THE 15 CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS TO YOUR

TRAINING
Now we begin to apply all the previous information you have read to this point into some practical
application for your training and singing. After all, TVS has always been a lot about training, heavy on
training content an overall attitude that puts a high value on getting past the book work, forum reading
and articles and gets on with training. To help you prioritize and stay focused, I offer you this list of the
top critical success factors you need for a positive training experience.

THE TRAINING ENVIRONMENT

The training environment is a sanctuary of peace, uninterrupted freedom, exploration and facility. Your
training environment is not only a place where you will simply practice your vocal workouts and
techniques, it is a place where a relationship with your endeavor will grow and develop. What started as
an old basement later becomes the place where you first started to get it. The old practice room that had
much to be desired will become a place of memories. All your frustrations, milestones and triumphs in
regards to your voice training happen here, your training environment needs to be a special place.
The Elements of a Good Training Environment:
1. Privacy You need privacy when you are training your singing technique, especially as a
beginner. When we train, we make funny sounds and people that are not training their voices and
are not educated about what you are doing may interrupt your progress or positive mental attitude
with giggling, rude comments or judgments that are completely unqualified. Something about
hearing people make exotic vocal sounds makes some people feel uncomfortable and the way
they express this anxiety is through making fun of you, the person that is trying to focus on
bettering themselves and achieving a goal. I guess that is human nature. As an experienced singer,
you wont care less, but as a beginner it can be paralyzing to your training knowing you are going
to be at risk of having to take self esteem hits from the ignorant, jealous and mean around us.
Privacy is also a big requirement in regards to the neighbors. Not bothering the neighbors with your
training is actually a huge obstacle that a lot of students of singing have to contend with.
I cannot offer much in regards to helping you find a favorable place to practice, but I will say this, be
creative. Think out of the box in regards to different places you could go; a basement, an attic, a
garage with a space heater, your room, a band rehearsal room, a community center, the back office of
your place of work after hours, etc.
2. Facilities By facilities I mean, a means to play your Pillars content to practice over, a
microphone, a means to amplify your singing, a little bit of vocal effects. Training with a
microphone and amplification is not a requirement for TVS, but I will say it has long been part of
the essence of TVS and thus, is rightfully considered to be part of the TVS Methodology. If you
do not own a microphone or amplifier to train with, it is ok, but make plans to obtain these
facilities as soon as you can. Practicing with amplification and a microphone is not only the tools
of the trade as a contemporary singer, but it helps you to hear your formant, overtones and
singing better. Lastly, its just flat out more fun! Practicing singing technique in a flat,
unamplified environment sucks. Even the best phonation will only sound ok not amplified in an

acoustically dead room. Hearing yourself sound big and amplified and enjoying the benefits of a
little bit of reverb goes a long way to motivate singers to practice and feel like the process of
training is fun. Singing should be fun, not boring and uninspired. Use technology in a tasteful
way in your singing career from start to finish, we live in a miraculous age where technology can
add so much to our singing and the enjoyment of the audience. Embrace technology, dont shun
it.
In the back of this book are some recommendations for microphones. One good point worthy of
mentioning is, karaoke systems are great for practicing singing technique. They offer all-in-one
features that amplify, offer simple effects, enable you to adjust volume levels for the vocal
workouts and your voice independently and some systems even let you make recordings of your
sessions. Students of singing can get a lot out of a good karaoke system for training. If you are
fortunate enough to have a big room and can afford to purchase a real PA system for practicing,
then by all means, go for it! You can also find decent, used PA systems at pawn shops for a good
deal or even an old guitar amplifier with the saturation (distortion) turned off and a little reverb
turned on can work great. When I was a kid, I trained for years with a small Peavey guitar
practice amplifier and I did fine with it. Even today, I have a simple $99 practice guitar amplifier
from Ibanez I use for conducting lessons when I am traveling about and dont know where I will
be .

