Vocal Studio of Claire Yarringon

SPEECH LEVEL SINGING

The Technique of Legends

Speech Level Singing® (SLS) makes singing as natural and easy as speaking. Used by more that 130 Grammy winners and developed by Seth Riggs, legendary vocal coach to the stars, SLS produces an effortless, powerful, and expressive voice.

What do singers such as Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, Kelly Clarkson, Michael Jackson, Ray Charles, Amy Lee of Evanescense, Michael Bolton, Natalie Cole, Quincy Jones, Luther Van Dross, Bernadette Peters and many more stars have in common? 

The Speech Level Singing Technique, developed by Seth Riggs. Speech Level Singing has an unsurpassed track record of training some of the best voices and artists in the music business.

Speech Level Singing® can be applied to any type of music from Classical to Rock and Jazz to Pop or Rhythm and Blues. Singers who train with Speech Level Singing have won over 130 Grammy Awards, numerous New York Metropolitan Opera Awards, and Tony Awards for leading roles on the Broadway stage. SLS is practiced by Academy Award winning actors, television stars and recording artists to perfect their vocal presence and empower them in singing and speech.

Click Here for a list of Speech Level Singing™ clients.

How the voice works:

The larynx, the bump in the middle of the neck below the chin, rises up during the swallowing process. This is a very important process when you need to swallow, but it is a very poor process when you are trying to sing, since the larynx is also home to the vocal cords. A lifted larynx while singing results in tension, distortion of the words, and disconnection of the voice commonly referred to as a "break". Most singers in an effort to belt or to sing in their "natural" voice are actually straining, using these outer swallowing muscles to produce their desired sound, resulting in a high, or strained, larynx. This is very damaging to the vocal cords.

If the larynx stays down and the vocal cords stay together from the very bottom of the vocal range to the very top everything is fine. This also applies to all vowel and consonant combinations through out any phrase. If at any point the larynx jumps up or down or the tone becomes breathy then there is something wrong with the vocal process. If you place your hand on your larynx and yawn, you will find that you can bring your larynx down as well. This is a good way to learn what it feels like to have the larynx stay down. The end goal here is to be able to keep the larynx from moving down as well as up. It should stay completely still as you ascend and descend.

Speech Level Singing enables you to keep the larynx relaxed and stable (eliminating the outer muscle activity) as you sing through your entire vocal range--as well as through every vowel and consonant combination. Ultimately the singer trains the vocal cords to make the adjustment of balancing with the flow of air, producing the proper resonance shifts through the bridges with no breaks or glitches, resulting in a freer tone. This tone will contain a balance of top, middle, and bottom harmonic qualities, like a good stereo system. So, basically the result is that you can sing easily through your entire range with freedom and ease and still be conversational and natural.

The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are a pair of soft tissue cords that are joined at the front of the larynx and extend back. When they close, the back end of the cords come together (connect), and the flow of air is temporarily stopped. When the pressure of air from the diaphragm overcomes the pressure of the muscles holding the cords together, they are blown apart and sound is made when they close again due to the resonation created. Then once again the air pressure overcomes the muscle pressure and the process begins again. If a singer is singing an A above middle C, this process happens 440 times every second. The pitch A above middle C vibrates 440 times per second. That is very fast and it is somewhat difficult to see this process happen even if you can see down the singer throat. Since the invention of the strobescopy it has become easier to view the vocal cord resonation process. If the vocal cords begin to come apart, the tone becomes breathy and the muscles around the outside of the larynx begin to tense. This becomes what is called a constricted phonation and is quite harmful for the voice.

This condensed version of what happens when you sing, gives a simplified idea of what is correct. Take these two ideas and while you are singing, monitor them. See if you can keep your larynx still and your cords together. You will probably find that there is a certain area of your voice that is easy for you to accomplish this, and certain points of your voice that are more difficult. These harder areas are called bridges, The key to Speech Level Singing is in understanding the bridges and the mix. Bridges in the voice are passage areas from one part of our vocal range to another. In Italian, they're called passagi-or maybe you've heard the term passagio. These passage areas are a result of vocal cord adjustments that must take place in order for us to sing high and low in our range. These vocal cord adjustments produce resonance shifts in our body. Our first shift in resonance, or our first bridge, is our most crucial, because this is where our outer muscles are most likely to enter the picture. If they do, they tighten around the larynx in an effort to stretch the cords for the desired pitch.

"What most teachers don't understand is that you don't need to think about twenty different things every time you open your mouth. And you don't need to study singing for more than a few weeks before you begin to experience positive results…It doesn't matter whether you sing Pop, Rock, Opera, or Musical Theater. You should sing with a technique that allows you to just relax and concentrate on performing- which is what it’s all about anyway, right?" - Seth Riggs