Sing in the mask.
Move your placement forward.
Feel it vibrating in your nose or face.

All of that sounds fine and dandy, but HOW ON EARTH DO YOU GET IT (to feel good)?

The first thing I want you to know is

Placement is the result of how your voice resonates.

And is predominatly the result of

✨ how connected your cords are,

✨ whether or not your ability to project is inhibited by anything (nerves, tongue, jaw tension etc)

✨ how you shape your vocal tract (namely your mouth and tongue).

The Hiccups

If you’ve already done the rounds on singing blogs and YouTube videos, you’ve probably encountered the words “twang” and/or “whinge.”

They were the big buzzwords in the early 2000s.

And like this iconic red carpet fashion moment from the same era 👇 it’s something many would prefer to leave in the past.

When I used to teach whinge exercises trying to get singers to experience "twang", I would ask them a lot of questions.

The single most important one being "How does that feel?"

For those of playing you at home, this is ALWAYS the magic question.

Often they would say it felt tighter, stretchier, pinched or a little forced.

None of which singing teachers want their students to experience in the practice room (and none of which singers want to experience on stage).

And even if the slightly forced feeling wasn't there, there were other issues.

The more singers experienced "distinct" or more extreme twang, the more they thought that was the way all their singing should feel.

Have you ever heard someone sing an Adele ballad with the bright nasality of Idina Menzel? It's just not quite what we had in mind.

So if we don't want to CONTORT our voices into singing more forward, how do we get a balanced, non-swallowed sound without the discomfort?

The Heroes

(in question form)

How am I FEELING?

Before we go into tweaks you can make the way you technically approach the notes you’d like more “forward,” it’s important that we talk about how your thoughts and emotions can interfere with good intentions.

If you’re feeling anxious about a section of a song, you’ll likely

• hold your breath back or push too much out, or

• try too hard by pushing off consonants or using a glottal onset, or

• hesitate and “half-sing” or

• over-lift your soft palate, or

• close your mouth more than usual

All of which - you guessed it - add tension or make your sound less forward / more swallowed.

Common thoughts and feelings we can have that point to THIS being where you should focus your energy:

• “This is the HARD bit, you have to try harder here.”

• “Don’t get it wrong!”

• “What if somebody hears you? How embarrassing.”

• Feeling scared, nervous, frustrated, desperate, or shy.

Am I using more natural / organic sounds?

The witch cackle, the whinging child, the teasing kid - all of these seem natural for children, but when you ask an adult to attempt them, the sensation is often foreign and sometimes forced.

Instead, I’ll get singers to “call” or “wail,” trying to get them to make a more natural expressive sound around about where the note lives (yes this will probably feel like a departure from what you think “singing should be".)

This ensures that your cords are coming together (vital to create the air pressure needed for most higher and stronger sounds singers want to make) and usually leaves the tongue tension/pushing/trying to “put it somewhere” behind.

What’s going on with my support/breath control/air pressure balance?

A swallowed or stuck sound can be because something's going wrong with a singer's support.

Again, check the first two even before you start exploring this one.

Here’s a little checklist:

• Are your ribs and belly expanding a little on the inhale?

• Are you resisting the collapse of your ribs as you sing?

• Is your belly moving in as a natural response to your use of breath?

• Is your breath intensity equal to the volume/power/quality you want to create (are you fueling it enough)?

If your air flow is patchy, you’re not creating the right air pressure for the sound you want or your abdominal muscles aren’t flexible, you'll run into issues.

Want to know how to put this into practice?

Is the way I’m shaping my vowels ALLOWING the sound to resonate in a more forward way?

Some vowels are naturally better behaved than others for feeling "forward placement".

You might notice that Ee and Oo for example resonate in a more forward way without you having to do anything extra.

This is because the high tongue position on the EE and the rounded lips on the OO FUNNEL the sound forward.

Vowel shaping or vowel modification is when you make subtle adjustments to the way you pronounce the lyrics to either aid in projection or change the colour of the tone.

And it’s a pretty cool trick.

The video below is actually about tone colour, but it will demonstrate a little about vowel modification for you.

So, no twang?

I’m never going to tell you what to do point blank.

But if you’ve read this article, I’m going to guess that those "Nyah Nyah" whinging exercises aren’t working for you.

Check in with yourself when you try to add “twang” or “whinge”

• Is it effortless or do you feel a forcing, pulling or stretching sensation?

• Is there still a fullness to the sound or does it get shrill and shrieky?

If it’s not feeling great, work through the suggestions in this blog post.

Remember, you want to become your own best teacher.

It's worth questioning everything to see if there's a better, more efficient way of doing things!

Loved this and want to learn more?