August 14, 2023 • 43 mins
Register for the Intensive Workshop!
Have you ever considered the power of your voice? The one instrument we use every day, but rarely understand its full potential. In our latest episode, we had the incredible opportunity to sit down with vocal coach and singing veteran, Judy Rodman. After losing her voice due to a surgical complication, Judy embarked on a personal journey of discovery and recovery, leading her to view the purpose of voice in a radical new light. Her insights challenge the competitive narratives around voice usage and urge us to focus on its true purpose.
Our conversation with Judy goes beyond the textbook understanding of voice. She guides us through the intricacies of vocal value and the importance of an open throat channel, a game-changer for anyone seeking to achieve a richer, more melodic voice. Judy shares practical advice on maintaining vocal health, such as balancing the head over the tailbone and lifting the eyebrows, and she presents a compelling case for using the whole face in articulation. You don't want to miss her expert insights on finding power through compression breath.
Taking on perfectionism, Judy cautions us against this toxic mindset that can undermine our abilities and happiness. In its place, she prioritizes self-care and the pursuit of excellence, enlightening us on the power of imperfection in creating magic. You'll also benefit from her practical exercises and stretches aimed at strengthening your core and posture, enhancing both your physical well-being and your voice's effectiveness. And, in our quest to unlock your vocal potential, Judy guides us through semi-occluded vocal exercises and provides surefire tactics for speaking without vocal fry. Get ready to tap into the true potential of your voice!
Order Now
Access current and previous Intensive workshops discussed on these podcasts!
- Intensive Workshop: Heal Your Voice, Empower Your Life - Register For The Intensive Workshop.
- Intensive Workshop: Strengthen Your Relationship With Your Pets with Kind Training - Register For The Intensive Workshop.
- Intensive Workshop: Animal Whispering at Home - Practice Edition - Register For The Intensive Workshop.
- Intensive Workshop: Understanding The Primal Energy and Karmic Connections Between You And Your Pets - ...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dr Edward (00:25):
Okay, everybody, welcome back to Pets, people and
Harmony.
This is a podcast that ourintention is to bring wisdom,
deep, lived, practical wisdom toyou that can make a difference,
to help you transform your lifefor the better.
And, of course, every time youtransform your life for the
better, you transform your pets'life for the better.
We have speakers who speakabout animal stuff.
(00:48):
We have speakers who speakabout music and voice and human
development and potential.
Judy Rodman, who is a veryspecial friend and mentor of
mine, is our guest today.
Judy is a vocal coach, in myhumble opinion, probably one of
the best vocal coaches on theplanet.
She's transformed my lifeincredibly and expanded my
(01:11):
ability to perform and connectthrough the medium of music Well
, more than I can imagine when Imet her, probably seven or
eight years ago.
Now it's been a while.
So, judy, welcome and just ifyou could quickly give an
introduction for those who mightnot have listened to the teaser
episode, to let people know whoyou are, and could you tell us
a little bit about how youcompletely lost your voice due
(01:34):
to illness and then rebuiltyourself to sing as a
professional?
Judy Rodman (01:38):
You got it.
Well, I've been singingprofessionally for about 50
years in the music industry andthe voice industry in general,
and after a few years like, oh,10 years of professional singing
, I lost my voice from anendotracheal tube during surgery
and I was in the hospital aboutthree months.
(02:02):
So it was some pretty severedeal and it was down a few times
and by the time I got out ofthe hospital I'd lost an octave
and a half and I asked mysurgeons why I still couldn't
use my voice.
I had lost so much of my voice.
And he said well, it's probablyscar tissue, but we saved your
life.
(02:23):
I'm thinking to myself yeah,what life?
Which is what you do whenyou're a professional singer.
You're like what life?
Even though you really need togo deeper than that to find that
life.
But anyway, I had no idea howuseful that terrible situation
would be for me in my life andin my work, and so I learned how
(02:49):
to get my voice back.
Then I got most of it backmyself and then I went on to
Nashville.
We moved from Memphis toNashville because I was kind of
known as a six singer in Memphisand it's hard to get work that
way.
So we moved to Nashville and Istarted doing big sessions, but
(03:09):
I was guarding, I was stillhaving, I still didn't have all
my voice back.
And I got with a professionalvocal coach and realized the
value of professional coaching.
And Gerald Arthur saved myvoice.
And then some.
I was able to sing more, withmore range, than I'd ever had in
my life.
Couple of years later I had anumber one record, nationally
and internationally, and youknow it was.
(03:31):
You know it was on the top ofthe world.
And so there were a lot.
There's been a lot of rabbittrails, because in the music
business, or in the business ofthe arts anyway, you're going to
come up against speed bumpswhen certain things fail, you
know.
So you either die or you learnfrom those, and instead of
(03:53):
becoming bitter, you becomebetter.
Dr Edward (03:57):
That's.
That's the thing you need to do.
I like that.
I'm going to steal that quitewell.
I'm going to steal it.
I will attribute it to you, butthat's a really good quote.
Judy Rodman (04:04):
Yeah, so I went on and became a songwriter.
I mean, I had number onerecords in all kinds of fields,
including songwriting andproduction and vocal coaching
now and it you know.
But but the reason I thinkhuman beings don't move on to
another thing until the thingthey're doing some reason has a
(04:27):
brick wall in front of it, youknow.
So I've looked, I looked at allthe brick walls that I thought
were the end of my career and I,as I look back, I see they were
all diversion points and youcan really trust your journey
that way.
If you, if your intention is todo good and in the world you
(04:48):
know, you're always going tofind a way to do it, and one way
is figuring out what your voiceis really for.
They call it a gift and it'snot a gift until you give it.
Dr Edward (05:01):
Oh, that is so true, isn't it?
Yeah, our voice.
For me, this, this expressionof sound and vibration and
feeling and energy, and ourheart, you know, really, our
voice comes from our heart, Ifeel.
Judy Rodman (05:15):
Yeah, it does.
And what?
What people don't usuallyunderstand because culture, and
the music business, for sure,and the speaking business and
everything else what they'll say, or they'll the subliminal
messages or overt messages thatyou get is, if you open your
(05:36):
mouth, you better be good, yourvoice better be great.
In fact, it better be betterthan the person next to you, or
you should go die.
Oh gosh, isn't it you know?
And that they don't.
It doesn't you know.
They don't mean to be that way.
It's just you know.
This competitive world of oursgives us false ideas.
The truth is the only thing,the only reason we have a voice,
(06:00):
the only reason that's in ourthroats or puppy dog's throat is
to deliver messages.
So if you start focusing onthat, then the logical trail
starts to come clear, and thatis well.
If I'm supposed to delivermessages, who am I supposed to
be talking to?
You know what is this messageI'm delivering, and Shall shall
(06:25):
I go into the.
The one heart, yeah.
Dr Edward (06:29):
We're gonna dig into three things now that, okay,
judy's gonna talk about, and wecan absolutely start with what
the voice is for, because that'swhat you're talking about and
and this is something thatprofoundly changed how I deliver
messages through my songs to toaudiences, which is the one
heart right.
Judy Rodman (06:48):
So, first of all, the voice exists to deliver to
one Entity, not to all of them.
You know, all the people thatare listening, or all the people
that are in, you know, in theroom, even if it is to a stadium
of people, make it to the oneheart of the room.
This is what I, the way I workwith singers and speakers.
(07:10):
And if you're teaching, youknow I had a professor that I
that was working with collegestudents and she was scared
because they weren't listeningto her and she Was kind of
scared of them.
She didn't know how to reachthem and I told her start, stop
talking to all of them becausethat was making her a flashlight
beam, and Instead talked to theone heart of that class and
(07:34):
when she started doing that, her, her teaching was so much more
effective.
She could see her students Getit, whatever it was that she was
saying, because it was focused.
And then you, you move the heartaround if it's to a crowd, but
you still always talk to the one.
If you're talking to yourself,you know like you're doing a
(07:55):
monologue or something and it'sabout it's kind of an internal
thing You've got.
If you're, if you're actuallyusing your voice.
That's an external exercise,not an internal one.
So you put yourself a bitschizophrenically over there on
the other stool and talk toyourself Okay, so there's one
(08:17):
step farther that you have to go, and that is okay.
If I was successful doing that,what would the evidence be?
Yeah all right, the evidence.
Is you ready?
This is the.
The absolute goal for yourvoice is Is the response that
you get from that one heart.
So when you are recording likethis, or when you're not
(08:41):
actually seeing the personyou're talking to, maybe you're
on the phone.
What the thing is is is it useyour imagination?
What would it look like in thefacial and body language Of the
person that you're talking to ifyou were getting through?
And that tells your voice howto operate?
(09:03):
What sound do you need to maketo get them to respond to you?
Dr Edward (09:08):
So that's gonna involve facial language too.
This intention then drives awhole lot of Activities in your
body and in your vocal cords andin the energy that you're
expressing.
Right, because when you'rewanting to connect with someone,
whether you're talking to theone heart of one person in it
one on one conversation, orwhether you're talking to the
one heart of a, a group ofpeople that you're performing or
(09:30):
speaking to, that sets up awhole lot of things that just
then you don't have to thinkabout right right, I call the
automatic nervous system thelizard brain.
