

April 13, 2009

WebAndNet.com, creator of VocalPosture.com, seeks your input on how to generate revenue with this site.   WebAndNet has numerous vocal-posture web content material and would like to create free teaching videos.  These take time to create professionaly.

WebAndNet has an ergonomics possible-invention that may solve the revenue issue, and we can sell ergonomic products through this site.   We lack time to teach students individually though, which is the revenue model for many free singing websites.

If you have any ideas, appreciate your input. 

Thanks,

Chen Sun, www.WebAndNet.com

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Maya and hearing

April 12, 2009

Maya is an Indian concept that is similar to delusion.   Hindu concepts are concerned with how the Maya mind tricks the individual into not seeing the real.  Then, Hindus and Buddhists practice meditation to bypass Maya and RESTORE one’s real self. 

Vocalposture is comparable here–it’s saying that the Maya mind tricks the individual into not hearing his real voice.  Straightening the posture (comparable to meditation’s focus on straightening the spine) is also used to bypass the Maya hearing.

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How do we hear singing?

April 12, 2009

Response to question on singing and hearing….

When singing, I believe the mind uses the ear drum’s sensations together with other bodily sensations and the mind’s own desired heard sound to synthesize the mentally “heard” sound.

If one’s mind can affect one’s hearing of one’s voice, then, it seems
possible to retrain the mind to accurately hear one’s voice better.
If this is possible, it is possible self-teach oneself how to sing.

Let me give a example. I have weak highs, but, when sing highs,
somehow “psychologically hear” my highs’ volume is just right. Is it possible to remap my hearing such that my “heard” highs volume
becomes accurate?

It seem this can be a type of vocal training—training by getting
rid of mishearings instead of practicing one’s voice.  If such trained, all one has to do is to hear how one matches to the music and other singers—in order to sing better.

This is somewhat “Buddhist”, “Hindu”, “meditation” in approach—that is
getting rid of mishearing in order to sing better, instead of
practicing scales to sing better. Can someone advise me how this may
have been tried as a vocal training technique?

Problem with tape recorders is that microphone technology is usually
inaccurate.

Thanks,
Chen Sun
www.WebAndNet.com

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