Ok. It's really hard to find vocalists that have a completely "pressed" sound or a completely "aspirate sound. These two examples show evidence of these sounds, but are not necessarily perfect examples because there are some more balanced portions of their ranges.
This dude is forcing the sound out to try and create strengthen it. You can hear it especially toward the tail end of longer notes where the constriction starts to close of the sound. It sounds very pinched, in the high range in particular. I imagine it will be difficult to get this student to stop making that sound because it creates a ringing, brassy quality - albeit a forced one. My first step as a teacher will be to help him find a balanced, stable posture. He's teatering around and it's not giving him a solid foundation to breath/sing from. Next I would help him strengthen his falsetto and develop his head voice in the middle range by doing a lot of descending [u]s and bouncing, lightening [a]s. He has to learn to let go of all that weight before he ascends, or he'll never find that released, floaty, easy sound in the upper register. I am also hearing a lot of tension in the tongue, a little in the jaw, and perhaps some nasopharyngeal constriction as well. I'm not as good at hearing nasopharyngeal constriction yet, but I'm guessing that it's contributing to the flat, pressed, back of the mouth sound. He has to bring his sound forward... Ya I'd start by addressing the tongue tension. [ing] exercises. Helping him realize where his tongue tension happens and what it sounds like when he releases.
This lovely young singer is my example of a voice with an aspirate quality. She has a pretty voice with really lovely even vibrato. I would be tempted to attribute the breathy quality to her youth, but it gets so much worse in the upper range that I'm sure there is constriction happening. I can see some movement happening laryngeally - some up and down movement. Her jaw is also quite firmly fixed. First off I would address alignment and breathing. Her posture is caved, her shoulders rolled forward, and her sternum needs to be raised. Her breath does not look deep at all, it's very short and gaspy. So that's the first thing. I would do some "Wow" exercises to find a focused tone in the higher register and try to tie her singing in with her primal sound. Sobbing! Lots of sobbing sounds for this one. We've got to get her jaw released too. Village idiot face is needed and a sense that her jaw is just hanging - not down or forced open - just hanging.
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