If you’ve been following my articles for any period of time, you know that it’s space that creates the fullness of the sound. Just think of thumping a wine glass. If it’s empty when you thump it, it’ll ring out. But, if you fill the same wine glass with pennies and thump it, all you’ll hear is a quick thud.

But this article isn’t about space… okay, well maybe it is, but in somewhat of a round about way. That being the case, why would spitting out our consonants give us more space when singing?

Well, there are a handful of different spaces within our body that we can open to create more space when we sing. One of these spaces is the back of the mouth and throat area.

It doesn’t take a genius to know if you close off this area, you’re going to be able to create like zero sound. But, the more you allow this space to open naturally, the more sound you’re going to produce while exerting no extra effort.

So, once again, what does that have to do with spitting out the consonants?

When we sing, it’s relatively common for the consonants to pull the tongue backward, closing off the back of the mouth and throat. This is especially true when singing R’s and L’s, but relatively common with many consonants.

One of the best ways to keep this from happening is to spit out your consonants.

When spitting out your consonants, you want to keep the tongue as comfortably forward in the mouth as possible when speaking the consonant, then, AND HERE’S THE BIG THING, release the tongue forward after speaking the consonant.

This will likely feel very weird to you at first, but once you get the hang of it, it’s no big deal. Doing this will not only effortlessly give you more volume, but the added space will likely make singing higher notes much easier on you than they were before.

While there are certainly more places in your body that you can open up to create resonance space while singing, spitting out your consonants to create more space in the back of the mouth area is probably one of the easiest to do and will yield you one of the greatest results.

So give it a try and see how much it helps. And of course, feel free to comment below with your thoughts.

Happy Singing,
Vocal Coach Ken Taylor

Well, one of the biggest “Ah-Ha!” moments that nearly all my students go through is when they start to own the idea that, “Sound is created by space.”

In truth, the sound is created by our vocal cords, but space is what creates the fullness of the sound when we’re singing. Space is what allows us to create great volume without much effort. I can better explain this with an analogy.

If you strum the strings of an un-amplified electric guitar, then it’s going to make a very soft sound. However, if you strum the strings of an acoustic guitar, then it makes a loud, rich sound. Why?

Well, the acoustic guitar has a box underneath the strings, and the soul purpose of this box is to amplify the the vibrations of the sound. The sound bounces back in forth in the box, multiplying the sound into something bigger than it was before.

The electric guitar lacks this “sound box,” so the sound it produces is merely from the strings and nothing more. The only way to make it louder is to apply more pressure on the strings by plucking them harder (until we play so hard that they break).

Our voice functions in the same way. If we open up space in our body for the sound to resonate, then our sound will get bigger and bigger without us having to exert any extra effort. But, if we rely only on the cords to create the sound, then the only way to get louder is to apply more and more pressure on them, leading quickly to vocal exhaustion or potentially even vocal damage.

So that being said, play with different ways that you can create more space in the main resonance chambers of your body. These are your chest, throat, mouth, and head. Creating the right space in these areas well grow your voice effortlessly.

Doing this is almost like having your own magical volume nob. You’ll be able to crank up the sound you produce while exerting less effort.

Play around with this idea for a while until you have your own “Ah-Ha!” moment, and discover what type of results you can get.

Best of luck to all of my apprentices out there!

~ Vocal Coach Ken Taylor

I spent most of today in a Nashville recording studio acting as moral support for my buddy Lee while he cuts his first EP.

Lee is a country music singer, but saying he sings country is reckless. Country is too vague of a term. Lee is a pretty-and-gritty, bringing back the honkey tonk type of country singer… the type that comes fully equipped with a very active steal guitar.

When Lee was describing what he liked to the session players, the word twang came up. One of the gentlemen responded, “If you like twang, we’ll twang you to death!”

But here’s the deal… you couldn’t twang Lee to death. You could tie that boy up and twang relentlessly, but try as you may, he’d just enjoy it.

