This Is A Voice

The Breathy-Light Archetype exercises from our This Is A Voice book

May 23, 2022 Jeremy Fisher and Dr Gillyanne Kayes Season 5 Episode 2
This Is A Voice
The Breathy-Light Archetype exercises from our This Is A Voice book
Show Notes Transcript

In the second episode of a new series, Dr Gillyanne Kayes & Jeremy Fisher take you through the two Breathy-Light Archetype exercises from the bestselling book This Is A Voice
Jeremy demonstrates different versions of the breathy-light archetype at different points in his vocal range (covering almost 2 octaves), and Gillyanne uses the archetype to narrate part of "Arthur The Rat".
Find out the upgrades we now add to the written exercise, and why we'd change some of the instructions
We've left in the bloopers again - listen to Jeremy cracking on an upper note before controlling it, and how he has to change breath pressure AND vibrato type to sing in a different range.
Both Jeremy and Gillyanne demonstrate the difference between the Breathy-Light archetype in the book and abducted then abducted falsetto - just because it's breathy doesn't mean it's falsetto!

This Is A Voice book link https://amzn.to/3LcpdBP

Book a coaching session with Gillyanne or Jeremy to discover how much more your voice can do
 https://DrGillyanneKayesJeremyFisherInspirationSession.as.me/

Or sign up for the Vocal Process newsletter to read Jeremy's articles here https://vocalprocess.co.uk/build-your-own-tilting-larynx/

Oliver Burkeman's article is here - https://www.positive.news/opinion/how-to-become-news-resilient/
And his books are here - The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can’t Stand Positive Thinking https://amzn.to/3tetDST
Help! How to Become Slightly Happier and Get a Bit More Done https://amzn.to/3lAGmLa

Dr Rangan Chatterjee's book is here - Happy Mind, Happy Life – 10 Simple Ways to Feel Great Every Day https://amzn.to/3NtuhmR

Mo Gawdat's book is here - Solve for Happy https://amzn.to/3z0MUKS

Jeremy:

This Is A Voice, a podcast with Dr. Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher. Hello, and welcome to series five, episode two of This Is A Voice.

Gillyanne:

The podcast where we get Vocal about voice.

Jeremy:

And in this new series, we're going to be taking you through an exercise each time from the This Is A Voice book, and, uh, we haven't done this before we did this last week for the first time went very well, we've had some great feedback from it. So the exercise today, in fact, we're sort of going to do a combination of two.

Gillyanne:

This is actually from the section on ventriloquism and mimicry, which was largely written by Jeremy. And we're going to be looking at one of the Vocal archetypes we introduce for characterization or mimicry. And this one is called the breathy light archetype.

Jeremy:

And that is page number 42, exercise number 42, page 104. Uh, the reason that we wanted to do this is the breaking light archetype. First of all, it's very useful and it's extremely useful when you're doing close mic work, a spoken voice on radio or singing, and because so many singers buy this book, I suspect that they haven't read the ventriloquism and mimicry. Uh, section and there are some great exercises in there, and this is really where we go into the, this particular archetype in quite a lot of detail.

Gillyanne:

Yeah. And I also want to say, you know, you, you often see when people are talking about critiquing a voice that, that, you know, singers get criticized for being breathy. Oh, I can hear air in your voice. And, um, it isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it can be very beneficial and it can make a lovely sound. So we hope when you're hear these exercises today, you'll find it useful.

Jeremy:

And we're going to, Gillyanne's is going to take me through the exercises. And then we're going to say some of the updates that we do and possibly some of the corrections to the, uh, the written stuff that we would now change because this was written...

Gillyanne:

2015.

Jeremy:

Six years, seven years ago. Wow. Seven years ago.

Gillyanne:

Number 42, the breathy light archetype. The physiology of this archetype is a less firm closing of the vocal folds so that some air can be heard. Since more air is released with the sound. You will need to breathe more often when using it. So, step one. Using a gentle fff or shh sound, puff a little bit of air out through your mouth. Allow the air to float out rather than being pushed or directed.

