The Best Possible Vocal Posture and Why It's So Important
You may wonder why I’m including posts about singing posture. Well, it’s because SINGING POSTURE IS A QUINTESSENTIAL ELEMENT FOR EVERY STYLE OF SINGING! Crazy, huh? Great singing requires the coordination of a number of different elements; proper posture being one of the MOST IMPORTANT. It is a stabilizing feature that helps create an energized, realistic portrayal of any given song. Think about it for a second. Rarely are songs performed from a lazily, relaxed stance. Most are communicated, at the very least, from a strong standing position where the vocalist has a stable spine and a confident tone. Even heavy metal singers perform with an almost angry self-possession. The spine is pretty straight, the knees are slightly bent, and the only “tension” is their self-imposed demeanor and intensity. Posture aids breathing and control, which is a significantly positive trait. I’m going to start from the bottom of the body and move to the top. Here are tips for specific body areas to achieve great overall alignment or posture:
* FEET - Your feet should be, at least, a few inches apart and no more than shoulder width. Your toes need to be pointed forward with the bulk of your body weight forward on the balls of your feet. Placing one foot slightly forward of the other will also aid balance and stability. Obviously, this will create a certain degree of tension in your lower body but this tension is good because it feeds the overall passion of your performance.
* KNEES - Your knees need to be soft and flexible, NEVER locked. This does NOT mean you need to be “wobbly” or “weak” in the knees, but simply, pliable. Locking your knees causes blood to “pool” below your knees and thus not be able to circulate to your brain, which then can cause you to faint. When my family went to see my son graduate from Marine Boot Camp, the soldiers had to perform hours and hours of drills, routines, and ceremonies, as well as just standing “at attention” for long periods of time. The whole proceeding took place on an asphalt field the heat radiated off of all morning. Toward the end of the final ceremony, the Marines were standing for one of the extended lengths of time, and of course, our eyes were glued to my son and his group. Maybe an hour or so into this particular session, we watched as another young man in that group fell face-first onto the pavement. Marines from the “sidelines” rushed to take him away but we later learned that the man had broken his jaw, and all because he had locked his knees. Sorry if that was a long story but that’s why you NEVER lock your knees, not to mention that you want to remain able to move and, obviously, able to continuing “fueling” your voice.
* HIPS AND THIGHS - This is only the second time I’m really ever going to tell you to tense anything in singing BUT so that you can be free to have the upper part of your body relaxed, TENSE the major muscles of your hips and thighs. The flexing of these muscles creates low-body power, which allows your singing to have a strong foundation.
* SPINE - First, you need to realize that your spine is what connects all the “parts” needed for singing: your pelvis; your diaphragm; your ribcage; and your head. You want to think of having a “tall spine”. Think about elongating your spine. Ballet students will understand this as, “Pull Up”. Stand tall! Check out some of the exercises in the next post to PRACTICE this “tall spine” concept.
* ARMS and HANDS - Your arms and hands should be relaxed and at your sides, but not touching your sides UNLESS you are using them for “expression” in your interpretation of a song. In other words, for the production of your sound, your arms and hands should be totally relaxed. You don’t want them glued to your sides, so that there can still be airflow around your body. Do BEWARE of too much movement with your arms, simply because it can be distracting from your overall performance
* ABDOMEN - Your abdomen is a trickier area because you don’t want it to be so relaxed that it’s “floppy” but you do need it flexible and as un-constricted as possible. My oldest daughter played the role of Peter in “Peter Pan” a number of years ago. She had to wear a very tight, restrictive flying harness for the entire show and belt whole songs while flying through the air. I was so proud and amazed at how well and apparently effortless her breathing came across. Taking DEEP breaths seemed impossible but she learned to access the “horizontal” aspect of her singing, and not merely its vertical aspect, and was very successful in the role. Finding this balance between tension and flexibility, vertical and horizontal is a great challenge but one that will revolutionize your singing. Again, check new Breathing exercises coming soon for exercises on these 2 areas.
