As a singer and a teacher, I really enjoy watching your videos, your approach is more technical than mine and very informative. I am subscribed to your channel and also get updates from a linkedin group. I'm in the uk.
Amanda tompkins, the following video of me singing live in concert may prove helpful - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-P8WMTv6tV0Q.html
After doing this exercise for a couple a days my singing and humming totally changed. I started to feel like a mermaid singing. Full of harmony and love.
Dear Dr. Dan this video gave a simplistic and visual example to explain the concept for the term use less air. Thanks. I think I'll incorporate it in an upcoming vocal workshop.
Hi Dan, whenever I do the sirens, I can't go my full range as the air seems to get reduced a lot and I don't feel any resonance or breath going to the straw. I just feel it stuck in my throat. However, I can still go to the note, but it doesn't feel the same as the low to mid notes. Any help would be great! Thank you Edit: nevermind I fixed it, just by going over the major 3rd slides, now it's a smooth siren. Only thing now is that the high to the very top notes are a bit shaky.
This lesson will be very helpful in teaching my barbershop chorus breathing and vocal techniques. I have been using straw flonation for couple weeks but your lesson has expanded on that. thank you John
Thanks, really enjoying your videos! Been trying the stifled laugh one the last few days, feels kinda weird I'm getting used to it tho. Would go and grab a staw right now, but my voice is super hoarse atm :/ Thanks again!!
Again, great tip and exercises. :) Unrelated question: I discovered the "Messa di Voce" exercise you explained in one of your video, and was wondering if you have other great/advanced exercises like this one that you might gather eventually on a Voice Essential Volume 2?
Dr.Dan eu entrei na sua plataforma e gostaria de sugerir que você ponha opção de legendas para que pessoas de outros países possam estudar pelo o seu curso, obrigado.
I’ve been singing and performing my whole life and last year I developed muscle tension dysphonia. I’ve been having to reteach my muscles how to balance properly again so I can get back to the stage, and I’ve found that straw phonation helps relieve my tension more than any other exercise.
Thank you so much for the video, Dr Dan! Your videos are always so helpful and insightful 😊. I have a question though, can we replace the cocktail straw with a flat coffee straw? It's 4 mm x 1.4 mm. I couldn't find a cocktail straw... 😂.
Can you tell me exactly the aim of using the straws? Vocal chord closure? Breath consistency? Forward placement? Resonance? Thank you. I appreciate your clarity and always responding to the thousands of questions you must receive.
hey Dr Dan, thanks this is great advice. I tried it as you showed, then I was drinking warm water at the time, so did it into half a glass of water!! thought I'd discovered a new exercise!!!😱.. but then googled and found others recommend it?!! What do you think ? many thanks as always,😊. Linda.
7 months after being diagnosed with an oral cancer, and getting through chemo and radiation, my voice is finally coming back. I have to relearn some things, remember others, but this video lesson is worth trying. Thanks for your great lessons!
Leo Marx, the following video about Breath Management (with Exercises) may prove helpful - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SEdCYhnStrk.html&list=PLZFx6cLexy5GrnbHBaHX9atQG0fba1Vx-
Hi Dr. Dan i love these videos but I'd like to ask some questions about my own voice, im a beginning singer and in the last few months whenever i sing my throat would begin to hurt while singing and sometimes afterwards, I have also found that it is harder to sing some of the higher notes i was able to sing when I first started, it has also gotten to the point that when I talk it sometimes hurts as well, just wondering on your thoughts
Thanks will definitely try some of those exercises, i was starting to think that I was wearing my voice out because I do sing a lot especially songs with higher notes and im also in a school band and that affects my throat also along with spending years of fighting with parents and siblings screaming and yelling for hours on end
I am curious, why do we hold our nose? Thanks for making these videos! Im new to singing and have wayyyy too much tension, so I appreciate you making these!!!
I can sing without neck and root of tongue tension but when i sing really high my voice still get tired but not very tired it occurs after singing really high a few times
I really want to ask this but I don't have any professional teacher around me so your reply would mean a lot. I feel a light headache on the back side of my head after singing high notes, but I don't feel any strain or anything like that anywhere in my body. This has started after people told me and I realized that I was singing too much in my chest and that's the reason I couldn't sing lower notes. Now my lower notes have become clear and audible but when I sing high, I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I get headache after a while. Also I'm taking proper breaths while singing. I really love singing and I sing a lot. And I'm really nervous of this causing any serious issue. Please help! Thank you.
I was singing a few weeks ago, and noticed that there was some slight soreness/tension right around my larynx and under my chin.. Thinking it was just over worked, I rested it for about a week then tried again. Its still there! When I sing, it seems fine, but I can see my larynx moving up quite a bit. Is this bad? It seems to be contributing to the tension... HELP!!! What can I do to relieve this?
