Here's something that has worked for me:
Arpeggio passage major triad: bao
bao bao
bao bao (1,3,5,3,1)
then arpeggio preceded by a slow mordent, i.e. 1,7,1,3,5,3,1.
The point is just to touch the lower note, pitch accuracy isn't too vital
at this point. Arpeggios with a bigger range can help to keep the voice
relaxed. You should start on a low note that's well within your comfortable
range, say a G, and work downwards by step until you can't go any lower,
then work up and down again.
Don't aim for a big sound! Don't force the tone. Don't worry about
placement or resonance until you actually have the notes you need. When you
do have those notes, they won't be very loud, and in a choir they will
barely be heard, except that the whole choir will sound richer and fuller.
Two or more singers singing such pitches can produce an impressive effect
of depth, especially in quiet music, or where the harmonies are open in
medium dynamics.
I'm a high baritone, but using this exercise I was able to sing low Bs in
Kosovar arrangements by Mochranitz, and due to the sickness of the other
person who could reach these notes I was the lone low C in Britten's Hymn
to Saint Cecilia and Rachmaninov's Bogoriditse Devo.
I've never heard a true profundo live. I understand that they are usually
low note specialists, which I don't want to be.
Some more hints:
Learn to sing lower notes than you actually need, so you aren't continually
worrying about whether you can get the wanted note in performance. Even a
semitone lower is useful.
Once you have low notes, don't singly in a woofy, 'manly' fashion - this
just robs your voice of upper partials and weakens the overall sound. You
may even aim for a *slightly* nasal quality, *after* you have got to a
stage of being comfortable about the notes.
At such low pitches it is more important to sing a vowel that works than
one your director actually wants - don't worry, you'll probably get away
with it! You may find some vowels don't work very well down there -
experiment, and use what does. Definitely don't limit yourself to five
vowels in your searching!
Again, don't try to sound big: just develop comfort with the pitches, and
find the right kind of resonance. You may find a slower than usual vibrato
down there, don't fight it, it's a resource which will add to the presence
of your voice.
P.S. I find that the rest of my vocal range is freed up by arpegio
exercises that include very low notes. These are true notes but what they
are likely to lack is much resonance of the fundamental pitch - so then you
should sing a note an octave higher, find *its* optimum resonance
configuration and use that feeling when you sing your low note.
john, after many years in the basement.
At 01:20 PM 7/9/01 +0000, you wrote:
>I have been able to hit low Es and Ds with good consistency, yet the
>low C only comes occasionally. Are there any exercises anybody can
>suggest to help that C come out on a regular basis?
>Thanks,
>Nick
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>Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
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>
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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