Techniques That Work with Students Who Need to Learn Technique

by Carl Nygard

I was a very late bloomer when it came to singing.   I never had the opportunity until I got to college, where we all were required by the curriculum to take choir and private voice instruction.   Even though I was highly motivated to excel in this new experience of singing, I nonetheless had more than my share of difficulties.   Singing did not come easily or naturally for me.  

During my first year, I had been asked by a number of my fellow students to accompany them at their own voice lessons, which I gladly did, and heard all kinds of good instruction at those lessons, as well as at my own.   In my practice, I would try to implement those good suggestions I heard.   Nevertheless, after my second jury, at the end of freshman year, my (apparently) embarrassed teacher came out into the hall to announce the results of my performance.   I’ll never forget the brief conference we had.   She simply announced, “Carl, I don’t think I can teach you anything.”   Then she said she would recommend me to another teacher on the faculty.  

My biggest problem at the time was tension.   I was simply trying too hard, and my teacher couldn’t figure out how to get me to make a relaxed sound.   To be sure, tension is not the only problem your singers will have to overcome, but it is probably the most prevalent for a whole host of reasons.   Whatever the reason, here is a list of tried and true techniques (a few of which I even invented) that have worked for me over the years as I taught my students and myself how to sing.

The antidote to tension is movement.   A singer should be able to make a good sound while moving practically any part of the body.   If there’s room in your rehearsal space, have the singers be two arm lengths apart and sing a simple passage or exercise while twisting the upper body back and forth from the hips in such a way that the centrifugal force of the turning lets the arms fly away from the body.   The arms should be free enough that they will hit the body when the direction changes.   If they don’t, it’s a sure sign that the shoulders are too tight.   Allow the singers to continue the exercise until that tension is gone and the arms hit the body.

Perhaps the tension is in the neck muscles.   Have the singers sing while moving the head slowly and evenly from side to side, as if they are shaking their head to say “no.”   This can be done even as they continue the twisting motion.

Then, to make things even more interesting, have the students then move the jaw from side to side as they continue singing.   This will prevent the jaw from tightening and thereby transferring the tension to other parts of the vocal mechanism.  

Sometimes it works to transfer the tension to another part of the body.   One teacher I met suggested simply tightening the buttocks.   The energy required to do it will leave the rest of the body relaxed.   Tightening the hamstrings is also effective for the same reason.

Of course, opening the throat is a must.   The only difficulty with opening the throat is that it involves the use of some semi-voluntary muscles.   Therefore, using images can be effective.   The yawn is used by many teachers to open the throat, and it works for many.   You can also achieve the position by “smiling behind your back teeth.”   Cooling the back of the throat upon inhaling works for some students, and is effective because we’re always inhaling, and the sensation of cooling the throat can be a good habit.   Imagining that you have “snake jaws” and can open the mouth by unhinging the jaw joint can open the throat.   One teacher I know suggests spreading the back top teeth.   Certainly, this is impossible, but the image is the important thing.   And the way to check to see if any of these techniques is working is simply to have the students put their fingers on the Adam’s apple (or Eve’s apple, whichever they happen to have) and feeling it descend.   If it doesn’t descend, the throat is still not as open as it should be.   If a student is not sure, have him/her sing with the nose pinched shut.   If it sounds like a very nasal imitation of an old-fashioned phone operator (“number pleeazze”), the throat is not open.   You should be able to make a fairly normal singing sound (with the exception of the “n” and “m” consonants) with the nose pinched shut.

If the students are singing through the open throat, have them align the heels of their hands with the jaw line and push in and down.   Singing through this kind of an opening can produce a dramatic increase in resonance.

The tongue is a problem area for some students.   Make sure that the tip of the tongue is always anchored to the back of the bottom front teeth.   This will help it to lie flat and get out of the way of the back of the throat.

If there is no money in your budget for a product called “hearphones,” a similar benefit can be achieved by making “elephant ears.”   Have the students cup their hands as if they’re swimming, and put the hands behind the ear lobes, making them stick out from the head.   The cupped hand and extended ear lobe allows the students to actually hear themselves through the air, rather than through their bones.   Incidentally, this is why we all cringe when we hear our voices played back through a recording.   We don’t sound that way to ourselves because we hear ourselves through our bones, but the playback lets us hear ourselves through the air.  

I have always marveled at choirs who do this during rehearsal.   They always sing softer and with a better blend, even though they are totally unaware of the change in timbre and dynamics.  

There are many more of these tricks to put in your bag and to bring out when needed, but the above techniques will produce wonderful results in voice building when incorporated regularly in the warm-up time.  

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