5 Secrets to Unlock Your Voice, Decrease Strain and Increase Power

This post helps you get started, but it’s only the beginning. What would it feel like to finally reach your vocal potential and feel an actual transformation in your voice? In my FREE 4-Day Better Voice Challenge you will instantly Sing Better and Sound Better. In these 4 one-hour workshop style sessions, you’ll experience a transformative shift to open up and free your voice.?You’ll walk through 8 Sequences in my Cole Vocal Method? to unlock your voice, decrease strain, anchor your sound and expand your power and resonance.?Each session builds on the other in sequence to open up your voice, restore your natural sound and increase sound with simple and effective methods.?Come join me and learn the methods Grammy winners and legends use to transform their voice and keep them performing at their peak!?Click here to get access.

5 Secrets to Unlock Your Voice, Decrease Strain and Increase Power

Nothing is more important to the singer than a voice that is free, rich, resonant and can sing on point of command during performance.?

In today’s blog I will cover my top 5 Secrets to Unlock Your Voice, Decrease Strain and Increase Power

This blog is a great outline but is just a start. You can now experience exactly how to unlock your voice in a guided workshop style setting by grabbing a free seat in my Better Voice Challenge Workshop (BVC). Inside BVC, I take you by the hand and walk you through The 8 CVM? Movement Sequences in real time together – and it’s free.?Click here to find out more and get access to the Better Voice Challenge now.

Once you roll through these 8 CVM? Release and Movement Sequences you begin to experience what it feels like when the voice is truly open and free, full of sound and power without constriction, or interference. These sequences are the key to establishing a strong, healthy, and resonant voice, free from tension and strain in a short amount of time.

I’ve written some of them out here but the full 8 sequences are inside the workshop.

Let’s dive in.?

1. Unlock Your Voice

So many times in session working with a singer, the key counterpart I’d discover to freeing their voice 90% of the time came down to technical issues that were actually constricting the voice. It’s true that vocal tension inhibits sound and production and can lead to problems over time. Too many singers struggle with tension and lack of support that they don’t realize are in their way that are completely within their control.?

The first step to unlocking your voice is to identify what muscles are over-functioning constricting the voice and interfering with healthy sound + production.?

Next we identify what muscles are under-functioning. What muscles are weak and need strengthening to stabilize the voice and provide strength and endurance to avoid strain and improve performance.

Most people are unaware of the amount of tension in these muscles. Tension in the muscles surrounding the vocal instrument constricts the voice. It steals tone and natural resonance from you and keeps you stuck singing from your throat, battling tension and continuing to push and squeeze as you sing, limiting your range and vocal sound.

Try this:

• To demonstrate how tension in the muscles surrounding voice (neck, jaw, tongue, larynx/throat) actually constrict the voice, limit the range, tighten the sound, and even cause hoarseness, breathiness and early fatigue:Put your hands around your throat and just hold them there lightly.Now sing any scale on AH.Example: Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah? 1-2-3-4-3-2-1 (C-D-E-F-E-D-C).Now squeeze your throat with your hands and sing the scale again.Did you notice a difference in the sound and feeling in the voice?Did the voice feel tighter and more constricted as you squeezed your throat? That is what tension in your neck, throat, jaw are doing to the sound.

On Day 1 of the Free Better Voice Challenge Workshop we go through the CVM? Movement Sequence 1: Vocal Yoga + Micro Stretches, and CVM? Movement Sequence 2: Vocal Massage to open the throat and laryngeal muscles.?

With these 2 Sequences, you start the process of unlocking your voice by releasing the key vocal muscles that cause constriction, limited sound and range, and thinness or breathiness in the tone.?

To experience the CVM? Movement Sequences 1-8, click here.?

2. Decrease Tension + Strain

The key to decreasing strain and improving a strong healthy sound and endurance is to first strip away unnecessary tensions surrounding the voice and then to establish support from deeper breathing to get you out of singing from your throat, to sing more freely with a supported voice.?

It starts with establishing the right function of support that starts with opening the breathing mechanism and then opening up the throat to decrease tension, and open up the underlying support.?

Try this:??

