Several factors could be at play, from the reflective (or non-reflective) quality of the room, to how loud you’re singing, to how well you’re getting your consonants Out There, to one of a number of elements in tone production inside your body.

One of those latter elements is often called an “inner smile” or “inner snarl.” It requires pulling to attention those muscles on either side of your face between your eyes and your mouth. They stretch upward and to the side just a bit.

Supermodels use the same technique to make their faces look more alert, more intense, more dynamic than a face that is totally relaxed. Often it helps to locate the muscles above and slightly behind your ears — the same ones you would use to wiggle (or just move) your ears. Again, try to pull them upward a bit and toward the back of your head.

As you sing with both sets of muscles fully engaged, direct your sound forward toward that Inner Smile area. This will help employ the nasal cavities there as additional resonators.

There are times — in a gentle lullaby or lush lovesong, for example — you may not want to use “The Mask,” as it’s also called. But any time you need that extra zing, that brilliant resonance that stands people’s armhairs on end, invite all those facial and scalp muscles to the party!

Stellar examples:  Sam Harris, Liza Minnelli, Josh Groban, Kathleen Battle, Mandy Patinkin.

Nevertheless, we want to stay in touch with you and reassure our followers of our commitment to maintain an ongoing dialogue about singing. So until we start answering the questions you asked us about, here’s a tiny trick about some word-ending consonants.

The letter D is what’s called a voiced plosive. Plosives have limited duration and require a miniature burst — or explosion — of air to create them; they include: B, D, G, K, P, and T. (Others like J and Q sort of count, but there are reasons they aren’t included. That’s another topic.)

Unvoiced plosives don’t involve vocal cord vibrations at all. There’s no pitch or tone to a K, P, or T. The rest of the group — B, D, and G — are voiced plosives. Add vocal cord activity to P, and you get B. Get the idea?

One of the worst things to do when you’re singing is to force extra air through a plosive to make sure it’s heard. It will explode … literally … out of the texture of the message, and in most cases it will be a huge distraction. If you’re using a microphone, it can sound like the start of World War III.

The professional secret lies in the shape of the vowel — voiced or unvoiced — inside your mouth as you finish the plosive. You need the smaller, narrower space of an “ih” instead of the more cavernous “uh.” Then you can spend less time and air getting the job done, and yet your ending plosives will be heard more clearly, without anyone having a clue why.

Here’s to passionately sung, beautifully and economically enunciated music. May you and yours find new inspiration and joy from the holidays you hold dear!

May we recommend: Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Tori Amos, Dave Koz (not vocal, but noteworthy),  Jessye Norman.

What’s on your mind about singing? What are your most immediate questions about technique, psyche, presentation, repertoire, or anything else relating to the art, science, or philosophy of singing?

Post your questions by clicking the Comment link (at the end of the blue Tag words). We’ll be answering them in the weeks to come.

Here are new releases of well known singers who may help trigger your inquiring mind:  Michael Jackson, Danielle De Niese, Susan Boyle, Andrea Bocelli, Paul McCartney.

Quest away, friends! We look forward to your questions and comments.

The secret is yours free, if you promise to return and help us out next week … okay, it’s yours anyway, but we really would like you to stop in and help us. We can’t pay you, and you won’t be paying us, but we pledge to make it worth your while in the long run.

So is it a deal?

Here’s the gem: how many amateur singers do you know— maybe including yourself — who tilt their chin up to reach high notes and tuck their chin in or tilt their head downward to reach low notes. That’s exactly backwards.

Honest truth. Vocal cords stretch across the opening leading to the lungs. When singing higher, the cords elongate and become thinner. (There’s more to it, but this is enough for now.)

The secret is that the cords stretch down in front. If you tilt your head back by raising your chin, you counteract a lot of the stretch already in progress, making the cords have to stretch even farther or do some other pretty nifty gymnastics to get you the note you’re wanting. — That leads to a lot of unnecessary fatigue.

Similarly, when singing lower, the vocal cords shorten and get thinner. If you “reach” for the note by dipping your chin, you actually stretch the cords out, once again making it harder on yourself.

So do we tip the chin in the opposite direction? You can if you want — it will save some fatiguing and will make the notes easier to reach. But it’ll confuse the heck out of your audience if you do it often or very far.

Better to keep your chin at a comfortable angle, slightly tipped downward, where you get a sense of your spinal fluid flowing freely up and down the spinal column. You might even feel more energized by it.

