#vocal support

For #singers, this simple ‘connection’ idea can seem impossible to achieve. But, as a sequence of ideas, it is a MUST. Tap into it, get a feel for it and a whole new level of vocal possibility is revealed.

Only 10 days after Kristine Tingley and Karen Gagnon were denied on a 5-4 vote by the Board of Education in their wrongful termination appeal, the former Nashua North field hockey coaches were in the newspaper again Sunday. This time it was on The Telegraph's KidSports page, anonymously pictured with a few dozen youngsters sandwiched between them for a recent field hockey clinic. It's a seemingly odd place to be for a couple of coaches who were dismissed from their high school duties because of alleged mistreatment of children, but it's obvious they still have the support of many in the community. To be clear, I can't definitively say whether or not Tingley and Gagnon deserved to lose their jobs. I wasn't at practice, in the locker room or in meetings. I've only been at The Telegraph since January and a few five-minute conversations over the course of the girls lacrosse season isn't enough exposure to gauge their techniques or behavior. Here's what I do know: There's at least 180 people who believe Nashua North field hockey should have opened practice Monday with Tingley and Gagnon at the helm. Vocal support, little proof equals ‘fired’

This is....A very tough question to answer.  Primarily, it will feel like there is no work going on in the throat, and all the work is happening in the core.  We don’t want to be squeezing or straining the throat in order to sing--it should feel calm, still, relaxed.  In order to get this relaxation and still have power in our voice, we’ve got to support in our core.  We should also feel no squeezing in as we sing long phrases--we want to resist that squeeze. Other than that...It’s kind of an enigmatic feeling, very difficult to describe...Followers?

I was just talking to a student about how difficult it is to describe this in words, rather than in person.  I guess the simplest way to boil it down is that we want to be doing the work in our core.  Breathing from the diaphragm is really a misnomer--we always breathe from the diaphragm.  We cannot breathe without the diaphragm.  It facilitates every breath we take by expanding and contracting.  Without it, our lungs wouldn’t function!  But anywho, we often find ourselves squeezing to get notes out, or using our throat to do all the work--we want to fight that squeeze and take all of the strain out of our throats and put all that work in our core.  Beyond that, I can’t really describe it any further without working with you personally.  It’s a pretty odd concept, and words simply can’t capture it fully!

My masterpost has a whole section on support, and this post may help as well!

That is absolutely possible!  Choir can be so invaluable for our learning, but it can instill some bad habits in our voice, one of which can be not clearly singing on the breath.  

The idea of “using the diaphragm” is actually a misnomer.  We are always using our diaphragm!  It is what makes us breathe, so if we weren’t using our diaphragm, we couldn’t breathe.  It dictates the expansion and contraction of the lungs.  But in terms of support, check out my masterpost!  I’ve got a section on vocal support!