How to Coordinate Your Soft Palate

[@chayennemiaskeete4400]

I love how there’s just a thunderstorm going on in the background. Red wine just off screen. vibe check 10

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

😀 I filmed this in an AirBnb just outside Brugges - I was enjoying a brief vacation after giving a voice workshop in Kortrijk and needed to stay on schedule with the video project that this was a part of! so that isn't actually wine, that is an amazing Belgian beer!

[@isaiahhernandez6304]

Lol

[@cassandrehenderson6240]

You are SOOOO helpful! The biological aspect along with the detailed do’s and dont’s were so necessary for me to understand!

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@mariairacemamartin205]

Swallowing in slow motion gave me great awareness of my soft palate. Thanks so much. Great info.

[@katariina7697]

I've been trying to figure out the soft palate -thing for maybe 4 years - this was the video that finally helped me find it (it was the underwater-idea). Thank you! And thank you for not making me yawn to find it, there's about a thousand videos in KZbin suggesting that and it just didn't work for me.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

It's possible to yawn without closing your nasal port. Yawns are good for getting a sense of how much available resonance space we have, but that is distinct from the act of raising the soft palate/closing the nasal port.

[@katariina7697]

@@ClaudiaFriedlander Well that explains it! Thanks again for sharing your knowledge here, it makes a real difference!

[@dianeshepherdlyricsoprano1394]

I was trying to feel an upper movement of my soft palate as I listened to you, and it worked! This is the first video I have seen that helps with this, and so many many thanks. You know Claudia, I haven't known of you for very long, but I trust you and something I really like about you is that even though you are as good as you, and a trained opera singer and so on, you are not at all pretentious.

[@ManuelTenore]

The exercise where you breathe in while doing the "k" ist amazing. I'll definitely use this with my students. Thank you so much for this great Channel!

[@thomasclark7946]

Great Information, I see I was adding extra tension by depressing my tongue to achieve space between my soft palate. The myth of the eyebrows and forehead also added tension, Thanks You again for these tips!!!!

[@dedriccarroll2]

Love your articulation! Very nice voice and energy.

[@TheseusTex]

Thanks!! Might have also mentioned the necessity of manipulating the soft palette to create French nasal vowels and the difference between the normal and nasal vowels.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Well, this video is free, but for the exorbitant price of $19.95 you can acquire my entire Articulation for Singers online course. It includes video lessons dedicated to applying principles like the one covered in this video to lyric diction in Italian, English, French and German. www.liberatedvoice.studio/articulation-for-singers

[@chen-mq1by]

thank you so much for your information! This is a must watch before getting into soft palate tranings. Also you have talked about a lot of problems that I'm facing and confused with that my coach doesn't understand, so I'm so glad that I have watch this video to find that I'm not delusional. Also I had a overall understanding with soft palate and what's so important about it. I cannot be more grateful.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I'm so glad you found it helpful!

[@lokecharlotte7333]

Thank you for your lesson!!! I finally understand which muscles I need to use❤

[@anna20391]

Could you make a video on singing with dynamics? For example, when I sing high notes I have a hard time singing soft/piano. Thank you.

[@RosePetal17]

Reanna, I have a hard time with this too!

[@darksidessj25]

I have kinesthetic awareness with my soft pallet and it is freaking annoying sometimes. This also works with music as well. I am learning to sing in mix cause this is how I discovered this. I loved to sing ever since I was 16 but I didn't know I had this ability tell I just focused on it one day.

[@bigheadrhino]

Thank you, this was extremely helpful!

[@VIDEOHEREBOB]

Thank you

[@helenadzelalijahammerschmi4168]

SO helpful! Thank you. Subscribed =)

[@tobebuilds]

What a relaxing video.

[@chelseadaley9770]

Thank you for the advice

[@luizfilipecotrimdealmeidar614]

Thank you. If you have lessons on the vowel E, and diferent pitches I would love to listen to.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

My Articulation for Singers online course has lessons for every vowel and consonant sound www.liberatedvoice.studio/articulation-for-singers

[@cosmos-_-]

I purchased your book(Complete vocal fitness) on Amazon. It's very good. I bought physical book(paperback). Now I want to read it on kindle(ebook). Please update the kindle version price for whom already bought physical book!(kindle matchbook)

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I am glad you like the book! I do not think that my publisher, Rowman & Littlefield, provides a service like this but I will ask them.

