Speech Level Singing

Speech Level Singing™ has an unsurpassed track record of training some of the best voices and artists in the music business. It is the technique behind 120 Grammy Award Winners, four winners of the New York Metropolitan Opera Awards, numerous Star Search winners, countless Broadway stars, television personalities, and recording artists.

Speech Level Singing is founded on the concept of singing in the same manner as you speak - with your larynx (voice box) in a stable and relaxed position. Most people are completely unaware of their larynx when they speak. The same is true for a singer well-trained in Speech Level Singing. The outer muscles of the larynx are relaxed - this frees the vocal cords to function in their natural manner.

The areas where most vocal students have difficulty maintaining this relaxed position are in the bridges (passagi) of the voice. Bridges are passage areas where shifts in resonance occur due to vocal cord adjustments required for the singer to sing high or low in the vocal range. The first bridge is usually the most important one to address since this is where the outer muscles are most likely to get involved in the singing process. This first bridge is between the chest voice and the mix. The mix is where the resonance starts to leave the mouth and go behind the soft palate. It produces a mixture of head voice and chest voice. Development of a strong mix is essential to a strong, healthy voice and to avoiding vocal cord strain and damage.

The vocal exercises used in Speech Level Singing condition the outer muscles to remain relaxed through these bridges. The larynx remains stable and the vocal cords make their adjustments in balance with the breath. This produces a clear, free and connected sound from your lowest to highest note.