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From: "DIANE M. CLARK (MUSIC DEPARTMENT)"
Subject: Re: Rock'n'Roll Singer
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Richard wrote:

>>Firstly when I'm trying to sing in a high note I can't get any clarity. I
can reach the note with respect to its tone, however it sounds like there is
a lot of air just slipping out that doesn't seem to be part of any
vibration. Like a sort of hissing sound but coming from the back of my
throat.

Also after about 3 minutes of singing I get an intense tickling at the back
of my throat and the after that can't continue. I just start coughing.

Any advice? Are there any exercises I should be doing?

+++

Get a good voice teacher and learn how your voice works and how to use it
properly. You do not have the proper balance between the ait being exhaled
and the vocal cords resisting the air to create tone. This is called proper
phonation. You are also singing with tension, and your cough is letting you
know that. (Oops, that should read AIR being exhaled.) Anyway, there are
plenty of great exercises to help you work on these things, but you also need
supervision in the process. A good voice teacher will open up a world of
knowledge that will help you sing the way you want to sing.

|\ Dr. Diane M. Clark, Assoc. Prof./Chair of Music Dept., Rhodes College
| 2000 N. Parkway, Memphis, TN 38112, 901-843-3782, dclark-at-rhodes.edu
() http://gray.music.rhodes.edu/musichtmls/faculty/dclark.html