Page 10 - Write Away November Issue

Y
“I’m gonna sing ahh another new one now.. Every-
body havin a good time or what? .. I know these new
songsm are… maybe that’s kinda weird”. This was
his opening comments before launching into his
iconic Heart of Gold way back in 1971. Did even he
know what was to become of that song? Or was it a
guess that maybe it would last a few months, maybe
it would be relegated to the big trash bin of time, or
maybe, just maybe it would live on 50 years later and
become one of the most iconic songs of all time.
Every time I’ve ever watched Neil Young perform,
he’s always come across as a reclusive, introvert
who just happens to write amazing songs, play well,
perform well and sing his ass off in his distinctive
style. And I think this relaxed demeanour is also part super light (yet still very accurate) on the consonants
of what creates his vocal sound. So let’s get into one
very important aspect of singing that Neil Young
does masterfully and one which you too will be able
to implement.
Vowels versus consonants.
Interestingly, when asked the difference between
vowels and consonants, most folks have no idea, even even, smooth and connected. Once you can do this,
though we learned about them in primary school.
In simple terms, Vowels are sounds produced from
the vocal folds. Examples of singular ones are ah as
in cat, or, oo. Double vowels or dipthongs as theyre
technically called are A E I O U. They are comprised
of two sounds. Tripthongs have three sounds, eg
Laywer.
Consonants interrupt the vowel to make words leg-
ible. These can be broken into a few categories also.
Plosives, P K T. Fricatives where the sound is made
from airflow. Unvoiced ones like sss, fff, th (thurs-
day). They have their voiced cousins like zzz, vvv
and th (the). Nasal port consonants, m n and ng and
finally liquids, ll and rrr.
OK, but how does all this apply to singing? Well,
your pitch, tone and volume happens on the vowel.
Notice you never pitch a sss.
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Neil Young’s Vocals
After the vowel has been made, it passes through
your mouth and is cut up to form words. Think of
the word mum. It’s essentially an aaahhh where you
open and close your mouth.
This constant changing of the sound by the conso-
nants as it passes through the mouth can become
very problematic for a singer. When consonants mess
with the vowels too much, the voice sounds amateur.
It’s as if the words are pushed or yelled into existence
rather than sung.
So the eternal golden rule for singing is to sing 80%
on the vowel and 20% on the consonant. This is what
you hear when you hear Neil Young performing. He’s
and most of his voice is produced on the vowel.
So how can you implement this into your voice? The
simplest way is to sing a song and turn your mouth
off as if you’ve had a stroke. This removes the conso-
nants and allows you to sing ONLY vowels. It’s very
strange at first. Sing through the words and remove
all the pumping and pushing so the vowels are left
lightly add the consonants back in by gradually add-
ing the mouth movements. Once you’ve done this,
your voice will sound more pro than ever. Watch Neil
Young and take note of his mouth. You’ll notice min-
imal movement and you’ll also notice how he sings
long vowels, through the words.
Click link for Paul’s website...
www.writeawaymagazine.co.uk