BRIDGING & CONNECTING IS YOUR OBESSION

As I have pointed out in videos and earlier in this book, the ability to bridge the vocal registers seamlessly
and building potent capabilities in the head voice is what 80% of vocal technique training is about.
Bridging and connecting is the sport of voice training. Some athletes practice to put a ball in a hoop,
others practice to balance on a beam and do flips, while still others, train to be able to phonate vocal
sounds seamlessly through the registers and sing full in the head voice to dazzle an audience.
When you are training, always work through the Passaggio. Never practice the chest voice only, that
would be almost a complete waste of time. Practice the hard stuff and in singing that means, bridging
registers and singing in the head voice in a way that sounds amazing without any constriction or
instability in your phonation. The bridging and connecting movement calls on all the exotic physiological
and acoustic complexities we have already covered to make it work, it is a very difficult thing to do, but
the fact that it is difficult is its appeal. We dont avoid it because its hard; we do it for the very reason
that it is hard. We are obsessed with not letting it beat us. We are obsessed with learning this trick and
getting good at it. It is the challenge we accept everyday as singers with technique and it is integral to the
lifestyle of being a professional singer. Bridging and connecting is the benchmark by which we judge
most of our capabilities with singing technique and it is the only path to complete blissful freedom and
enjoyment between you and your audience. Becoming a master of bridging and connecting is the geeky
thing that students of singing do. Make sure you put yourself on the front lines of bridging and connecting
every day of your career and every practice session you have. Enough said about this, it is obvious and is
something you probably were aware of before you even purchased this product. It is probably why you
bought this product. No arguments here.

MAINTAIN THE EMBOUCHURE

When voice teachers relax at the end of the day and share stories about their students with each other,
they talk a lot about how students fail to drop their jaw and lift the upper lip to expose the bite,
components of the embouchure set. Believe me when I tell you, there is no other technical detail that

voice teachers repeat more often and grow more tired of repeating then, drop your jaw and Lift! Bite!
Show your teeth! Shaping a proper embouchure is the #1 thing that beginners fail to do most frequently.
Do yourself a favor, and commit to making your embouchure, especially your jaw dropping and upper
teeth biting something that benefits your singing from day one, instead of dragging you down in a
prolonged cycle of frustrated, couldve been great onsets and sirens.
I want to make this very clear and pointed to emphasize how serious this is. If you dont train the habit of
dropping your jaw and lifting your upper lip to form a favorable embouchure, you are wasting your time.
If you dont do this when you train and when you sing, just take this book and toss it in the street and
forget it. A 300 page book and over 465 files of top vocal technique lectures, workouts, ideas, concepts
and all that this huge training system offers means nothing, its garbage if you do not shape a proper
embouchure. None of these other technical details in your phonation package will balance properly if you
dont have a good embouchure. Next to hearing pitch, the embouchure might be the most important and
fundamental thing you need to master the first week of your training. Nothing can get done and no
amount of nicely calibrated technical components in your phonation package can save a phonation that
has a failed embouchure.
In the first few weeks of your practice routine, you need to train in front of a mirror to make sure you are
shaping your embouchure properly. Often times we think we are singing with a good embouchure but
discover that we are not as soon as we step in front of a mirror. A mirror is a powerful training tool in a
voice studio or practice room and it is mostly there to help give us a reality check on the embouchure.
Win early on with the embouchure and get it locked into your muscle memory. Nothing can happen until
you do, but wasting time and money.

TRAIN THE TVS WORK FLOWS

One of the most innovative concepts found in TVS Methodology is the development of the previously
discussed training work flows. The training work flows in a very real sense are the code to singing a high
performance phonation. By collecting all the physiological and acoustic technical details we need to
phonate a good onset package or a maintain a successful bridging and connecting maneuver, I have given
you a kind of step by step guide on how to make your body phonate amazing notes. If you keep your
eye on the Master Workflow Outline and the smaller sub work flows found throughout this book when
you are training, you will never lose sight of a technical component. This method reduces the frustration
that comes with multi-tasking early on as a beginner student that is trying to master each component
separately. Instead of chasing individual components for months or even years, you train one
consolidated, muscle memory movement and in doing so, shave years, months, weeks off your progress
time to excellence. When you emerge from this kind of training, you are left with a beautifully balanced
and calibrated phonation package that is world class. In particular, when you train your foundation work
with the onsets and sirens, as a beginner, keep the Master Workflow Outline page in the book open and in
front of you. Let the work flows help you to connect the dots to a powerful phonation and deeply,
integrated muscle memory.