Jeremy:

Okay. Uh, fff, shh. Can I do a pushed one? FFF SHH now you, you might use that type of, um, energy and drive if you're doing a voiced fricative and unvoiced fricative exercise, but for this exercise, we just want the gentle version. fff shh

Gillyanne:

I like that because the thing I'm noticing in particular is not only that there's more volume in those fricatives, but the speed of air is different.

Jeremy:

Speed of air is very different.

Gillyanne:

So you're kind of more letting the air out on the sound rather than directing it as we've actually said.

Jeremy:

Oh the air is so much slower.

Gillyanne:

And that's critical to this exercise. Okay. Step two. Now, bring a hand up close to your mouth and repeat the, or shh. Notice that you can feel the air coming onto your house.

Jeremy:

Fff, shh, fff, shh. There is something interesting that I will say, which is when you do the F followed by the sh the stream of air hits your hand at a different point. With the F it's directly in front of me, and with the sh is much further down on my hand.

Gillyanne:

I'm just interested as well, because you know, uh, in the last podcast we used a little exercise that I'd learned from the late Lyn Darnley, where she'd get actors to feel the breath coming onto their hand, by getting them to lick it. What is the difference for you between just feeling the breath and then feeling it on the fricatives in terms of coldness of air on the hand.

Jeremy:

Do you want me to lick my hand?

Gillyanne:

Actually, I do.

Jeremy:

Eww. I actually, this is really interesting because there's not that much difference. When I lick the hand, I can still feel pretty much the same amount of air.

Gillyanne:

What about if you just blow air?

Jeremy:

Um, the air stream isn't as directed. If I just do a sort of hah thing, uh, the Airstream is less strong, so it's much more focused in and direct when I'm doing the fricatives. And also the air is slightly warmer when I just do an AH.

Gillyanne:

I did love getting into that detail. Okay, so where, where the heck are we? We're on step three?

Jeremy:

Blooper.

Gillyanne:

Say, Hey or hi, as if greeting someone you like as they sit down close to you, an intimate sound created without projecting your voice.

Jeremy:

Hey. Hi.

Gillyanne:

Oh, that's so comforting.

Jeremy:

Step four, say, Hey, hi, and have a low using the breathy light tone. You practiced in steps one and two. Make sure you breathe in between each sound. Hey, hi, hello!

Gillyanne:

Step five, as in the previous exercise, it's important that you begin to extend the sounds so that you can get comfortable with the vocal setting. Read a line using this vocal setting, repeat the line and elongate every syllable.

Jeremy:

Okay. So I'm just going to go back to my Hey hi, once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind once there was a young rat named Arthur, who could never make up his mind.

Gillyanne:

Would it be okay if I tried that out? Cause I was just thinking if you're listening, uh, Jeremy has large lung capacity and I noticed that he got through the first sentence in one breath. I don't think I could do that. Let's see. Hey. Hi. Hello. Once there was a rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Um, it's very interesting. I only needed a little top-up when I wasn't elongating, but I think as soon as I elongated my singer brain came in and I controlled the breath in a slightly different way. Interesting.

Jeremy:

I want to take this point to talk about breath flow and speed, because we are leading you really to do that really quite breathy loose. Once there was a young rat named Arthur, who could never make up his mind. And if you're talking about the difference, it's almost like I'm not going to talk percentages, but it's the amount of voicing and the amount of airflow. And really that's quite a lot of air flow and not that much voicing. And I want to do some differentiations.

Gillyanne:

Yeah. So I'd like you to do some comparison. So if you read it now with a clear sound, you know, quite a clear, strongish sound. And then you used the breathy light and then different versions of breathy light.

