This is a common piece of advice that has been dispensed and utilised by many singers and teachers to correct issues in both brightness and pitch. It may well solve a small part of the problem initially but its application will create more obstacles than it solves. It is to be avoided. The issue is that the perceptual aural change that you hear during application is immediately attractive and that’s what singers buy into, they fail to notice the other consequences and are romanced by the perceived positive it offers – rather like a timeshare or a remote controlled car!!!
There are much much better solutions to this problem that are vocally efficient and artistically freeing. This ‘smiling singing’ approach comes straight from the school of quick fixes and short cuts; home to my own bespoke ‘DIY philosophy’, dodgy politics and bad education. It is to be avoided, as are all those other things!!!
How does smiling work to correct pitch and brightness?
Quite simply it shortens the vocal tract. The longer the tract is the lower the note is,(consider a bassoon) and the shorter it is the higher it is. (consider a piccolo)
“With lip protrusion, the overall length of the vocal tract is increased. With lip spreading, the length of the vocal tract is shortened. The condition that makes the vocal tract tubing longer favours bass resonance; the condition that shortens the tube favours treble.” (Jo Estill)
What’s the problem with it?
The oral capsule is compromised during ‘smiling singing.’ This capsule is the key to your resonance so it must be protected, not poisoned. Constriction is very likely to occur, which can then lead to, among other things, Jaw tension and tongue tension. In addition, this tactic makes you look like a Stepford wife whilst performing. Not good!
Anything that restricts the free movement of the jaw is an issue in both vocal efficiency and visual consumption. Wildly moving your jaw around really puts us off and distracts us!!!
The tongue is an incredibly powerful component and tension must be avoided at all costs. When the tongue is working against you good singing is incredibly difficult. From a teachers perspective this is probably the most difficult tension to release. For many, the smiling singing school will yield this difficult situation.
Smiling actually lowers the velum, (or soft palate) which is something you would look to raise if you were teaching someone with issues in tuning and brightness. It’s a real own goal!! Balancing a change in lip position with velum position CAN be useful in classical voice but ONLY when achieving the appropriate frequencies for each vowel. Here, minimal movements can help create optimal resonance but this takes much skill and precision and should not be attempted until all other elements are isolated and under control. Manipulating the lip position very subtlety can be a useful tool for enhancement in this very particular situation; it is not a quick fix for a fundamental technical problem.
“There are schools of thought in favour of both these techniques: singing with slightly protruded lips and singing with smiling lips. You can use these features to change the sound during long held notes, changing from a brighter sound to a more covered tone, and vice versa. Your voice is an acoustic instrument. By understanding how to control the soft palate, tongue, jaw and lips, you can shape your sound so that carries easily to the listener” (Gillyanne Kayes)
This is quite correct, you can indeed use these features but they should only be used to enhance what is already there rather than create it; this is clearly discussed in the rest of this very useful text. This comment ‘shape your sound’ is rather like salt on a meal; it should bring out flavours but not be responsible for them. Tiny subtle changes which enhance without impinging on the mask can occur once significant security and long term isolation of vocal components, breath and posture have been achieved and not before.
Finally, this approach also makes you look stupid. Imagine singing ‘Everybody hurts’ (REM) or ‘Dido’s lament’ (Henry Purcell) or ‘Not a day goes by’ (Sondheim) with a big stupid grin on your face. The mask should be neutral so you can express with it appropriately; our facial expressions are a massive part of our communication and our vocal technique should not impinge on this.
So why do people teach it or apply then?
Sometimes people just want a quick fix and borrow part of research or reasoning and apply it. Taking technique out of context is a common misappropriation and renders any hope of initial isolation and consequent efficient synchronisation impossible.
You can tell when a voice has been created through quick fixes, just like you can spot the DIY jobs I have done around our house.
This constant compensation will result in a complex, unquantifiable approach which is logically and methodically unsound. Quality takes time and precision and hard work. There is no quick route but quality teaching offers you a quicker reliable route with technical longevity and consistency.
Ok, so it is a useful tool but it should ONLY be used in a very particular circumstance and always minimally?
Correct, I can use my cheese grater as a hammer but its definitely not the best use of its design and purpose. To quote Janice Chapman;
“Smiling singing actually makes the voice more brittle, not brighter.”
Therefore applying it with other components in an appropriate way is a very specific, minimal task that many singers don’t need to concern themselves with most of the time until their total mastery needs a minuscule tweak. Its applicable to 0.01% for less than 1% of the time.
So, what should I do instead? How do I correct my issues in pitch or brightness?
In order to achieve secure pitch we should see a solid relationship between power (breath) and source (Layrnx). Working on fricatives such as zzzzzzzz, vvvvvvv or lip trills is incredibly helpful as this exposes how efficient the most fundamental relationship is working. Then, hopefully, we can allow this to pass through the filter (all components above the vocal folds) without disturbing the pitch. You can connect this this up on vowels or basic triggers for emotive voicing such as groaning, winging or calling. These are the areas you would work in when you address pitch issues, it can only be effectively addressed on a fundamental basis where the interplay of vocal components can be observed and manipulated with clarity.
Achieving brightness is done effectively when manipulating the width of the AES (aryepiglottic sphincter) Good triggers to access this include a duck call, a cackling witch or a crying baby. Control of this component is highly effective in conjunction with appropriate breath pressure, retraction and the correct registration. Achieving mastery of these fundamental factors with a trained professional will make good singing, with controlled brightness, much much easier.
Maintaining tension is not efficient and thats what smiling singing creates. Consider the face ache you have from laughing a lot or smiling for hours on your wedding photos!!!! Although it takes longer to establish fundamentals properly it will set you up for a wonderful life of consistent, joyful singing without the frustration of a thousand quick fixes all coming undone at various times and robbing you of joy and confidence.