RESONANT TRACKING TO A HIGH PERFORMANCE PHONATION

As we discussed earlier in the book, resonant tracking is critical to getting your voice into a singing
configuration favorable for high performance phonations that will be used in singing. It is also critical to
your training, as it is serves as warm up, and has great healing qualities. Resonant tracking lifts your voice
out of the dregs of speech mode grinding and puts your voice on a course to excellence, great
responsiveness and great vocal health.

Resonant tracking should be done early on as a component of the TVS Warm up & Foundation Building
Routine and later on as you get stronger, will remain an important aspect of your warm up routine for the
rest of your career as a singer.
Remember to not push on the resonant tracking, beginning students tend to want to add weight to the
resonant tracking and lean into it much. All the delicate calibrations and balancing you are trying to
produce with resonant tracking is pushed out of alignment very quickly when you push on resonant
tracking resulting in a detrimental grinding of the voice, instead of balanced, top-down, masked and
buoyant phonation that excites the resonators, configures your voice for vocal twang and carves a
favorable resonant groove through your vocal Passaggio.
Lastly, one of the best things you can do throughout your day is resonant tracking. Just sitting in the car
or in the shower, buzzing some resonant tracking can drastically accelerate your foundation building.
Buzz up, buzz down, buzz through the Passaggio and try to get some buzz going on in your head voice. If
you miss practice sessions due to the demands put upon you in the normal course of living life, you can
make up for some of this lost practice time by buzzing obsessively everywhere and any where you go.
Watch what happens when you buzz like some freak for a week and then go to band practice. Youll
notice how responsive and healthy your voice seems to be. That is because resonant tracking in not just
about warming up for singing, it is powerful vocal health. It rehabilitates the voice literally out of the
articulated grunts of speech mode, to high performance, silky and responsive twang phonations poised to
support your singing.

CALIBRATE YOUR ONSETS AND TUNE YOUR FORMANT

I believe the previous content and videos do a good job of explaining the importance of training perfect
onsets, and tuning the formants with your dampened larynx techniques, but Ill emphasize again. The
quality of your phonation is directly dependent upon the quality of your onset package, which includes
formant tuning. If the onset is great, the phonation or singing that follows will be great. If your onset has
mistakes and your formant is tuned to the wrong vowel colors, the phonation and singing that follows will
have problems in it.
Note, formant tuning is a sub component of the onset package but I want to emphasize how important the
acoustics work is in your training. It is a lot easier to understand the coordination of the physiological
components of your onset package, with the provided onset package work flows and other assorted
tangibles that have been made available to you. Tuning the formant and paying attention to the acoustics
is a bit more abstract, so Im making a point to remind you that a perfectly calibrated onset package with
great components moving in great work flow sequences dont mean much if you sound like a duck
because your larynx isnt dampened and you failed to pay attention to the vowel color you are tuning to.
In some ways, the formant tuning work is the last leap you need to really sound world-class, instead of
sounding like just another singer that has learned to twang in their head voice and then becomes clueless
as to why they still sound like a strangling duck.

ONSETS AND SIRENS ARE YOUR FOUNDATION

Previously we discussed the importance of onsets, so I will not repeat the message in its entirety. Suffice
it to say that when it comes to your training as a TVS student, the most important thing you need to be
doing to build your foundation is training onsets and sirens. In fact when we talk about TVS
Methodology, a particular focus on onsets and training sirens has to be part of that story.

