Slide 1
What is VoiceVoSi(VVS)?
VVS is a method that helps you improve your singing, speaking, and ventriloquism to reach your full vocal potential using yoga and clenched teeth as a lever (eventually turning to locked teeth, without clenching). VVS works with the vestibular system of the inner ear, which is responsible for maintaining balance and spatial orientation.
The training is the same for getting a new voice for singing, speaking, or ventriloquism.
VVS focuses on a cycle of singing, recording, and listening, where good musicianship accelerates the training process. With VVS, you can develop an open-throat technique, sing in the mask, and achieve clarity and full resonance in your voice. Speech level singing is an important aspect of VVS that helps you create a balanced and consistent sound across your whole range.
VVS can help you train independently if needed. Although a coach or a knowledgeable friend can make the training go much faster.
The training is the same for getting a new voice for singing, speaking, or ventriloquism.
VVS focuses on a cycle of singing, recording, and listening, where good musicianship accelerates the training process. With VVS, you can develop an open-throat technique, sing in the mask, and achieve clarity and full resonance in your voice. Speech level singing is an important aspect of VVS that helps you create a balanced and consistent sound across your whole range.
VVS can help you train independently if needed. Although a coach or a knowledgeable friend can make the training go much faster.
Goal
Flow
Flow is often experienced by performers when they are in the zone, and everything seems to come together effortlessly. The performer is so absorbed in the music that they lose track of the audience, and the audience becomes a part of the music. The experience is often described as a feeling of transcendence, where the performer and the audience become one, and there is just beauty in the air.
Learn to sing with:
1. Full resonance (see glossary).
2. Sing softly with intensity and clarity.
3. Sing loud without yelling and distortion.
4. Sing with ease: much less setup time for consonants when your jaw is not moving or moving very little. You can immediately go to the vowels, where resonance is.
5. Create your own "idiolect" with any accent you choose. Your untrained natural voice will likely have lots of jaw movements, especially for southeast and some east Asians. VVS produces a vocal chamber and mouth shape (embouchure) that resembles your singing in your early teen years or younger.
Locking teeth and then lightly parting them is a good embouchure. Keeping that embouchure steady through the whole song will keep the entire song in resonance. This resembles a flute's singular tube.
6. Sing while moving, such as walking, strolling, dancing. It's crucial to move around while practicing. It increases blood flow to give the energy needed for singing gymnastics (read more in the Glossary page).
My singing-practice journey started six years ago. The first four years were slow at a crawling pace (linear rate). I didn't lose patience, but I wondered how much longer I have to train my voice. Out of desperation, I started using my teeth to ensure I have resonance. Then I discovered the usefulness of teeth-clenching. The progress after that was exponential.
The strongest resonance is in your throat (pharynx) area. The yoga poses I used work the pharynx region, stretching the top of the neck (downward dog), the two sides of the neck (baby pose), and the front of the neck (fish pose). The two poses on the How? Throat-Yoga Focus should be done daily as they take a few seconds for each pose.
'Pack air' into the pharynx region and hold it there to expand the pharynx from the inside. More on this technique of packing air later.
One goal is to make your jaw more flexible so the lower jaw can move back and forth (in and out) with ease. This way, you can sing with a normal jaw position or slightly back toward the throat so the upper teeth protrude in front of the lower teeth. Experiment until you find your sweet spot.
Note that Freddie Mercury had this exact build. He had protruding upper teeth making it natural to sing a larger range consistently. He had a head start, so to speak. All native English speakers have a head start in training their voice, whether singing or speaking.
I tried different lower teeth positions and found Freddie's position produces the best resonance. I later learned why this works anatomically. Also, this position allows you to smile easier while singing. Singing with more smiles in and between verses will make the audience happier because when you have a smiling face, your singing will sound more pleasant. Of course, you don't need to smile at all times, just enough time to make the song more lively and approachable.