Judy Rodman (09:40):
And the thing is, the lizard brain is what really
works your voice, because thereare too many bells and whistles
to do it manually.
It's like trying to operate,you know, the shuttle or
something the space shuttle onmanual.
So we learn cognitively vocaltechniques.
But what really needs to drivethe vessel when we're at in
(10:02):
performance is that lizard brain.
And if you tell yourself reallyare the inner horse is another
way to think of it.
When you tell yourself whatYou're, you're wanting to do,
then your inner horse it's likeriding a horse With and your
cognitive brain is the rider andit's, you know your cognitive
(10:24):
brain is a masterful riderbecause it's being very clear to
the horse and you know thisworks with any animals.
I know I'm preaching the choirhere, but if you confuse the
animal by giving them muddyInstructions or too many
instructions, or you knowinappropriate instructions like
Animal move, good, you know.
Dr Edward (10:46):
It's not gonna work.
Yeah, sitting in the horse, andI grew up riding horses.
Okay what you mean.
But if You've got to havepresence and you got to say
right, we're going over here andthe horse will go right, let's
do it but exactly, I don't knowwhere I want to go.
Then the horses.
You know what hell?
What hell's going on here, yeahyou're usually beginner.
Judy Rodman (11:06):
Riders are usually going move, don't move, move.
Dr Edward (11:11):
Well, beginner riders , often the horses go.
Well, you're a child, so I'mgonna have it here, buck you off
and go to the barn.
Judy Rodman (11:18):
Yeah, well, that's what happens with our voices
when we're not speaking to theone heart and when we're not
speaking in a way that makessense, with the words that are
coming out of our face, as if weare delivering that message To
someone with objective to get aspecific response on their body
(11:38):
language.
If we're not doing that, thenwe're saying voice, move good.
Dr Edward (11:43):
Yeah, and another thing you've taught me too is
that even if you're speaking tosomeone without vision is really
Use your face to talk youexactly all the expressions,
really active and lively and andengaged, and that changes your
voice too.
But let's, let's move to thesecond thing, okay, which I
Think really ties into thisspeaking from a one heart.
(12:06):
That kind of leads torelaxation in a way, I think,
because you suddenly you're notthinking, oh, there's all these
people, it's scary.
Judy Rodman (12:14):
Oh yes.
Dr Edward (12:15):
I think with this one heart and you can relax and let
go.
So the next thing is Did youwant to talk about?
Was open throat?
So right, freedom of tone andexpression.
Judy Rodman (12:25):
Right, and I would say that what we just talked
about is actually the mostimportant thing for vocal value,
because the value of your voiceis how well you can get that
response.
But now we want to.
We're moving into.
You know you don't have to havethe best sounding voice to get
that response, but it helps ifyour voice sounds better, richer
(12:46):
, less thin, less monotone, andthat happens with a more open
throat channel.
It also protects your vocalhealth and increases your vocal
health.
So the you want an open throatchannel because Of those two
things.
If you have a tight throatchannel, you're gonna Compromise
(13:09):
the tone of your voice, justlike you're hearing me do right
now.
Dr Edward (13:13):
Real change me.
Yes, we just remind people ofthe posture that we did in the
teaser episode and maybe Seewhen we're on the kind of sit up
into that posture, so that thenthey can get a sense Of feeling
this, because that, yes, right.
Judy Rodman (13:28):
Well, the thing is, these are these three areas I'm
gonna be talking about, andwe're on the second one now, but
they're synergistic.
So you're so right and thatthat if you move your head back,
it helps open your throat, and,of course, that's the posture
of Confidence.
Why does it open your throat?
Because your throat channellet's talk about what it is
(13:51):
first it's you go up your nose,out back in your mouth and down
your throat, so that's a forkedchannel, right?
That?
That is that the throat channeland the post nasal drip zone is
the place that gets tight onpeople and Constricted when
you're slumping your or whenyour head's forward like that.
(14:12):
Okay, this throat channel opensup, down and back.
Most people don't know aboutthe back part right when you
blow up a balloon.
Right it goes in all dimensionsexactly and the the back, that
you move your neck bone backjust a little bit.
So you're, which is what you dowhen you balance your head over
your tailbone or your heel,then you're gonna open the
(14:35):
channel from the back.
It also opens up which it hasto do with eye language, which
is what you want to do If you'reactually talking to somebody
wanting to get a response Judyright now is lifting her
eyebrows quite strongly.
Dr Edward (14:50):
Tell me about 50 million times during coaching
lessons.
It really opens your voice upwhen you do it does right.
Judy Rodman (14:58):
In fact, right now you can try it any.
You know folks that arelistening.
Make your eyes really small andCount to three, loud and then
wide.
Dr Edward (15:10):
For us, so we can hear the difference.
Judy Rodman (15:12):
Okay, we'll do it All right.
So my eyes are small one, two,three eyes big one, two, three,
and that's the only change Imade, all right, and now we're
gonna do the the down parts.
Well, that's the.
The ceiling of the open throathas to do with opening the nose
(15:32):
up, and so when you raise youreyebrows, you'll notice your
nose opens up.
Dr Edward (15:37):
Right yeah, your nostrils actually flare a little
bit.
Judy Rodman (15:40):
So the ceiling of the open throat is a double
ceiling.
It's the upper part of thepharynx and the soft palate and
you want both of them to lift abit so that that forked channel
is really open.
There in that ceiling Now thefloor some people talk without
moving their jaw very much, likethat you can hear my voice
(16:02):
compromised by me having a tightthroat channel from the floor
not moving very much.
Dr Edward (16:09):
So I'm going to do the same thing, not right now.
Now she's going to really dropa jaw and listen to the
difference in the sound.
Judy Rodman (16:15):
So one, two, three.
One, two, three Wow, that'ssuch a difference.
So if you do all three, youraise your eyebrows, you drop
your jaw and you pull your headback over your tailbone.
You've got a clear channel andyour voice is so much more
melodic and richer and moreinteresting instead of tight.
Dr Edward (16:40):
Because if we talk like this, people don't really
want to listen to us.
But if I'm now opening up myvoice and I'm just so you can
hear with my voice that kind ofchanges well right, Because
they're all out there listeningand you can now hear that change
in both Judy and my voices.
Judy Rodman (16:58):
Let me add something before we go.
Leave this, because this is asynergy too.
So imagine that that heart thatyou're talking to is partially
or selectively a bit deaf, andthen you're going to wake up
your articulation and you willbe using your eyes and your jaw
and pulling back.
So that's another place wheresynergy happens between
(17:20):
performance and open throat.
Dr Edward (17:24):
And if you are performing kind of over
articulating and really speakingwith your whole face, which I'm
doing right now, leads togreater connection, I can
promise you.
If I forget to do that and thenI suddenly do that in the
middle of things, I can feel thechange in the audience
responding to me.
Judy Rodman (17:42):
Yeah, so that brings us to power and breath
balance.
Right.
Your power is not fromexcessive air pressure, or
shouldn't be excessive airpressure through your poor
little vocal cords, becauseyou'll blow them it literally,
you'll blow them apart, you'lldehydrate them, you will create
(18:06):
at least fatigue and strain andif you keep doing it enough with
a successful voice, you'regoing to create situations like
nodes or polyps or evenhemorrhage or paralysis, all
kinds of stuff.
In other words, you're going toabuse your vocal cords and what
you need to do about that isunderstand where your power
(18:29):
should come from, and that is acompression breath, but not
centered in your diaphragm.
People that think they shouldtalk or speak, or speak rather,
or sing from the diaphragm isjob security for me.
Dr Edward (18:46):
Oh dear.
Okay, that's blunt and honest,yeah.
Judy Rodman (18:51):
Yeah, because it never, ever works.
Because what happens is, eventhough, yes, the diaphragm is
the major organ of inhalationand exhalation, of course, but
when you, you know, when youcenter where your voice is
coming from, being powered fromin your rib cage, which is where
your diaphragm is, you sabotageit, because the rib cage then
(19:13):
collapses a little bit.
Even just a little bit is toomuch, because that gives the
diaphragm, which is connectedlike a mushroom cap to the
bottom of your rib cage, itgives the diaphragm too much
slack and then the diaphragm canmove too much air.
So what we need to do aboutthat is open the bottom of the
(19:34):
rib cage.
How do you do that?
Straighten out your upper spine.
We're getting back to posture.
Dr Edward (19:42):
Right, the synergy of that being in a gentle, aligned
upright posture and gentlystretching your head back and up
in a way that's not forceful,yeah.
Judy Rodman (19:53):
Exactly, and then you've got to power your voice
from somewhere.
You can't just relax and sing.
Something's got to give Like.
Imagine a balloon that yousqueeze from the bottom up.
Well, where your power shouldbe felt or to come from is your
pelvic floor.
Or if you're standing yourheels, which should be thought
(20:14):
of as butt extensions for yourvoice Butt extensions.
There you go, your heels areyour butt extensions, everybody,
yeah, yeah.
