Saturday 8 February 2014

...humming is good!

I've been reading a very interesting book, We Sang Better (Vol. 1) by James Anderson. 250 tips on how to sing from singers 1800 to 1960. Singer's Tip No.134 is basically 'don't hum'. The book says that, at some time, some singers were trying to use humming to find their head voice, but that 'it in no way assists the student to get the throat free and open'.

I disagree. In my singing lessons we always started by humming to warm up. When I first tried to hum, I used to keep my mouth closed and hum on 'mmmmmm', but Rae told me that the correct way to hum was to keep the mouth open and lift the back of the tongue to make the 'ng' sound in tongue.

I'm also a trumpeter, and I use a practice mute, which is something you shove in the bell of the trumpet to make it quieter, so that you don't disturb anyone when you're warming up. It has another use, which is that shoving something in the bell creates more pressure, so that you have to push more air through the trumpet. To do that you have to open up the mouth and throat more. When you take the mute out, then you find that you play louder, and have a more open, full sound. It's particularly useful if you tend to hold back while playing.

Humming does the same thing, because, believe it or not, singing and trumpet playing are basically the same thing, except that in trumpet, the instrument is outside the body, and in singing, the instrument is in the throat. Humming is really good to get the voice going if you've got a cold or your voice is a bit sulky, because on those days you don't really want to push it to get it started, but humming can really get the cords working without stringing, and once you open your mouth, the sound is more free and the throat has opened up.

But they say you shouldn't use a practice mute too much, because it can have bad effects on your playing. Maybe that's where the singers who were trying to use humming to find their head voice were going wrong; maybe they were using it too much and producing a nasal sound. I only hum to warm up. It's important, in every aspect of practice, to remember that moderation is key.


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