[@cosmos-_-]

@@ClaudiaFriedlander Thanks for answer! There is a 'Kindle Matchbook' policy for that in Amazon. Publisher may know this.

[@stylish_pengu]

i can do a perry the platypus impression now thanks

[@vbell2536]

Excellent lesson! Thank you so much.

[@GarethBretherton]

Again... Fab video! Thanks

[@lessandra602]

Thank you very much

[@SuperMark63]

Just brilliant. Subscribed.

[@galacticchannel2317]

I promise you watchi this to do voice girl

[@20a3c5f9]

I guess most of people here are professionals, but I'm absolute beginner who came here searching for "Soft Palate" videos after seeing about it on a video about staying on pitch. I've managed to control it in seconds by watching myself jawing on my phone camera. It creates a pressure in my ears when i get it up. Is this normal? I suddenly hear my voice much louder, almost unpleasantly loud.

[@nanettetredoux7613]

Useful and to the point as always.

[@Flutter-u3b]

Wow amazing..i love this. Im new here... Helpful your video

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

So glad you found it helpful!!

[@mezzowannabe543]

Does this excerise cause throatache while developing? I hope so... Because I realise whenever I do the soft palate excersize, the next day my throat aches :(

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I do not think that this should cause your throat to ache. These movements are about coordination and should not involve anything strenuous.

[@emilyphillips2699]

thanks!

[@vic_yuse7083]

太棒了，多么幸运看到这个视频，太有用了，不知道有没有线上一对一的课程学习。结尾的部分，我听懂了老师说的，但是还是不能准确的掌握。

[@jimryon1002]

Hello, I am a professional trombonist. I have a problem with my soft palate involuntarily dropping as I play. Air then goes through the nose instead of around the vocal cords and out of the mouth where in needs to go. The result is a weak sound before I have to stop playing. Can you advise?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Try this: With your mouth closed, take a deep breath in through your nostrils, and then start holding your breath. If you are able to do this, it is because your soft palate has moved from a dropped to a raised position (because it had to be in a dropped position in order for you to inhale through your nose). Can you detect that movement and/or the sensations that accompany it? That is the act of raising your soft palate, and keeping it raised for the duration of the time you are holding your breath. So that is what you need to do, and continue doing, while you otherwise exhale into your trombone. It does not require much effort to raise the soft palate, but it's a tricky movement to be able to detect and train because he have little sensory awareness of its movements.

[@marinarabini363]

Yor are precious.

[@VIDEOHEREBOB]

Claudia, May I ask if you have any favorite Male Rock Singers? Thank you.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

So many!! David Bowie, Robert Plant, Roy Orbison, Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen to name just a few of the classic rock singers whose voices continued to be amazing and healthy as they aged. Who do you like?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

@@dystopia2386 I can't really assess what a singer is doing without actually working with them. That said, I do not think that Sting raises his soft palate on high notes or elsewhere. Pop artists commonly sing with resonance that is more closely aligned with natural speech than the resonance required for classical singing - classical singers don't have that luxury, because only certain qualities of resonance will project well without a mic. I believe that my colleague Elisabeth Howard has worked with Sting on his technique, and I don't *think* she encourages raising the soft palate but I am not sure.

[@malang724]

I'm watching this because I'm trying to figure out how to use the navage and they said to close the soft palate by making an ng sound but that hasn't been working for me. I've also not been able to go under water without holding my nose ever in my life and have been having some issues swallowing meats lately. Is there something wrong with me?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I do not think there is something wrong with you, but there is definitely something wrong with the advice you were given, because an ng (or nn or mm, any humming sound) opens the nasal port rather than closes it.

[@norbertruck1683]

Danke für diese wichtigen Tips. Ihre Videos sind alle toll gemacht und sehr wertvoll für mich. Eine Bitte, könnten Sie etwas langsamer sprechen? Selbst die simultanübersetzung ist in diesem Tempo nicht mehr zu lesen. Beste Grüße

[@joshcollins9125]

Was that lightening? Very quiet!

[@nogard0497]

Decent video but all the other ones I've seen have a demonstration

[@CAVikasWadhwani]

Can U please help me. I have been moving my soft palete quite a lot but not lifting it instead moving it down from the back as if breath moving in to the ear. Now it's causing problm in swallow and the eustachian tube opening closing I guess. I can't hear that sound which come when we swallow or drink something.

