Discovering the Big5 Coordinations of Singing
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00:05 Discovering the Big Five Coordinations of Singing
00:18 The Struggle and Breakthrough in Vocal Training
02:55 The Universal Search for Vocal Mastery
05:11 The Revelation: Big Five Coordinations Explained
08:45 Real-Life Application: Coaching with the Big Five
10:32 Understanding Your Biomechanical Voice
12:39 The Essence of Singing Technique
14:04 Airflow and Vocal Fold Dynamics
17:12 Empathy and Experience: A Singer's Journey
17:59 The Art of Patience and Practice in Singing
19:46 Unlocking Your Singing Potential with the Big Five
20:51 Introducing the Big Five Coordinations Intensive Program
23:08 Exploring Vocal Techniques for Opera Singing
26:34 The Versatility of the Big Five in Singing Styles
28:40 Engaging with the Community and Final Thoughts
Hello, and welcome to The Voice Vibe. My name is Philly Paul. I'm your host today. Today, we're going to talk about a little bit about my story and how I came up with the big five coordinations of singing. I hope you'll join me on this little journey.
Philippe Hall Singing Journey
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So throughout my singing career, you know, I started out, I was looking for answers.
When I started, I could sing well, but it was difficult singing certain high notes. And I got to the point where Where I needed some help so at the point where we need help is when we look for answers We go see a singing teacher a vocal coach We get some voice lessons and then the journey begins and I Went to the university I sang I had some great training there and my voice within about Six to nine months.
I added about six notes onto my Vocabulary On my top range. And that was pretty incredible for me. So I didn't, I just did what the teacher said. That's all I did. I just followed the instructions and it worked and I was so excited. So when. Other people that were taking lessons with me in the same classes, they kept asking him, how did he do that?
How did he do that? I would just say, I did what she said. I did what she said. And, and working there at the university and working on my voice for about four years, that basically started me and launched me on my career. Then I traveled around the world and as, As happens, if you don't keep working on your voice, it's not going to get better and you're going to build up some issues.
Challenges and Discoveries in Singing
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So I could sing pretty great. I had a very good foundational technique. However, I was compensating a lot because I didn't know exactly what to do. And for years and years and years, I felt like I'm working too hard. There's something missing. There's something I'm not understanding. And that stuck with me for several years.
I was still working. I was still singing really well, but this feeling of you're working too hard. There's something you're missing. I would get, I would get it right. Everything would feel great and it would be gone the next day. And believe me, that's very, very stressful when you're singing. On stage high C's and high D's and getting paid a lot of money to do it and it's Some days just doesn't work and you have to switch into falsetto or worse your voice cracks and breaks It's so humiliating.
So I was going through these things I kept looking, I kept searching, I kept trying to get coaches. I worked with various coaches, some things they said helped me, other things they said did not. And I continued down this road, just continuing to look and search and test and try because I was in the business, I had to succeed.
Luckily I did find some really good mentors along the way, and this helped me to be able to have a very long professional career. I wanted to learn how everything works. I wanted to be able to help other singers. I wanted answers. And the most astounding thing is that along this whole journey, almost every professional singer I was working with.
was taking lessons. They were taking coaching sessions. They were traveling around. Some would fly their coach out. Some would fly across the world to meet with their coach. But they were taking lessons and coaching. The best singers I knew were getting help. And that was inspiring to me. And at the same time, people that I thought had amazing voices would say similar things to me.
They would say, I feel like I'm just missing this little thing, this one little key from my voice and my technique. Something's holding me back. So many people said that, and I heard that along the way. And guess what happens? You find a key, You think you've got it and then a few days later, you're back to square one or maybe not back to square one, but it's just not working as well anymore.
Have you ever experienced that? You feel one day I've got singing, figure it out. I can sing. It's free. It's effortless. It sounds great. And then. It's gone. And you don't know why. You try and get it back. You try and do the same things, but it's just gone. Like water leaking out through a closed hand. It's just gone.
This is what fueled my journey. My journey to where I am today.