* RIBCAGE - Your ribcage needs to be completely relaxed and again, un-restricted. As you breathe and the Diaphragm contracts down, the Lungs will fill with air, and the Ribcage will expand outward, which you should feel through your back. Again, there will be exercises following that will help you practice this kind of breathing. You need to be able to FEEL your ribcage expanding, the middle of your back expanding and pressing back as it spreads. You also need to make certain you wear clothes that allow for this kind of substantive breathing. This is truly THE KEY to great singing, NOT just expanding your ribcage but breathing that connects your breath with your singing. You can take the deepest, longest inhale BUT if you can’t connect that inhale and control it as you exhale, your singing will not benefit. If you CAN learn to connect your breath and to control the output of your exhale, there is no limit to what you can do with your vocal instrument.
* CHEST - Your chest should be relaxed but held erect. There should NOT be visible movement in your chest. Your Diaphragm and Ribcage should be doing all the “work” with your breathing, and NO stress, tension, or rising and falling should be evident to an onlooker.
* SHOULDERS - Your shoulders should be slightly forward and sloping down. Your shoulders should NOT rise upon inhalation, during production of higher pitches, or during any pitch changes. It is possible that characterization may require some level of movement in different areas of the body, depending on the particular character but there are no characterizations that should require movement of the shoulders. If you are moving your shoulders or exhibiting tension or rigidity in your upper back, this stiffness will be translated into your singing, and reflect poorly on your overall performance.
* NECK - Your neck should be relaxed and tension-free. There should be NO bulging veins, no flushed red coloration, and no muscles popping out or causing your chin to lift. All of these indicate your vocal sound is being produced in an unhealthy way; rather than using your Diaphragm and connecting your breathing to your singing, you are attempting to use muscles in your neck to “strong-arm” your voice for production. Ultimately, this is like shooting yourself in the foot because you will always continue to have trouble with your voice, and sadly, it gets worse and worse until you’re in danger of developing vocal nodes. Work on getting your breathing right from the beginning and this won’t be a problem.
* LARYNX - Most people think what is REALLY their Larynx is something they call their “Adam’s Apple”. Especially on men, this can be a pretty predominant bulge out in the neck. If you touch the skin on the neck that covers it, you can tell the underlying tissue is “Cartilage”, which is more dense than skin but less dense than bone. It feels similar to the material that makes up much of the nose, as it should; they are both primarily Cartilage. For “Correct” and Healthy singing, the Larynx should be DOWN but most important, the Larynx should NEVER “shake” or be seen to move up and down while you are singing. Once again, if the breath is being controlled in a “stream”, there should be no “spotty” or interrupted periods of that flow; it should be constant and consistent, so that the Larynx is stable and steady and consistently lowered.
* JAW - Your jaw should be relaxed and stress-free. Any tension or rigidity, again, will be reflected in your performance by a stilted, robotic, or tense production. Tension in the jaw will, not only, reflect in the SOUND of the song but also in the appearance of the singer. This will distract the audience from fully enjoying a performance and keep them wondering WHY your jaw is so stiff, what is wrong, and/or whether they should be worried as well. Because a performance is a “journey” your audience takes with you, when YOU feel tense or stressed, so do they.
* CHIN - The chin should be level with and parallel to the floor. It can also be imperceptibly tucked back and down but never excessively, as this can cut off your air supply. Lifting the chin indicates an unhealthy vocal production, using or attempting to use neck muscles rather than your Diaphragm and Ribcage for breathing. Once again, this can make your audience uneasy, and can also lead to vocal problems in the future for the singer.
* TONGUE - The tongue is a large and very strong muscle that filled the floor of the mouth, down to the top of the Larynx. When a singer lifts his or her chin, it is the tongue that is actually “lifting” the chin and attempting to “help” the singer reach the notes, albeit unsuccessfully. Therefore, the tongue should, ultimately be, flat, relaxed, and never pull or move during singing. Vocal Lip Trills are an excellent exercise for circumventing the use of the tongue and teaching your body to avoid using the tongue in vocal production.
* MOUTH - The mouth is the opening to your “cave”. If it distorts (in other words, if you distort the SHAPE of your mouth), so does the sound, and so does the pitch. The mouth can be a great advocate for the singer, allowing greater volume, ease of reaching and articulating high notes, and shaping all notes and sounds. However, it is recommended that every singer work in front of a mirror to avoid BAD habits with the mouth. The mouth should have NO extraneous movements or contortions; it should only be used to open, close, and clarify sounds.