Jeremy:

Okay. Clear-strong, the breathy light I've just done, and then different versions. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. And that third version is sort of halfway between the two. We have air leaking out, but I'm not pushing it. Now to the pushed version. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Gillyanne:

And really because of vocal efficiency, that's a sound and a setting that you might use for a bit of a Vocal effect or for a little bit of characterization. But if for, uh, for example, you were reading a book as a voiceover artist, you wouldn't want to be doing your narrative in that voice.

Jeremy:

That is so much airflow and speed. I've actually done dizzy, just doing one sentence.

Gillyanne:

I think also what's very interesting about this, which is why we wrote the mimicry chapter in this way is that we respond differently to those different voice archetypes don't we?

Jeremy:

The reason that I want to go with this is that we are using the breath of light archetype quite a lot, but we're using a very mild version of it. And so I want to go from the clear sound to just allowing a little bit of leakage so that you can hear the difference. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind once there was a young rat named alpha who could never make up his mind. And it's slightly more diffused. It's slightly. I almost think of it as sort slightly fluffier, slightly more velvety.

Gillyanne:

I think you used that quite a lot.

Jeremy:

I use it in my speaking voice.

Gillyanne:

Because you've got a big voice when it's full on haven't you?

Jeremy:

Yeah. So, um, yeah, I, I use this type of sound all the time, which is this very, very slightly diffused version because I don't want to frighten the horses.

Gillyanne:

Um, can I have a go?

Jeremy:

Absolutely.

Gillyanne:

Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Jeremy:

And it's that very slightly fluffy edge to it. Now, interestingly people, when we're talking about every single version of the breathy, uh, archetype breathy-light archetype that I've done is all on a, an M1, it's all modal, it's all chest voice. They all... the breathy... Just because we're adding breath does not turn it into anything other than M1 or modal.

Gillyanne:

Can we, can we go there in a minute? Cause you interrupted my flow.

Jeremy:

I'm so sorry.

Gillyanne:

Here is the slightly more pushed breath version. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. What's interesting about that. Is it sounds a bit intense.

Jeremy:

Yeah. It's slightly hysterical because it's so high energy.

Gillyanne:

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So as Jeremy has said, none of these is, uh, in a falsetto type voice.

Jeremy:

Breathy does not mean falsetto.

Gillyanne:

Shall I do it once. There was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Jeremy:

That's still M1.

Gillyanne:

Ah, damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

Jeremy:

Go into your singing brain.

Gillyanne:

Hello? Hello everybody. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Jeremy:

Good, that's M2.

Gillyanne:

Do you want me to do it a bit lower? That was the problem.

Jeremy:

No no no, you're absolutely fine where you are.

Gillyanne:

OK Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Jeremy:

Can you now make that more breathy.

Gillyanne:

Once I was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Jeremy:

My piano teacher used to speak like that. Okay. That's M2, with and without breath.

Gillyanne:

Ooh that was challenging. Right. So do you want to demonstrate for them or? Yeah.

Jeremy:

Yeah. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind. Once there was a young rat named Arthur who could never make up his mind.

Gillyanne:

And the thing is it's much more obvious than male voice, isn't it? Because, um, men tend to do falsetto quite a lot higher in pitch. I had to change my pitch as well, but some of these settings aren't pitch dependent. Although there are areas of pitch range that they like best.

Jeremy:

Absolutely.

Gillyanne:

Okay. So I think we did step five. This is step six.

Jeremy:

Yes.

Gillyanne:

Now speak a few standard sentences using this breathy lighter archetype, taking care to maintain the vocals setting throughout.

Jeremy:

Yes. Hello Gillyanne, how are you doing today?

Gillyanne:

I'm just fine thank you. Shall we do the final paragraph?

Jeremy:

Let's read the final paragraph.