The Big Five Coordinations of Singing
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Basically, coming up with the Big Five Coordinations of Singing intensive training program. Because I've done so many things and trained in so many different ways. And I've worked with so many singers. And it's not that hard to understand the formula of how to belt.
It's not that hard to understand the formula of how to mix, how to sing classical, how to sing rock. It's not that difficult, honestly. When I was 17, my teacher said, do it. I did it. It worked. It's not that difficult. What is difficult is if you haven't developed the fundamental coordinations You can't combine them to execute the formula.
And why did I, how did this work? Well, in my, in my journey, I discovered airflow and airflow. Great, I've got airflow. Now I'm using my airflow in my singing. Everything got easier. And I discovered, oh, hey, my larynx. If my larynx is too high, everything's too tight. I can't do it. I got to lower my larynx. Or, the opposite.
If my larynx is too low, this note's not working. So I started playing with my larynx. And it got better! I felt like I discovered the magic key. And then It needed more. And then there was the pharynx and I discovered twang. And when somebody said, use more twang. I said, what is twang? I was using, I had no idea what it was.
It's just the, ehh, ehh, ehh, ehh. Just the inside of your throat can narrow a little bit to produce more, more resonance. This, this sound, ehh. Okay, so I was using twang. Hallelujah, it worked. And then somebody said, Hey, what about your soft palate? I'm like, okay, let me try my soft palate. And my soft palate went up.
That sounded great. And then in the next phrase on the next note, it didn't sound good. And I didn't know why until I learned that when your soft palate goes up, your larynx goes down at the same time. So you've got to be careful not to over raise because then you'll over lower. So all these little things are building up.
And then we got to the sentence that changed my life. All vowels are simply a shape of your tongue in your mouth. What? Vowels are tongue positioned. I thought my voice was in my throat. I thought it was down there. I thought it was in the back. My resonance, my twang, my vocal fold deduction, my support.
Nope. Every vowel sound is a specific shape. Shape of your tongue. Wow. That blew me away. And then even, it goes even beyond that. And then your embouchure, shape of your mouth. People say, you gotta work with the embouchure. I'm like, don't, don't, don't act like you're so smart because you use the word embouchure.
You know, that just sounds like you're very snooty. Well, it's just what it's called. So, I didn't like using that word. I just, uh, Just say the opening of your mouth or the shape of your mouth. But when I discovered how impactful that was on my singing, I used it and it got better. Just went through the big five.
Air flow and air pressure balancing, your vocal fold coordination, your pharynx, Soft palate to larynx, your tongue, and your embouchure. You've heard about me talk about this for a while, but it is so valuable. Okay, real life, real life teaching, coaching experience.
Real-Life Coaching Experiences
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Just yesterday, I have a client that came in, virtually.
It was singing really well, the placement was there, he was doing a good job. And it still, something was a little bit off. And he told me, yeah, well, something was a little bit off. I don't know why, but on this note, on the high note, I'm losing air. I'm running out of air. Have you ever felt like you were running out of air, singing a high note before?
And what did we do? The big five, we're going to go, okay, let's go down the big five checklist. If we went right off the bat to air flow and air pressure balancing. Checked the body, checked the posture, engaged the muscles that he relates to personally, and what did we discover? He was letting go of his appoggio, his support, before the note was over.
And it's a high B, so you've gotta, you've gotta maintain that expansion. Okay, so he, as soon as he reactivated his expansion and continued using it through the end of the note. It was right there. It was right there, and it's never sounded better. And then I just encouraged him to do that throughout the song.
And keep interacting with it. You've got to find your body breath. And voice coordination. Alright, it was, it worked amazingly, and um, and that's what I want to communicate. The big five are the keys to your singing success. Why are the big five the keys to your singing success? Because that's how the voice works.
Biomechanics of Singing
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It's your biomechanical design. And it's just easy to remember. You know, some people are going to tell you, singing mimics is the key to your success. Don't overpressure just keep it really light and now you've got to get that little bit of vocal fold deduction But don't overpressure and then you're gonna be able to sing everything you want to.
