The #1 Way To Sing Without Tension or Strain | Pro Singer Success Collective

Hi, I'm Ardan Kwin and welcome to today's episode of the Pro Singer Success Collective. Today we are going

Success Collective. Today we are going to be talking about tension. And the

number one thing that frustrates most singers and keeps them out of their most powerful free sound is tension. So on

today's episode, I'm going to be talking about the most effective way to get rid of tension and all those stubborn physical habits that are sabotaging your best singing. Keep watching.

best singing. Keep watching.

All right, guys. So for most singers, based on my 25 years of experience in my own singing and meeting hundreds of singers and coaching hundreds of

singers, I feel like the holy grail for singers is to be able to sing without strain or tension throughout the expanse of your range with a free, powerful,

resonant sound, feeling confident and vulnerable. Simple, right?

vulnerable. Simple, right?

If you can feel me like internally rolling my eyes right now, it's like I feel you. You probably are, too. Because

feel you. You probably are, too. Because

I mean, if singing like that were simple, you'd be doing it easily by now.

You would never strain on the high notes. You would never tense up at the

notes. You would never tense up at the end of a long phrase. You would never feel anxious about what was going to come out. It would be amazing.

come out. It would be amazing.

But, you know, the thing is, there's a really good reason that you're frustrated. And guess what? It's not

frustrated. And guess what? It's not

your fault. Okay, odds are nobody ever taught you about the negative feedback loop of tension.

So, when I'm reminded of the negative feedback loop of tension, I always remember this message from one of the members of my my virtual voice studio

and his name is Frankie. And Frankie

wrote, I'm going to read this to you.

I just found your content and I am hooked, but I do need help with one thing. I have so much strain and tension

thing. I have so much strain and tension and it won't go away. I've watched

hundreds of videos, honestly near thousands. When I push more and try to

thousands. When I push more and try to increase my pitch, my voice flats out.

My throat strains and hitting the pitch in the note just isn't there. And he

says, "It's only one pitch, but the more I push, the more I strain and the more tension I feel. How can I eliminate this to hit new notes?"

Okay, so Frankie has been stuck in the negative feedback loop of tension and he never even knew it. And so I bet there

are a lot of you who are marooned there too and had no idea. Do you relate to what Frankie says? Do you know that you have notes in there, but you just it's like it feels like you hit that ceiling

and there's just so much strain and tension towards getting there. And

despite your best efforts, singing without the strain and the tension just remains elusive because you're stuck in this negative feedback loop. And I want you to know something that I've been

there. Me too. When I was a younger

there. Me too. When I was a younger singer, I remember how frustrating that was. And you know, there were teachers I

was. And you know, there were teachers I had this one teacher. She would tell me that my jaw was tense. That's where I carried a lot of tension. She would tell me, she would always point it out, you

know, your jaw is tense. And I would be so frustrated because I could feel it. I

was like, "Yeah, I know. Thanks." Like,

"Thanks, but no thanks. What am I supposed to do about it?" And, you know, she she would say, "Go to acupuncture, go to yoga, go get a massage, uh go do

meditation, all these things." And guys, I would do it. I mean, I was so committed. I would do all these things

committed. I would do all these things and I would feel great and then I would come back to the moment of singing and all the tension in my jaw was right back

where it started. And so, there's a reason why none of that stuff works to address the tensions in the moment of

singing. The way to get rid of the

singing. The way to get rid of the tension and these stubborn physical habits that are sabotaging your singing without having to do one more acupuncture, massage, fancy yoga class

ever again comes down to understanding this. It comes down to understanding why

this. It comes down to understanding why you are feeling so much tension and strain when you sing. What this negative feedback loop is all about and what to

do to get rid of it. So, first let me explain what the negative feedback loop is. So, let's use a member. Let's use

is. So, let's use a member. Let's use

our our group member who wrote me and as an example. And so, you remember he he

an example. And so, you remember he he said, "When I push more to try to increase my pitch, my voice flats out, my throat strains, and then the note just isn't there. And the more I push,

the more strain and tension I feel." So,

he's pretty much summed it up right there for you. The more you push, the more you strain, the worse the note comes out, which makes you insecure. So

you trust your technique less, you push more, you strain more, you sound even worse. Then the trust is even less there

worse. Then the trust is even less there for you. You push even more, strain

for you. You push even more, strain more, sound worse, trust less. It's like

there in lies the loop. There's the loop right there. And it just constantly

right there. And it just constantly feeds itself into either until you get a vocal injury or you just throw up your hands in defeat and it makes you so insecure. It doesn't feel good. It

insecure. It doesn't feel good. It

doesn't sound good. So you stop taking the opportunities that are going to get you the career that you want. Either

that or vocal injury. And this is how vocal injury happens because the more tension, the more strain. You know, your cords are like little tiny butterfly wings that come together at the edges

and they're very delicate and they just can't handle all that tension and strain. And so that's how we get nodes,

strain. And so that's how we get nodes, vocal hemorrhage, vocal paralysis. Okay,

so this is very serious stuff. If you're

dealing with a lot of tension and strain, you will end up in one of those two places. So, how do we interrupt the

two places. So, how do we interrupt the negative feedback loop? How do we stop it? And on the surface, you might say,

it? And on the surface, you might say, well, you know, you just need better support. Shouldn't be pushing. And you'd

support. Shouldn't be pushing. And you'd

be right to a degree.