There is no better way to train your phonation package deep inside your muscle memory than a slow and
controlled siren through every micro-tone of your voice. Practicing with sirens works directly to build
super, high performance vocal coordination. Practicing slow and controlled sirens prevents you from
cheating and skipping over the hard parts in your voice, such as the Passaggio and low head tones.
Skipping over the hard parts and avoiding what is difficult is not what TVS is about. TVS training is
about hunkering down and putting yourself right into the hard stuff. Sure, in The Four Pillars of
Singing you have many radical vocalizes you can practice, truly a luxury not quite matched in the history
of vocal training systems. I do expect you to master each of these vocalize, as each has a unique objective
to help you build amazing strength and coordination in your voice. But, at the end of the day, those are
only relevant if the foundation is solid. The core of your vocal strength and coordination begins with the
onset and sirens.
Another great thing about sirens is you can do them in the shower and in the car; they go with you
everywhere you go. You dont have to have the perfect practice space available to get rapid growth in
your training, if you practice sirens everywhere you go and always do them, slow and controlled. Before
you delve into all the vocal workouts, become a master of the TVS Warm Up & Foundation Building
Routine, which includes the sirens described later in this book and on the video content.

USE THE LIFT UP / PULL BACK TECHNIQUE

Lift up / pull back is a technique that can really help you get quick gains early on in your training, in
particular, those clients that have a hard time bridging. The lift up / pull back technique is a simple
concept that trains the body to do stop constricting. It shuts down the primitive instinct to constrict the
voice as singers sing higher. The process involves lightening the mass and slightly opening the glottis as
you approach the Passaggio.
After you have mastered the lift up / pull back technique, you then will begin to reshape your vocal tract,
modify your vocal mode from falsetto to twang and engage your intrinsic anchoring set; tongue
leveraging, larynx dampening, maintaining twang compression and tuning your formant to a favorable
vowel. Coordination of the components in the intrinsic anchoring set will result in building the
musculature and coordination for full and convincing head tones.
It is interesting to note that lift up / pull back is but one example out of many in this training program
where we take advantage of the benefits that can be gained by opening the glottis in our training, or
modifying to a windier phonation. Other examples of the use of an open glottis position can be found in
two of the six specialized onsets for head voice development; wine & release and the messa di voce
onset. In conclusion, opening the glottis and singing in a light mass phonation are powerful voodoo in
TVS training. The lift up / pull back is the first and foremost example of using Falsetto vocal mode as a
tool in our training. Some of your first milestones and biggest leaps forward will happen from practicing
this one, simple technique. It is the number one techniques that will blow open the doors to a successful
path toward professional register bridging. (See examples of how to do this technique in your copy of
Pillars and on my YouTube channel).

MASTER VOWEL MODIFICATION TO COMMAND AND CONTROL

YOUR LARYNX
The vowel or formant you sing through will directly influence the configuration your larynx and vocal
track will settle into. To truly sing world class, you need to be aware and contentious of your larynx. You
need to be able to lift, dampen, tilt, belt, open glottis, and any number of movements already discussed in
this book to become a master at vocal technique. This mastery comes from an in depth understanding and
control of the larynx.
Good singers sing and listen, but great singers listen then sing. Good singers try to configure the
physiology for a high performance phonation and then hope the acoustics will respond the way they want
it to, but great singers hear the acoustics first and then make the physiology calibrate to produce the
acoustic characteristics imagined in the singers auditory imagery. Great singers make the physiology a
slave to the master of acoustics.
When training with the Pillars vocalize, feel free to experiment with the two favorable training vowels
Eh & Uh. Try working different combinations of these vowels into the vocal workouts, remaining
mindful that lower frequencies tend to do well with Eh formant shading and higher frequencies do well
with Uh formant shading. Many of these modifications will actually present themselves to you. They is
an obvious intuitiveness about them. Follow your ears. Working different vowel modifications contorts
the vocal tract into radical different positions and this creates resistance that builds strength and
coordination. Modifying vowels is similar to raising the hurdle when running. It may be more
challenging, but the strength and coordination you gain from it is lasting.
In regards to training with other favorable open vowels. It is perfectly ok to experiment with different
vowel combinations, in fact I encourage it. If you do, you will be contorting the larynx into new,
challenging positions and just like Eh/Uh, if you master it, you will gain some kind of benefit from it.
Other vowels that are worthy of experimenting with are Ah, Oh (with an open embouchure, not a
closed speech mode O), and AE as in Cat. However, I emphasize training with Uh and Eh in this
book because they are arguably the most favorable for training, or at least first on the list for new students
of singing to master.

