• Registered: 2011-10-24
  • Posts: 5

Topic: Jim Gillette Vocal Power- Head voice to full voice and power

I got this program and have been doing it dilligently after reading rave reviews about it. I must say, it is very good and has helped me widen my range significantly. Now, I hit almost all the notes in the exercise without strain and switch effortlessly into head voice while maintaining that resonant tone that Jim emphasizes. Head voice was always a big problem for me even though I am a girl. This program has really helped me overcome it. What I want to ask is, even though I hit all the notes, I have a weak, head voice tone to my range (especially high notes). In other words, I hit low notes in chest voice and high notes in head voice but I need more power especially on the high notes to make them sound a little more special than a vocal exercise in a song. How do I make this tone more powerful- like a full voice? Should I continue doing the exercises and wait for more time?
I have been doing Roger Love's set your voice free with this video to help bridge the middle voice and connect the extreme voices. However, that contolled, tight and not at all airy tone is not happening to me. Middle voice itself sounds semi falsetto. Are there any exercises to help me transition from this heady tone to a more solid tone (except transcending tones and sirens)?

Thanks.

  • Registered: 2011-11-22
  • Posts: 6

Re: Jim Gillette Vocal Power- Head voice to full voice and power

Hi,
2 things, look up Roger Burnley and maybe check out his free videos as I think the placement using his method has really helped but I agree it's hard to grasp the middle voice concept .

I also found Twang and concepts in the Estill Method useful as I found that some methods I used were encouraging me to get too loud.  A great book for this would be 'Singing and the Actor' by Gillyanne Kayes.  It has some great methods of keeping you from pushing too much air etc and the 'Twang' concept is gonna help you lock into that sound that Roger Love makes because it is a very compressed almost crying type sound to get that edge to your voice that you are looking for.   

I'm gonna remove my other posts because after a couple of lessons with Thomas Appell it was pretty clear that those lessons were not dealing with my issue effectively.  You do need to be able to get your voice able to do vowels up and down the range freely though - that's a big help.

My guess is that, like me you have spent too much time pushing a lot of air.  The big thing here is that pushing more air will stop you from getting where you want to go but if you don't know how to make pharyngeal sound (twang) you'll always find it difficult to transition in a commercial tone.  Believe me, when you get into the zone the singing becomes easy and sounds like you've always wanted to sound.

Look up pharyngeal exercises but I think you'll find that the Twang chapter in the book mentioned will really help as it gives you a range of sounds to try.

  • Registered: 2012-05-01
  • Posts: 20

Re: Jim Gillette Vocal Power- Head voice to full voice and power

hi there,

I would suggest getting used to using your vocal muscle to make sound which is your tongue, then your voice will just get stronger and stronger. Start with saying the word gone, over and over like gone gone gone gone, but make sure that the g part of the word starts at the back of your tongue as far back as you can percieve. Even use your fingers on the outside of your mouth to line up with where the back of your tongue is just to help you locate the position. also if you say ggggg with the back of your tongue it should be bouncing rather easliy and then get even easier as time goes by. the rest of the word just let it flow out of your mouth with a relaxed tongue. your tongue should only tense as much as is needed to shape the word after it has started the word from the back. This technique may be hard for some at first because they may be used to speaking or singing with what i call a lazy tongue, this would mean you don't have a very powerful or full voice, and you'd probably be having problems with keeping the tone full all the way up your present range.. when you learn to control the tongue from the furthest part of the back, the part that some poor singers ignore, cause it so far away, lol!! when you learn this control and start to strengthen this area, you'll want to teach voice, that's how good you'll get. you'll be operatic, r'n'bic, soulfull or any type of voice style you choose, cause you'll know how to control the sound that comes out of your mouth, and most of all you'll be confident.. so give it a try..another word i use which is abit more of a workout for the tongue is the word good. again start at the back and let the d part explode of the tip of the tongue, lightly of course. nothing needs to be pushed, say the word, over and over until you start feeling the resonance building and start going up and down in pitch and feel the freedom. what ever you do don't worry about breathing, you've been doing that since you were born, and it's not as important as proper vocal attack..

god bless voice doctor

God Bless Voicedoctor
  • Registered: 2012-05-13
  • Posts: 1

Re: Jim Gillette Vocal Power- Head voice to full voice and power

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