Dear singing teachers and friends - I need help! Realised today when going through a peice with my wife that she doesn't sing with an open throat, and was "pushing" to get to a word on Fsharp, with a resultant sound which was not her usual sweet standard.

I can get her up to a clear Top C when sirening and performing scales and arpeggios, but I have run out of ideas as to how to make her relax more when she's singing. I know how I do it, and I have worked with people before, but this is different. A bit like not teaching family members to drive

Any suggestions gratefully received!

Get someone else to teach her!!!
I tried to teach my daughter piano, nightmare.
Sirening and then open up onto a vowel.
Take the words out of the song and just do it to a vowel sound.

Then do it to all the vowels sounds but just without the consonants.
Just like the Teletubbies: e - o

Stupid question maybe, but have you taught women (as in female soloists, not groups or choirs) before, and do you use the same strategies that work on your own voice? I am just asking because the vocal set-up in that region is quite different in male and female voices, so what works for a man doesn't necessarily work for a woman. Is this problem just a "family" problem, maybe tiptoeing around and not wanting to be too critical, or do you generally feel you know "how I do it", but the more abstract approach regarding different vocal problems could be a problem? I don't know too much about your background (just what's in your signature), so I don't mean to sound critical or something, it is just to get an idea of who/how you teach and what your usual strategies are.

Vocalising on vowels will only help if the consonants are the root of all evil, and she stops the airflow to heavily. The problem will be though that, as soon as you introduce the consonants again, the problem will usually come back, so she would need to shape the consonants differently in the first place to maintain airflow.
You mention you want her to relax. Especially the second female passaggio region (is your wife a soprano?) of course needs an open, wide pharynx in classical singing, but that's just half of the problem. It also needs a slight change in vocal function. If that doesn't happen, ideally well IN ADVANCE of that tricky note, she can relax as much as she wants to, the problem won't disappear. This region usually also needs a bit more muscular support. If you say she usually sings with a sweet tone, maybe she sings a bit unsupported in general (then relaxation would be exactly the opposite of what you want)? Or maybe the exact opposite is the case: She oversupports in that region, and the vocal-folds are too weak to hold against a massive flow of air getting pushed through, which in return will make her clamp down. Support is not the cure for everything, it really depends on the singer and what the basic problem is.

It is really difficult to say what exactly the problem is without hearing your wife, so these are just a couple of ideas. If you feel you cannot teach her yourself and it feels to abstract, it would be an option of course to get her a different teacher to take pressure of you both. Teaching family members is sometimes not a good idea ...

*steps back onto forums after a well deserved rest*

I agree totally with Mezzo. We need to hear your wife to help her really. It could be so many things - Jaw tension, pharyngeal tension, tongue root tension, change of vocal fold configuration, over breathing, pushing with the stomach - loads of things before we even get to vowels and consonants.

One thing is certain - if she can siren it, she can sing it - but in order to help out any further, we need to hear her.

Allan

Off topic, but I am glad to see rosfrog is back!

Thank you LizzieT ! It's nice to be back.

Hey, thanks all for the super advice (as usual!). Mezzo - my wife is a soprano, and yes, I'm more used to working with male singers. I had of course totally forgotten that the alto in our 4 part singing group was a music teacher (must be my age) and so when we met up yesterday to record some more items for our Christmas CD, she went through some exercises with Sally. Great result!

Superb to see Rosfrog back!

So am I, already missed you

Also glad to hear that your problem is in the process of being solved, stetenorve ...

I agree with mezzo1974 and rosfrog, it is hard to diagnose the problem without hearing her sing.

However, here are some pointers:

If she can siren the note the chances are she can sing it, it's probabaly just a case of not preparing the note in advance, giving in adequate support and thus tensing up the vocal folds. However in forming the consonant she may be altering the shape at the back of her mouth and closing up the throat that way.

Try to get her to yawn and sing the phrase without the consonants in one breath, then reintroduce the consonants only allowing them to be formed at the front of the mouth.

Remember support comes from the abdominal muscles so core stability is paramount. Intial support needs to come from the long flat muscle at the bottom of the tummy then when that cannot work any more the rest comes from those under the ribs. By concentrating on those deep abdominal muscles you often eliminate tension from the throat area and this may rectify the problem in and of its self.