So why would I spend so much time describing his sound to you? Well, to illustrate my point. Lee has a niche. He knows what he wants and it’s different than anything else out there right now.

If you’re an artist trying to break through, you need a niche. What makes you different from all of the other singers out there? What genre do you sing? Within that genre, how are you different? What’s your signature sound?

Defining your niche within a genre can be a tricky process. With Lee, he focuses on a pretty-gritty voice, and the sound behind him is more honkey tonk 90s country. This creates something that’s vaguely familiar from the past, but there’s nothing like it on the radio now a days, and to me and many in the industry, that’s what makes it work.

What’s your niche? How do you stick out? Once you’ve figured this out, you will have taken a huge step in the direction of setting your path as an artist.

~ Vocal Coach Ken Taylor

Unfortunately for us singers, our instrument is ever changing and can be negatively altered by outside sources. We literally can have a different sound from one day to the next due to different vocal circumstances. That being said, below I’m including a list of what not to do to help you stay in the best vocal health possible.

1. Sleep Deprivation = Bad Singing

I learned this the hard way. Freshman year of college I hardly ever got 8 hours of sleep… honestly, I was probably averaging 5 to 6hr/night. I also didn’t progress at all vocally my freshman year. My lack of sleep not only led to a lack of focus, but also swollen vocal cords that made my voice feel very heavy.

The following year I forced myself to get 8 hours of sleep every night, regardless of petty things such as homework (;p). This made all the difference in the world for my voice, helping put me in the best position where I could continue to grow. The moral of the story - get your 8 hours of sleep each night.

2. Screaming is our #1 Vocal Enemy

No, I’m not picking on the rocker’s reading here. There’s actually a legitimate way to produce that epic growling sound you’re looking for (though probably less than 0.1% of all vocal teachers could help you get there). No, what I’m actually referring to is over using your voice.

Lets face it, we all over use our voices sometimes. Whether it’s cheering at a high school basketball game or a college football game, talking over a band at a bar, screaming at a sibling, or maybe yelling at the dog when it’s done it’s business inside. Whatever your reason, if you scream enough you’re singing voice is going to have some major issues.

Now, I can give you tons of advice as to what to do instead of over using your voice, but in the interest of time I’ll give the you simplest answer I possibly can. Don’t Do It!

3. Don’t Sleep with Your Fan Blowing on You

I’ve known people who can get away with this one, but whenever I sleep with a fan blowing on me I always wake up with a scratchiness in my voice that lasts most of the day. If you do this and you consistently have issues with your voice, try turning off the fan and sleeping with less covers.

4. Caffeine and Alcohol Cause Dehydration & Kills the Voice.

Yes, I love Dr.Pepper. And honestly, I drink it way more than I should. This is bad because too much caffeine and/or alcohol can dehydrate the voice, causing your folds to feel very dry and scratchy. It’s not a fun feeling, nor does it make relaxing while you sing easy.

That being said, I will not tell you to stop drinking caffeine or alcohol, but what I will suggest is that you get in the habit of drinking water regularly. I’d suggest no less than one glass of water per other beverage you drink. If you do this, you’ll at least help balance the hydration issue making it less likely for you to get dehydrated cords.

5. Don’t Have Allergies :p

Don’t you wish it were that easy?! Well, of course the reality is that many of us do have allergies and it’s a real issue that we deal with on a seasonal basis. To fix this, many will take allergy medication (aka dehydrators) and others will battle this inconvenience with sheer will power.

While I don’t have a solution for allergies, I will say that water does tend to help those who are suffering from them, whether you’re on medication or not. If you don’t like water, try adding small amounts of flavor to it like lemon or a powdered mix that’ll help make it more palatable.

Now, I’m not a vocal Nazi, nor do I believe that you must sing one particular way in order to be considered a “singer,” but I do know that most people, even professional singers, sing with more tension than needed.

So the logical question for you to ask me now is,

“Why would anybody knowingly make singing harder than it needs to be?“

My response is simply one word:  Habit.

