How to SING scales (2018) 

It's old however, I'm not using these terms the way you think I am, this is such a big topic it would take days to go through. Pulling chest? A lack of CT engagement OR outer muscles inhibiting more CT engagement often a combination of both. CT muscles enable cords to stretch / release to a pitch / keep larynx down. People compensate for this problem with higher larynx (shorter tube requires less CT so they can get a few more notes out this way) and more also volume though both of these solutions are band aids really. This being the case pulling chest can be done at any volume, but is more likely to harm a voice if done consistently loudly for sure. Broadly the goal with exercises is to learn to change one thing at a time, this is so the mind can segment functions out more clearly and develop better separation between muscle groups in the larynx (assuming outer muscles are relaxed which is a whole other topic). This in the end is all better technique is referring to and can only be done when fundamentals are strong and what I'll be trying to illuminate in the video. The rules exist to back a student into a corner and force them to adjust only the pitch and nothing else, this is the key skill to understand and develop. Regardless of what we understand the vowel is or isn't doing, the feeling in the throat is just more cry / tilt / release and nothing else is required to go higher. What compounds all of this is that almost all vocal teaching actively avoids fundamentals completely or worse will create crazy rationalisations that activity encourage fundamentals getting even worse, vowel modification being a good example. When I talk about 'not changing the vowel' I'm simplifying for the sake of making things easier to digest, yes part of the vowel changes as we go higher but part of it doesn't so it really depends which part of the vowel we are referring to? You could also frame this differently and understand changing the vowel correctly as 'change in order to stay in the same position'. Or in other words if we are changing in order to not change are we changing or not changing? You see the logical circle with this concept, we have to make an adjustment in order to not make an adjustment this is the problem with explaining this to people rather than just learning to do it, language is a very crude tool. The reasons for all this is that many students cannot keep things still through the bridge so it's easier to tell them not to change things than give them licence to because 99 times out of 100 they will misinterpret ideas and then rationalise worse fundamentals because they are filtering through their vocal reality which is different when knowledge is at a lower level. All that being said I was at a very different place when this video was made, still very much in the journey of trying to piece things together more so than now at least anyway. The last year or so have been much clearer in my mind. I'm only really passing on the message anyway, Seth and Brett gave us the instruction manual, you're better going to them if you want to push back on these ideas. I just follow and explain it in my own way, best of luck.

Michael B nice one mate keeping it simple 😉

churchhymnsandpsalms thank you!

Nick Spinner they learned the same way I did, they just did it more quickly 😉

Hi Nick, please look at this video about Frank Sinartra speaking on his voice lessons. He had plenty of lessons. Cheers and happy singing. Michael. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-2gfmHsLte_A.html

Thanks! I read a while back that he took one lesson only. It appears that we can know what he was taught by reading the pamphlet that he and that voice coach wrote (which one can view online with a bit of searching). Now if one reads a book like "The Great American Popular Singers," by Henry Pleasants, one might get the impression that none of these singers got more than some simple words of advice when they were in a choir, as children. Of course, that's still possible, with Sinatra being an exception (though it sounds like he took lessons for perhaps a couple of months rather than several years and then thought of himself a something of an expert on "popular singing"). I'll do some research and then write up a blog post about my conclusions, probably within a few weeks: learningtosing.wordpress.com

shadowatcher 28 Also please react to Daryl Ong's "Dive" cover. Thank you.

Ink King thanks will have a look

you are right but people don't use the terms in that way.