MASTER VOCAL TWANG AND UNDERSTAND VOCAL MODES

There are some techniques we have developed at TVS that you can train to learn to get a feel for twang,
and to build the critical muscle strength and coordination required to achieve the amount of vocal fold
compression to make twang work for you as a singer. The following are three techniques that will help
you to learn to twang and build the muscle to do it.
Quack Like a Duck This is the most popular technique for helping people to learn to twang. When
we quack like a duck, not just say the word quack, but literally make a sound that sounds like a duck,
we are engaging vocal twang. The best way to play with this is to choose any comfortable pitch in your
chest voice, for example G3 (men), then quack on a G3. When you have good quaky twang compression
on the G3, move the contraction to a G4 which resides in the head voice for men and essentially quack in
the head voice. Notice that compression will ensue and twang vocal mode, or its more compressed cousin,
quack vocal mode will replace the windy, undesirable Falsetto vocal mode.
The next step would be to give yourself a one, two, three, four count and hold exercise. In this variant,
the student of singing will quack three short bursts and then on the fourth quack, hold and sustain through
the open vowel.

(1) Quack, (2) Quack, (3) Quack, (4) Qua ------------------ck

Nyet Like a Russian Nyet means no in Russian. It is also, I discovered a fantasic word to use
when working to learn how to twang. Use the Ny as the point of compression. As tight and quacky as
you can possibly make it, Ill warn you, it wont sound pretty, phonate a very tightly compressed n
consonant in your head voice or a high belt. After you have established a very tightly compressed quack
mode N, begin to slowly shape your embouchure into the formant for an Eh vowel, all the while,
maintaining the same amount of quack compression you started with. One great thing about Nyet is that
the Ny sets you up for great quack compression and the et modifies into a perfect Eh vowel.
Nyetn like a Russian is one of the best things you can do to develop twang compression. I think it is
probably even better than the more popular quack like a duck idea.
Nyeeeeeeeeee-(form embouchure)-Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeht
MeeEh Similar to Nyetn like a Russian, you can do a similar technique on a MeeEh.
Meeeeeeeeeee-(form embouchure)-Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh
It should also be stated that good Appoggio technique is the other way to produce vocal fold closure via
The Bernoulli Effect as previously mentioned. The best vocal fold closure comes from a balance between
vocal twang and the Bernoulli Effect produced with good appoggio.

USE THE SPECIALIZED ONSETS FOR HEAD VOICE

Another innovation that I think is pretty cool, is the previously mentioned 6 specialized onsets for head
voice development. When practicing your onsets and sirens, these specialized onsets come in very handy
for your top-down, head voice onsets where strength and coordination can become a huge challenge for
beginners. Do not just train with the track & release onset. Try the other onsets! If you need twang
compression in the head voice, try the quack & release onset, if you feel you want more musculature
and a beefier sound in the head voice, work with the contract & release or attack & release onsets. If
you want to master a slow and controlled calibration of your intrinsic anchoring set, work the messa di
voce onset and last but not least, if your feeling like your head voice placements are shallow or
constricted and/or you want to get your Appoggio respiration working for you, go to arguably the most
favored onset of them all, wind & release.
Learning to do these different onsets and discovering what they can do for you will hasten your progress
beyond belief. It will shave off weeks, maybe months of confusion and frustration. They are troubleshooters that were developed out of endless hours of experimentation on myself and other students, use
them! They are quite literally, one of the coolest innovations every developed in contemporary singing
technique, make them a part of your arsenal for training.

TRAIN APPOGGIO TO SING WORLD CLASS

The more I train Appoggio and the more I learn about it, the more my appreciation grows for it. From my
experienced perspective, I can see through the forest and I know the story for Appoggio is just beginning
at TVS and new discoveries and techniques will arise from its practice for years to come, including great
singing.