Gillyanne:

Yes, we'll talk a little bit about that. Yep. So this breathy-light archetype can sound intimate, earnest or persuasive, and scientists have demonstrated that it can be perceived as either vulnerable or sexy in both males and females. In the UK, it's typically used to voice adverts, inviting people to purchase a treat. it's actually called the food porn voice. Yeah. Go and look it up on the internet. This archetype is also helpful for men wanting to portray female characters, especially if they wish to avoid falsetto. And a wonderful example is the late Robin Williams characterization of Mrs. Doubtfire, where I think he used both,

Jeremy:

but mainly it was a, it was a, the breathy-light archetype.

Gillyanne:

It's just a real master class. Okay. So we're moving to exercise number 93, and we're applying the breathy light setting in a singing context. The breath onset, which is on page 1, 5, 8 gives you easy access to this Vocal setting. Bring your hand up, close to your mouth and say, ha making sure that you aspirate the H little, uh, uh, repeat, extending the vowel and maintaining the same breath flow and volume throughout.

Jeremy:

Hah, hah.

Gillyanne:

And the feel of this breathy light setting is loose and flowing. And the sound is slightly fuzzy and dif disfuse, difuse.

Jeremy:

It is, it's disfused.

Gillyanne:

Disfused.. Yes. Fuzzy and diffuse. Yes. Okay. Step two. Say Hah, Heh, Hoo, Hah. These are the vowels you're going to use in this. Take a breath between each sound.

Jeremy:

Hah, Heh, Hoo, Hah.. Well, that's really interesting when you get the who, because of the lip rounding, the airflow feels much stronger on your hand. Okay.

Gillyanne:

Step three. Now sing the vowels on a comfortable note in your pitch range. It is useful to feel a little bit of warm air on your hand. As you start each sound.

Jeremy:

I'm going to speak them. Hah, heh, hoo, hah. Hah, heh, hoo, hah.

Gillyanne:

Ooh that was nicely controlled.

Jeremy:

And they're quite well-matched as well.

Gillyanne:

Yeah. And I'm not hearing any gusts.

Jeremy:

Nope. You're not getting.

Gillyanne:

Oh, okay. Um, step four, take your hand away from your mouth, but continue singing Hah Heh Hoo Hah and experiment with different notes in your range, going higher and lower,

Jeremy:

Hah Heh Hoo Hah Hah Heh Hoo Hah

Gillyanne:

Very nice. Step five. Now, seeing that hallelujah phrase from exercise 92, aiming to stay in the breathy light setting throughout. You may need to breathe in more often than for the strong, clear setting as this setting uses more air to breathe in again, quickly release the center of your abdominal wall.

Jeremy:

Hallelujah, hallelujah. Can I play around with that with different airspeeds?

Gillyanne:

Yeah. And it might be quite nice cause you demonstrated very nicely on different pitches. Might be nice for us to hear it in different parts of your range in different keys?

Jeremy:

OK I'll do the same sound but higher up. Hallelujah, hallelujah. It's really got the feeling of being very delicate up there.

Gillyanne:

Oh, that's one that often fools listeners, isn't it? They think it's falsetto because it's so gentle and light.

Jeremy:

I'm still in m1. Hang on. Hallelujah. Oh hello. I we're keeping that one in. Hallelujah, hallelujah. Still in M1. Okay. Let's go lower. Halleluj... oh, let's do the tuning. That's really weird jumping around in octaves in this sound.

Gillyanne:

And also because it's quite close to the, the bottom of your range, it's harder to maintain that breathy light setting down there. And I think that's why it's messing with the tuning as well. It's messing with the harmonic,

Jeremy:

messing with my tuning. Okay. Let's do that again. Hallelujah, hallelujah. That's really interesting. I almost have to bring more voice in. Let me go lower. Hallelujah, hallelujah, I have to change my vibrato down there.

Gillyanne:

Now that I really like because I think we must be getting some, um, resonance from between from below the vocal folds. So we're getting some tracheal resonance there.

Jeremy:

Definitely.

Gillyanne:

Very gorgeous.

Jeremy:

Thank you!

Gillyanne:

Okay.

