Work ALWAYS from the higher part of the voice to the lower registers - the feeling of bringing head voice down and not carrying chest voice up. The oo vowel is the easiest way to find that placement and build a core to the tone. A certain amount of breathiness is not only inevitable - it MUST be there in a healthy changing female voice. Anything else is just belting Broadway style. The more you work from head voice down, the healthier and stronger the tone will be.

 

Mary Jane Phillips

There are two issues to consider when addressing breathiness in middle school girls:

 

1) The female voice change can be as dramatic in the female voice as it can in the male voice, it just has different symptoms.  One of those symptoms is, in fact, breathiness.  In many females, the crico-thyroid muscle (the vocal chords) mature and thicken more at one end than at the other.  This inequality in musculature produces a gap between the chords at the weaker end called a "mutational chink," which allows air to escape.  It is both natural and, for many young singers, completely unavoidable.  If a girl suddenly has issues with breathiness, especially if range changes also, there's a good change the voice is simply changing.  The only real cure for this is, of course, time so that the muscles can continue to develop.  However, exercises and vocalises which promote strength in the musculature (aka just about anything that involves singing) may help to diminish how noticible the breathiness is and begin to close the chink.  Don't dumb it down--as girl's voice change, they are increasingly capable of more sophisticated and challenging vocalises, breathiness not withstanding.  Finally, always encourage singers, especially changing voices, to "sigh," sliding from highest to lowest, thoughout the rehearsal, so they continue to stretch all parts of the laryngeal musculature.

 

2) Many young singers do have issues with breath control, both over- and under-supporting the voice.  Unfortunately for the teacher, breathiness, while often considered a sign of under-supporting, can in fact be a sign of either.  Moreoften than not, the breathiness comes from over-supporting and allowing the extra air to escape freely.  Helping students understand anatomy helps; for example, that the diaphragm ONLY helps us breathe in and the abdominal muscles ONLY help us breathe out.  Exercises which help promote correct, balanced breath support will help here.  Practice breathing in through an imaginary straw (noticing the work of the diaphragm), holding the breath a moment (using only the diaphragm), then breathing out slowly with a "hissing" sound (carefully balancing the diaphragm and abs).   Also, simply 1-3-5-3-1 on "ya-ha-ha" or "yee-hee-hee" helps to develop musculature in the diaphragm and abdomen.

 

Hope this helps!

 

William Southerland

I'd actually disagree with Mary here; in my experience (as a speech pathologist as well as singing tchr) sometimes bringing head voice down too far weakens the low end, and leads to unnucessary vocal fatigue, at any age. Especially for the altos, I'd encourage them to find low notes that "feel like talking," and let the register shift happen wherever it will (different for each girl, & variable by syllable, melodic direction, and loudness).

 

Breathiness is a mismatch between the airflow and the strength of vocal fold closure. Assuming that the girls' speaking voices seem normal (not husky/overused from social activities, which would suggest irregular cord edges & closure), see what happens if they take in LESS air, but use it up more slowly. "Don't take more air than you can manage".

 

Try: Cue them to take a "comfortable" breath & do prolonged "ssssss" or "shhhhh" with the sensation of not using up ANY air. Do NOT go as far as squeezing the ribs at the end to get every last bit out; no competition for longest breath! Goals are to find & strengthen the feeling of constraining/compressing/holding-back on airflow with the torso muscles, & on making airstream as smooth & steady as possible.

 

If anyone seems to be gasping or otherwise getting discoordinated, just have them do a normal in/out rest breath in between "ssssss" 's. And of course watch for neck tension, & decrease it by reminding them to take a comfortable breath in, not huge/maximum. Gradually encourage larger or "more generous" breath using the same control.  They can practice this on their own, here & there through the day.

 

To transfer to vocalizing: same exercise on "zzzzz" or "Zhhhh", then prolonged vowels, (on one note or vocalise), starting with most tense (least risk of breathiness) to most relaxed (hardest to control air). Eee, eh, ooo, oh, ah is my own preference. Midrange first, then low, then high.

 

It might also be useful to chat with the group about what music they listen to outside of choir. If their crowd favors "Alt" singer/songwriters, the females tend to be very breathy & this may be their image of what a pretty voice sounds like.

 

Or they might just be scared about showing power, getting notes wrong, or have other hesitations that will fade as you develop a group bond & confidence. Catch them laughing or teasing each other in full voice, & say "THAT's how I want your singing to feel! I knew you had it in you!" or similar.

 

sorry this is so long or if it is off-target, I'm new to this community but LOVE getting voices to work right!

 

Joanna Cazden

Dan,

Your ladies will not begin to loose the breathiness until thay can find where their voices focus but this can be near at hand because they already do this. Have them cackle like witches; chant very nasal na-na-na-nee-boo-boo at various pitch levels for high to low; whine like puppies; yell at someone across the parking lot; yell "Hey".

 

The point is that each singer must find WHERE in the mask to FEEL focus. Then, turn that feeling into 5-3-1 vocalizes (say, g'-e'-c')[c=middle c] descending  by half-steps into the lower octaves as needed on whichever syllabe the individuals find most effective. This is not to be pretty. The more nasal (read focused) as possible. When the focus works, turn to pure vowels. This is not belting but projection. The sensation remains constant especially by changing to an ng (make certain the tongue is neither bunched nor tight at all.

The singers may be shy about this. I have had singers rather die than yell in school (until they reach the halls) but until they can feel this focal point, there will be little change.

 

There is no involvement from the glottis in this excercise, only projection with the sensation of focusing in the mask. Abdominal support must be activate as well as must be the resonance from the back spaces. These three things are what I codified as THE THREE THINGS which must react together for continuing to grow as a singer from youth through old age.

 

I would recommend to you How to Train Singers by Larra Browning Henderson (Parker Publishing, 1991). I have also posted much information about these issues in the archives of Choralnet.com.