What is SLS?

Created by Hollywood vocal coach Seth Riggs, Speech Level Singing (SLS) is a revolutionary vocal training technique that maximizes your vocal abilities in any style of singing.  Through using tools and scales SLS follows a cause and effect method towards learning to sing.  The main aim of SLS is actually to “re-programme” the body in its approach to singing.  When most people go to reach high notes their larynx (the bump in your neck below the chin) goes up.  When the larynx rises the body is preparing to swallow making the epiglottis shut over the windpipe.  This causes the voice to “shut down” or “jam up” creating strain, discomfort and a wide foghorn sound. 

To experience this (safely), firstly put you hand on your neck below your chin and find your larynx (for guys this is your adam’s apple).  Once you’ve found it, swallow.  You will notice that when you swallow your larynx goes up.  To show how detrimental this is to singing next, hum a continuous note (at any pitch) and swallow without letting the note stop...It’s impossible!  When you sing with a high larynx this is effectively what happens.  The larynx goes up making your voice jam up, which means that in order to get the note you want you need a lot more air and a lot more effort, which causes a lot of pain.

SLS eliminates all these problems by training the voice to sing with a stable larynx that does not move depending on the note.  This stops the voice from jamming, meaning that you can get the note you want with no strain, no discomfort and no pain.

The second thing that some singer’s do, is they sing with disconnected (open) cords.  Also known as falsetto it has a very airy quality without much strength.  While falsetto is a valid tool for styling purposes, it should not be the only way that a singer can hit high notes.  With SLS you will learn how to sing in your entire range with adducted (closed) vocal cords.  This means that you’ll be able to sing through your entire range without any flips or blips.  The fact that your cords are staying closed also means that the sound/tone will be exactly the same from the bottom of your range right to the top, giving you more power and control (learning to adduct the cords will also solve many breathing related problems too i.e. running out of breath).