Yes, you will in a mix If you get it, right So if you don't want to sing every single song the same way and you want to be able to sing them stylistically, correct You've got to know how sound works. How does sound work? How does your voice work? You have a Biomechanical instrument. I like to think of it as biomechanical because I'm not a machine But there's a lot of things in my body that are built like a machine.
It it's built. It's designed It does a specific thing and when you understand that you have a biomechanical Sound making design In your throat. That is intricate and incredible. Then you're gonna, then you're gonna think about it. You're like, if there's a design, it works a certain way. Yes, there's a design and it works a certain way.
And if you learn the design, you can sing anything you want. If you develop the coordinations that control this design, what if you have, you know, I just keep putting up my hand, right? What if you did not know how to use your index finger? Just take your index finger away. How, how much are you going to be able to do with three fingers and a thumb?
So much less than four fingers and a thumb. What if you only had two fingers and a thumb? You'd look like this. an alien, right? But you would be able to do so much less. So that's not the design of your hand. You've got to be able to work with your design. That's what singing technique is all about. Let's not forget, singing technique It serves a purpose.
What is the purpose? The purpose is to communicate an emotional message. Children start singing before they even know it's called singing. We love to sing. We're like birds. We talk, we squawk, we chirp, and we sing. We're like birds, it's part of who we are. We are built to sing. You are built to sing. And the only thing in your way is yourself, really.
Don't feel bad about it. That's the case for everybody. Gotta get out, remove the roadblock so your singing can be heard. Because it's designed to sing. Hear that, please. Your voice is designed to sing. Your biomechanical voice is made to sing. It's made to communicate, and singing technique just serves to free up your voice so it can get out, and you can make the sounds you want without straining, without cracking, without becoming hoarse.
So you can communicate clearly, that's what it's all about. Alright, so the basis of singing technique and everything you do in singing techniques trains the big five coordinations of singing. Nothing moves without air. Air flow, air pressure. What is air flow? Air flow is the air coming out of your lungs.
hitting your vocal folds, where they resist and they create air pressure. Now the air pressure in your lungs, your subglottal pressure, it has to be high enough to sustain a forward motion through the vocal folds. And they need a little bit of pressure. But when I say little, I mean a little. They only need as much as they need to stay in motion.
All right, if we do
a little buzz on an S on a Z,
it's about that much air that I need to sing a high B or a high C. That's it. It doesn't need a lot, but it has to match. So you've got the air moving the vocal folds. This is this you can learn. You can learn all this. It's not that complicated.
Understanding Vocal Resonance
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Remember, air moves the vocal folds, the vocal folds are going to resist, the air pressure is going to move them, and it has to be a steady stream of air that keeps them in motion.
Now your vocal folds create all the sounds. They start vibrating, and did you know your vocal folds only create a buzz? They just buzz. That's it. Everything we hear in speech and singing is because of the vocal tract. So we get the vocal folds to buzz, we can stretch them and shorten them to get them to buzz at different frequencies, different pitches, and that those sound waves start traveling up through the vocal tract.
And that's where they start getting shaped and altered. The shape of the empty space on the inside is your resonance chamber. Basically meaning, the inside shape determines what comes out. Your sound goes up, it goes up through the vocal tracts. This is where everything that you've heard about formants, harmonics, resonance, Resonance strategy, well, twang.
Twang's in the pharynx. The most, the biggest resonator is in the back. Think of everything behind your tongue, all the way down to your, to your larynx, as your pharynx. And as you shape that, you get different Resonance. Hmm. What else could we call that? You get different colors of sound. You get different intensities of sound.
You get a rock sound. Yeah! You get an operatic sound. You get different sounds because of the shape of your pharynx. And you can do, you can do amazing things. Nothing's going to come out until it hits the tongue and then it gets shaped again. Now you got it. I E A O And the lips are like the icing on the cake.
They finish the resonance. They finish the vowel sound. They finish your sound. They're the big five. That's just how your instrument works.
Personal Journey and Empathy for Singers
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All right, so in training singers, I deeply want to help singers succeed because I've been a professional singer. I've been in your shoes. I've been down the road. I've had my successes.
