Day 8: Tension Release Strategies

From: 14-Day Range Extension Course With Camille
by Camille van Niekerk
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Description:

Now that we’re halfway in, we have a ton of exercises that can help us condition our voice over time. Similarly to weight training at the gym, doing this too quickly or in huge bursts or can actually backfire and your voice will contract inwards to recover, kind of like a sports related injury. We need the awareness to determine when our voice is in recovery mode and when it's ready to work on more range extension conditioning. If you’re feeling sore or fatigued; if clear tone is difficult to achieve; if you’re getting repeatedly stuck and transitions aren’t as smooth as usual: take that cue from your voice to rest and recover. 

Exercise 1: Breath Release Inhale to Wah  5-1

For our first exercise we are going to focus on opening and relaxing our breath. It's very common for singers to develop a habit where they try to pull in air from their throat. Another habit is taking a heroic breath before a high note like this. “Overbreathing” usually backfires and makes us too tense to get a deep and connected breath.

Here's an exercise designed to help us release and find our natural breath again. With three pulses push out all of your air. Think of pushing your belly button inward towards your lower back. Then let go of your abdomen and allow your body to naturally drop and expand with air. Then sing this simple pattern. 

Exercise 2: Breath Release exhale Zah 1232 1232 12345–1 sigh fall off

Great! Let’s keep going with this concept of breath release. For this one we are going to practice our ability to release our vocal support at the end of a phrase, letting our body refresh our breath more naturally between phrases.

It's very common for singers to over engage and hold muscles in the lower body, including the upper abs, intercostals, and lower back. Squeezing these areas excessively can make you feel like you can’t take a deep breath and it can make your voice more cumbersome and forceful. This excessive holding leads to energetic fatigue while singing and lightheadedness. 

Try this exercise. I'm singing a nice long phrase that moves up and down and then at the end practicing just letting go of my voice and allowing it to completely decompress. Let’s try it as an exercise and notice how it takes more mental effort to stay relaxed as we sing higher and higher in our range.

Exercise 3: Jaw Release Wee Yah 1-3,2-4,3-5,4,2 1 (alternate wee yah without chewing jaw)

Now let's work on tension in the head, face and neck. One of the biggest places we hold tension here is with our jaw. Finding proper release in the jaw can be hugely transformative for your voice and allow you to access new notes on both sides of your range. For this exercise we are going to use our hands to feel what our jaw is doing a little more. 

Lightly rest your fingertips on your jaw and cheeks, and feel how your chin naturally drops down and back when you inhale. For this exercise, we’ll aim to keep the jaw soft and let the tongue do the articulation. 

It’s normal to feel the jaw move a little bit. You don’t need to insist that it stay completely rigid. But if your jaw tends to tense up, exercises that unpair jaw movement from pitch changes can be very helpful. Give it a try!

Exercise 4: Tongue Release 12345-65432-1 ZEH-OH-Wah

The last tension spot we will cover today is an often hidden and under-addressed structure: the tongue! Our tongue does a lot as we sing and it has a tendency to get rigid as well. This can be a major block to our resonance if it's over active. You can sometimes feel tension under your chin right here. If it's hard and rigid, then it’s overactive and pressing too much. 

An overactive tongue will often make us sound froggy or too nasal and lead to other forms of head and neck tension. One strange trick is to plug your nose as this helps us feel when we are using too much nasal resonance. 

Another trick is to stick your tongue out a bit and try singing with it a little more forward. Let’s try both of these tricks with our next exercise. Moving from a bright to a dark vowel is often when the tongue tries to curl and starts accumulating excess tension. Stick your tongue out, plug your nose and then give it a shot. 

Good work! Alternating between the exercises we did earlier this week and these ones will ensure that you are properly conditioning AND stretching your voice for optimal health and efficiency. Tension release like this is also a great way to prepare for Part 2 where we start putting everything together and working on our mixed voice technique. I’ll see you there! 

Audio:

Range Extension Course Day 8A
Range Extension Course Day 8B
Range Extension Course Day 8C
Range Extension Course Day 8D

Lessons:

Instructor: Camille van Niekerk

Camille van Niekerk is a singer, writer and vocal instructor in Southern California. Camille began studying voice and performing in musicals at age seven. In 2010, Camille began working towards her BA in Music Education at Azusa Pacific University. She then earned her teaching credential from San Diego State University and taught classroom choral and instrumental music. Shortly after moving to LA county, Camille began her private vocal studio, providing vocal coaching, ear training, and recording for students of all ages. She is constantly refining her skills and methods for greater versatility and effectiveness. When she is not teaching, Camille enjoys singing with the L.A. Choral Lab and Ensoma Creative. She lives in San Diego with her husband and loves going to the beach, practicing yoga, reading, and cooking.