Screaming for Vengeance
SCREAMING
FOR VENGEANCE
(WITHOUT HURTING YOUR THROAT) by
Jaime Vendera
So you want to scream your brains out, but you don’t want
to lose your voice. You wished you could sing some of the
classics like Judas Priest’s, “Screaming For Vengeance”,
or AC/DC’s, “Back In Black”, and you can’t quite seem to
tackle some of your newer favorites like Disturbed’s, “Prayer”,
or, Audioslave’s, “Cochise.” There is an art to singing
throaty and screaming, which could fill an entire book,
but here are a few pointers and one exercise to help you
start the task:
The
one thing all of the professional singers that I have interviewed
seem to agree upon is vocal placement. Vocal placement refers
to the focal point of the creation of the vocal sound. All
sound is produced in the throat by the vocal cords. But,
there is a way to manipulate that sound, so that it feels
as if it is being produced in a different spot. If you want
to sing throaty, you must find a way to make it feel as
if you have moved the sound away from the vocal cords, to
prevent from squeezing the sound down in your throat.
Some
professionals feel that the sound is being produced below
the vocal cords, right on top of the diaphragm. The diaphragm
is a muscle along the edges of the lower ribs, right above
the stomach. Singers tend to tighten their stomach muscles,
adding a little more vocal cord pressure, to get that gruff
sound. I personally don’t advise this, because you are adding
unnecessary pressure on your vocal cords, but it seems to
have worked well for singer’s like Josey Scott of Saliva.
If you decide to use this approach, moderation and correct
breath technique will help to save your voice.
All
the professional singers I have interviewed all agree on
the fact that the throat must remain relaxed and open. If
you tend to tighten or clench the throat, like grunting,
to achieve a throaty sound, you are leading yourself down
a path of vocal suicide. To maintain an open and relaxed
throat, I want you to yawn. Notice how the back of your
throat opens wide and the soft area of the roof of your
mouth (soft palate) raises. This allows more room for the
sound of your voice to escape and build resonance before
leaving your mouth.
What’s
resonance? Resonance is the tiny echoes produced from the
sound of your voice, from bouncing around inside of your
body, and in this case, your open throat and mouth. Resonance
is discussed more extensively in my book Raise Your Voice.
Singers like David Draiman of Disturbed preach about the
importance of an open throat. His sound is felt above his
vocal cords as opposed to right on top of the diaphragm,
with an open throat as opposed to a tight clenched voice.
As a
basis to find that throaty sound, I want you to sustain
an “mmmmm” on the lowest, softest sound you can achieve.
This sound reminds me of when you wake up in the morning
and yawn, but the sound is very low and throaty sounding.
This is called a vocal fry. You can actually feel the vocal
cords opening and closing as they touch and release. Now,
I want you to feel this sound in the roof of your mouth
on your soft palate. The soft palate is where you want to
focus your screaming.
Another
way to get used to feeling the sound in your soft palate,
is gargling. Try gargling some water, then try without water.
When you can do this, switch between the gargling feeling
and a vocal fry, I know that actually screaming a song,
like Linkin Park’s, “Crawling”, will take a lot more energy
and effort, but you must build from the basics. All vocal
technique starts with a basic idea to build upon.
So remember,
if you are going to sing throaty, an open throat with the
sound of your voice directed up into the soft palate (away
from the vocal cords) is the way to go. If you wish to direct
the force of your voice down towards the diaphragm, that’s
your choice, just be careful not to over tighten the stomach
muscles. Believe it or not, screaming isn’t about tension,
it’s about relaxation and controlled direction.
Okay,
but what about hitting those high notes? Well, if I were
making the choice, I’d run and buy Raise Your Voice right
now. But, one of the easiest, quickest exercises I have
ever found, that has enabled me to scream my ass off, is
the “E” scream exercise by vocal coach Jim Gillette.
The
“E” scream exercise is a very simple and effective exercise.
Begin by sustaining a low volume “e” in falsetto, and slowly
swell the sound until it is very loud and buzzing in your
head. Start on any pitch that is comfortable for your range,
and work your way up in pitch. So, when you do this exercise,
it will swell like this in falsetto, “eeeeeeEEEEEE.” This
exercise is demonstrated on Jim Gillette’s Vocal Power CD,
along with four vocal workouts, designed to develop your
voice in stages. I advise you purchase his program to get
a better understanding of the exercise. If you wish to purchase
the DVD, you can do so at www.metalmethod.com .
Again,
this is all just a basis for you to begin saving your voice.
I advise using a good warm-up before singing any throaty
songs, or any songs for that matter. You can use the basic
Vocal Stress Release Program, from free lesson #1 in this
series. The full version, with audio files, is available
in my book, Raise Your Voice. If you practice these four
things; warm up, keep an open throat, direct the sound towards
the soft palate, and practice the “E” scream exercise, you
will definitely reach your goal faster, while saving your
voice.
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