Similar to vowel modification, Appoggio is one of those vocal technique ideas that is associated with
world class phonations, the best of the best teach and train Appoggio.
I encourage you to put the tongue into the open throat position and engage the intercostals support as
much as you can, especially on big, open vowels in your songs. Do it as much as you can, make
Appoggio your primary posture for singing. Appoggio reduces fatigue in your vibratory mechanism
(larynx region), is favorable for legato (singing with fluidity in a lyrical fashion), helps you to tune to
your dampened harmonic formant and helps eliminate a lot of voice chirping, breaking and other
undesirable instability issues caused by singing without enough respiration and too much manipulation of
the vibratory mechanism (the twanger).

BEGIN MARKING YOUR LYRICS FOR VOWEL MODIFICATION

Make sure you dedicate some time to every vocal training session for singing of songs. After all,
application to the art is obviously the end game with vocal training for most people. As we transition from
vocal technique work to coaching of songs, the number one focus becomes the vowel modification work
of the closed vowels in your lyrics.
Become experienced and practiced in being able to mark your lyrics for vowel modifications. That
means, identify all the closed vowels and plosive consonants and identify them with your own shorthand.
Then practice your modifications and watch how the parts of the song that used to implode into hot windy
vapor from a collapse of your intrinsic anchoring or the choking caused from singing closed vowels to
high, suddenly go away.
Professional, trained singers understand vowel and consonant modification as it relates to learning songs
and working with lyrics. Dont let yourself be in the dark and make stupid mistakes in your songs because
you failed to modify a closed ee to an Eh-ee vowel, diphthong combination.

CARDIOVASCULAR EXCERCISE
Extreme singers are athletes in training. There is no doubt that if cardio vascular exercise has such
profound benefits for the respiratory system, then implementing a regular routine in your vocal training is
going to reap fantastic benefits.
When the heart rate increases for prolonged periods, muscles draw on oxygen in the blood as well as fats
and glucose to build strength in the muscles. Cardiovascular exercise does not just get you in shape. Like
no other form of exercise, it immediately calls upon the body to work at its performance envelope clarify
work at top performance. This results in very rapid strength building. In order to endure regular cardio
vascular exercise on a regular basis, the bodys muscles, lungs, diaphragm, and mental focus must
improve significantly. Cardio vascular exercise quickly pushes the body to its performance envelope in
many areas simultaneously.

Benefits of Cardiovascular Exercise

1. Significant increase in volume and velocity in the vocal tract.
2. Significant increase in lung capacity to maximize vocal sustain and endurance.
3. Increased coordination of rhythmic breathing.
4. Strengthening of the abdominal muscles and diaphragm, resulting in more powerful contractions
to improve vocal support.
5. Increase in blood flow in and around the larynx, improving the flexibility and response of the
vocal folds and CT/TA.
6. Increase in the ability to induce deep concentration and meditative states of mind.
7. Overall decrease in body fat, improving appearance and self-esteem.
In order for cardio vascular exercise to be worthy enough for the modern vocalist to enjoy the benefits,
the vocal athlete should maintain an exercise routine of 30-45 minutes at least 3 to 5 days a week.
Running is best because it makes the body work the hardest, but biking, swimming, and aerobics are also
good.
In summary, respiration is the source of energy that drives the phonation for singers. In regards to singing
technique, it is important to understand that high volumes and velocity of respiration, beyond what is
commonly used for speech mode are necessary. Extremely refined, high performance phonations require
high performance sources of energy. When Inhaling, breathe deep and low.

VIDEO & AUDIO LECTURE REVIEWS:

THE TVS ONSET PACKAGE
TVS Methodology
The 6 Specialized Onsets for Head Voice Development
Lift Up / Pull Back
Intrinsic Anchoring
Dampening the Larynx and Tuning the Vocal Tract
What is Bridging & Connecting?
Developing Twang Compression
The TVS Vocal Modes
Buzzing & Octave Sirens
What is Resonant Tracking?
Vowel Modification 1
Vowel Modification 2
TVS Warm up & Foundation Building Routine