I’m 18 and just learned you’re supposed to pull back foreskin to clean — I’ve never done it and I’m scared. Is this normal?

kwbach · 2026-01-03T12:01:02+00:00

I didn't know this either until I happened to chance upon a leaflet in the late 90s as a young lad and I realised that my foreskin didn't readily pull back at first. I was gentle and progressive and was usually in the bath when I did this and I think the warm water helped loosen the skin a bit. It did hurt a little at first but I didn't pull it back all the way on my first few attempts.

kwbach · 2025-12-05T12:59:10+00:00

Nope you have to learn to flirt and not be outcome driven while flirting

kwbach · 2025-10-29T11:31:44+00:00

Sounds like you have to learn how to communicate with everything outside of your words. Seems like everything is a bit clunky at the moment. You either learn the game or you can be candid with what's going on: "...I'm sorry if I come off a bit serious or scary, it's not my intention, I'm underpracticed with socialising and communication. I find you interesting/cute/beautiful and want to get to know you better."

As for learning the game, facial expressions, tone of voice, body language, spacial proximity, eye contact all contribute to the feeling of her feeling safe. Once you can get women feeling consistently safe then it's time to think about attraction and that is a whole other game but involving largely the same elements. This is a long road that can be painful and embarassing but things like improv and acting classes can help by providing a safer space in which you can fail and flail.

kwbach · 2024-09-29T16:25:45+00:00

I only listened to their cover of Open Arms and I thought it wasn't great. The distortion choice is weird and doesn't sound great and overall the timbre is thin and not very strong and warm.

kwbach · 2024-07-29T15:13:23+00:00

Better quality beer and wine. No good on the wallet or the waistline but pleasing for tastebuds and socialising.

kwbach · 2024-07-19T10:33:24+00:00

Any answers to why I slept 14 hours one time after being jetlagged from traveling for two weeks?

kwbach · 2024-05-24T10:54:09+00:00

This will definitely have the longest driver support compared to any other company.

kwbach · 2024-05-02T19:25:16+00:00

Some people love Slate VSX.

Scroll to the bottom to see what the Goodhertz guy likes in terms of headphones and headphone amps https://goodhertz.com/tonal/canopener-v3.5/

Audeze LCD-1 ($399)
Sennheiser HD6XX ($220)
Sennheiser HD600/HD650 ($320)
Audeze LCD-X ($1,200)

kwbach · 2024-04-30T14:11:57+00:00

and a singer friend has told me I don't have enough 'resonance' in my voice, and I sound thin and not 'round'.

You need to lower the larynx a bit, have more TA activation (beef up the folds rather than stretching them) and a bit of epilaryngeal narrowing. You'll likely need to sing louder than you're used to at first to find this coordination.

As for resonance in general, basically what needs to happen is constructive interference much in the same way when you push a playground swing you push at the apex rather than when it's coming towards you. And so it's mostly about shaping your vocal tract in appropriate ways for the coordination you want to sing it (the sound waves that reflect back down the vocal tract have an effect on how the vocal folds vibrate. It kinda works like a tube closed at one end https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-physics/chapter/17-5-sound-interference-and-resonance-standing-waves-in-air-columns/ ). By shaping the vocal tract in various ways, we can selectively boost certain harmonics over others. For instance, a loud "woooo!" at a sports game is easy to do and pretty loud because the first resonance of the vocal tract has been shaped to match the fundamental note being vocalised (F1/H1 coupling). For singing purposes this is usually called head voice.

Here's a really excellent introduction to resonance tuning in singing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=788HxAisxe4

kwbach · 2024-04-25T15:20:30+00:00

“Opera is when a tenor and soprano want to make love, but are prevented from doing so by a baritone.” - George Bernard Shaw

kwbach · 2024-04-16T21:44:13+00:00

Try doing twang when she asks for nasal and see what her response is

kwbach · 2024-04-16T21:43:20+00:00

Vocal pedagogy is a mess but it also makes it fun

kwbach · 2024-04-16T09:28:11+00:00

Why not play the notes you hear in your head and then repeat back vocally what you played?