I've had my My downfalls, I've had my vocal cracks. I've, I've had phases where I couldn't sing the way I wanted to sing, where I found solutions. So I really sympathize with every singer out there because I've been down the road. I've been through this journey and I've learned how to do it. And you can too.
That's, that's really what I want you to hear. You can sing the way you want to, you can learn to do it. It's not that hard. You just have to develop the coordination. So that's what we're going to do.
Patience and Gradual Progress in Singing
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Singers struggle and then they get frustrated. I was telling the client yesterday, he's like, Oh, so I should do this.
Do the E. I should find my E focus, uh, in my head voice and work the transition up and down. I said, that's, that's, it would be very good for you. Yes. And then I said, when you get used to that focus, and you get it smooth, which mine is not right now, it's early in the morning.
When you get us lighting up and down in that resonance space, then you can amplify it. You can start leaning into it with a little bit of pressure. So he's like, Oh, okay. I had, he was successfully.
You've got that E working, getting that nice and easy, and then immediately try to put on a lot of pressure. And it just, of course, failed. So you've got to be, you've got to be patient. You can't go from zero to a hundred the first time. You've got to build it up. If you build slowly, you will develop quickly.
That is the truth. I know this because I've hit the roadblocks and had to backtrack and unbuild and tear down and rebuild. I've had to do that, alright? And I don't want singers to have to do that. Now if you guys, um, ever have any questions while I'm doing a live stream while we're doing the podcast, just.
Go ahead and put them in the chat. Send me some questions.
The Big Five Coordinations of Singing
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I'm gonna, I just want to communicate that the keys to your singing success really do live in the big five. It's not just support. It's not just twang or pharyngeal resonance. It's not just adduction. It's not just getting the right vowel. It's not just getting the right shape with your embouchure.
It's everything. They all have to work together. The great thing is, Sometimes, only one of those is out of place. You fix that, everything else works, and then people say, Oh, support cures everything. Another coach will say, twang fixes everything. Another coach will say, it's all about the vowel. Yes, but come on.
Come on. Let's be let's just be serious here. You've got five fingers on a hand You're not you can't say that one finger fixes everything. Yeah, an opposable thumb is very valuable But what good is it without the other fingers? So you've got five coordinations in your singing. They're all part of your hand They all work together all the time You just have to learn to isolate them.
Introduction to the Intensive Training Program
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All right, so that's what the big five coordinations of singing intensive program is all about Doing having wonderful clients wonderful singers in my community the vibe private singing community I talked to them and asked them about what kind of training they wanted What because I want to create things that will really make a difference and an impact in singers lives So we came up with this system because we've done belt workshops.
We've done mix Workshops. We've done so many different intensive trainings and at the end of the day everybody's better for it, but everybody is seeming to, seems to be distracted today. Perhaps it's by social media, perhaps it's just too much information and there's a lack of focus. So we're going to take the big five and we're going to focus on them in a four week intensive.
So you can't do vocal folds without air, right? You have to have airflow. So airflow, air pressure balancing, and the vocal folds go together. And then we move up. The next intensive is going to be the pharynx. And then after that, the tongue. And the last one, the embouchure. Okay, so what's it going to be like?
If some of you are wondering out there, hey, tell me a little bit about this.
Details of the Training Program
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Let me, let me talk to you about how the classes work and how this system works, okay? Because it's easy for me to put out the information and say yes, We have some amazing coaches, Matt Edwards, Lisa Popiel, Rush Dorsett, Kaya Hesedkarni, we have Gunaman, we have Laura Chapman, we've got, I've got this whole team of amazing coaches.
But you, you might not know what we're going to do in this intensive training. What we're going to do is we have Saturday classes where we're going to talk, they're going to be very, they're going to be more on, The theory side. You've got to know where it is, what it does, its range of motion, and how to train it.
And that is teaching. So we're going to educate you on that. We're going there, every teacher is going to give you specific exercises. Yeah, so just like, um, just like Shinolo here.
