Episode 233
Unlocking Vocal Potential: Transforming Your Speaking Skills
The sole focus of our discussion is centered on the intricacies of vocal articulation and the critical role of the tongue in the production of sound. We delve into the mechanics of speech, highlighting the necessity for proper utilization of all four articulators—namely the tongue, jaw, lips, and cheeks—to achieve a more resonant and controlled vocal performance. Throughout the discourse, I emphasize that many individuals possess the innate ability to sing; however, excessive tension, particularly within the tongue, can significantly impede vocal flexibility and expression. We explore the psychological factors that contribute to vocal habits, recognizing that a shift in technique can yield immediate improvements in vocal quality. Ultimately, our objective is to empower artists to harness their voices effectively, fostering a sustainable approach to vocal health and performance.
Takeaways:
- Articulation is crucial for effective communication, and understanding the four articulators can significantly enhance one's speech.
- Muscular dysphonia, characterized by excessive tongue tension, can obstruct vocal performance and should be addressed for optimal vocal health.
- The coordination of vocal cords is essential, and tension in the face and tongue can hinder pitch variation, making relaxation imperative.
- Immediate results in vocal training are achievable, reflecting a strong coaching philosophy focused on facilitating artists' goals.
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Shawn Mendez
- Aaron Lowe
- Creed
- Cher
- Christina Aguilera
- Stevie Wonder
- Bruno Mars
- Chaka Khan
- Bryan Adams
- Scott Hellman
- Roy Woods
Transcript
Do you have any quick tips that you can give people like myself just as far as things to think about when speaking and how to kind of break past that little ring?
Speaker B:So much is going on on the inside, right.
Speaker B:To create this.
Speaker B:So much that we have no control over, really.
Speaker B:But in your case, I'm going to tell you, Anthony, that there are four articulators and you're right now only using one, which is the tongue.
Speaker B:You literally are talking like this again.
Speaker B:So your jaw is tight.
Speaker B:You are not using your lips.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:But what is making the words is your tongue.
Speaker B:So your tongue is attached to your larynx.
Speaker B:I'm going to speak normally.
Speaker B:We have four articulators.
Speaker B:Our cheeks.
Speaker B:When I was talking about Shawn Mendez, he uses his cheeks a lot.
Speaker B:It causes a lot of tension and as a result, you know that he has a professional ear, nose and throat?
Speaker B:No, he's a speech pathologist.
Speaker B:His name is Aaron Lowe.
Speaker B:And Aaron actually massages his larynx after the gig.
Speaker B:Do you know that every show goes on.
Speaker C:I thought he massage a larynx.
Speaker C:Oh, on the outside.
Speaker C:I thought he like goes in there.
Speaker B:Although I have had people put on gloves and you can massage your cheek, the inside of your mouth, your jaw.
Speaker B:I've had it all done pretty crazy.
Speaker B:But no, you go from the inside and out.
Speaker B:But because he's using his cheeks to talk so much, he kind of is smiling all the time.
Speaker B:It's too up.
Speaker B:It pulls the larynx up.
Speaker B:The jaw is another one.
Speaker B:You don't use your jaw.
Speaker B:So can you drop your jaw?
Speaker A:Drop my jaw.
Speaker B:Huh?
Speaker B:See how your tongue pulls right back?
Speaker B:See how your tongue was pulled right back?
Speaker B:Can you keep it?
Speaker C:I wish.
Speaker C:The podcast.
Speaker B:Drop your jaw.
Speaker B:Drop your jaw.
Speaker B:Drop your jaw.
Speaker B:It will be very difficult for you to do this now.
Speaker B:Do you see how there's an indent to your tongue there?
Speaker A:Uh huh.
Speaker A:I saw that.
Speaker B:Yep.
Speaker B:So your tongue, we call it muscular dysphonia.
Speaker B:It means that the tongue is too tight.
Speaker B:And you see how you hardly could drop your jaw.
Speaker B:So we, you and I, if we were working, I wouldn't even start with singing.
Speaker B:We have to eliminate that first and start building in core voice because your vocal cords will not coordinate if the tongue is too tight.
Speaker B:The tongue is designed to bring food and liquid to your esophagus.
Speaker B:And so if we're using it too much in speech, think about with arms wide open.
Speaker B:Creed.
Speaker B:I got you, babe.
Speaker B:You know, like Cher.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:The tongue is way back.
Speaker B:Christina Aguilera.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:Is that Darker sound because the tongue pulls back.
Speaker B:It dulls the pitch.
Speaker B:It dulls the tone.
Speaker B:So I'm going to give you an example.
Speaker B:Do you believe in love after love?
Speaker B:Very sad.
Speaker B:Do you believe in life after love?
Speaker C:Forward.
