Singing and posture–see Categories, About, Launch 4-2014

from themodernvocalist.com discussion forum

I posted one of my original songs on that thread….
I was told by Guitartrek that I use falsetto to get higher notes, when I always believed it was my head voice, as I have a whole other voice that is lighter and more girly sounding.
So how do I access my head voice? Newb question!

I am completely baffled as to how to get powerful high notes with any aggression…at present my high notes are very gentle and soft.
Even “pulling chest” I top out early, around E4 I think….surely that’s not right?

Aggression is done primarily by the throat and mouth muscles.    See a GRR on your face and you’ll see how the outer throat, lips, and mouth show the aggression.

Highs is done by the vocal cords.  

Power in the highs can be attained either by lung power or by greater resonance.   High-volume lung-powered-highs are difficult and tough on your vocal cords.   Highly resonance highs are not nearly as tough on the vocal cords and sound almost as aggressive as high volume lung-powered highs and can be greater in sound volume.

So, if you want high-power highs with aggression, the least harsh on your vocal cords is a highly resonanting high with some degree of throat and mouth musclar aggression and added with a bit of high volume lung aggression.   The difficulties involved are:

1. Highs resonance can be challenging as it involves removing a lot of tensed muscles.
2.  Ensuring that highs resonance control doesn’t conflict with the throat and muscles aggression controls.

All these flow smoothly if your vocal tract is in good muscle tone and with just a little practice—as in good tone means having good singing posture.

However, odds are overwhelming that your posture isn’t set up right yet, so it may then be difficult to do.