Hey guys welcome back again to Ken Tamplin
Vocal Academy, where the proof is in the singing! We got a lot of requests for this one and
that is "How can I hold a note, or how can I sustain a note long, or hold a high note
for a long period of time?" Well, it turns out that there’s lots of
answers to that question, it’s not one answer that’s going to suffice, so I’m going
to have to break this down so we can explain some things. The first thing is, is that are you asking
how can I hold a note in a lower register, or mid voice register, or a high register,
because that’s really important, having to break this down and explain it. The second thing is, is what is your vocal fach? F-a-c-h, or your vocal type, it’s the German
way of saying what is it, are you a baritone or are you a tenor? Now I patently am a baritone, and let me explain
to you what that means. I’m going to go (Low Tone) AHHHHHHHHHH… Right? I think that’s a, I want to say that’s
a C#2 if I’m not mistaken. Let me grab a guitar really quick… Make sure, here, um… Yeah, it’s a C sharp 2, that’s a really
low note. Well, a tenor can’t do that. A tenor, even a low tenor, can’t sing that
note really low. Very unusual if he’s able to do that. So, the reason I bring it up is because I
want you to understand what your vocal type is, because this is important, and then what
do you mean by can I hold a note? Is it a high note, a this note, a note in your head voice or falsetto, hold a note in your mixed voice, hold the note in your chest voice,
belting, or a light airy sound, because all of these things matter. So, let me explain why. So when we sing low the cords, or our folds,
they vibrate slowly. And you know they vibrate really slowly, and
so it requires more air to pass across the cords to get them to vibrate. Now there are exceptions to this if you understand
glottal compression, and I cover all this in my singing course called How To Sing Better
Than Anyone Else, but within this, what happens is that if it requires more air, believe it or
not, it’s easier to sustain a higher note, or to hold a note in a higher registration
in your belting chest register, or in your very high falsetto and/or head voice register,
depending on your voice type again, and if you’re a lyric tenor, or you know there’s
all these different things that come into play. So I bring this up so, the lower the note,
I want to give you guys a template to follow, so sing a note with me. I’m going to kind of blow through something
for second. It’s going to sound stupid, I’m not trying
to be on pitch or anything, but… Ohhhhhhh… Okay, so, like that was the max amount of
lung capacity if I’m not compressing air, okay? At least for me, maybe you’re different,
but… If I compress that air, and I literally compress it at the glottis, and I hold my breath, and I go: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh… Right? I have a lot more room there for the amount
of air how I can sustain a note. Now, why this becomes even increasingly important
is it depends on what registration or where in you register you’re trying to hold this
note. So the higher up I go, because, again like
I said before, as I’m in a lower registration, and I’m compressing the note at the glottis,
it requires more air because folds are moving more slowly, they go wub, wub, wub, wub… Right? The higher up I go, the faster they move. Now, you can blow out a lot of air. If I go Heyyyyyyyyyyy… Right? That’s all I’ve got. If I’m using a lot of air, that’s it. If I come back, by the way, there’s a really
cool tool on the Internet for this. It’s called power lung. Look it up. Power. Lung. I don’t use it but I have other students
that do. That can increase inhalation and exhalation
lung capacity. So, check this out. But if I’m holding my breath back, in the
same exact note that I just did I go ehhhhhhhhh, Yehhhhhhh, yehhhhh, yehhhhhhh, yehhhhhhhh,
yehhhhhhhh, yehhhhhhhh… Right? Now, I could go a lot longer than that, but
I just wanted to kind of give you an example where I can conserve energy, to conserve the
breath, and controls, and mitigate again, compress that amount of air, so when I go up really
high again, it becomes different because if I’m in falsetto, I use a lot of air. If I’m really in a compressed head voice
sound, or if I’m belting up really high, I can hold the breath for a really long time. Let me give you a couple of quick examples
of this. I’m going to show you some recordings of
some recent stuff I’ve done, where you can hear me holding the breath within the context
of a song. Check this out. To sustain as we go up the food chain, or
as the cords oscillate faster, it requires less air, if you know how to compress the air. Now there’s a slight danger in this by just
holding back the breath and just holding it and just trying to compress the air, because
it’s very similar to when we just kind of choke off the cord and go Hey, how ya doin’
yeah I’m doin’ alright (choking)! You know, when were just kind of pinching
and squeezing at the throat? So it’s really important to want to develop
open throat technique first, so that the muscle structure stays open first. I cover all this in my singing course, How
To Sing Better Than Anyone Else. So that you can sustain that first, so that
the sound sounds open and not constricted, and then we can cut back that air. Now, if we get into our head voice register,
or our falsetto register, if I go ”ehhhhhhhhh” singing like an R and B sort of sound, that’s
all I’ve got. I don’t got much more than that. I just expelled all the air, expunged all
the air that I have, right? I used it up. But if I can compress that sound, and make
it nice and bright, “eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee” I can get a lot more extension out of that
sound. I’m still using up a lot more air than I
did down in my chest register. And by the way, if I’m killing it and belting
up really high, I can go longer than that of course, and I’m not sitting here trying
to bore you with how long Ken Tamplin can hold his voice. But I want you to gauge yourself and go hey
man, hit the clock. Can I go as long as Ken? Right? Like do a little contest with yourself. And the reason is, is because then you’ll understand
how much control you can or cannot have. Now, one last thing, is when we do this, it’s
not just about holding the note, a long note. It’s about how can we make that note sound
beautiful, how we use correct vowel modifications for that sound, big round beautiful sounds,
and when resonance takes over, and we’re not pushing or killing ourselves or trying
to use too much air in the sound, all of a sudden we can open up to a sound, eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee,
I’m not using more, believe it or not, I’m not using more air to get more volume, I’m
actually compressing the air at the glottis, controlling the sound, using my diaphragm
to do all of my work, to get a larger, or bigger or more volume-ness, you know more
volume, more amplified sound, in order to create and take one sound, not just to be
able to hold a note, but to hold a note for a reason, for good sound. Okay? I hope you guys benefited from this. Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy, where the proof
is in the singing! And, I’m answering your questions, so keep them coming, and until next time... Peace. Out.
