Speech Level Singing

Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could:

• sing from the bottom of your range to the top with no breaks, flips or yodels?
• Be able to sing higher without experiencing squeezing and straining
• Dramatically expand your useable singing range
• sing with power, flexibility and ease
• and increase your vocal stamina?

We’ll actually you can, you just need Speech Level Singing a vocal technique created by the legendary voice coach Seth Riggs

The technique used globally to help singers achieve their goals and dreams. People like the late Michael Jackson, Josh Groban, the late Luther Vandross, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, members of the Glee Cast and countless others.

Through the technique, singers gain a healthy vocal technique, that strengthens the voice, increases flexibility, eliminates breaks in the voice and give them a vocal stamina to help them keep up with any challenges thrown at them. The first time you experience a strong, free and balanced voice is an amazing and liberating experience.

Who is Seth Riggs

Seth Riggs, founder and President of Speech Level Singing is considered by many to be the best and most successful voice teacher in the world. He is certainly the busiest. No other teacher, past or present, has ever matched his phenomenal track record. His students are a veritable “Who’s Who” of singers, actors, dancers, and entertainers throughout the world.

Seth Riggs’s vocal technique and the methods he uses to teach the technique were forged and tempered by the fierce demands placed on the world’s top performers, who must often perform several shows a night – night after night! A great deal of money is always at stake, so his clients’ voices must be able to function easily, without strain. It is no wonder that whenever singers come to Los Angeles from other parts of the world, producers, directors and fellow performers send them to see this master vocal technician.

In the pragmatic world of show business, where time is money, Seth Riggs is the man professionals turn to for results.

The Speech Level Singing Method

Basically, if the larynx stays relaxed and the vocal cords stay together from the very bottom of the vocal range to the very top everything is fine. If at any point the larynx jumps up or down or the tone becomes breathy then there is something wrong with the vocal process.

The larynx is the big bump in the middle of the neck just below the chin. This houses the vocal cords and controls the process of swallowing. When the larynx moves up, the muscles around the cords act as a sphincter and close to prevent swallowing down the windpipe and into the lungs. This is a very important process when you need to swallow, but it is a very poor process when you are trying to sing. The end goal here is to be able to keep the larynx relaxed and stop it from jumping up or down when singing.

The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are a pair of soft tissue cords that are joined at the front of the larynx and extend back. When they close, the back end of the cords come together (adduct), and the flow of air is temporarily stopped. When the pressure of air from the diaphragm overcomes the pressure of the muscles holding the cords together, they are blown apart and sound is made when they close again due to the resonation created. Then once again the air pressure overcomes the muscle pressure and the process begins again. If a singer is singing an A above middle C, this process happens 440 times every second.

However, if the vocal cords begin to come apart, the tone becomes breathy and the muscles around the outside of the larynx begin to tense to try and assist the pitch. This becomes what is called a constricted phonation and is quite harmful for the voice.

This is a very brief and condensed version of what happens when you sing, there is obviously a lot more going on. If you monitor yourself as you sing, you will probably find that there is a certain area of your voice that is easy for you to accomplish this and certain points of your voice that are more difficult.

These harder areas are called bridges. The key to Speech Level Singing is in understanding the bridges and the mix. Bridges in the voice are passage areas from one part of our vocal range to another. Think of your bridge as a door way to the next part of your voice. These bridge areas are a result of vocal cord adjustments that must take place in order for us to sing high and low in our range. These vocal cord adjustments produce resonance shifts in our body.

Our first shift in resonance, or our first bridge, is our most crucial, because this is where our outer muscles are most likely to enter the picture. If they do, they tighten around the larynx in an effort to stretch the cords for the desired pitch. If you don’t get it right here then this can make the following bridges much harder to negotiate or unbalanced causing problems.

Certified teachers

Only certified teachers are allowed to use Seth Riggs’ name or the Speech Level Singing trademark. For a list of certified SLS teachers worldwide please visit the Speech Level Singing teacher’s directory. If a teacher isn’t on that list they are not authorised to teach the method.

As teachers we have to undergo a rigorous certification process that includes yearly proficiency testing and constant training, to ensure we are delivering the best lessons we can and always developing our teaching skills. This benefits you as I am always up to date with my knowledge and the current trends in singing.

There are 5 levels of registered teachers, from Level 1 to 5. Graduation from one level to the next required a minimum period of 2 years of continuing study including testing each year. To become a level 5 teacher, a 10 year minimum commitment is required.