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Are you one of the many singers that has struggled to sing higher notes without squeezing on your vocal cords or applying excessive force to your voice? Yes, there is a better way to safely increase your vocal range without blowing out your vocal cords! Read on to find out more.

First, we need to understand where the mechanism for creating pitch and changing vocal registers is located within your body. The answer is of course that everything related to producing sound (phonating) is housed in your larynx.

The larynx is also more commonly referred to as the “Adam’s apple” or the “voice box”, which is more prominent on men. It is located near the top of our airway (windpipe) and is essential for our breathing, vocalizing (phonating), as well as ensuring food doesn’t get stuck in the trachea and cause choking. Positioned just in front of the esophagus, the vocal folds are located here, making this organ absolutely vital for phonation (making speech sounds). It visibly moves up and down when people swallow. Most women’s larynxes are smaller than men’s, which is why they don’t protrude as much (or at all).

🤓 Nerdy fact: Did you know that women’s vocal cords and their larynx are generally smaller than their male counterparts?

Inside the voice box are the “true” vocal cords, as well as the false cords and a whole host of micro muscle groups that produce coordinated efforts to thin down the vocal cords and create higher pitches and, conversely, shorten and thicken up the vocal cords to produce lower pitches. This is what your vocal cords look like up close!

The larynx is made up of the thyroid cartilage, which sits on top, and the cricoid cartilage, which sits on the bottom. When we are singing predominantly in “chest” voice, from our lowest chest voice note until we start to feel the beginning of a strained sensation as we sing higher, we are predominantly relying on the cricoid cartilage, tendons and ligaments to anchor our chest voice so that it doesn’t prematurely jump registers (also known as a “vocal break”).

When our chest voice starts to feel heavier and we are beginning to experience resistance in the voice, the voice becomes reluctant to be able to carry that bigger chest voice higher in our range. We want to learn how to create the right kind of space and freedom in our larynx so that the cricoid cartilage is able to begin to tilt forward and this is our natural vocal anatomy design to thin down and lengthen out the cords so that we can not only sing higher, but also change the registry in our voice (remove the uncomfortable weight from our voice) and achieve the equivalent of a lighter, stronger mixed voice. This coordination that we are now entering is referred to in classical singing as “the passaggio”.

The passaggio is a narrow passageway where we reduce the girth or width of our chest voice to allow the thyroid cartilage to tilt and thin down the vocal cords, creating a lighter register which is able to combine chest voice and head voice together and this sounds like one long, connected register in the voice (in an upcoming post, we’ll talk about this exciting register, called middle voice).

Stay tuned for part 2, where I explain how to get your voice in and out of passaggio!

I fell in love with music at an early age.

I was very lucky in our house. My mother had the radio playing constantly in the kitchen. I was exposed to all kinds of artists from country singers, John Denver, through to Neil Diamond, etc. I would have been about 13 years old when I bought an album called ‘Masters of Metal’. It was a compilation album packed with loads of amazing artists. Bands like Aerosmith, Krokus, Judas Priest and many others.

The moment that I heard my first metal screams, I was fascinated with the world of grit, gravel and raspy vocals. I vowed right then and there to understand how these singers were able to produce these sounds, and that I would learn how to produce them for myself (safely), within my own vocal style.

Fast forward a few years down the track and all of a sudden we had death metal and extreme low metal screams became the holy grail sounds to aspire to for singers all around the world.

The long and the short of it is that my brain struggled to understand what my ears were hearing and after many, many, many failed attempts at producing anything like a gritty, gravelly scream, I was more confused and more perplexed than when I started. Clearly I was missing some critical pieces of the puzzle in terms of producing the right vocal and breathing co-ordinations to create these aggressive sounds.

Where do these sounds really come from? Well, the answer is that grit and gravel is largely produced by a combination of vibrations of the false vocal folds (sometimes called false cords). When you apply the correct form of diaphragmatic support you create a stream of air energy that rises steadily upward and will vibrate soft tissues in your throat. If your placement is correct, these vibrations will even travel right up into your uvula (at the back of your throat) and vibrate soft tissues above the uvula as well.

