There’s a scene from a terrible movie about the sexual revolution in the 60′s where a woman whom this man has just met is giving him direction to what will bring her pleasure in matters of degree angles up, down, right and left. This is what I always think of when a student asks me about placement. In other words, taking a beautiful sensual experience and making all about one spot that needs to vibrate.

Placing the voice means that the singer aims for one spot where the voice will perform the best. My observation of students who come from a tradition of placing the voice, only add tension and actually diminish resonance. A student wrote this to me in an email after just one lesson:

I have been practicing your technique and applying it to my songs. To my surprise, the pitching comes more naturally and I can actually hit the higher notes and even falsetto more accurately without thinking too much after that. I don’t have to worry exactly which part of my eye to place the voice at. Thank you!

There is a burden on the student who is told to place the voice in a specific spot. Singing is about the whole body vibrating, the whole body making music. I feel vibration all the way down my arms. It’s fabulous!

So what are you supposed to do instead of placing the voice? I’m glad you asked. Expand the possibilities instead of restricting.

1. Open your body on inhale. Open the passageways the breath and sound follow to create the freest, clearest, most effortless sound.
From your nasal passages all the way to your tailbone – open and release the muscles
Inhale is not about getting the most breath possible into the lungs, it’s about opening and preparing the instrument for exhale freely
2. Try to keep the airways open as you create sound
3. Allow the voice to find its’ own way through your body. The human instrument brilliant and given half a chance it will create amazing sounds without any interference from the singer.

Singing creates vibration, resonance, in your body. If you try to replicate the vibration you feel when your singing is good, you will ‘place’ the sound accordingly. When the truth is that the resonance that felt so free and wonderful was a RESULT of your inhale and release of the sound.

This is a vast subject and I will write more about it. Please ask you questions, disagree with me, whatever, but let’s get a dialogue going and we’ll all help each other.

About the author

Sally Morgan is a professional vocal trainer with over 30 years of experience. Sally is also the creator and author of SingLikeYouSpeak(TM)!

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