I’ve got bilateral sulcus ent tried some filler but it did not work. I get voice breaks and when I talk my vocal folds are tight and quinces. Voice therapy has failed. Do you think Botox injection will help
I'm sorry to hear about the challenges you're experiencing. As a non-clinical Singing Voice Specialist, I can provide some general advice, but I recommend that you consult with your doctor or a specialist in voice disorders before making any decisions about your treatment. Bilateral sulcus vocalis is a condition where grooves form on both sides of the vocal folds, which can cause symptoms such as hoarseness, voice breaks, and discomfort. Botox is primarily used for conditions where there's excessive muscle tension, like spasmodic dysphonia or vocal tremor. It reduces the nerve signals to the muscles, helping them relax. However, whether Botox would be helpful in your case depends on your condition's exact nature, including the sulcus's severity, the presence of any other vocal fold pathology, and the nature of your voice use. It's also important to consider that Botox is not a permanent solution and would need to be repeated every few months. Since you've mentioned that voice therapy has failed, it might be worth getting a second opinion or exploring other forms of treatment. There are also surgical options for treating sulcus vocalis, but these would typically be considered if other forms of treatment have been unsuccessful. Again, I recommend discussing these options with a healthcare professional or a voice specialist who can provide advice based on a thorough understanding of your condition. They may also be able to recommend specific techniques or exercises that could help with your voice breaks and muscle tension. I hope this information is helpful, and I wish you the best of luck managing your condition.
Hi Dr. Dan, I'd like to know, do I have to 'breath' first before I sing a note / through a phrase? I really have no idea how to control air pressure when singing.
Im not Dr. Dan im just random guy but I've found that you shouldn't overfill your lungs. Also don't breathe if you dont NEED to. Singing is all about the mind really, tension is mostly caused by the mind not trusting the body to do it right.
Sir, I am a teacher, I have talk and give lectures for four hours for two days every week, can this damage my singing voice. If yes, are there any solutions
Hi Dan, my coach teaches me to do this to help with my tension in singing but this exercise really stiffens my jaw muscle in just 2 seconds. I was talking/singing ok today, is there something wrong? I feel like my larynx just locks me out on this exercise and only this exercise. Additionally, I relax into the straw and nothing comes out.
Ok, so I did some tongue stretches and jaw exercises, and went straight back into it! I relaxed into the straw again, blew less air and into a cup of water and tried to visualise normal speaking or singing. It worked but will try it again tomorrow to see if I can still do it. Your videos are sooo goood! Thank you!
I'm sorry for commenting again but I just lip bubbles (which I couldn't do when because of MTD) and then the straw exercise. I did not face any tense/strain. Really thank you for this. I will buy your CD once I get my salary! Thank you so much!
With this exercise i've noticed that with every single note that I go higher, I tend to run out of air faster. Why is that? I will continue doing it since my balance and air pressure application is not correct, but the breath management and running out of air- when you go higher, you run out of air faster or is it just my perception of how to produce that sound?
I want to add one thing: These exercises and knowledge are wonderful! I'm loving every single video and taking out of it as much as I can because I have some habits that I need to retrain and switch with the healthy, good-sound producing and efficient ones!
And one more question: how to know if you inhale enough and not too much? Whenever breath starts building up and pushing your vocal folds, then it's too much, as I understand. But in terms of feeling it in the abdominal area- are there any indicators to understand that? Because sometimes I breathe that much air in that it just explodes with a strong attack whenever I start to sing.
And also, are there any measures to see if particular exercise really helps or for that particular person it's a waste of time and the problem/habit is elsewhere?
Is this the same as not being able to sing somedays? Somedays I’m like wow I can’t believe i sound this good. It lasts for a few days then I have trouble singing the next few days.
Hi I have a problem of my voice....i am 13 and it's been 3 years my voice doesn't comes out fully I mean it is full of hoarseness just like sore throat and I don't have a pain even when I speak it also cracks everytime I speak when I press my throat then my voice fully comes out but when I put it back it is like before and I also don't have any disease,it is also very deep and unclear but I am a girl.....Any solution??really need your help,school is gonna start soon.... Thank you😊 and when I am very nervous my voice is also gone😢😢please help
Hey Dr. Dan, I'd been using the straw technique for quite a while before I blew my voice out (through oversinging) and lost my belting power and my upper mids, higher range and my falsetto. A fellow singer suggested that the straw technique may actually have contributed to this happening as he had the same thing happen with the same part of his range after using Ingo's straw technique for a few months beforehand. Given that you're a genuine expert in this field both practically and theoretically, I'm a bit confused as to where I may have been going wrong when using straws since I know you wouldn't recommend a technique that was potentially damaging to the voice. Are there any particular issues we should look out for or perhaps ways in which this technique would be applied incorrectly? It's only now, after 20 years of basically belting everything that I'm learning to regulate my air pressure and compress correctly so I suspect that my own bad vocal technique probably caused the problems in the first instance. It seems really obvious to write it down now, but would a lack of control in air pressure while using this technique still cause similar effects to oversinging, albeit in a less severe way? It's really interesting to hear you discuss this particular approach 'cause I did find it VERY useful, but my friend's advice really turned me off and I stopped using straws entirely for fear of further damage. Have you heard of anyone having issues with this sort of thing before?
Thanks for the reply and the advice, Dr. Dan! Based on what you've said, I think I can see where I was going wrong as I was incorporating range increasing exercises and all sorts of stuff that now seems entirely inappropriate. Thanks so much for the clarification, it's extremely helpful!
Hi 6 months ago I was diagnosed with muscle tension dysphonia and I read some comments, people say it can take 4 years to fully recover from this disease And this fact that I have to wait 4 years to get back to my job is killing me right now I'm seeing a speech therapist once in a week. What do u think should I give up performing or singing and wait 4 years or it gets better and I can go back to my normal life without changing my job? Btw I've been using some of your Exercises and they are amazing tnx.