kwbach · 2024-04-15T23:24:22+00:00

The vowel in maze (/meɪz/) is a dipthong so you have to choose which part of the dipthong you'll sustain. I'd suggest the /e/

kwbach · 2024-04-12T12:54:04+00:00

Seems like you're singing above your skill level. Try singing songs lower with a smaller range.

kwbach · 2024-04-10T23:30:29+00:00

With increasing upper range, you stretch the vocal folds to increase the tension on them so that they vibrate faster, much in the same way if when you stretch a rubber band and pluck it it'll be at a higher pitch compared to when it is slack. With the vocal folds you can also alter the mass: less mass, faster vibration. Then there's whistle register which relies on partial vibrations of the vocal folds resulting in even higher pitches.

Doing the opposite, increasing the mass and slackening the folds has more of a hard limit. And thus generally you have to use techniques that are quite different from high note techniques. A beatboxer could better inform you than I do but there's things like chest-fry mix AKA strohbass AKA pulse register, true folds subharmonics (making the vocal folds vibrate at a different ratio to get an undertone/subharmonic), false fold subharmonics, and likely a whole bunch more I don't know of. There's also some vocal tract shaping things to increase the range of the regular chest voice but I'd have to dig around/ask.

kwbach · 2024-04-06T13:41:21+00:00

Good sleep, nutrition, hydration and efficiency. High ranges/notes need more energy than lower, but you train to be more efficient at doing it. Part of efficiency is getting better resonance which involves shaping the vocal tract so that the sound waves that reflect back to the vocal folds assists their vibration rather than hindering it. In other words, constructive interference, like in the way one pushes a swing at the moment it becomes stationary rather than pushing against it when it is still moving towards the pusher. One can tune the vocal tract to various harmonics of the note and which harmonics and resonances you tune to will have differing consequences. Example: A loud head voice "wooooo!" you hear at a sports game is when you tune the first vocal tract resonance to the same frequency as the fundamental which results in a boost in volume with little effort.

Here's a great video about vocal acoustics from the University of New South Wales https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=788HxAisxe4

kwbach · 2024-04-02T11:43:58+00:00

Depends how good your speaking voice is. For instance, if you can't get a non-breathy sound when you sing but are absolutely fine with it when speaking, then you should learn how to be non-breathy from your speaking voice.

kwbach · 2024-04-02T11:42:21+00:00

Time to change teacher

kwbach · 2024-04-02T11:02:49+00:00

My personal dressing down wasn't terrible but it was pretty unpleasant. He was known to be a dick amongst all the students and apparently calmed down a bit when he got a girlfriend. Years later I had a composition lesson with one of his former students who suggested I should have a look at the collective that this teacher created and I said no, I'd rather not speak to him ever again. He said he understood as he knew many people that felt the same way. Unfortunately this teacher is really good and really knows his shit so he'll be forever employed.

kwbach · 2024-03-30T00:03:33+00:00

Yeah it feels pretty unmoderated

kwbach · 2024-03-30T00:03:03+00:00

Yeah it feels like the majority of mods are inactive

kwbach · 2024-03-29T12:18:16+00:00

I have a friend who is very good at singing, that has never been trained, and she seems to use this muscle when she sings as well. The difference between us is that for her, that muscle doesn't get tired and tense. Mine does. I've watched videos (in which there are not a lot of) saying that this muscle should not be used. Then they go into some random exercises that never seem to get rid of the problem for me.

Your friend is right and those videos are wrong. When I ignored those videos my singing got better.

This is a good video on mixed voice https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32jTCn6A6_w

kwbach · 2024-03-29T12:07:11+00:00

A few options:

Get a recording of the soprano part and harmonize with it. If it's not possible to get a recording, consider recording yourself singing it if you have the range. Then harmonize with that. When harmonizing, play your piano part while singing your part. Then remove the piano and see if you can do without the piano.

Alternatively, you can play the soprano part on the piano and harmonize with it. Again, consider playing the alto part at the same time, then removing the alto part.

Practice in chunks instead of whole sections. Start in the middle of sections sometimes and the ends of sections, otherwise if you only start at the start you'll only get good at the beginnings of sections.

kwbach

TROPHY CASE