Emily - that "inner smile" sounds a lot like the "laughter behind the eyes" that my teacher keeps telling me to do. It is THE hardest instruction, because for some reason I can't connect with it at all! I'll try to think of it as "inner smile" instead & see if that gets the desired result. - so cheers for that.

Bagpuss - sorry, I have no tips for the low notes - my problems are all with the high ones! Although Tanya often has to remind me to "speak" the lower notes rather than "sing" them. By which she means ground them a bit more rather than singing them prettily. that might help. Also - the lower notes in the exercises have to be delivered as if telling someone off, or being extremely assertive about something. That again might be useful. She also says things like "imagine you are a Russian bass-baritone". Also it helps to be a bit like a hammy male actor projecting the voice on stage. (so I did have more tips than I thought, didn't I?)

Raising the eyebrows is an interesting one - and I can see where that would come in - possibly related to the "breath of surprise" which lifts the pallette.

Tanya's other strategy with high notes is to say that they are all "below you" - she even makes people stand on chairs to prove the point. Apart from all the wonderful things that lessons do for the voice, there is ENDLESS amusement in these counter-intuitive things & bizarre imagery. And what's more amazing is that they all actually achieve the desired ends. Fascinating!

Kris