* OVERALL FACIAL EXPRESSION - Overall your facial expression should be controlled, pleasant, or specific to the emotion you are trying to portray. There is never a need for bizarre, pained, or contorted expressions that make your audience uncomfortable. Obviously, there have been big “showy” Rock Bands, such as Kiss and Alice Cooper who incorporated grotesque theatrics as part and parcel for their performance experience. These, however, were not part of the “Vocal” performance but part of the overall “Theatrical” performance. You want to be careful that you don’t do ANYTHING that alienates you or your performance from your audience, and certain facial expressions can definitely fall into this category.
* EYEBROWS AND FOREHEAD - As part of your overall facial expression, eyebrow movement and/or forehead “furrowing”, wrinkling, or raising is both distracting and also it totally detracts from your overall effectiveness. i have known many singers who “furrowed” their brows when they hit high notes and, unfortunately, looking at them, you forgot about the beauty of their gorgeous high note production, and could only think about what in the world was going on that made them crunch up their forehead so terribly. It really is VERY distracting and DETRACTING!
* INVOLUNTARY OR COMICAL BODY MOVEMENTS OR DISTORTIONS - This can be anything from twisting your microphone in a strange, uncomfortable way to grimacing scarily to wild, jerky jumping and kicking. There are styles of music where this may be appropriate but those genres are pretty limited, and you need to be very careful about “over-the-top” gestures that can be misinterpreted as frightening or menacing or “weird” because the last thing you want to do is to alienate, ostracize, or lose segments of your audience because you were feeling “free” or strange or something. Remember that gestures on a stage are amplified and may even be magnified if produced for film or projected onto a screen. These movements can also cause great challenges for sound engineers, may over-tax the muscles you need for your vocal production, and sadly, could even injure audience members.
ALWAYS LISTEN TO CLOSE FRIENDS, FAMILY, OR EVEN CRITICS (if you trust them), when they make comments or even criticisms on your posture. This really is such an important component of your singing; it is worth getting multiple opinions. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, or something like that. Learn to do things correctly, the healthy way, the BEST way from the start, so that they don’t need to be corrected. Posture is NOT more important than talent but it will definitely SUPPLEMENT talent, and help you use those gifts longer and better. Check out my website at www.SingitForward.net. Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing your questions, comments, and/or suggestions for blog posts to come. Sing it Forward!
* FEET - Your feet should be, at least, a few inches apart and no more than shoulder width. Your toes need to be pointed forward with the bulk of your body weight forward on the balls of your feet. Placing one foot slightly forward of the other will also aid balance and stability. Obviously, this will create a certain degree of tension in your lower body but this tension is good because it feeds the overall passion of your performance.
* KNEES - Your knees need to be soft and flexible, NEVER locked. This does NOT mean you need to be “wobbly” or “weak” in the knees, but simply, pliable. Locking your knees causes blood to “pool” below your knees and thus not be able to circulate to your brain, which then can cause you to faint. When my family went to see my son graduate from Marine Boot Camp, the soldiers had to perform hours and hours of drills, routines, and ceremonies, as well as just standing “at attention” for long periods of time. The whole proceeding took place on an asphalt field the heat radiated off of all morning. Toward the end of the final ceremony, the Marines were standing for one of the extended lengths of time, and of course, our eyes were glued to my son and his group. Maybe an hour or so into this particular session, we watched as another young man in that group fell face-first onto the pavement. Marines from the “sidelines” rushed to take him away but we later learned that the man had broken his jaw, and all because he had locked his knees. Sorry if that was a long story but that’s why you NEVER lock your knees, not to mention that you want to remain able to move and, obviously, able to continuing “fueling” your voice.
* HIPS AND THIGHS - This is only the second time I’m really ever going to tell you to tense anything in singing BUT so that you can be free to have the upper part of your body relaxed, TENSE the major muscles of your hips and thighs. The flexing of these muscles creates low-body power, which allows your singing to have a strong foundation.
