Here are a couple of tidbits that I learned, some from experience, some from a college course in voice. Training your voice needn't be formal; as Christians we sing all the time. By simply being aware of several facts we can improve our voices considerably.

Air and Water

First, you need air to sing. Many of us focus far more on pushing the air out than on breathing it in. This is backwards. Pushing hard to get loud volume strains our vocal cords. Instead, breathe in deeply whenever you get an opportunity, and then control the outflow of air so that it's steady and gentle. Resonance is easier with plenty of air: more about that later.

If we don't have a good lungful of air, odds are that we will be flat and thin-sounding, and unsteady. When I haven't had a good chance to warm up and I'm called on to sing, I get better results if I just take four or six really deep, deep breaths. Ten is even better. Ever notice that your voice sounds good after you've exercised? Your breathing muscles are all warmed up. You need air to sing.

As an aside, the other thing that you need is water. With all that air crossing your vocal cords, they can dry out if your body doesn't have enough water to replenish the lost moisture. To prevent this, you can either drink water or juice before you sing, or keep a bottle handy.

Different Voices

Your vocal cords can form two or more types of sounds. For this discussion we'll separate those sounds into the lower and higher sounds or lower and higher voice. The lower voice is the voice that men and most American women use for speaking and for shouting, and so for the purposes of this article I'll refer to the lower voice as your "speaking voice".

The higher voice ("falsetto" or "BeeGees voice"... there, I just dated myself) is more penetrating over background noise. In some cultures, noteably England and Australia, women tend to speak in this higher voice. Both the lower voice and the higher, falsetto voice are useful.

Vocal cords are muscles, and as such can be in-shape or out-of-shape, well-trained or badly-trained. An untrained singer often finds that their lower voice is strong and well developed by normal speaking use (unless they are very soft-spoken by nature). The higher voice is usually a lot weaker and out of shape.

If this describes you, take heart. Your falsetto voice can be trained. It's a very good idea to develop it, since without it you will lose a little less than half of your potential range. If you never use it, then don't try for the first time in public! Because your falsetto voice is out of shape, odds are it will be clumsy.

Exploring Your Voices

Gently try some "ooohs and aaaahs" in that falsetto voice. Try a simple song with a limited range (for instance, "Glory") just to see if you can get some noise out of them. Don't push too hard; start very quietly and gently, and gently do a little more each day. Explore. Have fun. As your confort level increases, increase your level of adventure and exploration. (Don't tear the muscles by doing too much too fast!)

Once you have gained some strength and confidence in this higher voice, see what your falsetto range is. Without straining, see how high you can comfortably go in your falsetto-- and then see how low you can sing, still remaining in that falsetto voice. Don't switch back to your speaking voice.

Now find out what your range is for your speaking voice. See how low you can sing, and then see how high you can comfortably sing in your speaking voice, without switching to your falsetto voice. You will probably find an overlap of several notes between your speaking voice and your falsetto voice.

Now try singing do-re-me (a scale, not the song.) Start as low as you comfortably can, and go as high as you comfortably can. Start in your speaking voice, and then at some point switch to your falsetto voice until you reach your highest comfortable note. Then come all the way back down. Choosing when to switch over from speaking to falsetto and back again becomes an important question, doesn't it? Some songs can be sung entirely in your speaking voice, some entirely in your falsetto voice; but many songs cross over between the two.

This can be obvious to the listeners-- which is a rather bad thing. When leading worship, the last thing you want is for half the congregation to stop and think, aha, she switched from falsetto back to speaking on that line! It's a good idea to experiment with that crossover, and try to understand what you need to do with your voice to make the transition as seamless as possible for the listeners-- and also as painless as possible for you. (That's why I keep talking about being comfortable. Singing shouldn't hurt.)

Two sets of Resonance Chambers

A resonance chamber is simply a place in your body that's full of air in which you can choose to set the air vibrating.

Sounds funny, doesn't it? The truth is, people with very resonant voices are simply projecting their voices into either their chest cavity, or, their sinus cativies. Or both.

All jokes about "being an airhead" aside, if you want to project a bright clear sound, then think of directing the sound that you are making, up into your sinuses; in other words, up into your head. If you've never done this, it's easiest to learn with a fairly high note ( not too high) and an "ooooooooo" sound in your falsetto voice. Imagine the "oooooooo" rolling around in your forehead. At least, that's the way I think about it and it works for me... I'll be trying to think of other ways of expressing this.

This is also a good place to mention the Nasal Twang. When I need a Nasal Twang, I think about directing the sound of my voice right into my nose. Sometimes you need it for that "Good Country Sound." Try not to overuse it.

If you want to project a deep, bassy sound, then think of your sound vibrating inside your chest. To try this, use your speaking voice-- a low note and a syllable such as "aaaaah" or "eeeeee" usually works well. Project the sound waves downward into your chest. My instructor used to refer to the yawning process; open your throat up wide, and direct the sound down into your lungs. (I also remember the suggestion to imagine you are swallowing a grapefruit.) Anyway, the idea is to open up your throat and send the sound downward so that the air inside your lungs picks up the frequency and vibrates there.

Combining the Two Effects

Obviously, you use the bassy, lung resonance inside your chest cavity with your speaking voice, and the upper, forehead-type of resonance with your falsetto voice. Right?

Not so fast! Although those are the best methods for learning the different resonances, they aren't the only way to use them. At the extreme ends of your range, the resonances do tend to be dependant on the voice you use (heady-falsetto, speaking--lungs), but aside from the two extremes, for the rest of your range you can choose which resonance you want. Play with different combinations. Sing an entire song-- with a two-octave range-- using both your voices, but just one of the resonances. Try it first with a heady reasonance; then with a bassy, lung resonance. See the difference? What you use is up to you. You can make your two voices-- speaking and falsetto-- blend together more by using the lung resonance with your falsetto, and your heady resonance with your speaking voice. Try it and see if it's confortable.

You should also find that thinking about resonance enables you to sing more loudly with less strain. If you are straining, you are doing something wrong. (Singing should NEVER hurt.) Learn to use resonance as your own personal amp. Use resonance for power, and use your breathing to sustain notes, not to push them.

As a woman, which resonance I use depends on who I am singing with. If I'm leading, and I have female backup singers but no guys, I'll use my speaking voice with some lung resonance to try and give the overall sound more balance. But if I'm singing with two men, I'll go ahead and use the higher, softer sounds. And of course, if I'm singing backup, then I make every effort to sing the way that my bandleader asks me to; if he doesn't specify, then I try to blend with whoever I'm singing with.

Advantages of a Trained Voice

What's the advantage of all this in the long run?

Flexibility, for one thing. We will be able to worship the Lord in more ways. If we are on a team, we will be a more useful and flexible member of the team and hence a more useful servant.

For another, if we try to make skilfull, beautiful music with our guitars and keyboards and other instruments, it only follows that we should develop skill and beauty with our voices. Over the years, as we use the different facets of our voice, and as our voices become more athletic, they will become richer and fuller as well. "Richness" and "timbre" develop naturally as we use our voices in many different modes. Our voices then become a more beautiful, flexible, expressive instrument to use in worship.

For a third, being more aware of all this helps us to sing intelligently, to pace ourselves and to avoid straining our voices, thus giving us more longevity as servants. I've decided to take reasonable care of my voice, because I want to be able to worship until the Lord calls me home.

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