Singing Pop After Classical Training

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Let’s See Some Tools In Action During A Live Lesson

Meet Lisa.  Lisa was classically trained and had a wonderful opera career on the big stage in Europe for 20 years.  She currently teaches classical singing, and some contemporary styles, so we focused on finding a more contemporary “pop” sound using Adele’s song “Skyfall”.

Lisa is a Mezzo soprano, so she naturally had more depth in her lower register and her chest voice has a little more weight in it. 

Watch me demonstrate some acoustic strategies, vowel adjustments and tools that helped her even out her range, keep more resistance in her mix, and find a more divergent vocal tract shape.

Lisa’s Lesson

0:55 - Lisa’s singing background

2:00 - Beginning of live lesson

3:10 - Adding a "cry" to the high notes

4:15 - Using the Pharyngeal or Twang sound

4:55 - Using a straw to even the range and balance airflow

6:05 - Describing chest voice and where you feel it

6:35 - Why talking the lyrics helps connect chest voice to the high notes

7:20 - Using the Pharyngeal to "NUH" and "NO"

10:10 - Optimizing vowels

13:45 - Final take!

14:25 - Lisa's thoughts

Tools I used with Lisa

Twang or pharyngeal 

You can find this by making witchy, bratty or nasty sound. Often times it’s used in vocalizes by using a bratty NAY.

  • Tends to be on a bit of a raised larynx or at least neutral

  • Thins out the folds

  • Thickens falsetto

  • Assists in moderate adduction to smooth out the connection

Ring

In a mezzo soprano it can be common to use an acoustic “Ring” to cut through the orchestra. This is also called “squilo” in Italian.

On a physical level the root of the tongue is pulled back slightly which narrows the opening of the space right above the glottis or vocal folds.  By making this space slightly smaller it resonates higher frequencies and can really carry the sound.

This same strategy can be used in pop, but we want to make sure it’s not too much or it can start to sound classical or manipulated.

Cry

This is just what it sounds like. You add a little cry or pout while you sing.

  • Tends to lower the larynx without imposing it and it thins the folds

  • Maintains adduction while allowing the larynx to rest

  • Thins out too much weight

  • Thickens up lighter/breathier vocal production

  • Reduce airflow and air “push” 

Straw Exercises

I used the straw to thin Lisa out at the vocal fold level and also find a more consistent vowel, so she would feel more connection between her lower and upper registers.

Would love to hear from you. Please feel free to comment if you have any questions or thoughts you’d like to share!

How to Sing More Powerful High Notes

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Every singer wants more Powerful High notes.

But, they can be really challenging if you don’t know how to skillfully execute them.

Learn more in this episode of VoiceTalk!

 

Why are high notes easier for some people?

High notes always came pretty easily to me. 😮  Powerful high notes, on the other hand, did not. 😩

Let’s look at why this was the case.

I have a naturally higher voice.

Some people have naturally shorter vocal tracts that more easily resonates higher frequencies and smaller vocal folds, which take less tension to get up to pitch.  That’s why children have higher sounding voices.

Now, that being said, I had to learn how to sing high notes with power. I had a nice classical head voice, but I wanted a more contemporary sound, one that would translate to pop and musical theatre, and that took some time and training.

I had to learn to “mix” more of my chest voice into my head voice to get more power.

Some singers naturally accept the sensations of “mix” more easily, and yet some find it more challenging. I would say for me it was the latter.

What is mix?

If we are talking about the two extremes we can go to in the voice, we have this gentle, hootie, falsetto, head voice, like a whoop, or we have this more intense sounding yell or chest voice.  

The headier, whoop voice can go really high without too much effort, but there isn’t much power or intensity.  

The yell voice has intensity, but on it’s own, it can’t go up that high without causing a lot of strain and tension.

So we need to be in the middle of them and use a mix of both, so that we have the strength and intensity of the yell or chest voice and the flexibility of the whoop or head voice.

There are two sets of muscles that primarily control pitch


  • Thyroarytenoid (TA) - These muscles are inside the vocal folds, and they shorten and thicken vocal folds. They are primarily associated with our lower register and are dominant in the production of chest voice.

  • Cricothyroid (CT) - These muscles are outside the vocal folds, and they stretch and thin the vocal folds allowing us to go up in pitch. They are associated with our upper register and are dominant in the production of head voice.


The TA and the CT muscles don’t always want to play well together. 

Some singers (most of us) have to learn how to get them to coordinate and work together because one or the other wants to take over.

If you’re a singer who experiences that big flip in the middle of your voice where you go from a stronger sounding lower register to flipping into a lighter and weaker sounding higher register, then you know what I’m talking about here.

It’s more challenging to get a stronger more “leaned in” sound in your high notes than a more heady classical sound because you have to engage more TA muscle (the ones that shorten and thicken) to get that more intense sound.  

When you start activating more of that TA muscle, you can increase the amount of resistance to the air, and increase the closed quotient. As the vocal folds are vibrating, they are really just opening and closing really fast. So even if they are opening and closing the same amount of times per second, if you increase the closed quotient, it means they are staying closed longer than they are open, which is why you get more of that resistance to the air coming up from the lungs.

Because the TA muscle can tend to either want to either be on or off, as you start to employ more it, you will often overshoot. You end up with too much and you start to feel squeezed and all jammed up.

Do’s and don’ts:

The classical way is very helpful to begin to establish that part of our range. Rather than going for a really powerful sound, you can add a little at a time.

Do:

  • Experiment with lip bubbles, straws, and other SOVTs

  • Try exercises on more closed vowels Foo, or Boo, Whee

  • Sing songs and substitute those same closed vowels for the word.


Once you can sing higher notes in your head voice, you can slowly add more TA muscle and get more depth in the vocal folds to start to get more power.


  • Try a bratty Nay

  • Use the speaking voice:  “Hey guys!”

  • Use the concession guy’s voice “Get your hot dogs!”

  • Use “one” or “no”

  • Speak the line of the song up high in your speaking voice.

DON’T:

  • Force it. If it’s uncomfortable and you are squeezing then stop.

  • Use wide vowels like AH “father” or AE “bat” when you are going up to belt a note. Instead, narrow them by adding OU “book” to the AH “father”. And, add EH “bet” to the AE “bat”.


Have fun and let me know how it goes in the comments below or email me at annie@annielittle.com!

Want to explore your high notes and MIX voice with a skilled voice teacher?