Tight muscles in the jaw, and especially in the hips can be really detrimental to a singer. Tension in the jaw can force the vocal cords and the muscles of the jaw into a bad position. This can cause a singer to sound breathy, but also inhibits the lifting of the soft palette. As you guys know, Ms. Hughes is really big on you lifting the soft palette. Tight muscles in the hips and hamstrings can also be detrimental to what we do in class. First of all tight hips are pretty much the worst thing ever, they cause back pain, knee pain, and are a general pain in the butt (ayyyy). For singers, tight hips are terrible because they inhibit the breathing patterns that we need to produce a good sound. Tilting of the pelvis due to tight hip flexors and hamstrings causes the airways in our torso and diaphragm to close, making in harder to hit certain notes and to sing out like we need to.
Even outside of class, its important to stretch and pay attention to your muscles to do as well as you possibly can when you sing.
This is really interesting to me as a first year choir student because, while I knew before that singing took talent and practice, I was never quite aware of the extent ways one can help themselves sing well. I assumed the basics of don't sing from your throat, and make sure you are sitting up, etc. but things I have learned in class such as "making a dome" or having my legs at a certain angle while I am sitting is entirely new to me. And yet it makes sense. Though when I first heard Mrs. Hughes say " make a dome in the back of your head", my mental response was honestly, "how the heck am I supposed to do that???", when I visualized how I would do that it noticeably helped my singing. Also with things like warming up by singing solfedge, I assumed it was just so that you didn't have awkward voice cracks when you were singing, but I had know idea that it could help to slowly build up your range. It is honestly kind of terrifying to me how much there is to learn about music and about singing, but it is also all really cool!
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil for informing us of the many ways that our tightness in other areas can affect our ability to sing, and to sing well. While I have always been aware of the effects of certain tight muscles on other areas of your body, I had no idea of the detrimental effects that tightness in your hips or hamstrings can have on your ability to sing. I have always had trouble remembering to stretch after volleyball, but perhaps with this new knowledge I can be more aware, and take measures to prevent it from interfering with singing. I too find it crazy that there are so many small things that we can do that have effects on the way we sing. From minor adjustments to the way we sit or stand, to completely reshaping the shape of our mouth when we sing, I am constantly amazed.
ReplyDeleteThank you Phil for informing us of the many ways that our tightness in other areas can affect our ability to sing, and to sing well. While I have always been aware of the effects of certain tight muscles on other areas of your body, I had no idea of the detrimental effects that tightness in your hips or hamstrings can have on your ability to sing. I have always had trouble remembering to stretch after volleyball, but perhaps with this new knowledge I can be more aware, and take measures to prevent it from interfering with singing. I too find it crazy that there are so many small things that we can do that have effects on the way we sing. From minor adjustments to the way we sit or stand, to completely reshaping the shape of our mouth when we sing, I am constantly amazed.
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