If you teach a singer rockolid support that they can completely rely on, the tension should go away. It should.

But the tension is there when a singer is singing and when they're pushing because they're not supporting. And

there's a reason why they're pushing and not supporting. And what happens is like

not supporting. And what happens is like as a reaction, other parts of your body come in to compensate for the support that is not there. So when when the

tension is there, if a singer is pushing and they're not supporting, now other parts of your body recognize, oh well, the the the lower support isn't there.

And so they come in to compensate by holding in the neck, holding in the jaw, could be the ribs, could be the tongue.

When the body doesn't feel inherently supported by that lower support, then other parts of the body are coming in to be like, I'll do it. I'll do it. And so

they grab. So if you have jaw tension, that is your jaw trying to compensate and literally support your sound in the absence of the lower support that should be there to do it. you know, whatever

the part of the body the tension is in, it is a reaction to the the lack of support in the lower body. And now the strain comes in

body. And now the strain comes in because now you've got a big old block in what should be an open energetic channel in your instrument. So, for

example, if it's the neck or the jaw is all tense and grabbing, the brain goes, well, how am I going to get air past that? And so now the body feels like it

that? And so now the body feels like it has to push in order to get the air past this block. But in doing so, it

this block. But in doing so, it sabotages any chance of efficient support because it makes the neck or the jaw jump into more action to compensate

for the lower body that is no longer supporting you. But now you have that

supporting you. But now you have that block in the ribs, in the neck, in the jaw, and wherever it is that makes you now feel like you have to push to get past that block. And so when you push,

you feel like you have to push to get past that block.

Now you've just created even more lack of security in the lower support. You've

sabotaged the lower support even more, which makes these, you know, parts of the body that are trying to compensate kick in even more, which means even less trust in the lower support, which means

even more kicking in up here. And now

you've got that negative feedback loop again, which goes on and on and on. So,

you've got these two giant negative feedback loops working concurrently with each other, making it near impossible for you to sing and perform the way you want and get these opportunities that

are going to take the career to the level that you want. So, what to do?

What do we do? The only way to break the negative feedback loop of tension is by addressing the thinking behind the singing.

So, there is a reason why a singer like Frankie teaching him better support is not going to kick the loop. There's a

reason why it's so frustrating for me to teach, you know, when when uh teachers say, you know, go get acupuncture, go get massage, like that's going to deal with the tension because that doesn't

work either. You cannot address a

work either. You cannot address a singer's technique or her physiology in a vacuum.

It doesn't work. I guys, I had the best technique in the world. I understood

exactly what I was supposed to be doing with my body to support my sound. And

yet, in the moment of singing, after I'd had my tension released by the acupuncture or the yoga or whatever it was, there was a reason why I'd feel great in that moment after. And then the

moment I'd start singing, all the tension would come back.

It was because nobody was helping me to understand the thinking behind the singing, the thinking that was sabotaging the singing because it's the

thinking that creates the tension. Your

body is reacting to what your brain is telling it. And so if your brain is

telling it. And so if your brain is telling you something that makes you feel either insecure or like you have something to prove or like you know whatever it may be, your body is going

to react to that and it's going to going to contract. It's going to stop trusting

to contract. It's going to stop trusting the technique you know. So until you address what's going on in the thinking that's sabotaging all of this, you will

never be able to fully kick the tension and improve the singing to a place where it's 100% rock solid, where you know you're going to deliver when it counts, not get a vocal injury, and be able to

go out there and create the career that you want.

And so that's why just teaching a singer badass support is usually not enough to break the negative feedback loop cycle because I can give a singer the best

technique in the world. And trust me like the singers who come work in my program, we give them like we work them hardcore on technique and support. But I

can give them the best technique in the world and intellectually that singer will understand it 100%. She will

completely understand what she's supposed to be doing with her body. And

yet in the moment of performing, there's something in her thinking that will prevent her from actually trusting it and using the technique that she intellectually knows in that moment. And

that's what happens to most of you guys.

So, you've heard me say this before and I will say it again that the body cannot do what the brain is sabotaging. It just

cannot.

Your body is just responding to your thoughts. So this is what I do with

thoughts. So this is what I do with singers who come to work in my program.

We unpack the brain so that it stops sabotaging the body and frees your most powerful effortless authentic unique sound. And it can happen really quickly,

sound. And it can happen really quickly, too, guys. A new singer, she just came

too, guys. A new singer, she just came into the intensive and I wanted I you know want to tell you about her. She is

an opera singer and she's somebody who's from New York and she had a really long dry spell of auditions. She wasn't

booking any roles. She was feeling really down on herself. She started to doubt her talent, wondering if at 33 years old she was ever going to break through to the next level of of working in Alevel and B-level opera houses with

major management, you know, having that equity or that AGMA scale, getting paid.