* SPINE - First, you need to realize that your spine is what connects all the “parts” needed for singing: your pelvis; your diaphragm; your ribcage; and your head. You want to think of having a “tall spine”. Think about elongating your spine. Ballet students will understand this as, “Pull Up”. Stand tall! Check out some of the exercises in the next post to PRACTICE this “tall spine” concept.
* ARMS and HANDS - Your arms and hands should be relaxed and at your sides, but not touching your sides UNLESS you are using them for “expression” in your interpretation of a song. In other words, for the production of your sound, your arms and hands should be totally relaxed. You don’t want them glued to your sides, so that there can still be airflow around your body. Do BEWARE of too much movement with your arms, simply because it can be distracting from your overall performance
* ABDOMEN - Your abdomen is a trickier area because you don’t want it to be so relaxed that it’s “floppy” but you do need it flexible and as un-constricted as possible. My oldest daughter played the role of Peter in “Peter Pan” a number of years ago. She had to wear a very tight, restrictive flying harness for the entire show and belt whole songs while flying through the air. I was so proud and amazed at how well and apparently effortless her breathing came across. Taking DEEP breaths seemed impossible but she learned to access the “horizontal” aspect of her singing, and not merely its vertical aspect, and was very successful in the role. Finding this balance between tension and flexibility, vertical and horizontal is a great challenge but one that will revolutionize your singing. Again, check new Breathing exercises coming soon for exercises on these 2 areas.
* RIBCAGE - Your ribcage needs to be completely relaxed and again, un-restricted. As you breathe and the Diaphragm contracts down, the Lungs will fill with air, and the Ribcage will expand outward, which you should feel through your back. Again, there will be exercises following that will help you practice this kind of breathing. You need to be able to FEEL your ribcage expanding, the middle of your back expanding and pressing back as it spreads. You also need to make certain you wear clothes that allow for this kind of substantive breathing. This is truly THE KEY to great singing, NOT just expanding your ribcage but breathing that connects your breath with your singing. You can take the deepest, longest inhale BUT if you can’t connect that inhale and control it as you exhale, your singing will not benefit. If you CAN learn to connect your breath and to control the output of your exhale, there is no limit to what you can do with your vocal instrument.
* CHEST - Your chest should be relaxed but held erect. There should NOT be visible movement in your chest. Your Diaphragm and Ribcage should be doing all the “work” with your breathing, and NO stress, tension, or rising and falling should be evident to an onlooker.
* SHOULDERS - Your shoulders should be slightly forward and sloping down. Your shoulders should NOT rise upon inhalation, during production of higher pitches, or during any pitch changes. It is possible that characterization may require some level of movement in different areas of the body, depending on the particular character but there are no characterizations that should require movement of the shoulders. If you are moving your shoulders or exhibiting tension or rigidity in your upper back, this stiffness will be translated into your singing, and reflect poorly on your overall performance.
* NECK - Your neck should be relaxed and tension-free. There should be NO bulging veins, no flushed red coloration, and no muscles popping out or causing your chin to lift. All of these indicate your vocal sound is being produced in an unhealthy way; rather than using your Diaphragm and connecting your breathing to your singing, you are attempting to use muscles in your neck to “strong-arm” your voice for production. Ultimately, this is like shooting yourself in the foot because you will always continue to have trouble with your voice, and sadly, it gets worse and worse until you’re in danger of developing vocal nodes. Work on getting your breathing right from the beginning and this won’t be a problem.
* LARYNX - Most people think what is REALLY their Larynx is something they call their “Adam’s Apple”. Especially on men, this can be a pretty predominant bulge out in the neck. If you touch the skin on the neck that covers it, you can tell the underlying tissue is “Cartilage”, which is more dense than skin but less dense than bone. It feels similar to the material that makes up much of the nose, as it should; they are both primarily Cartilage. For “Correct” and Healthy singing, the Larynx should be DOWN but most important, the Larynx should NEVER “shake” or be seen to move up and down while you are singing. Once again, if the breath is being controlled in a “stream”, there should be no “spotty” or interrupted periods of that flow; it should be constant and consistent, so that the Larynx is stable and steady and consistently lowered.