• Let your neck gently drop forward.
• Breathe into your upper back and let the head slump forward more.
• How much can you let go of the weight of the head?
• Slowly return your head to upright. This releases the back of the neck decreasing tension and strain.
• Now do a slow neck roll to the right first. Roll slowly reaching the top of your head outward to improve the stretch. This releases the sides of the neck decreasing tension and strain.
• Repeat in the other direction.?

Make a note of the areas that feel super tight, which is an indicator of an area for you to work on. Once we establish the right release of muscles that are constricting the voice and then establish a better function of support in the body, singing occurs more naturally and easily to the singer.

To get the full experience – In Day 2 of the Better Voice Challenge we go through the CVM? Movement Sequence 3: Breath Openers to open access to deeper breath and capacity and the CVM? Movement Sequence 4: Throat Openers that build laryngeal resistance and root support.

With these 2 Sequences, you experience what it feels like to decrease strain, access deeper breathing, and experience the power of opening the throat muscles to create more freedom, support, and ease in singing.?

3. Align + Anchor

Many singers struggle with power and endurance in singing. Unsupported by the correct movements, training, and technique, the voice is not able to reach it’s full potential in sound and power. Without the proper support, the sound will fall back on the throat ruining the voice and wearing out too quickly.?

In order to provide support we work to align the instrument so the trunk or torso of the body is working to support the sound adequately taking the strain off the voice. At the same time, we anchor the voice into the body to create a deeper connection to the support muscles that stabilize the voice creating more power and stability to sing for hours without losing the voice.?

The majority of most people, as much as 90%, have a slightly forward-placed head and a slightly dropped chest. This causes vocal strain and disconnects you from the support that comes from the trunk of the body.?

We start by lengthening the back of your neck and tipping your chin slightly down in a neutral position. Balance your head over your body as if it is resting there. At the same time, lengthen the small of your back.?

Try this:?

Alignment Test

• Stand up. Which side is working more than the other?
• Notice your feet – are you standing on the outsides or insides? Front or back?
• What areas feel tight? Legs, hips, shoulders, back, neck?
• Now look at your feet. Just notice.
• Are your knees locked? Make a note.
• Is one hip tight? Make a note.?

Alignment Adjustment

• Stand evenly in the center of both feet.
• Soften your knees so they are not locked.
• Scarecrow: Head sitting on top of spine.
• Tuck your pelvis slightly underneath you.
• Pull up tall out of the waist/
• Shoulders at rest (heavy): down and back.
• Lengthen the cervical spine (neck).
• Lift the base of your skull towards the ceiling.
• The head is level + placed over your body (not in front of).
• The chin is slightly tipped down to achieve a level head position and a long cervical spine.

As you stand in this alignment

• Notice if you feel your body working more on one side?
• Do you feel any tension anywhere?
• Do you feel any muscle pulling or pain anywhere?
• Any areas you feel tension are indicators of shortened muscles and areas that need attention and lengthening

Inside my Free Better Voice Challenge there are eight CVM? Movement Sequences that walk you through the experience of freeing your voice. On Day 3 inside the Better Voice Challenge Workshop we go through the CVM? Movement Sequence 5: Aligning the Vocal Path, and the CVM? Movement Sequence 6: Anchoring Root Support.?

With these 2 Sequences, you experience the power of alignment and anchoring the support down into the trunk of the body. where you can sing with more freedom and power.

To experience the CVM? Movement Sequences 1-8, click here.??

4. Expand Your Sound

The mistake to getting more sound is not in “pushing more air or volume” to make it louder, but actually in connecting the body and using the right support that frees the instrument to resonate louder. When the voice is disconnected, singing ensues from the collarbones up which tends to create a thin sound and misses the richness that the body connection brings.?

When you want more “body” in your sound you want to use more “body” in your sound.

New York Otolaryngologist and inventor of the Stroboscopy, Dr. Peak Woo says that the amount of pressure that should be felt at the vocal folds during singing is the equivalent of the weight of 2 inches of water in a straw. Any additional tension you are feeling at the throat is an indication that you are over-burdening your vocal muscles with a pressure that is constricting and tightening your sound causing vocal strain.?