And then you're going toexperience compression breath,
because you've got two thingsYou've got breath support, or
you're moving air up bysqueezing there, and breath
(20:36):
control, which happens becauseyou're squeezing air up against
a wide diaphragm which can holdtoo much breath back.
So you've got compressioncentered in the pelvic floor,
and if your head is back overyour tailbone or your heel,
that's kind of what you're goingto do You're going to come from
(20:58):
your thighs instead of yourchest.
Dr Edward (21:02):
So it's kind of like when you're sitting you're
singing from your bum or yourpelvic floor.
Judy Rodman (21:07):
You're singing from your, absolutely from your bum
and you're standing.
Dr Edward (21:10):
you're singing from your pelvic Bow down to your
feet and heels right right in.
Judy Rodman (21:16):
Sing from your heels, not from the balls of
your feet.
So balance your head over yourheels and you can press in right
.
Dr Edward (21:24):
Yeah.
Judy Rodman (21:25):
Press into the stage floor with your heel or
it's you know, you can imagineriding a horse downhill.
Dr Edward (21:32):
Now I gotta tell you, everyone who's listening, this
is gold that Judy is Teachinghere, and I really encourage you
not just to listen, but to trythis on.
Try it out.
It's been life-changing for me,and what we're gonna do now is
we're gonna step into the nextlittle Section of this episode,
which is in the middle of thesepodcasts.
(21:53):
We have a self-care interludeand self-care man.
If you're not actively engagedin in high-level self-care, you
you're already dying.
You need to do it, it's soimportant.
So Judy wants to talk for fiveminutes About excellence instead
of competing for perfection.
Judy Rodman (22:14):
Yes, this is a perfectionist society and it's
driven by fear of not beingenough, of not being good enough
or being perceived as goodenough.
So we go for perfection Instead, and what that is is toxic.
It's absolutely toxic to life.
It's also toxic to voice.
(22:36):
We try too hard, we push toohard, we're getting or done, you
know, instead of watching forthe places of the windows, of
opportunity for our lives, forour work.
There's an old adage that ourReal work should come from where
our passion meets the world'sneeds.
Dr Edward (22:59):
And.
Judy Rodman (22:59):
I would say when we're going for perfection,
we're just going for our pack.
Let me get, I've got a, I'vegot this passion of this thing.
Dr Edward (23:07):
It's self-centered, isn't it?
Judy Rodman (23:08):
Yes, it's self-centered, it is, and it's
driven honestly, driven by fear,but it's it's.
It's a false narrative as faras what's important and that
we've been kind of taught.
So what I would say withself-care, it affects everything
affects stress levels, whichaffects your health in all kinds
(23:29):
of ways, which affects yourrelationships, which affects the
way you talk to your animals.
You know, and it's just, itaffects everything.
But if you're going forexcellence, then excellence
sometimes has to do withImperfection that creates the
magic.
Sometimes it's the, it's theimperfection that creates the
(23:52):
magic.
When you're going forperfection, you don't allow
yourself to explore, you don'tallow yourself to do something
that might be a little off,which might be exactly what you
need to do.
Dr Edward (24:04):
Now, I was a golden child in my family matrix, so I
had this really heavyperfectionism type thing and it
was a very solid glass ceilingbecause I was afraid to actually
stretch out and fail.
It compromised my abilitiesreally heavily for a long time
and made you quite unhappy too,didn't?
Judy Rodman (24:25):
oh, yeah, yeah yeah , this is not fear-based.
This is the opposite.
This is love.
It's love of yourself, love ofyour fellow man or woman or
child, love of of the universe,of all of the things that you
can then open yourself for Tofeed what you know, what you
(24:49):
need, so that you can give out,not giving out as Like
hostage-taking, but giving outbecause you are filled and so
and for me, ongoing excellenceis a gentle process.
It's exactly.
Dr Edward (25:10):
Okay.
So how can I get a littleimprovement?
How can I just make a littlechange over time?
That's easy, that's not, that'secological, it doesn't put
undue pressure on me, you know.
So when I just want to kind ofemphasize that Ongoing
excellence, I always think ofthe story.
I can't remember the name ofthe musician, but he was in his
90s and one of the greatestcellists on the planet, and he
(25:34):
was interviewed and interviewed.
He said, yeah, I practice fiveor six hours a day.
And interviewers double-takeand said but you're so good at
what you do, why do you practiceso much?
And he said well, I have roomfor improvement.
Judy Rodman (25:49):
And I would.
And you know what?
I bet there was another reason.
Dr Edward (25:53):
I bet he practices because he likes it because it's
enjoyable to, to Really diginto, into excellence in what
you and feel those vibrationsand feel, yeah, absolutely.
Judy Rodman (26:06):
You know, with a player like that, you know, I,
when I was in college, I used tojust I could sit in a piano
room for five hours and justplay, and it wasn't you know so
much for the class, it wasbecause, man, oh, let me feel
these walls vibrate, you know.
So that's where you know you'resupposed to be, where you are,
yeah absolutely so.
Dr Edward (26:25):
That's our self-care interlearn.
Now we come into the, the nextpart of this podcast, which is
taking these concepts intoaction, putting them into
practice in your life.
So these are going to beexercises for speakers that
singers can use.
But I just want to stress herethat if if you're just Someone
(26:46):
who's a mama, dad, or you'rejust working in a group of
people In any kind of businessor employee, as a leader or as
an employee of a business,developing this kind of voice is
going to change your life.
Mm-hmm.
I mean that the topic of thisis heal your voice, empower your
life, and it really does.
The stronger and morebeautifully make your voice, the
(27:09):
more you empower your life inways you can't imagine.
Judy Rodman (27:11):
Mm-hmm and it affects other people too, right.
Dr Edward (27:14):
Absolutely so.
Every day voice warm-ups andexercises.
Judy Rodman (27:19):
Okay, well, first check your posture, and so park
your head Over your tailbone,but don't freeze it.
If you freeze it, you lose.
Dr Edward (27:31):
So you want to be flexible, just rocking her body
a little bit, moving a littlebit, so it's not a like stiff
head back, it's a fluid,flexible, alive, dynamic posture
.
Judy Rodman (27:43):
Yeah, think of a bobble-headed doll, so that your
head can just float right overyour spine, but back just a
little bit maybe.
Then you're used to and thatmight require some, you know
lats work or core work.
You know you might need tostrengthen your core a bit,
because your core may be flabbybecause you're used to slumping.
(28:03):
So, anyway, watch your posturefirst, and if you need to do
some stretches, that's always agood idea too.
But then Just say the syllableyeah, because that can help you
practice pulling.
So I'm going to take youthrough what to focus on one
thing at a time, because youknow.
Dr Edward (28:27):
Sure, yeah, now Judy.
As she says, yeah, as her jawdrops, her head is stretching
back a little bit and hereyebrows are raising right up
and it's kind of tipping off toone side back a little bit.
So I just want to reallydescribe the physical movements,
because no way we're in anaudio medium here and they can't
see you.
Judy Rodman (28:46):
Right, you pull back just a little bit and and
you and you kind of rock yourhead, pivot your head down a
little bit, don't lift your chin, and and then it looks very
kind of cocky or like you'replaying with a little kid Going.
I don't think so, you know.
Or you did what you know.
You can imagine that posture.
(29:07):
But now focus on your eyesgoing up, your eye, your
eyebrows going up, yeah.
Then focus on your jaw goingdown while your eyebrows go up,
yeah.
So the ceiling and the floormoving away from each other.
And now focus on that littlepullback like little cock, your
(29:28):
head pullback like a puppy doggoing.
Did you say treat or trip tothe vet?
Oh sorry.
Dr Edward (29:33):
That's a good one.
The couple of people, when youget the feeling in their body
they go oh, their little headtips to the side and they come
and look back a little bit.
Judy Rodman (29:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah, and then you can
(30:02):
go if you know how to do abubble or a trill or a raspberry
.
You know these are calledsemi-occluded vocal exercises
and they just sound a bubble,the lip bubble is, or the tongue
trill and the raspberry.
I can't do, but it's somethinglike that.
(30:24):
And if you can't do either ofthem, you just do a siren.
But let me.
The bubble is the easiest forme, Some people, the trill is
way easier, so do that.
But if you might try stickingyour fingers in your cheeks for
the bubble and go again rocking,pivoting your head down and
pulling back, oh, threedimensional stretch happening in
(30:47):
the middle of that and you'llnotice the back of your neck
kind of stretches up, sort oflike a cobra.
You can imagine a cobra comingup.
Dr Edward (30:55):
Long in the back of the neck and the whole back of
the body.
Judy Rodman (30:58):
Right In the whole back of the body.
Right.
Just go from the bottom of yourrange to the top of your range
in back and, as you're going upagain, rock your head down
instead of up.
Your lizard brain may want tolift your chin.
Don't obey it.
(31:18):
Make yourself pivot downinstead of up, like that puppy
dog pulling their ear up.
No particular notes, just kindof mess around with it.
Dr Edward (31:32):
You just go up and down the range.
Judy Rodman (31:34):
Yeah, right, and or the trill, the tongue trill, or
if those are hard for you, andthat's just about anatomy.
By the way, it's not, it's justpeople's anatomies are
different, but you can also golike a ghost, you got first.
