Langleyt -
I'm glad I could help! So many incredibly nice people on here (skippy, Harvey and Mark H. to name a few) have been so gacious to help me out and give me suggestions on equipment to buy and how to use them, that it feels good to be able to give back something you feel confident talking about.
I would have to say that the voice is the most complicated insturment on the planet IMHO, because of all the variables that go into it. There is so much tension in LIFE in general and all the stress and tension of ones day HAS to be controlled within the context of singing. If someone has a crappy day and they go home and bang on there guitar or wail on there sax, often times it will sound better because of the emotion within there playing. Not so with MOST singers (not that there isn't emotion in singing it just can't override good tecnique and mental awareness to where you have bad habits come in). I don't recomend wailing (singing) away the stress in your life, because your voice will not last very long if that is a consistant habit. My teacher is very abstract and visual in her teaching, which works very well because I am a very imaginative person, and I would say that most on ths website would fall into that category with the majority of the posts I have read. She will often talk about the "creatures" in me that want to sing a certain way (usually the wrong way) and how to either ignore them or trick them into doing it the way it should be done with physical exercises.
Example - Try doing a simple exercise of 1-5-5-54321 in a Ve-ha-ha-ah-ah-ah as you are going from the 1 to the 5 be standing next to something waist level that you can pull up on without actually being able to lift it - like a ledge or a piano or a heavy table. The "creatures" are telling me to reach for the 5 and to strain my throat to make sure it is onn pitch and that I have the perfect virbrato....etc... But by the simple action of pulling up on something, all of a sudden the "creatures" are tricked into kicking in the support and not straining. Ok this is a very wierd thing but works very efficiantly with me. another exercise is pushing yourself off a wall as you are going to the 5th or even an octave exercise. try some of these and tell me how they work for you. it may really suck and do nothing for you, but I have a feeling it will help your support and relieve tension in your neck and shoulder area. Also starting out a scale exercise with a V or Z sound has really helpped keep my singing on the breath. Because it takes a certain amount of air and a certain type of air flow to spit out that paticular consenant. So start out with a V or Z sound and immediatly go into an E vowel sound and then straight into the open Ah.
Chess & Zip - I agree with both your comments about using "your own" voice and staying withinn the context of what you voice is best suited for and have really enjoyed listening to your ideas. Keep posting!
Matt