The false vocal folds are the folds that we don’t use directly for every day speech. They are able to safely hold back more air than our true vocal folds, which are the ones that we use for everyday speech (and clean singing!).

The purpose of this blog post is not to get into the technical anatomy of the false folds, as that can more easily be shown in videos and there is a wealth of great information out there on sites like YouTube. The purpose of this post is to provide some assistance to the singers that are struggling to produce convincing false cord screams and to help those singers who are on their way to making these sounds, but are blowing out their voice because they are using incorrect technique.

The good news is that both guys and girls both have false vocal folds!

The most important thing to know is that safely screaming is not done by putting pressure on your true vocal folds. If you do this, your vocal cords will overheat, swell up and you will then lose your voice.

Extreme screaming tip number 1: Good screaming requires an understanding of good singer’s breathing and good diaphragmatic support. It takes a surprisingly small amount of air to create your false cord screams and to get the screams underway. The power comes from being able to engage good diaphragmatic singer’s breathing and understanding how to use good diaphragmatic support (muscles that provide healthy leverage that allows you to project your sounds further.). The better your support, the louder your screams will be.

Extreme screaming tip number 2: In order to be able to get these screams going, you must be able to safely locate your false vocal folds and to be able to get them to vibrate freely. The easiest way to do this is to visualise your vocal cords being open. So open in fact, that you can pass a fist through your vocal cords. This visualisation will effectively send the clearest message to your brain that the sounds that you are about to make require relaxed vocal cords. Only when you relax your vocal cords completely, do your false folds start to vibrate and take the lead in creating the right sounds.

When you’re learning to scream, it is normal to feel a little bit of dryness in your throat. That is because vibration of the false cords can sometimes cause unwanted muscle contractions in and around the back of your throat which will leave your voice feeling a bit drier than usual. Over time, you’ll learn how to activate your false folds correctly while maintaining a relaxed airway and throat. What is not normal is any amount of pain. If you experience any of the following symptoms immediately after your screaming attempts, then you are applying far too much pressure and tension in your throat and larynx and you should stop practicing immediately for the day, and only resume practicing when your voice feels like it’s back to normal. Depending on your age and how rough you’ve been on your voice, this could take 1-5 days, or sometimes longer if you’re a mature singer/screamer.

• Extreme dryness that creates the urge to drink something
• Tickles, itches, pain or soreness
• The feeling of strain or uncomfortable tension
• Sharp needle-like pain, coughing or tears in your eyes

Below is a progress video with Dan, one of my awesome vocal coaching students demonstrating the technique. If this is something that you’re interested in learning yourself, get in touch and let’s chat about a customised coaching programme for you.

Please note; there are other types of metal screams called ‘fry’ screams that require a more advanced combination of false cord and true cord co-ordinations. When you’re learning how to scream, I highly recommend starting with the false cord scream first and master the fundamentals of that technique before you attempt to move onto fry screams.

Here’s another video with Gilles demonstrating the same technique. You can read more about what Gilles things of Rapid Vocal Results here.

In this RVR Singers Blog, I want to share some of the positive learning outcomes I have observed through working with my singers that have diagnosed, or previously undiagnosed learning challenges. In general people with learning disabilities are of average or above average intelligence. There often appears to be a gap between the individual’s potential and actual ability to confidently grasp the concepts required to master a new academic or physical skill.

First, let me state the obvious. Human beings are incredibly complex creatures. Our rate of processing new concepts, and our ability to learn new skills and muscle co-ordinations varies dramatically from person to person. I often have singers that come to me who experience various levels of anxiety when they find themselves in an unfamiliar position that requires them to learn new soft or hard skills, much like the skills required to learn to sing and develop their voice to its full performing potential.

The long and the short of it is that there are plenty of clients that I have met that find it hard to learn new skills using traditional learning methods. The result of disappointing learning experiences in the past can trigger increased anxiety the next time the client is confronted with a new learning opportunity. The client’s lack of ability to successfully learn new skills when employing a traditional learning method often creates a great deal of frustration and embarrassment on their part. These kinds of negative learning experiences can directly contribute to lower levels of self esteem, feeding the fear that the person is a slow or poor learner, which often isn’t necessarily true.