From the anatomy point of view, this position creates the best human flute-like tube for resonance. How? Because jaw movements make the oral tract change shape too much too often. Eliminating jaw movements will produce the 'human flute' for 'easy' resonance- one that can be readily recreated. This can be called the canonical position, or position one. Once this resonance is found in the pharynx, you can let the jaw hang free to increase resonance through the mouth. In VVS, the mouth is the secondary resonator. Without training, the mouth is the main resonator (except consonants m,n, and ng where they use the nose as resonator).
The locking of the teeth preserve the right-angle formation of the vocal tract. Many animals including chimpanzees and apes have a pharynx, but they do not have the specific right-angle formation seen in humans. This anatomical difference is one of the key factors that enable the vocalizations required for human speech. From birth, the tongue descends over years taking the larynx down with it, creating a long pharynx, a process that is not complete until we reach 6–8 years of age.
I noticed native English speakers, and Germans, as English is a Germanic language, can adapt ventriloquism faster than southeast Asians. The distribution of vowels and consonants is such that Germanic languages use the pharynx more often to make sounds, for example, the following words "this," "that," "though," "the" lend themselves to the pharynx.
The training for a new voice is the same in singing, speaking, and ventriloquism, when using the two breath streams: nasal, mouth. Breathing in through the nasal breath stream is not as quick in total volume of air but does not dry your mouth out, an important thing to remember when practicing for 6-8 hours each day singing. Breathing in through the mouth can be much faster.
Breathing out though the mouth is what happens when singing, speaking, or ventriloquism.
When you hum, breathing out is with your nose only, pinching you nose will stop the humming. This humming creates a resonant voice for ventriloquism, as humming strengthen the nasal resonator, cutting out the mouth resonator. Humming a song create a resonant voice for that song, as some songs are extreme voice gymnastics.
Words with the three consonants m, n, and ng in English are nasal, and sound like humming. When you place your humming in the mask , you add the nasal resonance to all sound production.
The best position for ventriloquism is a smiling mouth with the middle of the two lips touching. This touching of the lips is a lever useful for diction clarity. Another position is to simply part the lips slightly and don't touch the lips. Experiment with this to see the difference. If the lever is useful.
Resonance in speech is normal in most people. Resonance in speech requires less than a second of resonance in the vowel part of a word. Also people practice it since birth. In singing, resonance must be carried out much longer than a second or two, especially in holding a tone steady and long. By minimizing embouchure variations, resonance from words to word, and of the whole phrase is easier to achieve.
If VVS is a chair, it stands on 4 legs: low volume practice, high intensity, strong breathing support, and constant listening. Resonance can be easier achieved in low volume singing, then with stronger breaths and humming, it can resonate in high volume.
You can see resonance with a spectrograph, which shows overtones. However, in the VVS method, the main practice is to use your ears to listen to your recordings daily or weekly. I can hear improvements daily when I started using clenched teeth. Within a year, I no longer have to clench my teeth, just lock them together in practice.
A smartphone is good to record your practices. Only in the beginning, when you don't know what resonance sounds like, would you need a spectrograph to verify it for yourself. A voice coach can help you get started. When I started singing by taking a beginning jazz vocal group, I did not know a thing. But I know I like Whitney Houston's crystal clear sound. Both Michael Jackson and Whitney can sing in full resonance and with speech-level-singing.
Once you know resonance, VVS can help you hone your voice through listening and comparing yourself to great singers.
VVS focuses on the intent of communication, the purpose of singing the song, the message, the angle, and how to make it fresh and new. The technical preparations behind the song must be solid, but the singer and performer must focus on the audience. Did they get the message? The singer must not focus on their technical perfections and be in the flow.
1. Full resonance (see glossary).
2. Sing softly with intensity and clarity.
3. Sing loud without yelling and distortion.
4. Sing with ease: much less setup time for consonants when your jaw is not moving or moving very little. You can immediately go to the vowels, where resonance is.
5. Create your own "idiolect" with any accent you choose. Your untrained natural voice will likely have lots of jaw movements, especially for southeast and some east Asians. VVS produces a vocal chamber and mouth shape (embouchure) that resembles your singing in your early teen years or younger.