Vocal Exercises and Techniques
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wrote into the chat, uh, into the comments there, wanted to know, or Brayton, Brayton, are there any vocal exercises for people aspiring to sing opera?
Yeah, there, there are. And we're going to give you specific exercises, all right? One of the best exercises that you can do if, if, if you're a man, uh, also works very well for ladies as an opera singer. You gotta open your jaw joint and work your tongue. Eh, eh, and aw. Eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, eh.
Just work that up and down. Eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh. So your jaw is staying a little bit relaxed, not completely disengaged, but it's not tightening. And you're working the eh, oh, eh, oh, eh, oh, eh. You're working just the tongue. And keeping your larynx as neutral low as you can.
It's just a great exercise. It's very, very effective because you're going to start combining the eh and the ah. Then go to eh and go to oh. And then, you'll challenge yourself and go all the way to, well, go to ee and to ah. Ee ah ee ah. Ee ah ee ah, ee ah ee ah, ee ah ee ah, ee ah ee ah, ee ah ee ah, ee ah ee ah.
So, just that alternating the tongue position of vowels in one big space really helps. Um. Those are the overall guidelines. So if I'm giving a class, let's just take that as an example. Brayton asks the question, are there any vocal exercises for people aspiring to sing opera? That of course there are several, but what's the sound design?
What's the combination of the five? A big five coordination of singing for opera larynx is lower. The pharynx is going to shape a little bit differently You're going to have generally more mass a thicker vocal fold. It still needs to thin Yeah in the high notes, but you're gonna have a very nice adduction.
You're going to have a Slightly higher back tongue. Sometimes you're gonna have more soft palate raised. You're definitely gonna have an embouchure This is where the embouchure makes a huge difference In classical singing that your corners are going to be more forward and your lips are going to be more rounded and You're pretty much going to stay there in that space.
Okay, you have flexibility It's not like you become a robot, but those are the ingredients. Why? Because you need flexibility Lower larynx creates more space in the pharynx. You need a bigger sound. Your vowels are going to be a shade darker but if your tongue goes down your throat now it's in your pharynx again.
So, if your lips are pulled this way, it's going to be harder to maintain a lower larynx and your resonance is probably going to get too bright. And if you twang like, Ay aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye ah. It's different. It's a different shade than
So it's just a different shape, a different combination of the five co coordinations of singing, the big five. So you're going to understand this in our classes. We're not going to teach every style. This time we're teaching you how to train those moving parts so you can just switch back and forth just like I did.
This is just off the cuff.
Adapting to Different Singing Styles
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Go to a rock sound. If I want a rock sound, I'm doing this. If I want an operatic sound, I'm doing this. Looks like I'm just doing something up here. Completely, just the tip of the iceberg. It goes right down the throat. So, rock.
That's a rock sound. Let's go to a pop sound. Pop song. Hey, hey ah, way ah. So it's, again, a different sound. Let's go to, to a musical theater sound. Hey ah. Pretty bright, pretty open. Let's go to a classical sound.
It's just a shape. It's just a change. A change of how you use those five coordinations of singing. So when I say they're the key to singing anything you want, they're the key to singing anything you want. What if you do something crazy and you do something like death metal?
You can do stuff like that too. You can do just distortion. You can do all kinds of stuff with your voice. And it's going to stay healthy. It's going to stay fit. So they're going to give you, I'm getting all blurry here. Hello. There you go. So it's going to give you the ability to control your instrument.
Isn't that what you want? Don't you want the freedom to sing whatever you want to sing? Maybe you don't want to do all those parlor tricks that I just did, but I actually use those. I actually sing like almost every one of those styles. I've been paid to sing hundreds of times, thousands of times around the world.
So it really works and you can switch, you can switch back and forth. So that's the power of the big five coordinations of singing. Ah, look, I see some familiar names. Hello, hello, Marinita, good to see you. Thanks for commenting. Thanks for tuning in. Um, so that's my story.
Encouragement and Final Thoughts
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As a singer who has studied, I have like three degrees in singing, academic degrees, and I'm continuing studying, and as a professional singer, You have to evolve.