[@akhilgada602]

Asperated K while breathing-in sounds like snoring or may be it is snoring, right? May be while snoring the soft palate is in a raised position? Does raising soft palate eases hitting higher notes? Thanks, Claudia for sharing the wonderful information.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

The sound you hear when someone snores is actually the friction caused when the soft palate rapidly opens and closes the nasal port during inhalation. I feel that raising the soft palate makes high notes more resonant and vowels easier to define up there. So not necessarily easier to "hit" but easier to resonate properly. It's very easy to screech out a high note, less easy to produce the same pitch in a pleasing and resonant way.

[@ironman133]

Thank you! Lemme know plz is it also works for pop singing not an opera?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Many pop singers perform with a dropped soft palate because it gives there sound an added twang. I think it's possible to get plenty of twang with the soft palate raised and I find it preferable - I think singers of any genre will have more options that way. But whatever style of music you sing, I think it helps to know how your instrument works.

[@BratzFanz123]

Everytime my soft palate raises I gag. Is there any way to fix this?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I think that this is a question for a Speech Language Pathologist (SLP) or other medical professional. However, I propose that this is not exactly true and that you do not in fact gag *every* time your soft palate raises. Because every single time you swallow, your soft palate does raise! If you were gagging every time you swallowed, you'd have a much bigger problem than insufficient vocal resonance! So if this movement is making you gag when you work on your singing, my theory is that there is also something else you are doing in addition to raising your soft palate that is provoking the gag, although the soft palate movement is likely contributing to it. I'd ask an SLP for help with this.

[@BratzFanz123]

@@ClaudiaFriedlander thank you!

[@AmitThakorlovemeorhateme]

hi...ur video was helpful in understanding the anatomy of mouth. I unfortunately have been having lot of problems for 4 years ever since i caught a bad cold. I used to be a very fast speaker with clear enunciation but now i feel as if my soft palate is just not responding fast enough to keep up with my speed. i am not able to enunciate clearly at fast speed. the area behind my soft palate seems to not close completely. the line AND A LITTLE always throws me off. the soft palate and the area under my tongu(may be salivary glands) at back feels heavy....what exercises can you do to make these muscles strong

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

I'm sorry you've been having a frustrating time with your voice Amit. I'm afraid I have no idea what might be going on, so I can't really recommend exercises for you. However, this video is part of my Articulation Course, and if the problem is being caused by anything having to do with the strength and coordination of your jaw, tongue, lips or soft palate, you'll find lots of exercises for them www.liberatedvoice.studio/articulation-for-singers

[@newhope5729]

Are you Indian?

[@henriqueribeiro2672]

Hey Claudia! I’ve got one question. Some people say we should raise our soft palate to sing. Some people say we should feel the resonance through the nose, forehead and even the headtop. How can we make vibrate the upper part of our head if air isn’t coming up because of the raised soft palate? Should the soft palate block the whole air flow to come up? Should it raise just to open the vocal tract but without block the air flow? Pretty sure I’m misunderstanding something. Thanks a lot!

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Hi Henrique! I’ll do my best to answer your questions. >Some people say we should raise our soft palate to sing. I am among those voice teachers who prefers a raised soft palate most of the time while singing. Raising the soft palate accomplishes one thing: it regulates nasality, which in my opinion helps us to creat more balanced resonance and keep the tone from sounding overly bright or shallow. However, there are reputable voice teachers who advocate for singing with a dropped soft palate. My goal in making these videos is to explain anatomical function so that teachers and singers can do whatever they intend to do with the soft palate etc., rather than having no control over it. >Some people say we should feel the resonance through the nose, forehead and even the headtop. When I teach technique I focus on the process rather than the product of singing - the movements and activities that we engage in to create sound (process) rather than the sounds and sensations that result (product). You do the thing, and then you notice the sounds and sensations that result, but you don’t try to elicit a particular sensation. So I do not personally recommend deliberately trying to *feel* anything anywhere, because it is possible to create a sensation that *feels* like resonance in the nose, forehead, or anywhere else without actually singing well - it is possible to feel vibration in the nose, etc. without actually making the sound you want to make. So when a voice teacher or singer says “we should feel the resonance through the nose” etc, what they are actually saying is that when *they* sing well, that is what *they* are feeling. Every body is different and there is no one way that singing should feel to everyone, in my experience. >How can we make vibrate the upper part of our head if air isn’t coming up because of the raised soft palate? I need to break this question down into two parts in order to answer it. 1) When we sing, the only things that are actually vibrating are the vocal folds. The upper part of the head does not vibrate. Some singers may have sensations in the upper part of the head that are related to resonance, but we should not try to directly make those sensations happen, because they are happening as a consequence of singing, not something we can do directly. 2) The role of “air coming up” is to make the vocal folds vibrate. Once the vocal folds vibrate, it’s the sound waves that come up and get filtered through the mouth (and the nose, if the soft palate is dropped). The air doesn’t create resonance in the head - it’s the sound waves that make that happen. If the soft palate is dropped and the sound waves go into the nose, you may indeed have more of a sensation of resonance in your head; you will also be producing a more nasal sound. If that’s what you want, then great. If not, sing with your soft palate raised and don’t expect to have quite as much sensation in your head. >Should the soft palate block the whole air flow to come up? Should it raise just to open the vocal tract but without block the air flow? Raising the soft palate does not open the vocal tract. Raising the soft palate closes the nasal port. It keeps the air from flowing out of the nose and makes all of the air flow out of the mouth instead. However, the role of air flow in the vocal instrument is just making the vocal folds vibrate, so the air has already done its job by the time it escapes out of the mouth and/or nose.

