So you've had a singing teacher or seen a YouTube video telling you that you've gotta sing "forward" to become a better singer and that singing with forward placement is the secret to all great singing.

You've tried it.

It sucks.

It sounds bad.

You sound like a cartoon character singing through their nose.

So you STOP trying to sing forward - because it's just not what you're looking for.

Or IS it?

If you've seen one of those YouTube videos with cheap advice like "sing more nasal" - this is probably the results you got so far, because forward placement actually has nothing to do with nasality in your singing, and everything to do with harmonics.

Did your teacher or that video delve into harmonics and how they create forward placement?

I doubt it - and that's why it hasn't been working for you; because you're trying to do something you simply don't understand.

So let me explain.

Singing with forward placement is sometimes called "the singer's formant" - meaning, that it's a unique tone to great singers and isn't commonly found in our speaking voices.

So what IS a formant, and why should you care?

The most basic way to explain a formant is that they are a group of frequencies that resonate well.

Each vowel is made up of two formants, F1 behind the tongue and F2 in front of the tongue (structure and clarity respectively).

An AY vowel is 'dark' in the back with a larger space and 'bright' in the mouth with a smaller space, and an AH vowel is 'bright' in the back with a smaller space and 'dark' in the mouth with a larger space.

These two formants blend together to give you the sound you know as a vowel - and when you get it right, it's a powerful, effortless and pleasant sound.

But these aren't our only formants.

Forward placement is a formant that builds along the wall of the vocal tract and resonates in the bones of the face - helping you bring the voice out of the throat in a powerful way which simply 'cuts' through any situation when you sing.

Think of an opera singer singing without a microphone - they're not yelling and red in the face, right? They're using forward placement to cut through the setting and accentuate the natural tone of their voice within the vowel.

If you've ever wondered why it's easy to sing light and small, but then your voice breaks and cracks when you try to sing LOUDER - it's because you're going about it in the wrong way; if you simply increase the forward placement formant, your voice will cut through like never before, and the boost in frequencies and pressure will start acting downwards to the vocal folds creating what is called "compression" - basically, the vocal folds existing in a pressurised state instead of being pushed up by subglottal pressure (aka strain-city).

The origin of forward placement is the harmonic at the vocal folds, which for all intents and purposes is just the intent to make the higher bones of the face vibrate/singing into 'the mask'.

But this has nothing to do with nasality, or air flowing out of your nose, or even having an ugly tone - when done correctly, the harmonic of forward placement actually acts in a complimentary way to a correctly sung vowel, and can even help you accentuate the chesty, deep, rich part of your voice.

I often meet with singers who have been trying to push their chest voice higher by cutting off all high frequencies and brightness in their voice in an attempt to sound thick and full - it takes some convincing, but once they discover forward placement in their tone and it makes their voices even MORE full while also allowing them to sing with absolute ease and confidence; the freedom with which they then sing is quite incredible to witness.

Forward placement has nothing to do with nasality, and everything to do with harmonics and formants - and for your purposes right now, has everything to do with "intention" - the intention of resonating high and forward in the face (don't confuse this with head voice!) to jump start the harmonics in your vocal folds.

At the heart of your voice, the vocal folds actually make more than one frequency at the same time - it's not that we're singing a pitch and that's it; the pitch of your vibration actually isn't the strongest part of your tone; that's actually forward placement and twang (3k to 1k respectively). Learn to use them together, along with balancing those two vowel formants; and you're on your way to that professional singing tone you love in your favourite singers.

Clear as mud?

You can learn all about harmonics and frequencies in my Vowel Extension Course available in the Mega Course Pack here at Foundation Vocal Course.

Watch this video to learn how I use forward placement.