One last word: never lock your head in a single position. Tension anywhere in the body is contagious and can affect the flexibility of all the muscles you need for singing. So let your head move naturally but subtly, in response to the words, not the difficulty of the notes.

Think bouyant, think alive, and sing your heart into every note!

Okay, you’ve got the secret. Remember: keep your chin nicely down, and come back next week — promise?

The online series recommended by November 2nd’s guest editorial had more to do with the art and science of communication than most singers ever dream might be necessary. Truth is, communication is exactly why we raise our voices in melody and words.

Last Thursday’s teleconference panel opened for me greater understanding of choosing music for a concert or recital; of setting the stage (so to speak) in a way that predisposes your listeners to receive what you’re offering; of reaching your audience in ways that subtly increase their connection to you, so they want to follow your career and attend your future events.

We urge you not to let the marketing flavor of the guest editorial sway you from registering — free and without obligation — for the next online teleseminar. You’ll come away with a wealth of ideas to apply to singing well and interfacing more successfully with your listeners. There’s no doubt in my mind that some of your favorite stars, in every realm of the performing arts, have been coached by geniuses such as these – get your free coaching today!

When you’re learning How to Sing Well and How to Sing Better, plowing through all the negative thoughts and mental roadblocks can be tough. Sometimes, really tough! So, here is a quick question:

If you could do one thing to permanently instill the mindset of no-limit success into your life, and into your singing practice, what would it be?

Truth is, we know what you’re going through. We’ve all been there. Dismantling negative thoughts and steering past mental roadblocks is tough, and has everything to do with freeing up your inner singer.

Issues and challenging developments will always pop up – things you don’t expect, things that will try to drag you down and crush your dreams. People who don’t have a similar success-oriented mindset simply don’t understand. So when you have detailed questions or need direction, they either hand you a canned response or simply shrug their shoulders and walk away.

But we’ve got good news for you singers and non-singers: We know of some personal development experts who DO understand. They’ve been there, done that, and bought the t-shirt.

In fact, there are 54 of them. All right here, and all waiting to answer your questions.

Inside the League of Extraordinary Minds, you’ll have the opportunity to “virtually consult” with 54 of the world’s foremost personal development, business, and marketing authorities – marketing you can apply to getting your improved voice heard.

During these intense, ultra-focused panel sessions, these experts will address the biggest problems you’re facing in your quest for success, and hand you the breakthrough solutions you’ve been searching for.

People like Tony Robbins, Stephen Covey, Brian Tracy, Michael Gerber, Jay Conrad Levinson, Robert Cialdini and a host of others will be on hand to lend their assistance and guide you toward the winning mindset and lifestyle of your dreams.

Did we mention that it’s FREE?

You read that correctly. For five more weeks, you can be a part of these game-changing online panel sessions. And it won’t cost you a single penny. This free Big Picture training helps build a positive mindset to support all the great tips and techniques we teach.

We can’t stress enough how amazing this opportunity is. You can get the wisdom and expertise you need, directly from the same brilliant minds who have helped to shape the success of billion dollar companies like Microsoft, Google, Coca Cola, Proctor and Gamble, and many, many others.

Those companies put these gurus’ knowledge to work building huge successes. We want to offer this positive support for individuals seeking to develop their own success, to find their voice, and have the confidence to share their talents with others.

Can you think of a better (and easier) way to transform your mind … and your life? Remember, it’s free, with no obligation or spam fallout. Please take a few seconds to check it out.

P.S. With only five sessions to go – all pure platinum – you’ll want to act quickly. The first call with Tony Robbins was so popular. Your window of opportunity is closing fast.

Go here NOW and get registered for these FREE online panel sessions. You’ll thank us and every lucky star you can find.

And be sure to come back and comment on your favorite takeaways, and how they are going to help you Sing Well and Sing Better!

The other significant contribution comes from muscles at the base of the neck. When these function properly, they pull downward over the collarbones and down the breastbone, anchoring your control of airflow up through the windpipe.

This means you can keep your  throat open to resonance and relaxation, rather than trying to squeeze the throat nearly closed in an effort to finish a long phrase before you run out of air.

Throat constriction is a common reaction. But even if it does work slightly, the throat is one of the resonating areas of your sound. Tensing up and pinching off the air will be heard. It’s not pretty. People won’t hear your message, they’ll hear your panic.