This is not a positive belief system for anyone to operate from successfully if they want to enjoy a happy life and maintain a positive outlook for their future.

The truth is that their brain may be wired slightly differently compared to the average person that thrives off traditional learning methods. That’s where the RVR ‘Nu Learning’ system can really make a difference.

Everyone’s brain is unique. Some people’s brains are naturally wired to rapidly learn the skills to play music at a virtuoso level with little or no formal training. Some can reproduce amazing works of art simply by converting what they see to brush strokes on the page – et voila! they have created an epic master piece. Most people seem to have brains that can happily learn some basic academic and physical skills, yet find it difficult to master advanced fine motor skills that some other people take for granted.

My point is simple. It’s not right to judge someone’s learning potential based on an outdated or draconian learning method prescribed to them. If a student is experiencing poor learning results, we shouldn’t start with blaming the student for their lack of ability to learn. We should be taking a second look at the learning methodology that is being prescribed and we should make sure that the learning methodology is effective in making the student enthusiastic about learning new skills.

Yes, many singing teachers and vocal coaches are guilty of using outdated learning methods from the turn of the century. If it sounds draconian and the learning method fails to capture a student’s imagination, then the learning method is ineffective and will deliver dissatisfactory results. This is why the RVR ‘Nu Learning’ system is about tailoring a customised coaching programme to your brain’s preferred way of learning.

I have been coaching for over twenty years and have worked with people from all different areas of society, all different ages and from all different types of backgrounds. I have successfully coached people that wanted to learn to sing and/or improve their public speaking skills. This includes people who have Asperger’s Syndrome, ADD, ADHD, as well as students suffering from brain injuries brought on through head trauma, heart attacks and strokes etc. In short, I have worked successfully with clients with a varied assortment of learning challenges and have been able to create successful learning outcomes for all of the above.

So what’s my secret to produce Rapid Learning Results? The key components to all successful learning outcomes are:

• DESIRE. You must genuinely be excited to learn a new soft or hard skill.
• METHOD. Every person’s brain has their own preferred way of learning, which is based on how each brain is individually wired to experience pleasure and excitement through learning.
• PERSEVERANCE. Once we’ve jointly identified your brain’s preferred way of learning, we stay in that learning mode as often as we can during your coaching sessions.

In summary, if you find that you experience difficulty when trying to confidently learn and retain new skills, knowledge or concepts, don’t blame your brain. Instead, try a more customised ‘Nu Learning’ system.

Contact me now to discuss how a customised RVR ‘Nu Learning’ system can benefit you.

Introducing the RVR Mind Over Matter Programme

Are you serious about rapidly removing all physical and psychological barriers that can impact on your ability to reach your maximum potential?

The simplest definition of Hypnotherapy is: The combination of a state of trance (i.e. Hypnosis) with therapeutic suggestions which are designed to make changes to the thoughts, words and actions of a person. Usually the changes will be in behaviors, but may also be in attitudes and beliefs.

When your conscious mind believes one thing and your unconscious mind believes something completely different, there is a powerful disconnect that is created in your belief system which will seriously sabotage your efforts to develop new skill sets and achieve your most meaningful goals.

This programme uses guided, custom-designed hypnotic suggestions that are aimed at your subconscious brain. These hypnotic suggestions rapidly help you break old, unhealthy performance habits by forming powerful new neural pathways in the brain that support and encourage higher levels of performance and achievement.

This programme is a “must have” to help you avoid the pitfalls of self-sabotage and is ideal for any musician that is looking to supercharge their natural performance abilities from the inside out. It’s perfect for anyone who lacks the belief in themselves and wants to feel better and more confident about taking the big, courageous steps they need to achieve their career and performance goals.

Clients also use this programme to achieve successful results when they need to get over stagefright or have trouble remembering lyrics.

Your concious mind, your subconcious mind and your body must all be in alignment and share one clear vision of purpose. This will help you to rapidly achieve higher levels of performance and supercharge your motivation and drive to achieve your most exciting career goals.

Book this coaching package