Speech Level Singing

[DancingQueen191]

Hi, can anyone explain what this is and is it good for beginners??
thanks

[islandofsodor]

It is a (very prescriptive) method of teaching singing. It claims to be based in research but I have grave doubts about it. They make wild claims but my husband who is an expert in these matters can pick holes in most of them. They claim that your larynx should remain in a neutral (speech) position throughour your vocal range and regardless of what style you are singing in. This is physically impossible as was proved a few years ago when Seth Riggs its founder spoke at the British Voice Asociation and an ENT specialist pointed out during a demo that actually his larynx was rising

Most drama/musical theatre schools in the UK and many people on the West End are using another method called Estill Voice Training. There is one institution I know of that does use SLS in one of its departments (but not in the other departments).

[Coco]

My husband is also scathing about it. He trained to be an opera singer himself and teaches singing. He thinks that this sounds absolutely ridiculous and maintains that every professional opera singer of note has sung with a larynx which is lowered to a greater or lesser extent. He advises extreme caution before embarking on any of these sort of singing courses. He was only recently shown material from someone who had paid a substancial amount of money, for a singing course, which the person was convinced was going to train him to be a fantastic singer. If anyone is thinking of doing this, i would think really carefully before spending your money !

[igloobabe]

Well my dd did a course at Tring Park Arts Ed school and the method of singing she was taught was diabolical! He told them all to tense their shoulders and imagine they had an orange under each armpit and squeeze it! It very nearly ruined her voice - in the end we just told her to ignore him and stick to her own singing teacher's advice. If that was the Estill method, they can keep it!

[islandofsodor]

That is NOT Estill unless they were demonstrating what constriction feels like. It is useful to know what doing something wrong feels like so that you can make sure you are doing it correctly.


In Estill singing with retracted false vocal folds is at the heart of everything (in classical singing it may be referred to as having an open throat).

[islandofsodor]

However there is a problem with Estill in that there are many teachers who claim to teach that way but only around 25-30 in the UK who are accredited and have passed the teaching exams where they have to prove not only that they can do everything themselves but that they can teach it correctly.

Unlike SLS it works with other methods not against them. For example dh trained classically, Estill explains what it is he is doing when he sings classically but also what things need to change physically (and how to change them) to create other voice qualities that are used in for example musical theatre. SLS teaches that everything that you ever learnt before is wrong and that theirs is the only right way.

If you listen to someone like say Kristin Chenoweth when she is singing operatically as Glinda, then listen to her singing other stuff. It sounds completely different so she must be doing something differetn to create those sounds.

Excuse typing, wireless keyboard is playing upand missing letters