And I'm so proud of her because she came into class yesterday and she told us that she got a call back for an audition. The first one that the first

audition. The first one that the first audition she'd done in forever and certainly the first she' done it since joining the program. And she'd gotten into the callbacks and then she booked the gig and she's only been doing this

work for a few weeks. And so I'm telling you guys, this is super powerful stuff.

And you know these singers who come in, they are so super committed and coachable and accountable like they're really working the program and they're already seeing the results like she is

after a few weeks. And it's, you know, you can imagine after the full, you know, eight weeks like where she's going to be and the breakthroughs and the new confidence and ownership she's going to

have. And I say this not to just

have. And I say this not to just celebrate this particular singer, but also to let you guys know that you don't have to settle for being stuck in this

negative feedback loop. It can shift really quickly when you do a specific kind of work that addresses it. You

don't have to settle for constantly second-guessing your talent because this tension is holding you back and making you insecure about your sound and insecure about putting yourself out

there and nailing these things that are going to take you to the next level in your career. You don't have to settle

your career. You don't have to settle for that anymore. You don't have to have that anxiety anymore of like will I will I actually be able to like deliver if I

get the gig? Like does this ever happen to you? Like, what if I actually get the

to you? Like, what if I actually get the gig? I'll never be able to sing this

gig? I'll never be able to sing this night after night after night with all this tension and strain, and then they'll know that I'm a fraud. Does that

ever go through your head? You don't

have to settle with living with this fear of vocal injury, even though you sound good because you secretly know how much you're straining and tensing to get

there. And you're terrified that if this

there. And you're terrified that if this keeps up that you're going to get a vocal injury that will take you out and then you won't have the ability to sing and create this career.

There is a way out of the tension, guys.

So, if after hearing all of this, you're pretty sure that you've been stuck in this negative feedback loop of tension, then let me help you. Even if

nothing else has worked, this is what I do is to help talented singers get past their blocks to sing and perform in a way that gives them the best possible

shot at living their dream.

And I always set aside time in my calendar to be able to share with you the exact step-by-step strategy that I use with the singers we work with. And

as usual, this call is totally free. I

want to talk to you and I want to understand what is going on with your singing and see if I can help you. And

if I can, I will let you know. And if

not, I will point you to somebody else who can. And so on the call, we're going

who can. And so on the call, we're going to talk for like 45 minutes. I'm going

to lay out that strategy that will help you out of the tension and the strain so that you can sing freely, be able to rely on the longevity of your voice, get

rid of the risk of vocal injury, and consistently nail performances that connect deeply with your audience, and then open the doors to the kind of life

and career that you really want. So, if

that is you and you're interested in talking with me about how we do this and understanding your own tension and how we can shift it, book a call with me. At

the end of this video, you'll see if you're watching on YouTube, you can click right on the screen and it'll take you to my booking calendar and you can pick a time that works for you. And if

you're watching on Facebook, just go into the chat and you'll see the link uh to be able to schedule a call. But I

want to be really upfront, guys, that this call is not for everybody. This is

only for you if you've had a lot of one-on-one vocal training, private lessons, a lot of experience, you are out there hustling for your dream, you are committed, decisive, resourceful,

and accountable, and you are ready to uplevel. So, if you have not had much

uplevel. So, if you have not had much one-on-one technical training up to this point, if you have not been in voice lessons regularly, if you are not actively out there trying to make this

dream happen, then first things first, you need to go get that training. just

that basic level training, you know, six months of lessons weekly to really understand the the very basics because that's going to take care of a lot of the insecurity and a lot of tension once

you understand, you know, how to use your body to that effect. So, don't book this call if you have not had technical training for a good period of time. Go

get that first. Now, if you have studied one-on-one, right? Because look, if you

one-on-one, right? Because look, if you haven't studied to get your technique down, then be committed and resourceful to that, go get that first. But if you have had a good deal of training and you

still got tension, strain that you can't shake and no teacher has been able to help you with this, you've tried all these other things and nothing is working. If in your quiet moments you

working. If in your quiet moments you are wondering, why can't I get past this stuff? Because you know that if you did,

stuff? Because you know that if you did, your career would be at a totally different level by now. If you know that you are absolutely committed, decisive,

resourceful, and accountable to making a huge impact with your voice, getting past the things that are stopping you and going to create a life and a career that you love. And if you need some help

getting past the tension to do that, then I am here for you. So, click the link at the end of this video or in the comments on Facebook and book that call and we will get you sorted. All right,

everybody. Have a wonderful day and I will see you next time on the ProSer Success Collective. Bye. Hey guys,

Success Collective. Bye. Hey guys,

thanks for tuning in to today's episode.

If you want to subscribe, click the link right over there that says subscribe.

And if you want to book a breakthrough session with me, which you absolutely should do, then click the link right over here that says book a call to schedule an appointment to speak with

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