Dr Edward (31:53):
they say so there's a little bit of back pressure.
Judy Rodman (31:57):
And imagine it's almost creating suction,
although it's not but imaginethat it is.
Dr Edward (32:06):
And every time dude is going up in the note there's
this whole kind of eyebrows up,jaw dropping and the whole backs
stretching up and back like thecobra, literally like the cobra
rising up.
Judy Rodman (32:17):
Yeah, initiated by the, the, as I'm dropping my jaw
, and one.
One way that you can imaginethis that helps some people is
imagine slurping up or a nicemilkshake.
I've been a while since I'vedone that, but you know, and
that opens everything too.
Dr Edward (32:34):
So this kind of stands even even though air and
sound is coming out, that you'redrawing back in and up.
Judy Rodman (32:45):
It's almost like inhaling, which you're not, but
you're using so much less airthan you may be used to.
Another thing that you can dois take a candle, and I don't
know if we've done that, okay.
So take a candle and light itand put it right up Don't burn
(33:06):
your nose, but almost and thenspeak into it or sing into it in
a way that makes the the candleflicker, but not blow it out.
Oh, wow and hold it reallyclose, because it's no fair if
you hold it away.
Dr Edward (33:23):
So Judy's holding it literally, nearly touching her
lips Right.
Judy Rodman (33:27):
And the other thing that you can do is actually, if
you don't have a candle, putyour hand right up to your face
and try speaking in such a waythat you don't leave a breath
mark on your hand.
Dr Edward (33:39):
Try this is what you three, four, five this is what
Judy calls pulling Right andyou're producing vocal sound and
it's it really makes a massivedifference.
It's amazing.
Judy Rodman (33:52):
You're pulling yourself open instead of pushing
yourself tight.
Dr Edward (33:57):
Now with Judy there, you heard the difference in her
voice.
When she was pulling, she wasdoing that stretch up and back,
and then she did bad things,which was crunching forward and
like this, which you can nowhear the change in my voice when
I'm doing it too, and when Istretch back up, you can hear
the change in resonance, right,right.
Judy Rodman (34:11):
Right, right, and this is a little bit more
difficult, but it sounds reallyweird.
But the weirder exercises seemto work really well and I call
it the vocal cow.
That's kind of appropriate forthis podcast.
Okay, and it goes, mmm.
Dr Edward (34:31):
So this is starting with a closed jaw.
A closed jaw as the pitch goesup.
The lips are staying closed,but the jaw is stretching right
down, the eyebrows are going upand you've got that whole curve
stretch up and back and reallywanted to describe exactly what
you're doing physically sopeople can get a sense of that
in their body when they practice.
Judy Rodman (34:50):
Yes, mmm, all right .
And then the other thing isthat you can do is tongue
tanglers yes, all right, so wecan go through a few of them.
Dr Edward (35:06):
We're going to go through a few of them, for sure.
Judy Rodman (35:08):
Okay, all right, so the first one I would suggest,
and what you want to do withthese tongue tanglers?
Here's the goal First of all,that you say them at all Correct
, that's a good start.
And secondly, absolutely novocal fry, which happens a lot
at the ends of the lines.
(35:29):
All right, so no vocal fry andsay red leather, yellow leather,
and most people go red leather,yellow leather.
Dr Edward (35:41):
Okay, so you can take that light, stretch the voice
kind of floating and not sinkinginto that more grindy feel.
Yeah.
Judy Rodman (35:49):
Mmm Red.
Again I'm pulling the words redleather, yellow leather, red
leather, yellow leather, and youcan kind of mess around with it
like that Red leather yellowleather.
Dr Edward (36:02):
So every time Judy's voice goes up in pitch, her
eyebrows are going up with thepitch right and quite a stretch
of the eyebrows.
Judy Rodman (36:10):
Another thing I'm doing is moving my jaw in a bit
of a chewing circle, or like thecow chewing the cut Red leather
, yellow leather, and thatreleases the jaw.
Dr Edward (36:21):
That little kind of circular motion of the jaw while
you're making bow noises, bythe way was such a revelation
for me as a performer.
It's like oh wow, toneconnection expansion immediately
.
It was really really obvious.
Judy Rodman (36:37):
Yeah, it sets a lot of voices free when they get
that chew thing going.
Yeah.
Dr Edward (36:41):
Now Judy is firehosing you with a whole lot
of cool stuff here today.
There's a lot of informationhere.
You might want to come back andlisten to this several times
and go through it and practiceit, because certainly my
experience with working withJudy is whoa.
I got to think about all thesethings.
It's really weird.
Nobody doesn't know what'sgoing on.
So you have to kind ofconsciously practice this until
(37:05):
you can make it unconscious andrelaxed.
It takes an application.
Judy Rodman (37:10):
Yes, and there's something I learned from Peter
Jacobsen, who is an AlexanderTechnique practitioner, and that
is about the importance ofthinking of learning as
exploring, non-judgmentallyexploring.
So you know, let's just go withthe idea that none of us are
(37:31):
ever going to get there notperfectly, but it's not about
doing that, it's about going ooh, how did that feel?
Oh well, maybe I want to dothat instead, but maybe I want
to do this and just feel how itgoes.
Okay.
Dr Edward (37:45):
So that's good, does it?
No?
Exactly Because your eyes upand crunch down and your voice
just dies.
Judy Rodman (37:52):
Yeah, but just like in animal training and with
children, it's in the playingthat you start to really learn
some things, where you feel free, not doing something out of
fear, but you're doing somethingwith focus and it becomes
interesting.
So don't try to do all thisperfectly, but I will tell you
(38:13):
that just a little bit of someof the changes that we've talked
about today can make hugedifferences yeah.
Dr Edward (38:20):
Yeah, look, you've given us so much today.
Honestly, there is if youactually apply what Judy has
taken you through today and youpractice it a little bit maybe
five or ten minutes, five days aweek within a month or two you
will notice that your voice isso much stronger and that this
will be playing through andrippling out into your life and
(38:43):
your interactions with others inways you cannot imagine.
Judy Rodman (38:48):
I love it.
I just I love the voice and Ilove voices and I love working
with voices, with messages thatmatter, like yours.
Dr Edward (38:56):
Like yours, dr Ed, and you know your messages
matter immensely too, which iswhy I'm so happy to have you
here bringing this out in theworld Now.
Judy is available for you towork when I'm on with, and I can
personally just give her themost glowing testimony I'll ever
ever.
She's been a profoundlybeautiful influence on my life
(39:18):
and made me not only a strongerperformer but a better human,
because Judy's got thisbeautiful kindness and
heart-based approach that justbrings the best out of me when I
work with it.
She's beautiful to work withand I deeply encourage you to
jump on.
I know she's pretty busy andyou might have to wait a little
while these days to get a spotwith her, but what's your
(39:42):
website, judy?
It's JudyRodmancom, so supereasy.
Now we're going to wrap this up.
Thank you so much, judy, for.
Judy Rodman (39:53):
It's been an honor and it's been an honor to work
with you and through these yearsit has been a beautiful journey
together hasn't it?
Dr Edward (40:01):
Yes, I'm sharing and growing and finding my voice
again, recreating my voice fromthe ground up over the last
seven years.
So what we do with the Pets,People and Harmony podcast is
that we often have an intensiveworkshop that follows up the
episode.
So we're going to have a twohour live online and then it'll
(40:24):
be available on demand.
If you can't make live becauseI know we talk to people all
over the world and time zonesdon't always match up and we
don't expect you to get up atthree o'clock in the morning
Really that's crazy but we'regoing to have this live
intensive workshop.
Heal your voice and power yourlife.
So you've learned so much inthe last less than 45 minutes.
(40:47):
Imagine what you can get in twohours.
So, Judy, what sort of thingscan people expect to learn and
be able to put into practice inthis intensive workshop?
Judy Rodman (40:57):
Well, my method of training is called power, path
and performance, and that's kindof it in a nutshell.
It's the power of the breath,the path through the open throat
, and performance meaningcommunication skills, and we've
talked a little bit about all ofthose areas during this episode
of the podcast, but we can gointo more depth.
(41:18):
I can show you some anatomy sothat you understand why these
things are working, which helpsyou do it, helps you trust it
and helps you actually use thenew techniques with more
confidence, and then also takeyou through some vocal exercises
.
I've got tons of vocalexercises and do some
(41:41):
performance connection exercises.
Dr Edward (41:43):
And the best thing about coming along this
intensive workshop is we'rebeyond Zoom so you'll be able to
actually see what Judy's doingwith her body and her face so
that you can mirror it and learnfrom that really visceral
experience of seeing, becauseI've got to tell you, the
physicality of what Judy does ismuch easier if you can see what
(42:07):
she's doing.
I know I've done my level bestto describe what's going on, but
it's next level if you canactually see and move along with
.
Judy during the exercises.
Judy Rodman (42:15):
Yeah, and I can correct people that I see that
are not understanding it as well, so we'll have you all on Zoom.
Dr Edward (42:23):
I encourage you to come along.
We have a sliding scale ofpricing starting at $47
Australian and going up fromthere.