Locking teeth and then lightly parting them is a good embouchure. Keeping that embouchure steady through the whole song will keep the entire song in resonance. This resembles a flute's singular tube.
6. Sing while moving, such as walking, strolling, dancing. It's crucial to move around while practicing. It increases blood flow to give the energy needed for singing gymnastics (read more in the Glossary page).
My singing-practice journey started six years ago. The first four years were slow at a crawling pace (linear rate). I didn't lose patience, but I wondered how much longer I have to train my voice. Out of desperation, I started using my teeth to ensure I have resonance. Then I discovered the usefulness of teeth-clenching. The progress after that was exponential.
The strongest resonance is in your throat (pharynx) area. The yoga poses I used work the pharynx region, stretching the top of the neck (downward dog), the two sides of the neck (baby pose), and the front of the neck (fish pose). The two poses on the How? Throat-Yoga Focus should be done daily as they take a few seconds for each pose.
'Pack air' into the pharynx region and hold it there to expand the pharynx from the inside. More on this technique of packing air later.
One goal is to make your jaw more flexible so the lower jaw can move back and forth (in and out) with ease. This way, you can sing with a normal jaw position or slightly back toward the throat so the upper teeth protrude in front of the lower teeth. Experiment until you find your sweet spot.
Note that Freddie Mercury had this exact build. He had protruding upper teeth making it natural to sing a larger range consistently. He had a head start, so to speak. All native English speakers have a head start in training their voice, whether singing or speaking.
I tried different lower teeth positions and found Freddie's position produces the best resonance. I later learned why this works anatomically. Also, this position allows you to smile easier while singing. Singing with more smiles in and between verses will make the audience happier because when you have a smiling face, your singing will sound more pleasant. Of course, you don't need to smile at all times, just enough time to make the song more lively and approachable.
From the anatomy point of view, this position creates the best human flute-like tube for resonance. How? Because jaw movements make the oral tract change shape too much too often. Eliminating jaw movements will produce the 'human flute' for 'easy' resonance- one that can be readily recreated. This can be called the canonical position, or position one. Once this resonance is found in the pharynx, you can let the jaw hang free to increase resonance through the mouth. In VVS, the mouth is the secondary resonator. Without training, the mouth is the main resonator (except consonants m,n, and ng where they use the nose as resonator).
The locking of the teeth preserve the right-angle formation of the vocal tract. Many animals including chimpanzees and apes have a pharynx, but they do not have the specific right-angle formation seen in humans. This anatomical difference is one of the key factors that enable the vocalizations required for human speech. From birth, the tongue descends over years taking the larynx down with it, creating a long pharynx, a process that is not complete until we reach 6–8 years of age.
I noticed native English speakers, and Germans, as English is a Germanic language, can adapt ventriloquism faster than southeast Asians. The distribution of vowels and consonants is such that Germanic languages use the pharynx more often to make sounds, for example, the following words "this," "that," "though," "the" lend themselves to the pharynx.
The training for a new voice is the same in singing, speaking, and ventriloquism, when using the two breath streams: nasal, mouth. Breathing in through the nasal breath stream is not as quick in total volume of air but does not dry your mouth out, an important thing to remember when practicing for 6-8 hours each day singing. Breathing in through the mouth can be much faster.
Breathing out though the mouth is what happens when singing, speaking, or ventriloquism.
When you hum, breathing out is with your nose only, pinching you nose will stop the humming. This humming creates a resonant voice for ventriloquism, as humming strengthen the nasal resonator, cutting out the mouth resonator. Humming a song create a resonant voice for that song, as some songs are extreme voice gymnastics.
Words with the three consonants m, n, and ng in English are nasal, and sound like humming. When you place your humming in the mask , you add the nasal resonance to all sound production.
The best position for ventriloquism is a smiling mouth with the middle of the two lips touching. This touching of the lips is a lever useful for diction clarity. Another position is to simply part the lips slightly and don't touch the lips. Experiment with this to see the difference. If the lever is useful.