Jeremy:

So this, again, the, the changes that we would make to this exercise are really about air speed and amount. And as you can hear it, even just in one voice in my voice, I'm having to rebalance something at the top of my range that doesn't work at the bottom.

Gillyanne:

This is, um, this type of setting is actually used quite a lot in ensemble singing isn't it? Particularly people who are close miked. Uh, Jeremy, can you read the final paragraph?

Jeremy:

Yep. This setting is quite versatile in terms of vocal range and maybe taken across at least an octave eight notes in both the male and female range. It's useful for expressing intimacy, ease and coolness, and because it blends well in harmonies, it's commonly used in backing vocals. Industry examples of this setting are Norah Jones singing Don't Know Why, and the opening phrases of Justin Timberlake's what goes around, comes around.

Gillyanne:

people are listeners. You will probably have updated versions of, uh, great examples to listen to. I mean, you know, do comment.

Jeremy:

Send them in. Yeah. Uh, if you want to make any comments on this, or if you want to, even if you want to try those demonstrations out, go to, Speakpipe.com/Vocalprocess and record us a little message.

Gillyanne:

And Jeremy, I just wanted to say as well for any new listeners, we talked a little bit about, um, M1 and M2 or chest register and falsetto. You can do this exercise without having to dig into any of that at all. Just follow the instructions and you will be able to do it. We just like to nerd out on that a bit.

Jeremy:

Absolutely. Um, so thought of the week, this week, Gillyanne.

Gillyanne:

The inspiration of the week. Yes.

Jeremy:

Doomscrolling.

Gillyanne:

Or not doomscrolling, which is more to the case.

Jeremy:

Tell me what scrolling is.

Gillyanne:

Doomscrolling is something that you do.

Jeremy:

I didn't know this.

Gillyanne:

Yeah. I try not to do it actually, but people, you, you all know, I'm sure that, you know, the algorithms of social media are, tend to be very much geared towards the negative. And that's simply because sadly, because of the way our brains work. Um, we are more attracted to the negativity cause we want to protect ourselves and Jeremy can be a little bit of a Doomscroller on,

Jeremy:

um, I'm a fairly new convert, convert to Tiktok. So, uh, my, uh, for you page is full of stuff and I just ended up scrolling for an hour. I'm stopping doing that now. So why am I stopping? Why am I stopping? What is it about doomscrolling that is not good for you?

Gillyanne:

Well, it actually focuses your mind on negativity. There's a lovely article here, uh, which is a couple of months old now, and which was in positive news by Oliver Burkeman. And he's talking about how to become news resilient, because...

Jeremy:

It's a really good article.

Gillyanne:

There is a lot of, you know bad news around at the moment.

Jeremy:

We'll put the link to the article in the show notes.

Gillyanne:

And what he's saying is it doesn't make you a better person to spend hours marinating in the narratives over which you can exert the least influence.

Jeremy:

That's very true. And actually we are both reading books which really underline that. And we just want to mention these books. Um, oh, by the way, before we do Oliver Burkeman, I love this is the author of The antidote - happiness for people who can't stand positive things.

Gillyanne:

I love that

Jeremy:

and Help! How to become slightly happier and get a bit more done. Which is very English.

Gillyanne:

So if that sounds like you, check out the show notes.

Jeremy:

So you're reading which book?

Gillyanne:

I'm reading Dr. Rangan Chatterjee's happy mind, happy life. And I'll be sharing some nuggets of joy from that in future podcasts.

Jeremy:

And I'm reading Mo Gawdat's solve for happy, which is mind blowing, frankly. And I'm already starting to put some of those things into play and they are really making such a difference.

Gillyanne:

So we hope that this podcast has brought happiness and positivity to your lives and go out and spread it. Yes. In the very, very slightly breathy light archetype, please. Thank you. This Is A Voice, a podcast with Dr. Gillyanne Kayes and Jeremy Fisher.