Please do come along.
It's going to be a stack of fun.
It'll be a beautiful two hourswhere Judy will be blast.
It's just as much amazinginformation and practical skills
(42:45):
as she possibly can.
The way that works is we havetwo teaching sessions about
40-45 minutes long and then wehave about half an hour of live
Q&A and in that live Q&A Judywill probably take a few people
and talk them through so thatyou can then learn by seeing
someone shift and change withJudy's individualised coaching,
and it's going to be a stack offun.
(43:06):
So if I should come along,you'll see the links for that in
the information below thepodcast or you can come along to
the podcast website, whichthere's a link for as well.
But thank you, judy, so much.
It's been so much fun hangingout with you today and thank you
for sharing so generously allof this beautiful wisdom about
how to heal your voice andempower your life.
Judy Rodman (43:29):
It's been a great pleasure.
It's been a great pleasure,thank you.
Dr Edward (43:34):
Thank you everybody.
Goodbye for now.
We'll see you in the nextepisode.
Okay, everybody, welcome back to Pets, people and
Harmony.
This is a podcast that ourintention is to bring wisdom,
deep, lived, practical wisdom toyou that can make a difference,
to help you transform your lifefor the better.
And, of course, every time youtransform your life for the
better, you transform your pets'life for the better.
We have speakers who speakabout animal stuff.
(00:48):
We have speakers who speakabout music and voice and human
development and potential.
Judy Rodman, who is a veryspecial friend and mentor of
mine, is our guest today.
Judy is a vocal coach, in myhumble opinion, probably one of
the best vocal coaches on theplanet.
She's transformed my lifeincredibly and expanded my
(01:11):
ability to perform and connectthrough the medium of music Well
, more than I can imagine when Imet her, probably seven or
eight years ago.
Now it's been a while.
So, judy, welcome and just ifyou could quickly give an
introduction for those who mightnot have listened to the teaser
episode, to let people know whoyou are, and could you tell us
a little bit about how youcompletely lost your voice due
(01:34):
to illness and then rebuiltyourself to sing as a
professional?
Judy Rodman (01:38):
You got it.
Well, I've been singingprofessionally for about 50
years in the music industry andthe voice industry in general,
and after a few years like, oh,10 years of professional singing
, I lost my voice from anendotracheal tube during surgery
and I was in the hospital aboutthree months.
(02:02):
So it was some pretty severedeal and it was down a few times
and by the time I got out ofthe hospital I'd lost an octave
and a half and I asked mysurgeons why I still couldn't
use my voice.
I had lost so much of my voice.
And he said well, it's probablyscar tissue, but we saved your
life.
(02:23):
I'm thinking to myself yeah,what life?
Which is what you do whenyou're a professional singer.
You're like what life?
Even though you really need togo deeper than that to find that
life.
But anyway, I had no idea howuseful that terrible situation
would be for me in my life andin my work, and so I learned how
(02:49):
to get my voice back.
Then I got most of it backmyself and then I went on to
Nashville.
We moved from Memphis toNashville because I was kind of
known as a six singer in Memphisand it's hard to get work that
way.
So we moved to Nashville and Istarted doing big sessions, but
(03:09):
I was guarding, I was stillhaving, I still didn't have all
my voice back.
And I got with a professionalvocal coach and realized the
value of professional coaching.
And Gerald Arthur saved myvoice.
And then some.
I was able to sing more, withmore range, than I'd ever had in
my life.
Couple of years later I had anumber one record, nationally
and internationally, and youknow it was.
(03:31):
You know it was on the top ofthe world.
And so there were a lot.
There's been a lot of rabbittrails, because in the music
business, or in the business ofthe arts anyway, you're going to
come up against speed bumpswhen certain things fail, you
know.
So you either die or you learnfrom those, and instead of
(03:53):
becoming bitter, you becomebetter.
Dr Edward (03:57):
That's.
That's the thing you need to do.
I like that.
I'm going to steal that quitewell.
I'm going to steal it.
I will attribute it to you, butthat's a really good quote.
Judy Rodman (04:04):
Yeah, so I went on and became a songwriter.
I mean, I had number onerecords in all kinds of fields,
including songwriting andproduction and vocal coaching
now and it you know.
But but the reason I thinkhuman beings don't move on to
another thing until the thingthey're doing some reason has a
(04:27):
brick wall in front of it, youknow.
So I've looked, I looked at allthe brick walls that I thought
were the end of my career and I,as I look back, I see they were
all diversion points and youcan really trust your journey
that way.
If you, if your intention is todo good and in the world you
(04:48):
know, you're always going tofind a way to do it, and one way
is figuring out what your voiceis really for.
They call it a gift and it'snot a gift until you give it.
Dr Edward (05:01):
Oh, that is so true, isn't it?
Yeah, our voice.
For me, this, this expressionof sound and vibration and
feeling and energy, and ourheart, you know, really, our
voice comes from our heart, Ifeel.
Judy Rodman (05:15):
Yeah, it does.
And what?
What people don't usuallyunderstand because culture, and
the music business, for sure,and the speaking business and
everything else what they'll say, or they'll the subliminal
messages or overt messages thatyou get is, if you open your
(05:36):
mouth, you better be good, yourvoice better be great.
In fact, it better be betterthan the person next to you, or
you should go die.
Oh gosh, isn't it you know?
And that they don't.
It doesn't you know.
They don't mean to be that way.
It's just you know.
This competitive world of oursgives us false ideas.
The truth is the only thing,the only reason we have a voice,
(06:00):
the only reason that's in ourthroats or puppy dog's throat is
to deliver messages.
So if you start focusing onthat, then the logical trail
starts to come clear, and thatis well.
If I'm supposed to delivermessages, who am I supposed to
be talking to?
You know what is this messageI'm delivering, and Shall shall
(06:25):
I go into the.
The one heart, yeah.
Dr Edward (06:29):
We're gonna dig into three things now that, okay,
judy's gonna talk about, and wecan absolutely start with what
the voice is for, because that'swhat you're talking about and
and this is something thatprofoundly changed how I deliver
messages through my songs to toaudiences, which is the one
heart right.
Judy Rodman (06:48):
So, first of all, the voice exists to deliver to
one Entity, not to all of them.
You know, all the people thatare listening, or all the people
that are in, you know, in theroom, even if it is to a stadium
of people, make it to the oneheart of the room.
This is what I, the way I workwith singers and speakers.
(07:10):
And if you're teaching, youknow I had a professor that I
that was working with collegestudents and she was scared
because they weren't listeningto her and she Was kind of
scared of them.
She didn't know how to reachthem and I told her start, stop
talking to all of them becausethat was making her a flashlight
beam, and Instead talked to theone heart of that class and
(07:34):
when she started doing that, her, her teaching was so much more
effective.
She could see her students Getit, whatever it was that she was
saying, because it was focused.
And then you, you move the heartaround if it's to a crowd, but
you still always talk to the one.
If you're talking to yourself,you know like you're doing a
(07:55):
monologue or something and it'sabout it's kind of an internal
thing You've got.
If you're, if you're actuallyusing your voice.
That's an external exercise,not an internal one.
So you put yourself a bitschizophrenically over there on
the other stool and talk toyourself Okay, so there's one
(08:17):
step farther that you have to go, and that is okay.
If I was successful doing that,what would the evidence be?
Yeah all right, the evidence.
Is you ready?
This is the.
The absolute goal for yourvoice is Is the response that
you get from that one heart.
So when you are recording likethis, or when you're not
(08:41):
actually seeing the personyou're talking to, maybe you're
on the phone.
What the thing is is is it useyour imagination?
What would it look like in thefacial and body language Of the
person that you're talking to ifyou were getting through?
And that tells your voice howto operate?
(09:03):
What sound do you need to maketo get them to respond to you?
Dr Edward (09:08):
So that's gonna involve facial language too.
This intention then drives awhole lot of Activities in your
body and in your vocal cords andin the energy that you're
expressing.
Right, because when you'rewanting to connect with someone,
whether you're talking to theone heart of one person in it
one on one conversation, orwhether you're talking to the
one heart of a, a group ofpeople that you're performing or
(09:30):
speaking to, that sets up awhole lot of things that just
then you don't have to thinkabout right right, I call the
automatic nervous system thelizard brain.
Judy Rodman (09:40):
And the thing is, the lizard brain is what really
works your voice, because thereare too many bells and whistles
to do it manually.
It's like trying to operate,you know, the shuttle or
something the space shuttle onmanual.
So we learn cognitively vocaltechniques.
But what really needs to drivethe vessel when we're at in
(10:02):
performance is that lizard brain.
And if you tell yourself reallyare the inner horse is another
way to think of it.
When you tell yourself whatYou're, you're wanting to do,
then your inner horse it's likeriding a horse With and your
cognitive brain is the rider andit's, you know your cognitive
(10:24):
brain is a masterful riderbecause it's being very clear to
the horse and you know thisworks with any animals.
I know I'm preaching the choirhere, but if you confuse the
animal by giving them muddyInstructions or too many
instructions, or you knowinappropriate instructions like
Animal move, good, you know.
Dr Edward (10:46):
It's not gonna work.
