So you're having trouble singing high notes - whether you're straining, flipping, breaking or just plain old can't freakin' get there, there's no need to CRY about it... well, actually there is!
Watch the video to learn how to sing higher notes using CRY:
Maybe you've heard the term "cry" before, it's pretty common in vocal circles.
But here's the thing - the cricothyroid, the 'cry' muscle is actually INVOLUNTARY.
So, if people are using this muscle to sing high notes, but it's not a muscle you can actually FLEX - how the hell do you learn this?
Involuntary Vocal Innervation.
This is a process I've developed over 15 years of coaching experience - seeing two types of singers come through my studio doors;
- Naturals who just do this stuff correctly
- The rest of us! 👈
I don't know about you, but I didn't start with three octaves of range or even a nice sounding voice.
I remember being too scared and embarrassed to even try singing a song when I went to my first few vocal lessons.
I'm not a natural, and I'm gonna guess that you're not one either.
And the REASON that your not a natural isn't because your vocal folds are too short, or you're anatomically different from every other human on the planet somehow, your genes suck or you just plain old have a bad voice;
You lack natural innervation of the involuntary processes of the voice.
Basically, your singing muscles are turned "OFF" by default - just like mine.
But that's not the end of the story here - you've seen me singing crazy Cornell stuff, you've seen me demonstrate all of this stuff without backing tracks or any of that stuff - just a real voice in a room.
Yet I lack natural innervation of the involuntary processes of the voice - I probably always will.
Now, when you see some bloke on YouTube saying "you just sing with cry like this" and they sing a high note, it's not actually the TONE that they're going for that activates the cricothyroid - it's actually the vagus nerve.
Now, if you know anything about the vagus nerve, this is the 'reset button' of your central nervous system - meaning, when you engage it regularly in the way you breathe, you feel friggin' FANTASTIC.
Seriously, you know those annoying 'confident' people that just sing awesome... and they KNOW it? They have the personality to match?
It's because of this nerve that we're constantly innervating in different ways to control various involuntary processes in our body.
We're all doing it all day long.
But what most people don't realise is that you're actually in CONTROL of what these nerves are innervating - basically, what they're switching on and off!
When you're less than confident, and when you're expecting to fail at a song or a high note - the body is in a state of "fight or flight" - meaning, it's only the main systems that are actually functioning.
I mean, you don't really need to sing high notes when you're being chased by a LION in the jungle, right?
So, much of these extraneous processes that don't directly involve basic survival are turned OFF.
Meaning, you can't sing high notes.
Now, there's actually a link between confidence and singing well - and it's directly related to the 'reset button' of the body, the vagus nerve which directly impacts how your vocal instrument functions on a physical level!
So, how do we activate the CT muscle?
There's a reason I'm including the Support booster course along with the Vowel Modification 101 course - it's because your diaphragm is actually the key driving force behind the vagus nerve.
The way you breathe actually effects involuntary innervation of the cricothyroid... your high note muscle!
Try a slight cry/complaint sound as you're shifting up through your vowels - it probably does a little bit/not that much.
Now, if we try it again, and we actively keep our ribs OUT and keep our belly EXPANDED instead of pushing on the air - there's a nerve signal sent to the larynx that you want to TENSION the voice to pitch instead of using pressure!
Eureka - you just found your first point of involuntary vocal innervation.
Wanna take it a step further?