Remember from Part 2a the feeling of suspension in holding the torso open? A brilliant oboe teacher suggested thinking of the full lungs as a beachball, and the air passing through the mouthpiece as a tiny stream of focused air. This image works equally well for singing. Try it to help locate those anchoring muscles at the base of the neck.

Too much air is no good, and too little is just as bad. But you don’t worry about how much air to take in when you read aloud. You don’t hoard air when you talk. So be economical but not miserly when you sing.

Athletes involved with ball sports learn how much muscle coordination and strength are needed to accomplish various distance goals. The same is true with singing extended phrases. The more you sing, the more you’ll know how much air you need to complete phrases of any length, at any dynamic, in any part of your range.

Don’t overbreathe for shorter phrases. For longer ones, be realistic about what you can do in your current stage of development. Plan quick supplemental breaths where they make sense in both the sentence and the music line. Then stick to the plan until every breath is artistically rendered, logical, and effortless.

Practice makes practical!

More excellent breath technicians: Natalie Dessay, Renee Fleming (2-disk bonus set!).

Once you have that deep, golden breath inside your lungs, what next? Good singing doesn’t just relax, letting air leak out however it wants to. If you release like that, you’ll need another breath every three or four words — not cool. Not comfortable. And certainly not a practice to keep listeners enthralled.

Over-exhaling is hard on your vocal cords, putting more pressure on them than they need to function effectively. Since some muscles are too relaxed, other muscles overcompensate, trying to make your tone approximate The Zone — that mountaintop status when everything works in tandem and your singing becomes bouyant and feels effortless. But The Zone can’t be faked. All you get is fatigued muscles and laryngitis.

All voice teachers focus on “breath control” or “support.” They have many ways of teaching singers how to find the muscles responsible for breath support. One very popular method is abdominal pushing, as if you hold a large book parallel to the floor with the bottom end pressed against your waist (or a bit below or above) and you push against it with your abdominal muscles. While this works, it focuses on a single direction: straight forward.

Remember the breathing exercise in Part 1? Since we inhale in three dimensions, pushing in one dimension leads to imbalance and directional tension. Indeed, pushing leads to tension, period.

Instead, imagine the uplift of a spring-triggered umbrella, but in all three dimensions rather than solely upward.  Rather than pushing, your muscles pull outward, giving you a feeling of suspension.

Work with that concept the next few days, and look for the other half of this topic to appear very soon. And listen to some of the best of the best: Johnny Mathis, Jessye Norman, Linda Ronstadt, Placido Domingo, Harry Connick Jr.

This group created a watershed effect. After their appearance, the whole flavor of rock ‘n’ roll changed. People enthusiastically caught the virus and wrote songs, and sang them, and danced to them, in a whole new way.

And though popular music has continued to evolve, much of the Beatles’ repertoire is as great now — 40 years later — as it was then. It still stirs our energies and makes our hearts expand. Without a doubt, the Beatles had that undefinable Something Special that kept us coming back for more, long after the group disbanded.

If your CD library doesn’t yet include the Beatles, please consider remedying the situation with one of the newly released collections. The Beatles Stereo Box Set or The Beatles Original Mono Box Set.

But without the message, we could hum or play some other instrument, and get the same result without the frustration of ‘Huh? What was that?’

There’s no need to go overboard with exaggerated ‘How now, brown cow?’ enunciation when you’re a soloist. But tape yourself and listen with a critical ear. After all, you already know the words, and your audience may not be so lucky. Can you really understand yourself?

Rule One: with the exception of K and G and NG (as in siNG), virtually all pronunciation is in the front part of the mouth. Keep the tip of the tongue close to the base of your lower front teeth. That’s its natural resting place anyway.

Rule Two: as you sing higher in your range, the automatic tendency should be to open your mouth wider, with the jaw swinging easily down and back on its hinges. This means vowels like EE and OO must also open up. Sometimes that’s fine, and you’ll be understood; sometimes you’ll need to compromise and find a way to reshape the spaces inside the mouth to “purify” the vowel in the troublesome word.

Singers who want to sing well, and sing ever better, explore all kinds of alternatives to make sure the message is foremost while still sounding natural to the ear.

Check out these remarkable elocutionist singers, and learn from the best! Kiri te Kanawa, George Benson, Reba McEntire, John Denver, Barbra Streisand, Chris Tomlin, Anita Baker.