Resonance in speech is normal in most people. Resonance in speech requires less than a second of resonance in the vowel part of a word. Also people practice it since birth. In singing, resonance must be carried out much longer than a second or two, especially in holding a tone steady and long. By minimizing embouchure variations, resonance from words to word, and of the whole phrase is easier to achieve.
If VVS is a chair, it stands on 4 legs: low volume practice, high intensity, strong breathing support, and constant listening. Resonance can be easier achieved in low volume singing, then with stronger breaths and humming, it can resonate in high volume.
You can see resonance with a spectrograph, which shows overtones. However, in the VVS method, the main practice is to use your ears to listen to your recordings daily or weekly. I can hear improvements daily when I started using clenched teeth. Within a year, I no longer have to clench my teeth, just lock them together in practice.
A smartphone is good to record your practices. Only in the beginning, when you don't know what resonance sounds like, would you need a spectrograph to verify it for yourself. A voice coach can help you get started. When I started singing by taking a beginning jazz vocal group, I did not know a thing. But I know I like Whitney Houston's crystal clear sound. Both Michael Jackson and Whitney can sing in full resonance and with speech-level-singing.
Once you know resonance, VVS can help you hone your voice through listening and comparing yourself to great singers.
VVS focuses on the intent of communication, the purpose of singing the song, the message, the angle, and how to make it fresh and new. The technical preparations behind the song must be solid, but the singer and performer must focus on the audience. Did they get the message? The singer must not focus on their technical perfections and be in the flow.
Slide 1
FOCUS
VVS keeps the core principles of musicianship.
The primary tool for vocal transformation within the VVS framework is the teeth-lever, a technique involving the deliberate clenching of teeth in some singing practice. Teeth-levers are a means to redirect sound production toward the pharynx, similar to ventriloquism.
Use straws or semi-occluded vocal tract techniques for the transition to teeth-clenching. Note that this practice does not allow lips to move. Once you feel the benefit of practicing singing with straws, you can move on to teeth-clenching.
STEPS TOWARD RESONANCE FOR EACH SONG
Because each song is a 'gymnastics' routine of the oral tract, all of the following steps must be solid:
A) Humming for resonance, with or without clenched teeth. Humming is the way to find your true resonance, your TRUE voice. You will find your true voice humming. Humming will determine where you place your sound (chest, mixed, or head voice).
In VVS, you don't need to decide which voice you will use. Humming will determine where you need to place your resonator: pharynx, mouth, or nose/mask to get the best resonance. If a song calls for chest voice and if humming places some high notes in mixed or head voice, you could lower the key until you can hum in full chest voice at the volume and intensity desired.
Humming must be for a specific song, for a specific volume and intensity to get the resonance when singing (lips are moving).
B) Silent singing with the oral tract (mouth lips jaw) moving without making sounds, hearing the results internally. This builds muscle memory. Do this with and without clenched teeth. Muscles memory is like riding a bike. When you have muscles memory, you can focus on expressing the emotions with ease.
People call it Lip sync or lip synch, short for lip synchronization. I call it singing with your third ear. This is not the physical inner ears inside your ears. The third ear refers to the ability to hear sound without any sound present. You have to imagine the sound as you practice. At first trials, use lip synch, then eventually imagine the sound in your head... to sing Acapella.
C) Whisper-singing. This is similar to silent singing but with minimal air flow. This practice builds the INTENSITY of your voice. This is where you build diction clarity, before activating the resonators: pharynx, mouth, nose.
D) Engaging the complete vestibular system, a sensory system within the inner ear conveying spatial and motion data to the brain. Karaoke is a good example of this system at work. Do you notice it's easier to sing with lyrics appearing just before you sing? Give me a karaoke machine with dancing beats and I will be in cloud nine for hours unfailing. I'll be dancing, coordinating, reading, hearing, drinking, vaping, recording, working the computer, engaging the vestibular system.
The key to a successful training is to optimize your senses and coordination with the optimal diet (read more here). Especially probiotics to crowd out the bad and prevent infection of the throat, herbs that stimulate and herbs that heal, and judicious use of alcoholic drinks.