Try this:??

• To expand vocal resonance, it starts with undoing. The more you engage, the more you tense. The more you tense, the more you constrict. The singer has to learn where to have the right tension (in the torso, pectorals, rib expansion etc) and to keep the throat and head free to resonate. The more relaxed this area is, the more the sound can resonate and the more volume and amplification you have.Continue to work on relaxing your jaw and tongue. Tension in these muscles can constrict your vocal tract and reduce the space for sound to resonate.Gently massage your jaw with your fingers or open and close it slowly to release tension.Let your tongue rest on the floor of your mouth or stick it out and move it around to relax.Breath support and posture maintain good posture and utilize support muscles to energize your vibrato. Proper breathing is essential for resonance, so focus on filling your lungs fully and engaging your diaphragm.

Inside my Free Better Voice Challenge there are eight CVM? Movement Sequences that walk you through the experience of freeing your voice.?

On Day 4 inside the Better Voice Challenge Workshop we go through the CVM? Movement Sequence 7: Resonance Expanders.

With this Sequence, you experience what it feels like to sing with more resonance and tone. The result is more sound with less strain!?

To learn the CVM? Movement Sequences 1-8, click here.?

5. Sing With More Range + Power?

The goal of expanding your range and accessing power is to take the burden and pressure off your throat. Instead of moving up and out, pushing the sound forward, we reverse that movement and think inward or reach behind us.?

We also want to drop the tongue and open the back of the throat before singing while maintaining the prior 4 steps above!?

Try this:??

• To experience reaching more range and power:Lengthen and loosen neck. Imagine your head floating on top of your spine and feel the back of your head.With the chest lifted, tip chin down for high notes to make room for the soft palate to naturally lift.Trace the roof of your mouth with your tongue, notice where it goes soft – that is the soft palate. That is where you want to place the sound to resonate. In addition we want to get the tongue to drop on the onset in prep for the phrase.Sing “KAHHHHH” and look in the mirror to see if the tongue drops in the back. Encourage that movement.Now, put your hand out in front of you and imagine you are drinking from a cup. See how the back of your throat opens.? Now let’s use that approach as we sing.Sing “KAHHHHH” dropping the tongue and imagining the sound filling your mouth that you are “drinking the tone” letting it resonate there.Did you notice you had more sound? With less effort??

On Day 4 inside the Better Voice Challenge Workshop we go through the final CVM? Movement Sequence 8: Range + Power Expanders.

With this final Sequence, you experience what it feels like to sing with free and unbridled resonance and power!?

To experience the CVM? Movement Sequences 1-8, click here.?

JOIN OUR WEDNESDAY LIVESTREAM with Cari Cole: JOIN ME EVERY WEDNESDAY AT 12 pm Eastern for my Weekly Livestream: Join me on YouTube (and Instagram, Facebook) – where I discuss the Blog of the Week followed by a short Q&A where you can ask me questions.?

This post helps you get started, but it’s only the beginning. What would it feel like to finally reach your vocal potential and feel an actual transformation in your voice? In my FREE 4-Day Better Voice Challenge you will instantly Sing Better and Sound Better. In these 4 one-hour workshop style sessions, you’ll experience a transformative shift to open up and free your voice.?You’ll walk through 8 Sequences in my Cole Vocal Method? to unlock your voice, decrease strain, anchor your sound and expand your power and resonance.?Each session builds on the other in sequence to open up your voice, restore your natural sound and increase sound with simple and effective methods.?Come join me and learn the methods Grammy winners and legends use to transform their voice and keep them performing at their peak!?Click here to get access.

About Cari Cole

Cari Cole is the CEO / Founder of caricole.com and CCVM: Label Without Walls. She is a Holistic Vocal Coach, Artist Development Expert, A&R Director, and Songwriter based in New York City helping artists for the past 38 years. She is a mentor for Women in Music and The Association of Independent Music Publishers. Her latest venture, CCVM a label services company, provides artists with a seamless path from creation to completion. After 30+ years of observing the overwhelm and challenges that artists face, Cari pulled together the best top creative professionals and designed a new approach to supporting our artists.

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