Crossing Bridges
Today we are crossing some bridges!
Hey friends! I’m so excited that you’re back with me at The Singing Studio. Today we are going to be talking about our vocal bridge. It is the bridge that is between our chest and our head voice. I’m sure a lot of you have experienced this, I know that I’ve experienced this, where I’ll be singing a song and I’ll get to the part of my voice where it kind of switches over to my upper register. Then I crack or I squeak. Yes that is where our bridge is and yes it is natural to crack and squeak up there. I will get into that more along with some goals that we should have as we are exercising our bridges.
So like I just said, the bridge is what connects our lower register in our upper register. It’s sort of an awkward place because we’ll crack or we’ll squeak, but our goal with the bridge is to have a smooth and strengthened connection between the two. Sort of like a bridge that you would drive on. You don’t want to drive on a bridge or walk across a bridge that’s crumbling or falling. No! We want to have a good foundation. So these exercises today are going to help us strengthen and smooth that bridge. These exercises are meant for you to practice at home. It takes time. It takes patience. Be sure as you are practicing these to take your time, drink lots of water, and use that good breath support. Our bridges aren’t going to be strengthened and smoothed all in one day. It takes practice. It takes constant repetition in these exercises in order to help strengthen that bridge and create a smooth connection.
Before we dive into those exercises let me just remind you that you need to have good breath support, be drinking that water, and really, really try and be relaxed as we do these exercises. Again, I know it’s awkward. We’re going to be squeaking and cracking up there in our bridge and that’s okay. It’s going to happen. Be sure to stay relaxed and not have any tension because tension is just going to make it harder for us to smooth and strengthen our bridge. So let’s dive into these exercises. I’m super excited!
The first exercise that we are going to do are some octave siren slides. So basically we’re starting at one note, we’re jumping up to the octave, and then we’re sliding all the way down sort of like a siren. We’re trying to have good breath support especially when we’re jumping up. Sometimes we can back off or sometimes we may shorten our breath because it is a big leap, but if anything that should just encourage you to focus even more on that breath support. Make sure as we’re sliding down to be nice and gentle. Don’t force out the sound. We don’t want any sort of strain, but we also want to make sure that we’re allowing our voices to be open even if we crack or squeak a little bit. That’s just part of strengthening that bridge. It’ll feel kind of weird especially as you’re sliding through it and that’s okay. If anything, that should encourage you to have even more breath support as we’re singing this. Here we go!
Did you hear that squeak at the end? You know what? That’s okay! If you squeak or if you have a little bit of a crack, don’t feel ashamed! It’s just part of the process.
This next exercise is my absolute go-to bridge exercise. It’s on one of my favorite vowels, a “wee”. And we are doing some slides. I know slides can be really uncomfortable. I understand, but that is how we strengthen our voice, how we get these muscles moving and used to going back and forth from our chest or head voice, and singing on the bridge. So let me demonstrate it for you and give you a challenge as you practice this at home.
So this exercise is awesome because it really activates our chest voice and activates our head voice. It’s really wonderful, but the most important thing is especially when we get up to our bridge. We have to slide through it and we’re forced to switch our voice. It really just depends who we are for where that flip happens, but you could probably hear mine. I tried to make it obvious where I flipped. My challenge to you is once you flip into that head voice, make sure to keep it. Even if we’re going down lower, and it would be technically in our chest voice that we would sing that certain note, try and keep it in that head voice. That’s not only going to strengthen our head voice, but it’s going to help our bridge smoothen out. We’re trying to slowly smooth this bridge so that we can have a nice connection and less squeaks and cracks. That is my challenge for you when you do this exercise. Keep it in your head voice once you flip. Think of it as a one-way road. Once you flip, keep it there and really try and keep that vocal consistency and that good energy. That is my challenge.
In this final exercise, we will be singing “la la la la la”. And yes I chose an “ah” vowel for this because “ah” is a very open vowel. Especially when we’re singing up higher and we’re singing up in our bridge, where we flip can be sort of uncomfortable. It can feel a little bit vulnerable to sing “ah” when we feel a little bit weaker in that bridge. So you can sing this exercise on an “oo” or a “wee” which are a little bit easier vowels to get your voice around and sing up high. But I encourage you to gradually get up to that “ah” in the “la la la la”. So something to keep in mind for this is to have a nice and relaxed jaw. This is why I love this exercise because it helps me practice not being tense, not having a tense jaw, and just being relaxed. This helps me enjoy the exercise and not have this feeling of “la la la”. So make sure that we are keeping it nice and relaxed. So this is “la la la”.
And when you reach that one part of your voice where you flip over, that’s okay! Allow it to flip even if it feels a little bit weaker. That’s okay. This is the point of these exercises. We’re trying to strengthen them! Make sure to have that good vocal consistency and have a relaxed jaw.
That is all for our episode today. Be sure to check out the supplemental video that will have those exercises so that you can follow along at home. Thanks and have a great day!
I do these videos every other week, but if you still want more musical theatre, check out my newsletter! It’s called “Beyond The Score”, and it just takes a closer look at musical theatre history. You can find that at jskstories.com.
Bridge Exercises
Hey you guys! Welcome to the supplemental video for Crossing Bridges! If you haven’t watched that episode, be sure to see it so that you can know all of the goals that you should be keeping in mind while you do these exercises. With that, I hope you enjoy this video!
Bridge exercise 1 octave siren slides
Bridge exercise 2 wee slides
Bridge exercise 3 La La La
Thank you for watching! These exercise videos are made to guide you through your practicing! Be sure to take breaks if you are feeling tired and make sure to drink water.
Make sure to like this video!
I do these videos every other week, but if you still want more musical theatre, check out my newsletter! It’s called “Beyond The Score”, and it just takes a closer look at musical theatre history. You can find that at jskstories.com.