Relaxing - A Method for Relaxing Your Throat

Relaxing your throat is critical for singing. A relaxed throat leads to control, clean tone, and excellent intonation. A tense throat leads to a complete lack of control which can cause any number of bizarre and strange sounds to come out of your mouth.

One of my favorite ways of helping people relax is what I call the "baby sound." Essentially, we are trying to create a sound without any use of any muscle above the shoulder. So with everything as relaxed as you can possibly make it, make a loud "uh" type of sound. It should not be any particular vowel and should sound similar to a baby trying to create sound. Just a noise made without moving anything.

With this particular sound, we are using the breathing muscles in your core to push air without any neck muscles coming into play. This helps build the feeling of support and singing being directly connected instead of two separate activities. Try making this sound on higher pitches and try it at different volumes. If this is an exercise that works for you, you should notice the core muscles flexing differently while the neck remains exactly the same.

If this works for you, try starting this sound, holding it for a moment or two, and then transition into words to see if you can sing effectively while still feeling this connection. This exercise does not work for everyone, so if its not for you or you still feel you neck activate, check out one of my other posts on relaxation. If you need extra help, sign up for a singing lesson by clicking here!