I'd be really grateful if anyone could help me with this....obviously I would ask my teacher normally but if you've read my other post then you'll know I don't have one at the moment!
I'm a soprano and my break is around a/b flat/b/c above middle c. My ‘break notes’ (for lack of a better word!) have a tendency to sometimes, well, break, or crack, when I'm singing, and my last teacher taught me a lot to try and correct it, such as consistent air flow, correctly placed tongue, high soft palate, relaxed jaw, relaxed posture, making sure my chin isn't sticking out...this has helped it hugely, but it will still crack sometimes. Everything I’ve learnt has helped to a degree but nothing has got rid of it completely. I feel there must be something specific that I'm doing, and I don't know what it is.
Could anyone please tell me what actually physically makes the voice do this, as at the moment I feel I'm a bit in the dark. At the moment I have no idea why it cracks, and why it cracks at some times but not at others. Sometimes if it doesn’t crack it will feel very ‘unsafe’, like it’s about to (sorry I don’t know how to describe this in a better way!). I worked very hard with my last teacher and feel that now my voice is of a general standard where it sounds ridiculous if it suddenly cracks over those few notes, and I’m turning down opportunities to perform because I find it so embarrassing! I would love to be able to get rid of it and have been trying to for ages, but however much my technique seems to improve, it never disappears -.this is why I'm wondering if there's an issue I haven't addressed yet?
Would be very grateful for advice/information, thank you!!
Your voice cracks when the amount of weight in the vocal folds is disproportionate to the amount of support or anchoring required for the volume needed. In these cases, your voice attempts to 'change gear' to a lighter configuration (if support is inadequate) or to a heavier one (if support is too present).
Your teacher has already given you excellent advice on this to solve the problem. Here's some extra things that might help:
1) check that your neck is straight and that the ear is almost directly over the shoulder, without dropping your chin (imagine a slightly haughty posture) - exagerate the neck straightening at difficult points in the voice, a slight tension in the muscles of the back of the neck, as if you were about to sneeze, may help with gear changing.
2) place your hands around your waistband and make sure that your oblique muscles are working sufficiently as you go up - if you feel them drop out a little, make them work harder. You can train on voiced consonants such as v or z to get these muscles well and toned.
3) if you get a feeling of tightness when the breaks occur, try loosening up the pharynx a little by chewing an imaginary huge toffee until you feel it pulling behind the nose.
4) check that you are deconstricting enough - if you're singing classical music, using the 'pre-yawn' might help, alternatively imagine that you are about to laugh and aren't allowed to - hide the laugh in your throat and hold that feeling when you sing - especially around the tough parts of the voice.
5) try adding a slight whimper as you go up
6) try sending all your vowels back towards 'uh' (think 'duh!') as you go up
Maybe you'll find the solution by combining some of the above with what your teacher has already told you.
Good luck!
Allan
Your teacher has already given you excellent advice on this to solve the problem. Here's some extra things that might help:
1) check that your neck is straight and that the ear is almost directly over the shoulder, without dropping your chin (imagine a slightly haughty posture) - exagerate the neck straightening at difficult points in the voice, a slight tension in the muscles of the back of the neck, as if you were about to sneeze, may help with gear changing.
2) place your hands around your waistband and make sure that your oblique muscles are working sufficiently as you go up - if you feel them drop out a little, make them work harder. You can train on voiced consonants such as v or z to get these muscles well and toned.
3) if you get a feeling of tightness when the breaks occur, try loosening up the pharynx a little by chewing an imaginary huge toffee until you feel it pulling behind the nose.
4) check that you are deconstricting enough - if you're singing classical music, using the 'pre-yawn' might help, alternatively imagine that you are about to laugh and aren't allowed to - hide the laugh in your throat and hold that feeling when you sing - especially around the tough parts of the voice.
5) try adding a slight whimper as you go up
6) try sending all your vowels back towards 'uh' (think 'duh!') as you go up
Maybe you'll find the solution by combining some of the above with what your teacher has already told you.
Good luck!
Allan
Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, and for your great advice. I'm sorry this reply is coming so late. What you said was really helpful - especially about the obliques - I've been told this before but didn't realise it could be directly related to the break. I do find it hard to stop them deflating (especially as I go up) so have been working on this - thank you! I really appreciate your help 
.
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You're very welcome! I'm pleased it helped.
If you find your obliques are giving up too easily - do this :
1) walk around the room and suddenly yell 'HEY'
2) repeat three or four times
3) then repeat but stop just before you shout. Identify the muscles that are working and call this 'body energy' - give it a value of between 1-10.
4) drop the energy. Bring it back. Drop it again. Repeat a few times.
5) put your energy in place before you start your ascending scale and focus on keeping it as you go up - you may need to increase it as you go up, if you do, make sure you don't drop it as you come down again - you should descend with the highest energy value used during the phrase.
Good luck!
If you find your obliques are giving up too easily - do this :
1) walk around the room and suddenly yell 'HEY'
2) repeat three or four times
3) then repeat but stop just before you shout. Identify the muscles that are working and call this 'body energy' - give it a value of between 1-10.
4) drop the energy. Bring it back. Drop it again. Repeat a few times.
5) put your energy in place before you start your ascending scale and focus on keeping it as you go up - you may need to increase it as you go up, if you do, make sure you don't drop it as you come down again - you should descend with the highest energy value used during the phrase.
Good luck!
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