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Hi everybody, well it is that time again, a new month is coming upon us and I am writing something else about how to sing to preserve your voice. I realize that a lot that I write is very fundamental and sometimes sounds elementary, however, we all, me included, need to visit these things on occasion

Today I would like to talk about the way to attack tones, when you are singing. There are some tones that need to be attacked gently in songs. We have all sung songs where we need to attack tones in a lighter manner than usual. These tones must have just as much diaphragm support as all other tones. However, to sing these lighter tones, we must control the diaphragm even more than when we sing the louder and more dynamic tones. We must keep the diaphragm tauter in order that the air flows smoothly and on a more limited basis out over the vocal cords. Practice in front of the mirror singing softer tones, by making your diaphragm very taut so that it limits the amount of air that is exhaled. These tones do not require any sudden bursts of air like some loud high tones might use, however they do require a controlled even flow of air in order to have a pleasant sound to the listener. In this process, as you control your diaphragm, thereby controlling the amount of air exhaled for each tone sang, you will be pleasantly surprised at how beautiful your lighter tones will become.

The diaphragm control that I am talking about here, is not something that comes natural until you have trained it to do that. The diaphragm is CONTROLLED BY YOUR MIND. The diaphragm is a muscle, subject to be controlled by the thought process, just like every other muscle in the body. Therefore, in order to accomplish proper tonal attack by diaphragm control, YOU MUST THINK ABOUT IT WHILE YOU ARE SINGING, and this has to be done over and over and over until it becomes as natural to you as walking or talking etc. For some reason, as we mature physically from our childhood we all tend to not think much about our breathing, it seems to come so natural. Because of this, we tend to not realize that WHEN WE SING, CONTROLLED BREATHING IS OF THE UTMOST IMPORTANCE. That is why I constantly talk about (harp on) breathing technique.

Well I kinda got off of the trail there for a minute. Getting back to my subject. The next kind of tonal attack that I would like to mention is for the tones that need to be in a medium volume and vocal range. In this kind of tonal attack we will need to increase the air supply going over the vocal cords a little more than for the lighter tones. This kind of tonal attack requires the same kind of diaphragm resistance as the low and loud attacks. However, the air that is exhaled in this kind of attack is an amount somewhere between the amount that is exhaled for the lower volume tones and the amount exhaled for the much louder tones. It is easy to see a pattern unfolding here. All of this is controlled by the diaphragm and it’s tautness, and the singer’s mental control of the diaphragm. Since there are , at times, many different levels of tonal attack just in one phrase of a song, until you have trained your diaphragm to operate habitually you must continue to think about your air supply and it’s control almost during each word. How do you do that? If you seem to be having a hard time getting the proper breathe control on any given song, then rehearse the song phrase by phrase, or if necessary word by word, working only on your breathing . It is best to do this kind of rehearsal alone, in front of a mirror. Why in front of a mirror? You need to watch how you are doing the breathing , pronunciation and enunciation of the words. When you get it correct, and it is easy to sing, then do that over and over in front of the mirror watching and thinking about how you are standing, how you are holding your head, and how you are breathing, most of all think about what sensations are going through your body while you are doing the phrase or word correctly. Then make a mental picture in your mind of all these things , and try to replicate these feelings while you are singing in front of an audience. The idea is to learn the right way to reproduce it on stage when you don’t have a mirror to watch yourself in.

The last tonal attack that I want to mention today is the power attack, usually used for most parts above bass in gospel quartet music. This attack, is used when you are trying to project your voice to a live audience. This attack is used more by professional singers. It has power, but that power must be controlled, in order for this attack to be effective. This attack is strongly controlled by the diaphragm as I have talked about on the other two attacks for tones. This attack is most effective when placed in the frontal part of the mask, because it brings about more volume, clarity of tone and words. That is why it is used so much in Southern Gospel Music. Basically , the power attack to tones, with the placement that I have mentioned, if done by all voices in a group, will cause them to blend better in their harmonies. I believe that this is the reason that families singing together tend to blend better , because many times their physical attributes such as breathing, vocal cords, resonation etc. are much alike, causing their tone placements to be much alike. Next month I will start talking about tone placements. Therefore when families sing with the power attack, which literally means using more controlled air to make a tone, they end up blending very well. Many groups are made up of people that are not from the same family. That is why we must work on our breathing , tonal attack and placement of tone in the various resonators, in order to make our voices blend into great harmony. It seems to me that the longer four people work together the better they are able to blend their voices as a group. Somehow, we tend to take on each others intonations the longer we sing together. More on this next month.

Remember Psalm 118:6 The Lord is on my side. He is on your side too. Let him use you to minister for him.

In Christian Love
Bill Baize

Reader Comments

Again, Bill, you have given great advice.

Deon Unthank
SoGospelNews.com
My Blog

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Bill, Another fine article on the very basics of good singing

God Bless,

Larry Eyre

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