“Relax the ___”
📝 … is not helping tension in singers.
In voice training, “relax” or “less effort” is often offered as the solution to tension.
But effort itself isn’t the problem.
Disorganization is.
The nervous system depends on clear information from the body to coordinate movement. Muscles provide that information through change—contracting, releasing, lengthening, and returning.
They are not meant to be “off.”
When singers are asked to relax without a clear alternative, many land in an in-between state:
not fully engaged
not fully released
waiting for something to feel different
From a neurological perspective, this is a dead zone.
The brain relies on clean feedback to assess alignment, safety, and efficiency. When part of the muscular chain disengages without support elsewhere, the system compensates—often through the neck, jaw, breath, or voice.
What We’re Seeing in the Data
In my research using XP elasta sensors in collaboration with University of California San Diego, we’ve been able to observe how singers distribute load across the body during vocal tasks.
What consistently shows up isn’t excessive force, but uneven contribution.
When one area drops out of the chain, another area quietly takes over. Over time, that redistribution leads to fatigue, tension, and the sensation of “pushing”—even when the singer is actively trying to do less.
The nervous system isn’t asking for relaxation.
It’s asking for clear, coordinated participation.
Why the In-Between Creates Fatigue
Muscles function in cycles.
Clear contraction is followed by clear release.
When that cycle is interrupted—when effort is reduced without being redistributed—the signal to the brain becomes noisy. The system doesn’t know what’s working, so it recruits extra help.
That’s where singers often feel:
global tightness instead of specific support
breath pressure instead of buoyancy
vocal fatigue without obvious strain
The voice isn’t failing.
It’s compensating.
A More Useful Question for Singers
Instead of asking:
“How do I use less effort?”
Try giving the singer a new input with functional applied neurology. Try a cranial nerve assessment to help protective, stuck singing. Or, maybe it’s a strength drill to map the biggest muscle in the back: latissimus dorsi.
When contraction and release are well organized, singing often feels easier—not because effort disappeared, but because it’s evenly distributed.
Ease Is an Outcome, Not a Command
Over relaxation without organization can negatively impact support.
Effort without balance can create strain.
But when the nervous system receives clear information, it can coordinate both.
Ease isn’t the absence of work.
It’s work that makes sense to the brain.
~Kim M.