If you want to be a pro, you've got to stay on the cutting edge. You have to have the right solutions. Otherwise, you're going to drop out. So through all this journey, it wasn't always easy. And I say it wasn't always easy because if it hadn't been easy, I wouldn't have had to work so hard. I would have just had all the right answers given to me all at once, right from the beginning.
That's what every singer dreams of, right? I don't want to waste time making mistakes. I want to work with a coach that's really good. This person sings great. Their coach must be great. Well, maybe that student just works hard and is smart. Yeah? It's not always the coach. But, oftentimes, it can be. So you've got to get the right information.
That's what you want. You want to unlock your voice. You want to sing the way you want to. Be patient, make sure you're on the right path, and make sure you're training your coordination. So, that's what I'm giving you. Giving you with the Big 5 Intensive Training Program, the opportunity to take time for your voice.
Focus on, focusing on these important coordinations that you have to use to create the sounds you want. Doesn't matter what style you need the coordination and the better you can combine them the better Everything is the easier it will get. Okay, that's the message. So come check it out. Go to my website It's right on the top big five intensive training.
Go ahead. Click on it. Check out our teachers. I'm Updating more and more information. I'm gonna let you know about the curriculum Saturdays. We're gonna teach you All about the anatomy, the why, what, how we're going to give you specific exercises. You're going to have an exercise training program. So you're going to use that program every day for four weeks.
Bam. On Wednesday, because it's a lot of information sometimes, right? I want to make sure that you are staying on point. I want to make That you know what you're doing. I want to make sure that you get personal feedback So on wednesdays what we do is what I call rcd recap Review clarify and deepen so we'll go through the information again answer all your questions Deepen your understanding and train together and then you'll be observed doing it We're also going to do something that I think is really fun and anybody that's doing intensive training can do this You're going to record a song Uh, about a minute thirty of one song or two songs that you're going to be working on during this time.
And at the end, you're going to record the same song or songs again to see the difference. In how improving just these two coordinations how much better your singing gets That's going to be really fun. All right, you get to work with seven amazing coaches And be in our the vibe community Where you guys can chat and talk and all the coaches will be in the community too So you can interact and ask questions.
All right. Thank you for tuning in today I hope hope you were able to listen and get some Value And get inspired by the words that I've shared with you today. Not everything I've shared necessarily needs to apply to you. But there are some sure, if you listen, you will find some very valuable information that can help you.
Along your singing journey keep an open mind just because something Somebody approaches something a little differently differently than you does not mean they are always wrong Just because you don't identify at all with one approach. It doesn't mean it doesn't work for other people Very important keep an open mind Try some things out.
Even things that you think, hmm, that's, ah, that's not for me. That's too weird. I felt that way. Everybody feels that way. We don't all identify with the same things, but be inspired by it. Investigate it and try some things out. It will help you. You will be surprised how sometimes that, that one thing that you think is weird and horrible, when you actually learn to control it, it makes a huge difference.
And you can use it. So please keep an open mind. Not everybody uses the same words in singing. Not every methodology uses the same approaches. But the goal is to help you coordinate your biomechanical sound design to be able to sing healthily and Sing anything you want. Stay healthy. Be selfish. Take care of your voice.
Be selfish for yourself. Be selfish for your voice. Be good to your voice. Continue your journey. Tune in. There's, you know, please join a Big Five intensive training. Do it for you. You really it's gonna blow you away. All right clients that were in our training last year Have released songs Are doing stuff they've never done before.
All right, it's so please consider it and if you're looking for free content I have some amazingly valuable content on this channel Amazingly valuable and very usable. Have a great day everyone Follow me, like, check me out on Instagram, check it out. I do a lot on Instagram as well, and you'll be updated.
I want you to stay updated. Okay, stay updated. Keep in touch. I'll see you on this channel live again. Um, I think in two weeks. So next week I'll be traveling. No live unless I just pop in, but I do lives on Instagram. And you can reach out and contact me. Have a lovely day. Stay safe. Stay happy. Big five.