The perennial herbs used to help with hearing, and the inner ear and the vestibular system are: Gingko Biloba, Spearmint, Dill, Turmeric.
Artists and musicians are often in the flow state when driving or walking activating this system.
Within the scope of VVS, this component involves:
1. Singing while walking, engaging calf muscles, often referred to as the "2nd heart," to facilitate blood circulation for the high powerful notes. Singing is physical, thus engaging the whole body while singing will add more muscle memories. Walking and singing is a good combination.
2. Singing with the "2nd brain" in the gut, keeping air in the abdominal region to ensure rib stability.
3. Implementing specific yoga poses during singing/humming training sessions to elongate the pharynx outward, and specific yoga poses to enhance blood flow to the mask, making singing in the mask more natural.
The primary tool for vocal transformation within the VVS framework is the teeth-lever, a technique involving the deliberate clenching of teeth in some singing practice. Teeth-levers are a means to redirect sound production toward the pharynx, similar to ventriloquism.
Use straws or semi-occluded vocal tract techniques for the transition to teeth-clenching. Note that this practice does not allow lips to move. Once you feel the benefit of practicing singing with straws, you can move on to teeth-clenching.
STEPS TOWARD RESONANCE FOR EACH SONG
Because each song is a 'gymnastics' routine of the oral tract, all of the following steps must be solid:
A) Humming for resonance, with or without clenched teeth. Humming is the way to find your true resonance, your TRUE voice. You will find your true voice humming. Humming will determine where you place your sound (chest, mixed, or head voice).
In VVS, you don't need to decide which voice you will use. Humming will determine where you need to place your resonator: pharynx, mouth, or nose/mask to get the best resonance. If a song calls for chest voice and if humming places some high notes in mixed or head voice, you could lower the key until you can hum in full chest voice at the volume and intensity desired.
Humming must be for a specific song, for a specific volume and intensity to get the resonance when singing (lips are moving).
B) Silent singing with the oral tract (mouth lips jaw) moving without making sounds, hearing the results internally. This builds muscle memory. Do this with and without clenched teeth. Muscles memory is like riding a bike. When you have muscles memory, you can focus on expressing the emotions with ease.
People call it Lip sync or lip synch, short for lip synchronization. I call it singing with your third ear. This is not the physical inner ears inside your ears. The third ear refers to the ability to hear sound without any sound present. You have to imagine the sound as you practice. At first trials, use lip synch, then eventually imagine the sound in your head... to sing Acapella.
C) Whisper-singing. This is similar to silent singing but with minimal air flow. This practice builds the INTENSITY of your voice. This is where you build diction clarity, before activating the resonators: pharynx, mouth, nose.
D) Engaging the complete vestibular system, a sensory system within the inner ear conveying spatial and motion data to the brain. Karaoke is a good example of this system at work. Do you notice it's easier to sing with lyrics appearing just before you sing? Give me a karaoke machine with dancing beats and I will be in cloud nine for hours unfailing. I'll be dancing, coordinating, reading, hearing, drinking, vaping, recording, working the computer, engaging the vestibular system.
The key to a successful training is to optimize your senses and coordination with the optimal diet (read more here). Especially probiotics to crowd out the bad and prevent infection of the throat, herbs that stimulate and herbs that heal, and judicious use of alcoholic drinks.
The perennial herbs used to help with hearing, and the inner ear and the vestibular system are: Gingko Biloba, Spearmint, Dill, Turmeric.
Artists and musicians are often in the flow state when driving or walking activating this system.
Within the scope of VVS, this component involves:
1. Singing while walking, engaging calf muscles, often referred to as the "2nd heart," to facilitate blood circulation for the high powerful notes. Singing is physical, thus engaging the whole body while singing will add more muscle memories. Walking and singing is a good combination.
2. Singing with the "2nd brain" in the gut, keeping air in the abdominal region to ensure rib stability.
3. Implementing specific yoga poses during singing/humming training sessions to elongate the pharynx outward, and specific yoga poses to enhance blood flow to the mask, making singing in the mask more natural.