Have you been told you sound nasal?
Now you can learn exactly what causes nasality, how to control it, and how to find clearer diction
in 27 minutes or less!
NB This is the streaming version of Nasality and the Soft Palate - The Techniques, saved at a slightly lower level. For the DVD please click here
Nasality can have a significant impact on how clearly you speak and sing. This streaming version of our bestselling DVD contains practical, effective techniques to combat nasality by learning to control your soft palate
The soft palate is essential for our survival
It helps in breathing and in swallowing. We need to close off the nasal cavity when we swallow (or we'll have soup coming down our nose!). We need to open the nasal cavity in order to breathe, and to allow the incoming air to be moistened and filtered by the nose (or it can get too dry for our lungs).
But sometimes when we sing or speak, we lose contact with our soft palate, and can end up sounding nasal, dull, out of tune, even comical. If you want to sing or speak well, you will need to be in control of the soft palate.
This Nasality and the Soft Palate Techniques streaming video helps you understand:
- what causes nasality
- why you sometimes need nasality, and when you don't
- the 3-second, foolproof test for nasality
- finding the doorway into the nose
- whether the door should be open, closed or ajar
- how to monitor your practice from the outside
- why your soft palate is so important
- how to find and control your soft palate
- why what you feel isn't necessarily what is happening
- the difference between singing with "a cold in your nose", and singing "down your nose"
- whether you should feel anything in your nose when you sing or speak
- how to check if you're doing it right
- when sounding nasal is a good thing
- finding and controlling more resonance
- how to maximise the resonating cavity of the mouth
- why the soft palate can affect your tuning
- when doing it "wrong" can be right
- how to isolate your soft palate from your tongue and your jaw
- which exercises to do - and the most common mistake that people make
- why controlling the soft palate can help with good diction
- the three special sounds in the English language
- why not all accents and dialects are the same
Here are some myths about the soft palate:
"Contemporary musical theatre singing is always nasal"
"The soft palate is always raised when you sing"
"The soft palate lifts automatically when you breathe in"
"You can't control the soft palate"
"You get a brighter tone if you sing into your nose"
"The jaw, tongue and soft palate work together"
These myths are now busted!
This streaming video is packed with tips for teaching the techniques to your own students and clients, including using hand signs for clarity and isolation exercises to release excess tension. Filmed as part of the Singing and the Actor Training intensive seminar, you will see Jeremy and Gillyanne take the group step by step through identifying nasality, finding the soft palate, and gaining voluntary control of this doorway between the nose and mouth.
In less than 27 minutes.
Topics include:
Monitoring personal effort
Brain Pain and Competence
What is nasality?
Diagrams and film
Finding the soft palate
Moving from nasal to oral vowels
Opening and closing the door
Speaking with a dropped soft palate
Learn how to find and control your soft palate in less time than it takes to watch an episode of American Idol. Isn't your career worth it? (unless you're appearing on American Idol, of course...) 