Speaker B:Think about Stevie Wonder.
Speaker B:That sound is forward because his tongue is flat.
Speaker B:Bruno Mars, flat tongue.
Speaker B:Chaka Khan, Latang.
Speaker B:And when I was learning how to sing, I was like, I gotta figure out, you know, I wanted to sound like a lot of these singers.
Speaker B:And what are they doing?
Speaker B:What are they doing?
Speaker B:What are they doing?
Speaker B:Well, I have a very small mouth.
Speaker B:I kept thinking, you need a big mouth.
Speaker B:But then I.
Speaker B:Not the size of the mouth, it's the tongue.
Speaker B:If the tongue is flat, people seem to have a bigger range.
Speaker B:When the tongue pulls back, it could be a very cool tone.
Speaker B:Like, oh, this is a great example.
Speaker B:Wherever, whenever, we'll be together, remember?
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:I thought quite well.
Speaker B:So, you know, the top of the range is poured back.
Speaker B:And then she went forward, and then she went backwards again.
Speaker B:Then she went forward.
Speaker B:And it's a little bit of her sound.
Speaker B:So it's a little bit of the sound.
Speaker B:The same tone, the same pitch.
Speaker C:Wow.
Speaker B:Same tone, same pitch.
Speaker B:Melodyne, by the way, won't fix that because it's in tune, technically, but one sounds like it's going flat and one sounds like it's in tune.
Speaker B:So the jaw, relaxing the cheeks, using the lips and really eliminating the tongue, trying to be as.
Speaker B:Almost not using it at all.
Speaker B:We do need it for a few consonants.
Speaker B:I could dive into all of that, too.
Speaker B:It's very in depth, but.
Speaker B:And vowels.
Speaker B:But for the most part, if we can keep it behind our bottom teeth or on top of our teeth, then it's out of the way.
Speaker B:Our vocal cords are free to change pitch, but my tone stays forward.
Speaker B:I'm not going backwards and forward.
Speaker B:It would be weird if I did that.
Speaker B:If I turn it too nasal, you know, if I scrunch up my cheeks and I go too forward.
Speaker B:Well, there's lots of singing teachers who teach that, you know, and it's too bright, it's too nasal.
Speaker B:That's kind of ugly also.
Speaker B:So we want to find this natural voice that's a little bit more unified.
Speaker B:Relaxing the jaw, relaxing the cheeks, using the lips and eliminating the tongue.
Speaker C:Speaking of mouth sizes, Freddie Mercury always refused to get his teeth fixed because he thought, he swore that that was why he had that voice.
Speaker C:Do you think that's true?
Speaker C:Or do you think anybody with any mouth size could be trained to sing like that?
Speaker B:Any mouth size can be trained.
Speaker B:But I do think, and I've seen it, that people who have dental work Change their voice 1,000%.
Speaker B:And I've seen it with people, again, with tongue issues because they had a lot of braces, or jaw issues because they had braces.
Speaker B:So it told the brain, oh, this hurts, right?
Speaker B:To use my mouth and my lip kind of hurt, so I stopped using it and I.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:And my tongue stays away because maybe you have like one of those retainers with a, you know, a thing, you know, behind your teeth.
Speaker B:So it's like your tongue doesn't want to touch any of that, so it stays here and.
Speaker B:Or you don't want to use your.
Speaker B:And all you have to use your lips on those vowels.
Speaker B:A lot of people don't do that.
Speaker C:So it's a psychological thing.
Speaker C:It's not that the mouth shape and size is actually hindering, for the most part, the same.
Speaker C:Okay, I see.
Speaker B:But it could it change your voice if you stretched your jaw or.
Speaker C:So you think if Freddie Mercury had those teeth, those molars removed and then trained with you, he'd be back with the same voice.
Speaker C:Okay, cool.
Speaker B:Because ultimately it is your vocal cords ability to coordinate.
Speaker B:And then resonation does happen in your, you know, your jaw, your nasal cavities, your head.
Speaker B:So unless you're doing some kind of structural change, it shouldn't change.
Speaker B:But like you said, it's habit and it's the brain going.
Speaker B:And then it puts all this tension.
Speaker B:So as long as we can eliminate tension and strain, the vocal cords can work really, really well.
Speaker B:I often.
Speaker B:That's why I was saying that most of the people who come to me can sing already.
Speaker B:Most people have great vocal cords, but their, their head, their face, their tension, the way they're hitting notes isn't allowing that natural flow of the vocal cords to change pitch effectively.
Speaker C:I knew it.
Speaker B:The word lives in your face, right?
Speaker B:The word lives here.
Speaker B:Pitch lives here.
Speaker C:Sounds like a T shirt tone.
Speaker B:Lives here.