Yeah, sitting in the horse, andI grew up riding horses.
Okay what you mean.
But if You've got to havepresence and you got to say
right, we're going over here andthe horse will go right, let's
do it but exactly, I don't knowwhere I want to go.
Then the horses.
You know what hell?
What hell's going on here, yeahyou're usually beginner.
Judy Rodman (11:06):
Riders are usually going move, don't move, move.
Dr Edward (11:11):
Well, beginner riders , often the horses go.
Well, you're a child, so I'mgonna have it here, buck you off
and go to the barn.
Judy Rodman (11:18):
Yeah, well, that's what happens with our voices
when we're not speaking to theone heart and when we're not
speaking in a way that makessense, with the words that are
coming out of our face, as if weare delivering that message To
someone with objective to get aspecific response on their body
(11:38):
language.
If we're not doing that, thenwe're saying voice, move good.
Dr Edward (11:43):
Yeah, and another thing you've taught me too is
that even if you're speaking tosomeone without vision is really
Use your face to talk youexactly all the expressions,
really active and lively and andengaged, and that changes your
voice too.
But let's, let's move to thesecond thing, okay, which I
Think really ties into thisspeaking from a one heart.
(12:06):
That kind of leads torelaxation in a way, I think,
because you suddenly you're notthinking, oh, there's all these
people, it's scary.
Judy Rodman (12:14):
Oh yes.
Dr Edward (12:15):
I think with this one heart and you can relax and let
go.
So the next thing is Did youwant to talk about?
Was open throat?
So right, freedom of tone andexpression.
Judy Rodman (12:25):
Right, and I would say that what we just talked
about is actually the mostimportant thing for vocal value,
because the value of your voiceis how well you can get that
response.
But now we want to.
We're moving into.
You know you don't have to havethe best sounding voice to get
that response, but it helps ifyour voice sounds better, richer
(12:46):
, less thin, less monotone, andthat happens with a more open
throat channel.
It also protects your vocalhealth and increases your vocal
health.
So the you want an open throatchannel because Of those two
things.
If you have a tight throatchannel, you're gonna Compromise
(13:09):
the tone of your voice, justlike you're hearing me do right
now.
Dr Edward (13:13):
Real change me.
Yes, we just remind people ofthe posture that we did in the
teaser episode and maybe Seewhen we're on the kind of sit up
into that posture, so that thenthey can get a sense Of feeling
this, because that, yes, right.
Judy Rodman (13:28):
Well, the thing is, these are these three areas I'm
gonna be talking about, andwe're on the second one now, but
they're synergistic.
So you're so right and thatthat if you move your head back,
it helps open your throat, and,of course, that's the posture
of Confidence.
Why does it open your throat?
Because your throat channellet's talk about what it is
(13:51):
first it's you go up your nose,out back in your mouth and down
your throat, so that's a forkedchannel, right?
That?
That is that the throat channeland the post nasal drip zone is
the place that gets tight onpeople and Constricted when
you're slumping your or whenyour head's forward like that.
(14:12):
Okay, this throat channel opensup, down and back.
Most people don't know aboutthe back part right when you
blow up a balloon.
Right it goes in all dimensionsexactly and the the back, that
you move your neck bone backjust a little bit.
So you're, which is what you dowhen you balance your head over
your tailbone or your heel,then you're gonna open the
(14:35):
channel from the back.
It also opens up which it hasto do with eye language, which
is what you want to do If you'reactually talking to somebody
wanting to get a response Judyright now is lifting her
eyebrows quite strongly.
Dr Edward (14:50):
Tell me about 50 million times during coaching
lessons.
It really opens your voice upwhen you do it does right.
Judy Rodman (14:58):
In fact, right now you can try it any.
You know folks that arelistening.
Make your eyes really small andCount to three, loud and then
wide.
Dr Edward (15:10):
For us, so we can hear the difference.
Judy Rodman (15:12):
Okay, we'll do it All right.
So my eyes are small one, two,three eyes big one, two, three,
and that's the only change Imade, all right, and now we're
gonna do the the down parts.
Well, that's the.
The ceiling of the open throathas to do with opening the nose
(15:32):
up, and so when you raise youreyebrows, you'll notice your
nose opens up.
Dr Edward (15:37):
Right yeah, your nostrils actually flare a little
bit.
Judy Rodman (15:40):
So the ceiling of the open throat is a double
ceiling.
It's the upper part of thepharynx and the soft palate and
you want both of them to lift abit so that that forked channel
is really open.
There in that ceiling Now thefloor some people talk without
moving their jaw very much, likethat you can hear my voice
(16:02):
compromised by me having a tightthroat channel from the floor
not moving very much.
Dr Edward (16:09):
So I'm going to do the same thing, not right now.
Now she's going to really dropa jaw and listen to the
difference in the sound.
Judy Rodman (16:15):
So one, two, three.
One, two, three Wow, that'ssuch a difference.
So if you do all three, youraise your eyebrows, you drop
your jaw and you pull your headback over your tailbone.
You've got a clear channel andyour voice is so much more
melodic and richer and moreinteresting instead of tight.
Dr Edward (16:40):
Because if we talk like this, people don't really
want to listen to us.
But if I'm now opening up myvoice and I'm just so you can
hear with my voice that kind ofchanges well right, Because
they're all out there listeningand you can now hear that change
in both Judy and my voices.
Judy Rodman (16:58):
Let me add something before we go.
Leave this, because this is asynergy too.
So imagine that that heart thatyou're talking to is partially
or selectively a bit deaf, andthen you're going to wake up
your articulation and you willbe using your eyes and your jaw
and pulling back.
So that's another place wheresynergy happens between
(17:20):
performance and open throat.
Dr Edward (17:24):
And if you are performing kind of over
articulating and really speakingwith your whole face, which I'm
doing right now, leads togreater connection, I can
promise you.
If I forget to do that and thenI suddenly do that in the
middle of things, I can feel thechange in the audience
responding to me.
Judy Rodman (17:42):
Yeah, so that brings us to power and breath
balance.
Right.
Your power is not fromexcessive air pressure, or
shouldn't be excessive airpressure through your poor
little vocal cords, becauseyou'll blow them it literally,
you'll blow them apart, you'lldehydrate them, you will create
(18:06):
at least fatigue and strain andif you keep doing it enough with
a successful voice, you'regoing to create situations like
nodes or polyps or evenhemorrhage or paralysis, all
kinds of stuff.
In other words, you're going toabuse your vocal cords and what
you need to do about that isunderstand where your power
(18:29):
should come from, and that is acompression breath, but not
centered in your diaphragm.
People that think they shouldtalk or speak, or speak rather,
or sing from the diaphragm isjob security for me.
Dr Edward (18:46):
Oh dear.
Okay, that's blunt and honest,yeah.
Judy Rodman (18:51):
Yeah, because it never, ever works.
Because what happens is, eventhough, yes, the diaphragm is
the major organ of inhalationand exhalation, of course, but
when you, you know, when youcenter where your voice is
coming from, being powered fromin your rib cage, which is where
your diaphragm is, you sabotageit, because the rib cage then
(19:13):
collapses a little bit.
Even just a little bit is toomuch, because that gives the
diaphragm, which is connectedlike a mushroom cap to the
bottom of your rib cage, itgives the diaphragm too much
slack and then the diaphragm canmove too much air.
So what we need to do aboutthat is open the bottom of the
(19:34):
rib cage.
How do you do that?
Straighten out your upper spine.
We're getting back to posture.
Dr Edward (19:42):
Right, the synergy of that being in a gentle, aligned
upright posture and gentlystretching your head back and up
in a way that's not forceful,yeah.
Judy Rodman (19:53):
Exactly, and then you've got to power your voice
from somewhere.
You can't just relax and sing.
Something's got to give Like.
Imagine a balloon that yousqueeze from the bottom up.
Well, where your power shouldbe felt or to come from is your
pelvic floor.
Or if you're standing yourheels, which should be thought
(20:14):
of as butt extensions for yourvoice Butt extensions.
There you go, your heels areyour butt extensions, everybody,
yeah, yeah.
And then you're going toexperience compression breath,
because you've got two thingsYou've got breath support, or
you're moving air up bysqueezing there, and breath
(20:36):
control, which happens becauseyou're squeezing air up against
a wide diaphragm which can holdtoo much breath back.
So you've got compressioncentered in the pelvic floor,
and if your head is back overyour tailbone or your heel,
that's kind of what you're goingto do You're going to come from
(20:58):
your thighs instead of yourchest.
Dr Edward (21:02):
So it's kind of like when you're sitting you're
singing from your bum or yourpelvic floor.
Judy Rodman (21:07):
You're singing from your, absolutely from your bum
and you're standing.
Dr Edward (21:10):
you're singing from your pelvic Bow down to your
feet and heels right right in.
Judy Rodman (21:16):
Sing from your heels, not from the balls of
your feet.
So balance your head over yourheels and you can press in right
.
Dr Edward (21:24):
Yeah.
Judy Rodman (21:25):
Press into the stage floor with your heel or
it's you know, you can imagineriding a horse downhill.
