How to Project Your Voice

Video Transcript

"Hi, this is Tom Kenaston, I'm a singer, song writer, and a performer, musician, living in West Palm Beach Florida, and also New York City. In this clip we're going to talk about, how to project your singing voice. I have to say, this is a big subject. I would encourage you, if you really want to finesse this and really get it going to get some lessons. But in this clip, I can talk about a number of different things that will help you get started. One of which is, you want to sing with a relaxed open throat, that's very important. If you close off, and a lot of beginning singers go, (I'm exaggerating) but they sing with a lot of tension here, they're nervous, they want to make sure they get the sound right, and that's going to shut down the sound, it's going to shorten it, limit it, shrink it, and it's not going to be nearly as effective. You want to open everything up, you want to make sure the jaw is relaxed in the back, your throat is open as well. A great way to find what that feels like, is to force yourself to yawn, and when you yawn, everything goes, ahh, like that. So when you're projecting your voice, you want to start from that thought. Another thing that you want to think about, a friend of mine told me, that it's almost like, controlled bellowing, I believe was the word, but, it might not have been, but I like that word, and it means the same thing. So you might talk sort of like this, but make sure that this is all very open, and relaxed, because if you try to do that, it gets too strident. I also like to think of, like if I'm in a big room, I like to think of a spot at the end of the room on the wall, like a little pin spot, and I want to make sure that my voice travels sharply to that, (this is all just psychological stuff) rather than try to make your voice go everywhere in the room, all at once. Think of sending your voice to one very specific spot, and it travels like a laser beam, from a relaxed open throat to that place, and then everywhere else in the room, will also hear a nice clear ringing sound. And that's a good way to start. And even if you're not a singer, you can do the same, use some of these same techniques, as you talk, like if you were acting in a theatrical show, or something like that. So, I suggest you give those things a shot, and if you want to go further, find someone in your area who can help you with some regular singing lessons, to find more specific ways of going about that. This is Tom Kenaston, and this has been, how to project your voice."