Sarah McBRADY
Country & Christian Singer I Actress I Vocal Coach
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
VOICE BUILDING METHOD
The Voice Building Method
This vocal technique was developed in California and is a precise, consistent, and uniform isokinetic exercise routine that helps you develop your voice muscles.
The Voice Strengthening Method is a step-by-step step method for building power, resonance, range, control, and endurance into both the speaking and the singing voice. Noticeable results are typically heard within ten vocal sessions.
Breathing Technique
Breath Support is crucial for both speaking and singing. Every Vocal Lesson begins with a few breathing exercises that prepare you for vocalizing, singing your favourite in songs, delivering that speech etc.
Back of the Throat Position
All Voice Building vowels are produced in the back of your throat. In fact, you should vocalize as though the back of your throat was actually your mouth! The more you practice, the easier it will be to make the sounds come from the back of your throat.
Never try to get a ''good'' vowel sound of tone by sacrificing your back of the throat position. Don't worry if you are struggling to vocalize from the back of the throat at first. Eventually your voice muscles will adjust and will help you to produce your vowels in the right position comfortably.
Practice makes perfect!
Becoming a Great Singer
Anyone can develop a remarkable instrument. However, the quality of your voice depends on your ability to use it musically and this is why it is very important to practice singing on a regular basis.
It is really unfortunate that underdeveloped or unhealthy voice muscles prevent many people who otherwise would become outstanding singers from ever getting the voice they wish they had. Fortunately, once you start strengthening your voice muscles with the right Vocal Method, you can become the vocal athlete that you've always wanted to be, sing all your favourite songs without straining and singing excellence can be achieved.
Singing as much as possible, whether in the shower or while driving your car, is always a terrific way to improve your singing and, of course, it is super fun too!!
Larynx
The larynx or voice box houses and protects your vocal cords. The vocal cords are responsible for producing the initial vocal sounds when you speak or sing. Your larynx should drop slightly during vocalizing (but not necessarily during singing).
As you train your voice, your larynx will naturally begin assuming a lower position in your throat. This is an important visual sign that you're doing your exercises correctly.
Your larynx won't stay lowered immediately, but it's a goal you should aim for. You should do your exercises as though you were yawning. Your larynx may rise temporarily when you first begin training your voice in this manner, if that happens, don't be concerned, as you keep exercising, it will gradually assume a lower position.
Please note that your larynx should not remain low all the time during actual singing, but should float effortlessly up and down in your throat, depending on the quality and quantity of the vocal sounds you're producing.
The Male Falsetto Voice
The falsetto voice is not directly exercised in this Method; it develops gradually as a male singer develops his natural voice. Please take special note that it is very dangerous to exercise the falsetto voice directly (and to sing a great deal in the falsetto voice) because doing so could lead to voice disorders like vocal nodules.
Open Throat
The open throat results from vocalizing properly in the yawn position. As your vocal cords become stronger and more flexible, your throat area expands and becomes more adjustable, and as your throat muscles become stronger, your vocal cords also increase in strength and coordination.
When both your vocal cords and your throat muscles are strong and coordinated and are working together in unity, then you have achieved the open throat.
Pitch
If you have a problem singing on pitch, then start with any note that's comfortable and stop when vocalizing becomes uncomfortable. Don't worry if you have problems with singing on pitch. As your voice muscles strengthen, your ability to stay on pitch will improve dramatically.
​Reaching Those High Notes
We begin exercising your upper register as soon as your lower register becomes stable. We work on your upper register the same way we work on you lower register: By keeping your throat in the yawn position and by vocalizing from the back of the throat and down into your body.
Resonance
The tonal quality of your voice, also called resonance, is created by your throat muscles during both singing and speaking. Strengthening your voice, with isokinetic exercises will help you create beautiful resonance in your voice.
Registers
A register is a series of notes that you sing without modifying your vocal mechanism in any significant way. When singing, singers utilize a variety of registers and during our lessons will gradually develop all registers.