[@henriqueribeiro2672]

Claudia Friedlander OMG! I wasn’t even expecting such an amazing answer! It really helped me out! You’re so talented as teacher! Thank you so much to be so careful with your words!

[@jazznotes3802]

The soft palate rising is an observable effect of good singing not the cause. In other words you shouldn’t manually lift it, but practice exercises (cause-and-effect) that create this outcome. Much like Seth Riggs gives his students training in SLS.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

You should definitely not attempt to manually lift your soft palate. Or anyone else's.

[@jazznotes3802]

@@ClaudiaFriedlander Yeah, that would be disturbing 😂 (manually lifting someone else’s)

[@lacuevadelvampiro]

wow!!!

[@amitamehta2255]

Your recording is v soft unable to hear clearly. Thanks.

[@awan392]

My soft palate very down now plz treatment advise.

[@mikehopkins4040]

Have you got a video on singing and maintaining long notes.I sing lead in barbershop .We have to sustain some very long notes ie 15 ,20 seconds at times .I am ok at 12 14 seconds then I just stop .I still feel as though I have breath left but I just cut off.

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Interesting challenge! I don't have any videos that address this, unfortunately. I would try performing the long phrases using a lip trill, and also speaking the phrases in rhythm apart from the pitches. If you can make it through with both of these approaches, then theoretically you can sing them on one breath - if you can't, it means that either you are allowing too much breath to escape or are creating excess resistance at the vocal folds and are having to drive extra breath through them to get them to vibrate.

[@mikehopkins4040]

Thanks for your advice.Our MD has us bubbleing and lip thrills we do the ng together with all types of exercises .I think I may be overthinking as I approach the longer notes .The other problem with Barbershop is you are Waiting for the other parts to come in or fade out it's not like pop where the music with the tempo comes in we are guided by our MD who sets the tempo. Anyway thanks for your reply I enjoy your videos.

[@shubhamroy2933]

Please tell about breathing at the during of the singing

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Here is a playlist of videos that I made about breathing for singing: kzbin.info/aero/PLfzOzzogQxleIVkiUSYyefa2Va5WXdsS4

[@newhope5729]

Are you Indian?

[@shilpisirvaiya1299]

@@newhope5729 are you indian

[@newhope5729]

@@shilpisirvaiya1299 🤗 Hello Sister

[@NouriAnas]

05:06 05:33 am i the only who noticed that black figure in the window 👀

[@steverogers431]

Omg

[@FlippyMoon]

I was more focused on the lightning at 05:08

[@williamevans9426]

If you slow things down, you can see that there's a wall outside and a tower/chimney stack with a narrower section on top - in the flash it does look like a torso and head! 'Great electrical storm, though.

[@ganapathyaiyappa3327]

Hello ma'am my mum's soft palate has turned yellow from past 1 week what could it be?

[@ClaudiaFriedlander]

Oh my, that is way outside my practice! If it's still yellow she should definitely see a doctor.

[@indigopurple8568]

how to sing like bts? how taehung warm up vocal?

[@pobparat8082]

nice vid but low sound

[@ernestorodriguez5720]

Kakaka 7:00