Most singers don’t pay attention to their singing, they just keep doing what they’ve always done assuming everything is okay. This is alright if you’re planning on singing a song or two and calling it quits, but what about when you have to start singing multiple sets? Then you start recognizing that little bit of tension, because the more you sing the more that once little, almost unrecognizable amount of tension grows into something much greater.

But don’t get down… we are all guilty of this occasionally (myself included). But the only way we will get past this habit is through awareness. So, your exercise for today is to sing the chorus of your favorite song. Then, speak it and see if it feels the same.

Now sing something a little bit more challenging… then speak it. Did speaking it feel better, worse, or the same? If speaking it felt better, speak that section of the song again this time being sure to observe just how relaxed it feels. Then, speak the song on pitch slowly bringing it back to full out singing. You’ll be surprised how much this simple exercise can help you identify and correct tensions that you might not have even been aware of previously.

As a side note, if you still have problems getting your song back to a relaxed speech level, drop the words all together and repeat simple sounds like Bye, or No, or Guh, or Mum in place of the words. By repeating the same sound, you simplify the vocal process even more allowing you to get rid of stubborn tensions. Once you can get the feel of it simplified, you’re better able to balance the sound on the actual words.

I hope this little online singing tip helps. Thanks for reading and as always, Happy Singing!

Rid Yourself of the 2 Most Common Forms of Vocal Tension

If most singers were honest, they’d readily admit that they try to mimic the sound of the artists who did the song before them. While this can be an effective method of exploring your voice, it usually ends in us trying to manipulate things around to create a sound that isn’t our own. Being a good singer isn’t about creating a cool sound by whatever means necessary, it’s about relaxing enough that you can produce a great sound as effortlessly as possible. Put simply, if you feel tension in the voice when you’re singing, be it in the throat, neck, tongue, or anywhere else, you’re getting in the way of producing your best possible sound. Put even more simply, singing be as relaxed as speaking.

There are two main causes of tension in the voice. One of the causes of tension in the singing voice stems from allowing the larynx to move upward or downward while singing. This throws off the whole vocal mechanism and results in the closing off of your sound passage, resulting in a thin, pushed tone. The second major cause of tension in the voice is the tongue. Many people don’t realize it, but the higher they sing the more they press their tongue, be it downward or backward. This only gets in the way of good vocal production as it closes off air passages and creates tension that ends up spreading throughout the whole vocal system. Let’s look at these a little bit more closely.

Learn to Sing Freely with a Stable Larynx
What can we do to prevent unneeded movement in the larynx? Basically, I find that most larynx tension stems from pressure in the voice pushing the voice higher or pressing it lower. Most often than not, these unwanted movements are performed by what I like to call swallowing muscles. These of course are muscles utilized for swallowing and should not be used at all for singing. Singing should be as easy as speech. So, if you’re having problems with the larynx moving, try speaking the words first normally, then on pitch. They should feel identical. You can also make yourself aware of any unwanted movements by lightly placing your hand on your larynx while singing. If you feel a switch in the larynx placement, tell yourself to relax and speak the sound. You’d be surprised how effective this can be.

Learn to Sing Freely with a Relaxed Tongue
As I’ve mentioned before, I believe the tongue accounts for between 65% and 85% of all vocal tensions. Whether your tongue is pulling back while singing or it’s pressing downward, the result is an uncomfortable singing voice with a drastically limited range that tires easily. The easy solution to most tongue problems is relaxing the tongue to the front of the mouth. And don’t just allow the front of the tongue to go there, but feel the back of the tongue moving forward as well as this will give you more space in the back of the mouth and throat for relaxation and resonance. I usually try and keep my tongue resting on the bottom of my front lip (especially when singing really high).

As always, if you have any questions or are interested in voice lessons and are living in or visiting the Memphis area, feel free to click here for information on Voice Lessons Memphis.

Thanks for reading and Happy Singing!

Thanks and I hope you enjoy this blog!