We start with the lower register, because it is the foundation of the voice development process. You will automatically develop the upper register as we begin focusing on the lower register, however, we will only concentrate on the upper register after you have developed the lower register to a comfortable degree.
Male non-operatic singers sing mostly in the lower register. Sometimes they will also use the falsetto register, which is not exercised directly in this method. However, the falsetto voice develop automatically by exercising the natural male registers.
Female non-operatic singers tend to use both registers with greater frequency than their male counterparts.
Results
Vocalizing thirty minutes a day will get you fast results with this Method. Even if you don't have thirty minutes, five minutes a day will still show noticeable improvement in just a few weeks. I suggest that you practice at lease three time a week, but if you can't do that, practice twice or whatever works within your busy schedule!
Of course, the amount of time required to strengthen your singing voice varies from person to person, and the pace of your improvement also depends on how much time and effort you put into practicing but generally speaking, you can expect to hear significant progress within one month.
Tongue
The tongue is an important part of your vocal instrument. It helps open your throat for resonance, vowel production, power and is essential for word articulation. The tongue is made up of many groups of muscles and the isokinetic exercises used in this Method give it a good workout. The tongue assumes different positions with each vowel and will eventually assume the right position for each vowel as you learn to produce it from the back of the throat with the correct mouth, lips and jaw positions.
Vibrato
The vibrato is a regular sound fluctuation that naturally occurs in the voice, especially in sustained tones. The vibrato adds color, character and vibrancy to the voice. Strong healthy voices possess a stable vibration or vibrato during vocalizing. The vibrato develops and is stabilized as your voice develops.
I recommend using a vocal pitch app (free to monitor your vibrato while vocalizing):
App for Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tadaoyamaoka.vocalpitchmonitor&hl=en_IE&gl=US
App for iPhone: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vocal-pitch-monitor/id842218231
Vocal Break, Passage or in Italian Passaggio
The break is a confusing concept, so we must be careful what we mean by it.
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When singers move their voices from the lower range up through the middle range to the high notes, increased stress is placed on the voice muscles. At specific points in a singer's range, the muscular stress becomes so great that the voice loses its natural and easy production. In order to maintain vocal comfort in singing, as well as retain the voice's natural musical quality, the vocal muscles need to make shifts at these points, and by so doing, vocal tension is reduced, and a singer can move into middle and high notes comfortably and musically.
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The places where these muscular shifts occur is commonly called a break or, in Italian, passaggio. The male and female voices differ strongly when they reach the places in their ranges where these shifts occur.
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- With the female voice, there is often a clicking-like sound that indicates that the shift has taken place.
The transition area for the female voice is most noticeable because the quality of the voice changes— from the lower tonality that we typically associate with her speaking voice, to one that resembles the sound of a female opera singer— high, without lower speaking voice resonance.
- With men, the voice acquires a yelling quality when they reach the area of their range where a shift needs to occur.
With the male voice, the transition area is not distinguished by such a radical tonal change, although the ah, oh, and eh, vowels sounds can take on a characteristic middle register timbre (in some instances, the voice production may sound “operatic”).
It’s also important to note that artistic judgments, or even genres of music, sometimes make it improper to make a Passaggio. In rock and pop music, for instance, a yelling-like quality is what is often expected. And it’s often the case that making a passage creates an operatic-like vocal quality, a timbre that is certainly out of place in most, if not all, of today’s commercial music.
Vocal Constriction
All new students possess varying degrees of vocal constriction. This problem occurs because the voice muscles are either weak or underdeveloped and nonessential muscles are overactive and cause interference. As a voice strengthen, vocal constriction will decrease naturally.
Vocal Quality
Your vocal quality will change from session to session. Don't be concerned if your voice cracks or makes unmusical sounds during vocalizing. This is a natural part of voice strengthening and will not occur when you speak or sing.
Vocal Rest
​The more you practice, the faster you will see results, obviously. However, please keep in mind that your singing voice also develops while you're resting. If you have never trained your voice before I recommend a least 2 days of vocal rest a week, but of course, once your voice muscles become accustomed to your new vocal routine, a day of rest between exercises should be enough.