Speaker B:Pitch lives here.
Speaker B:So we want those two things to work together.
Speaker B:Not fighting each other.
Speaker B:Not fighting each other.
Speaker B:You know, how many singers have you seen who are, you know, you know, doing all these things with their face?
Speaker B:And some people can get away with it.
Speaker B:I always say, like, there's no rules.
Speaker B:If it works for you, great.
Speaker B:There's no rules whatever.
Speaker B:Like it were even a raspy voice, for example, what about Bryan Adams?
Speaker B:Like, one of the best raspy voices on the planet.
Speaker B:He tours 200 plus dates a year, never loses his voice.
Speaker B:I don't know how we can do that.
Speaker B:Like that's a miracle to me.
Speaker B:So is there a.
Speaker B:That's why I don't teach technically.
Speaker B:Once I started working with artists, I realized that it doesn't matter what you're doing.
Speaker B:What matters is that you can do it again and again and again and again.
Speaker B:And so whether you're in the studio and you're layering vocals, you need to know you can do that hard for two hours and get a really great vocal performance and you're not going to lose your voice or you're going to be able to go on tour, stand on a stage and deliver.
Speaker B:No matter, matter.
Speaker B:Like you said, Matt, morning, noon, or night.
Speaker B:Can I use my voice in the morning?
Speaker B:Because what if you're traveling, you're jet lagged, you know, you have to wake up and give an interview at 6 in the morning or whatever.
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker B:Whatever the circumstances are, an artist must be able to do this anytime, anywhere.
Speaker B:So how you do it is irrelevant.
Speaker B:As long as you can do it consistently.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:That's not.
Speaker B:My job is to tell you you have to do it.
Speaker B:But if Anthony, you came in like you said, and I want to sing with more riffs, I can tell you why you can't.
Speaker B:Because the sound is too tight and the tongue is too tight.
Speaker B:So then you can't get your voice to flutter or to move quickly.
Speaker B:So there are limitations.
Speaker B:So then it's about the want.
Speaker B:What does the artist want?
Speaker B:I told you earlier, my job is to only facilitate what the artist wants.
Speaker B:You're not doing my technique.
Speaker B:I'm helping you achieve your goals.
Speaker B:And that's ultimately why I think people like to work with me.
Speaker B:Because I'm not asking you to live in a box.
Speaker A:I love that.
Speaker A:Just to clarify, I.
Speaker A:I mean, I love to riff.
Speaker A:It's not on my list of goals.
Speaker A:And more concerned with just having that.
Speaker C:No, this is happening.
Speaker C:Anthony's riffing in.
Speaker C:In.
Speaker C:He has four weeks to riff and then we're recording your riffing.
Speaker C:Okay.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:That's a good no because you're going to come on to my riff class and we're going to get you.
Speaker A:Oh, I thought I was just going to work on this.
Speaker A:Okay, well, I'll riff.
Speaker A:If you got me riffing, I will be more than grateful.
Speaker A:How long does it typically take before you start to see changes?
Speaker A:I mean, it probably depends on someone's level.
Speaker B:Immediately.
Speaker B:Okay, never mind immediately.
Speaker A:Well, then I'm excited.
Speaker A:That's really exciting.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:My goal is immediate results.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Like, you know, a.
Speaker B:I charge a lot of money for my time.
Speaker B:And I want you to get something right now.
Speaker B:I don't need you to wait a month.
Speaker B:I want you to get something right now that you can.
Speaker C:Psychologists should have the same way of working.
Speaker C:Progress guarantee.
Speaker B:Here's another philosophy.
Speaker B:Progress guaranteed.
Speaker B:So I've worked with Scott Hellman.
Speaker B:I've worked with a lot of Canadian artists that have done really, really well.
Speaker B:And my.
Speaker B:It really occurred to me after working with him at the beginning of his career that if I do my job right, you don't need me anymore.
Speaker A:Wow.
Speaker B:That's really the goal.
Speaker B:If I've done my job well, you don't need me.
Speaker B:But I have relationships, I told you with many of my artists that they.
Speaker B:They return for one or two coaching, maybe if they're.
Speaker B:I just worked with Roy a couple weeks ago.
Speaker B:He's back in the studio.
Speaker B:So we were working ahead of each studio session.
Speaker B:And then I might not work with Roy woods for, you know, two years, and then maybe they come back, you know, a year later or six months later or whatever.
Speaker B:Hey, I'm working on something else.
Speaker B:Or I'm working on a performance now.
Speaker B:Let's do it.
Speaker B:So my relationship with artists is long, but not weekly.
Speaker B:I don't require that.
Speaker B:That's just not my business.
Speaker B:Again, that's someone else's coaching business.
Speaker B:But my coaching business is built on getting results, right?