Dr Edward (21:32):
Now I gotta tell you, everyone who's listening, this
is gold that Judy is Teachinghere, and I really encourage you
not just to listen, but to trythis on.
Try it out.
It's been life-changing for me,and what we're gonna do now is
we're gonna step into the nextlittle Section of this episode,
which is in the middle of thesepodcasts.
(21:53):
We have a self-care interludeand self-care man.
If you're not actively engagedin in high-level self-care, you
you're already dying.
You need to do it, it's soimportant.
So Judy wants to talk for fiveminutes About excellence instead
of competing for perfection.
Judy Rodman (22:14):
Yes, this is a perfectionist society and it's
driven by fear of not beingenough, of not being good enough
or being perceived as goodenough.
So we go for perfection Instead, and what that is is toxic.
It's absolutely toxic to life.
It's also toxic to voice.
(22:36):
We try too hard, we push toohard, we're getting or done, you
know, instead of watching forthe places of the windows, of
opportunity for our lives, forour work.
There's an old adage that ourReal work should come from where
our passion meets the world'sneeds.
Dr Edward (22:59):
And.
Judy Rodman (22:59):
I would say when we're going for perfection,
we're just going for our pack.
Let me get, I've got a, I'vegot this passion of this thing.
Dr Edward (23:07):
It's self-centered, isn't it?
Judy Rodman (23:08):
Yes, it's self-centered, it is, and it's
driven honestly, driven by fear,but it's it's.
It's a false narrative as faras what's important and that
we've been kind of taught.
So what I would say withself-care, it affects everything
affects stress levels, whichaffects your health in all kinds
(23:29):
of ways, which affects yourrelationships, which affects the
way you talk to your animals.
You know, and it's just, itaffects everything.
But if you're going forexcellence, then excellence
sometimes has to do withImperfection that creates the
magic.
Sometimes it's the, it's theimperfection that creates the
(23:52):
magic.
When you're going forperfection, you don't allow
yourself to explore, you don'tallow yourself to do something
that might be a little off,which might be exactly what you
need to do.
Dr Edward (24:04):
Now, I was a golden child in my family matrix, so I
had this really heavyperfectionism type thing and it
was a very solid glass ceilingbecause I was afraid to actually
stretch out and fail.
It compromised my abilitiesreally heavily for a long time
and made you quite unhappy too,didn't?
Judy Rodman (24:25):
oh, yeah, yeah yeah , this is not fear-based.
This is the opposite.
This is love.
It's love of yourself, love ofyour fellow man or woman or
child, love of of the universe,of all of the things that you
can then open yourself for Tofeed what you know, what you
(24:49):
need, so that you can give out,not giving out as Like
hostage-taking, but giving outbecause you are filled and so
and for me, ongoing excellenceis a gentle process.
It's exactly.
Dr Edward (25:10):
Okay.
So how can I get a littleimprovement?
How can I just make a littlechange over time?
That's easy, that's not, that'secological, it doesn't put
undue pressure on me, you know.
So when I just want to kind ofemphasize that Ongoing
excellence, I always think ofthe story.
I can't remember the name ofthe musician, but he was in his
90s and one of the greatestcellists on the planet, and he
(25:34):
was interviewed and interviewed.
He said, yeah, I practice fiveor six hours a day.
And interviewers double-takeand said but you're so good at
what you do, why do you practiceso much?
And he said well, I have roomfor improvement.
Judy Rodman (25:49):
And I would.
And you know what?
I bet there was another reason.
Dr Edward (25:53):
I bet he practices because he likes it because it's
enjoyable to, to Really diginto, into excellence in what
you and feel those vibrationsand feel, yeah, absolutely.
Judy Rodman (26:06):
You know, with a player like that, you know, I,
when I was in college, I used tojust I could sit in a piano
room for five hours and justplay, and it wasn't you know so
much for the class, it wasbecause, man, oh, let me feel
these walls vibrate, you know.
So that's where you know you'resupposed to be, where you are,
yeah absolutely so.
Dr Edward (26:25):
That's our self-care interlearn.
Now we come into the, the nextpart of this podcast, which is
taking these concepts intoaction, putting them into
practice in your life.
So these are going to beexercises for speakers that
singers can use.
But I just want to stress herethat if if you're just Someone
(26:46):
who's a mama, dad, or you'rejust working in a group of
people In any kind of businessor employee, as a leader or as
an employee of a business,developing this kind of voice is
going to change your life.
Mm-hmm.
I mean that the topic of thisis heal your voice, empower your
life, and it really does.
The stronger and morebeautifully make your voice, the
(27:09):
more you empower your life inways you can't imagine.
Judy Rodman (27:11):
Mm-hmm and it affects other people too, right.
Dr Edward (27:14):
Absolutely so.
Every day voice warm-ups andexercises.
Judy Rodman (27:19):
Okay, well, first check your posture, and so park
your head Over your tailbone,but don't freeze it.
If you freeze it, you lose.
Dr Edward (27:31):
So you want to be flexible, just rocking her body
a little bit, moving a littlebit, so it's not a like stiff
head back, it's a fluid,flexible, alive, dynamic posture
.
Judy Rodman (27:43):
Yeah, think of a bobble-headed doll, so that your
head can just float right overyour spine, but back just a
little bit maybe.
Then you're used to and thatmight require some, you know
lats work or core work.
You know you might need tostrengthen your core a bit,
because your core may be flabbybecause you're used to slumping.
(28:03):
So, anyway, watch your posturefirst, and if you need to do
some stretches, that's always agood idea too.
But then Just say the syllableyeah, because that can help you
practice pulling.
So I'm going to take youthrough what to focus on one
thing at a time, because youknow.
Dr Edward (28:27):
Sure, yeah, now Judy.
As she says, yeah, as her jawdrops, her head is stretching
back a little bit and hereyebrows are raising right up
and it's kind of tipping off toone side back a little bit.
So I just want to reallydescribe the physical movements,
because no way we're in anaudio medium here and they can't
see you.
Judy Rodman (28:46):
Right, you pull back just a little bit and and
you and you kind of rock yourhead, pivot your head down a
little bit, don't lift your chin, and and then it looks very
kind of cocky or like you'replaying with a little kid Going.
I don't think so, you know.
Or you did what you know.
You can imagine that posture.
(29:07):
But now focus on your eyesgoing up, your eye, your
eyebrows going up, yeah.
Then focus on your jaw goingdown while your eyebrows go up,
yeah.
So the ceiling and the floormoving away from each other.
And now focus on that littlepullback like little cock, your
(29:28):
head pullback like a puppy doggoing.
Did you say treat or trip tothe vet?
Oh sorry.
Dr Edward (29:33):
That's a good one.
The couple of people, when youget the feeling in their body
they go oh, their little headtips to the side and they come
and look back a little bit.
Judy Rodman (29:39):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, yeah, and then you can
(30:02):
go if you know how to do abubble or a trill or a raspberry
.
You know these are calledsemi-occluded vocal exercises
and they just sound a bubble,the lip bubble is, or the tongue
trill and the raspberry.
I can't do, but it's somethinglike that.
(30:24):
And if you can't do either ofthem, you just do a siren.
But let me.
The bubble is the easiest forme, Some people, the trill is
way easier, so do that.
But if you might try stickingyour fingers in your cheeks for
the bubble and go again rocking,pivoting your head down and
pulling back, oh, threedimensional stretch happening in
(30:47):
the middle of that and you'llnotice the back of your neck
kind of stretches up, sort oflike a cobra.
You can imagine a cobra comingup.
Dr Edward (30:55):
Long in the back of the neck and the whole back of
the body.
Judy Rodman (30:58):
Right In the whole back of the body.
Right.
Just go from the bottom of yourrange to the top of your range
in back and, as you're going upagain, rock your head down
instead of up.
Your lizard brain may want tolift your chin.
Don't obey it.
(31:18):
Make yourself pivot downinstead of up, like that puppy
dog pulling their ear up.
No particular notes, just kindof mess around with it.
Dr Edward (31:32):
You just go up and down the range.
Judy Rodman (31:34):
Yeah, right, and or the trill, the tongue trill, or
if those are hard for you, andthat's just about anatomy.
By the way, it's not, it's justpeople's anatomies are
different, but you can also golike a ghost, you got first.
Dr Edward (31:53):
they say so there's a little bit of back pressure.
Judy Rodman (31:57):
And imagine it's almost creating suction,
although it's not but imaginethat it is.
Dr Edward (32:06):
And every time dude is going up in the note there's
this whole kind of eyebrows up,jaw dropping and the whole backs
stretching up and back like thecobra, literally like the cobra
rising up.
Judy Rodman (32:17):
Yeah, initiated by the, the, as I'm dropping my jaw
, and one.
One way that you can imaginethis that helps some people is
imagine slurping up or a nicemilkshake.
I've been a while since I'vedone that, but you know, and
that opens everything too.
Dr Edward (32:34):
So this kind of stands even even though air and
sound is coming out, that you'redrawing back in and up.
Judy Rodman (32:45):
It's almost like inhaling, which you're not, but
you're using so much less airthan you may be used to.
Another thing that you can dois take a candle, and I don't
know if we've done that, okay.
