The Bass Puff: Finding an Easier Vocal Onset
Did you learn the Bass Puff from my YouTube videos?
This is Craig Shimizu—Singing Sensei. If you remember that little low “uh” before a sung note, you’ve found me again.
Years ago, I heard a recording artist make a brief, low sound just before the intended note. I began exploring that sound and developed a teaching technique I called the Bass Puff, which I demonstrated in a series of YouTube videos.
It became a useful way to help my students experience easier singing and a more resonant tone. Today, it also plays an important role in how I introduce the coordination I associate with the epilaryngeal funnel.
What is a vocal onset?
The onset is the beginning of your vocal sound—the transition into vocal-fold vibration.
You may hear an airy beginning, a firm beginning, or a gentle beginning with little audible air. These reflect differences in how airflow and vocal-fold movement come together.
One detail matters: the vocal folds do not have to be firmly closed before vibration begins. Research describes soft onsets in which vibration starts with a small opening between the folds. A gentle beginning does not necessarily mean an obviously breathy sound.
What is the Bass Puff?
The Bass Puff is a brief, low, voiced “uh” leading into the intended pitch.
It is more than adding a sound before a note. In my teaching, its purpose is to help the singer discover a feeling of looseness and ease that carries into the singing that follows.
The result I listen for is an easier, more resonant tone. I have found applications across styles, from rock to opera, although the finished sound naturally differs with the music.
The puff is temporary. The freedom should stay.
I don’t want students to become dependent on making a low “uh” before every phrase.
Once the onset is adjusted, we remove the audible puff while keeping the freedom it helped them find. That ease should become the default throughout singing, rather than something experienced only on the first note.
A singer may still choose to keep the puff for emotional effect. Then it becomes part of the expression.
How it connects with my current teaching
The Bass Puff has become an important entry point in my work with the epilaryngeal funnel.
I distinguish the teaching experience from the anatomical explanation: a sensation of looseness does not, by itself, tell us exactly what every structure in the larynx is doing. What I can evaluate in a lesson is whether the singer produces the phrase more freely, hears the improvement, and can repeat it independently.
That is the goal: find the freedom, keep the resonance, and make the coordination your own.
If you followed my original Bass Puff videos, welcome back. I’d love to hear what you remember—and how you used it in your singing.
—Craig Shimizu, Singing Sensei
Discover an easier way to sing
Want help applying the Bass Puff to your own voice? Explore my singing lessons and discover how we can work toward greater ease, resonance, and expression.
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