Music Lessons Vocal

Vocal Fry or How To Sing/Scream with a rasp.

July 2, 2008 on 9:32 am | In Rock Scream/Rasp | No Comments

Often times young rock singers want to sing with very rough or raspy tone and go about it the wrong way.   New singers assume that a rasp or rock scream is produced from a clenching in the throat and a lot of push from the diaphragm.

This is tottally wrong.  A rock scream or rasp can be achieved with just as much ease as a clean tone.  In fact if done right, sometimes it’s even easier than singing in clean tone.

What the technique is called is, “vocal fry.”   What vocal fry really is, is the vocal cords having minute spaces between them where they would normally be closed off.  Imagine a zipper that has come apart is various spots, but is still connected at the top and bottom.  These spaces are what cause the broken up tone.

The easiest way to experience vocal fry is to make a very slight moaning sound. The sound that is typical of any person first waking in the morning.   Because there is very little energy and the vocal cords are just barely moving, it causes this space, and the broken up fry tone. 

Experiment until you can make this fry sound, easily, at a very slight almost in audible level.  Memorize the feeling.

Now sing a clean tone.  Now try to mix that fry into it.  It’s key to remember that singing with a vocal fry on your tone makes singing feel kind of floppy and loose in the throat.  So, if you have bad tone even with your clean tone and force and push it’s going to be difficult to do a vocal fry tone correctly.

The next thing to consider is mask placement.  Just like your clean tone you need mask placement.  The vocal fry creates vibrations that are very easily felt.  These vibrations should be felt in the head cavities, that is up in the soft pallet or hard pallet or even behind the nose, depending on the pitch.  You, DO NOT, want to have the vocal fry felt deep in the throat. 

If you are looking for a course that can teach you to rock scream, sing with rasp and do it all with ease, the best singing instruction you can get is www.vocalrelease.com     It contains all the best techniques for singing explained in a way anyone can understand and use.