So take a candle and light itand put it right up Don't burn
(33:06):
your nose, but almost and thenspeak into it or sing into it in
a way that makes the the candleflicker, but not blow it out.
Oh, wow and hold it reallyclose, because it's no fair if
you hold it away.
Dr Edward (33:23):
So Judy's holding it literally, nearly touching her
lips Right.
Judy Rodman (33:27):
And the other thing that you can do is actually, if
you don't have a candle, putyour hand right up to your face
and try speaking in such a waythat you don't leave a breath
mark on your hand.
Dr Edward (33:39):
Try this is what you three, four, five this is what
Judy calls pulling Right andyou're producing vocal sound and
it's it really makes a massivedifference.
It's amazing.
Judy Rodman (33:52):
You're pulling yourself open instead of pushing
yourself tight.
Dr Edward (33:57):
Now with Judy there, you heard the difference in her
voice.
When she was pulling, she wasdoing that stretch up and back,
and then she did bad things,which was crunching forward and
like this, which you can nowhear the change in my voice when
I'm doing it too, and when Istretch back up, you can hear
the change in resonance, right,right.
Judy Rodman (34:11):
Right, right, and this is a little bit more
difficult, but it sounds reallyweird.
But the weirder exercises seemto work really well and I call
it the vocal cow.
That's kind of appropriate forthis podcast.
Okay, and it goes, mmm.
Dr Edward (34:31):
So this is starting with a closed jaw.
A closed jaw as the pitch goesup.
The lips are staying closed,but the jaw is stretching right
down, the eyebrows are going upand you've got that whole curve
stretch up and back and reallywanted to describe exactly what
you're doing physically sopeople can get a sense of that
in their body when they practice.
Judy Rodman (34:50):
Yes, mmm, all right .
And then the other thing isthat you can do is tongue
tanglers yes, all right, so wecan go through a few of them.
Dr Edward (35:06):
We're going to go through a few of them, for sure.
Judy Rodman (35:08):
Okay, all right, so the first one I would suggest,
and what you want to do withthese tongue tanglers?
Here's the goal First of all,that you say them at all Correct
, that's a good start.
And secondly, absolutely novocal fry, which happens a lot
at the ends of the lines.
(35:29):
All right, so no vocal fry andsay red leather, yellow leather,
and most people go red leather,yellow leather.
Dr Edward (35:41):
Okay, so you can take that light, stretch the voice
kind of floating and not sinkinginto that more grindy feel.
Yeah.
Judy Rodman (35:49):
Mmm Red.
Again I'm pulling the words redleather, yellow leather, red
leather, yellow leather, and youcan kind of mess around with it
like that Red leather yellowleather.
Dr Edward (36:02):
So every time Judy's voice goes up in pitch, her
eyebrows are going up with thepitch right and quite a stretch
of the eyebrows.
Judy Rodman (36:10):
Another thing I'm doing is moving my jaw in a bit
of a chewing circle, or like thecow chewing the cut Red leather
, yellow leather, and thatreleases the jaw.
Dr Edward (36:21):
That little kind of circular motion of the jaw while
you're making bow noises, bythe way was such a revelation
for me as a performer.
It's like oh wow, toneconnection expansion immediately
.
It was really really obvious.
Judy Rodman (36:37):
Yeah, it sets a lot of voices free when they get
that chew thing going.
Yeah.
Dr Edward (36:41):
Now Judy is firehosing you with a whole lot
of cool stuff here today.
There's a lot of informationhere.
You might want to come back andlisten to this several times
and go through it and practiceit, because certainly my
experience with working withJudy is whoa.
I got to think about all thesethings.
It's really weird.
Nobody doesn't know what'sgoing on.
So you have to kind ofconsciously practice this until
(37:05):
you can make it unconscious andrelaxed.
It takes an application.
Judy Rodman (37:10):
Yes, and there's something I learned from Peter
Jacobsen, who is an AlexanderTechnique practitioner, and that
is about the importance ofthinking of learning as
exploring, non-judgmentallyexploring.
So you know, let's just go withthe idea that none of us are
(37:31):
ever going to get there notperfectly, but it's not about
doing that, it's about going ooh, how did that feel?
Oh well, maybe I want to dothat instead, but maybe I want
to do this and just feel how itgoes.
Okay.
Dr Edward (37:45):
So that's good, does it?
No?
Exactly Because your eyes upand crunch down and your voice
just dies.
Judy Rodman (37:52):
Yeah, but just like in animal training and with
children, it's in the playingthat you start to really learn
some things, where you feel free, not doing something out of
fear, but you're doing somethingwith focus and it becomes
interesting.
So don't try to do all thisperfectly, but I will tell you
(38:13):
that just a little bit of someof the changes that we've talked
about today can make hugedifferences yeah.
Dr Edward (38:20):
Yeah, look, you've given us so much today.
Honestly, there is if youactually apply what Judy has
taken you through today and youpractice it a little bit maybe
five or ten minutes, five days aweek within a month or two you
will notice that your voice isso much stronger and that this
will be playing through andrippling out into your life and
(38:43):
your interactions with others inways you cannot imagine.
Judy Rodman (38:48):
I love it.
I just I love the voice and Ilove voices and I love working
with voices, with messages thatmatter, like yours.
Dr Edward (38:56):
Like yours, dr Ed, and you know your messages
matter immensely too, which iswhy I'm so happy to have you
here bringing this out in theworld Now.
Judy is available for you towork when I'm on with, and I can
personally just give her themost glowing testimony I'll ever
ever.
She's been a profoundlybeautiful influence on my life
(39:18):
and made me not only a strongerperformer but a better human,
because Judy's got thisbeautiful kindness and
heart-based approach that justbrings the best out of me when I
work with it.
She's beautiful to work withand I deeply encourage you to
jump on.
I know she's pretty busy andyou might have to wait a little
while these days to get a spotwith her, but what's your
(39:42):
website, judy?
It's JudyRodmancom, so supereasy.
Now we're going to wrap this up.
Thank you so much, judy, for.
Judy Rodman (39:53):
It's been an honor and it's been an honor to work
with you and through these yearsit has been a beautiful journey
together hasn't it?
Dr Edward (40:01):
Yes, I'm sharing and growing and finding my voice
again, recreating my voice fromthe ground up over the last
seven years.
So what we do with the Pets,People and Harmony podcast is
that we often have an intensiveworkshop that follows up the
episode.
So we're going to have a twohour live online and then it'll
(40:24):
be available on demand.
If you can't make live becauseI know we talk to people all
over the world and time zonesdon't always match up and we
don't expect you to get up atthree o'clock in the morning
Really that's crazy but we'regoing to have this live
intensive workshop.
Heal your voice and power yourlife.
So you've learned so much inthe last less than 45 minutes.
(40:47):
Imagine what you can get in twohours.
So, Judy, what sort of thingscan people expect to learn and
be able to put into practice inthis intensive workshop?
Judy Rodman (40:57):
Well, my method of training is called power, path
and performance, and that's kindof it in a nutshell.
It's the power of the breath,the path through the open throat
, and performance meaningcommunication skills, and we've
talked a little bit about all ofthose areas during this episode
of the podcast, but we can gointo more depth.
(41:18):
I can show you some anatomy sothat you understand why these
things are working, which helpsyou do it, helps you trust it
and helps you actually use thenew techniques with more
confidence, and then also takeyou through some vocal exercises
.
I've got tons of vocalexercises and do some
(41:41):
performance connection exercises.
Dr Edward (41:43):
And the best thing about coming along this
intensive workshop is we'rebeyond Zoom so you'll be able to
actually see what Judy's doingwith her body and her face so
that you can mirror it and learnfrom that really visceral
experience of seeing, becauseI've got to tell you, the
physicality of what Judy does ismuch easier if you can see what
(42:07):
she's doing.
I know I've done my level bestto describe what's going on, but
it's next level if you canactually see and move along with
.
Judy during the exercises.
Judy Rodman (42:15):
Yeah, and I can correct people that I see that
are not understanding it as well, so we'll have you all on Zoom.
Dr Edward (42:23):
I encourage you to come along.
We have a sliding scale ofpricing starting at $47
Australian and going up fromthere.
Please do come along.
It's going to be a stack of fun.
It'll be a beautiful two hourswhere Judy will be blast.
It's just as much amazinginformation and practical skills
(42:45):
as she possibly can.
The way that works is we havetwo teaching sessions about
40-45 minutes long and then wehave about half an hour of live
Q&A and in that live Q&A Judywill probably take a few people
and talk them through so thatyou can then learn by seeing
someone shift and change withJudy's individualised coaching,
and it's going to be a stack offun.
(43:06):
So if I should come along,you'll see the links for that in
the information below thepodcast or you can come along to
the podcast website, whichthere's a link for as well.
But thank you, judy, so much.
It's been so much fun hangingout with you today and thank you
for sharing so generously allof this beautiful wisdom about
how to heal your voice andempower your life.
Judy Rodman (43:29):
It's been a great pleasure.
It's been a great pleasure,thank you.
Dr Edward (43:34):
Thank you everybody.
Goodbye for now.
We'll see you in the nextepisode.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com