* JAW - Your jaw should be relaxed and stress-free. Any tension or rigidity, again, will be reflected in your performance by a stilted, robotic, or tense production. Tension in the jaw will, not only, reflect in the SOUND of the song but also in the appearance of the singer. This will distract the audience from fully enjoying a performance and keep them wondering WHY your jaw is so stiff, what is wrong, and/or whether they should be worried as well. Because a performance is a “journey” your audience takes with you, when YOU feel tense or stressed, so do they.
* CHIN - The chin should be level with and parallel to the floor. It can also be imperceptibly tucked back and down but never excessively, as this can cut off your air supply. Lifting the chin indicates an unhealthy vocal production, using or attempting to use neck muscles rather than your Diaphragm and Ribcage for breathing. Once again, this can make your audience uneasy, and can also lead to vocal problems in the future for the singer.
* TONGUE - The tongue is a large and very strong muscle that filled the floor of the mouth, down to the top of the Larynx. When a singer lifts his or her chin, it is the tongue that is actually “lifting” the chin and attempting to “help” the singer reach the notes, albeit unsuccessfully. Therefore, the tongue should, ultimately be, flat, relaxed, and never pull or move during singing. Vocal Lip Trills are an excellent exercise for circumventing the use of the tongue and teaching your body to avoid using the tongue in vocal production.
* MOUTH - The mouth is the opening to your “cave”. If it distorts (in other words, if you distort the SHAPE of your mouth), so does the sound, and so does the pitch. The mouth can be a great advocate for the singer, allowing greater volume, ease of reaching and articulating high notes, and shaping all notes and sounds. However, it is recommended that every singer work in front of a mirror to avoid BAD habits with the mouth. The mouth should have NO extraneous movements or contortions; it should only be used to open, close, and clarify sounds.
* OVERALL FACIAL EXPRESSION - Overall your facial expression should be controlled, pleasant, or specific to the emotion you are trying to portray. There is never a need for bizarre, pained, or contorted expressions that make your audience uncomfortable. Obviously, there have been big “showy” Rock Bands, such as Kiss and Alice Cooper who incorporated grotesque theatrics as part and parcel for their performance experience. These, however, were not part of the “Vocal” performance but part of the overall “Theatrical” performance. You want to be careful that you don’t do ANYTHING that alienates you or your performance from your audience, and certain facial expressions can definitely fall into this category.
* EYEBROWS AND FOREHEAD - As part of your overall facial expression, eyebrow movement and/or forehead “furrowing”, wrinkling, or raising is both distracting and also it totally detracts from your overall effectiveness. i have known many singers who “furrowed” their brows when they hit high notes and, unfortunately, looking at them, you forgot about the beauty of their gorgeous high note production, and could only think about what in the world was going on that made them crunch up their forehead so terribly. It really is VERY distracting and DETRACTING!
* INVOLUNTARY OR COMICAL BODY MOVEMENTS OR DISTORTIONS - This can be anything from twisting your microphone in a strange, uncomfortable way to grimacing scarily to wild, jerky jumping and kicking. There are styles of music where this may be appropriate but those genres are pretty limited, and you need to be very careful about “over-the-top” gestures that can be misinterpreted as frightening or menacing or “weird” because the last thing you want to do is to alienate, ostracize, or lose segments of your audience because you were feeling “free” or strange or something. Remember that gestures on a stage are amplified and may even be magnified if produced for film or projected onto a screen. These movements can also cause great challenges for sound engineers, may over-tax the muscles you need for your vocal production, and sadly, could even injure audience members.
ALWAYS LISTEN TO CLOSE FRIENDS, FAMILY, OR EVEN CRITICS (if you trust them), when they make comments or even criticisms on your posture. This really is such an important component of your singing; it is worth getting multiple opinions. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure, or something like that. Learn to do things correctly, the healthy way, the BEST way from the start, so that they don’t need to be corrected. Posture is NOT more important than talent but it will definitely SUPPLEMENT talent, and help you use those gifts longer and better. Check out my website at www.SingitForward.net. Thanks for reading! I look forward to hearing your questions, comments, and/or suggestions for blog posts to come. Sing it Forward!
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