Mike, This idea as you presented it made a lot of sense to me. I realized that I myself have been seeing the notes as actually going up in height. I'd lost my high e-flat and e quite some years ago and haven't been able to get them back at any sort of decent sound.
However, I'm in the midst of learning Blondchen from Abduction and am thus in the need of getting that high e again. I used the 'duh' idea and it seems to be helping some. Of course, on top of that I've been trying to keep my tongue low in back but this is really hard for me for some reason. Even using a foreign object to physically hold it down in back is not much help at this point since I have a very quick gag reflex.
BUT, what I wanted to tell you was that I was able to hit my high e with fair consistency over the course of several times over and over that run in "Durch Zartlichkeit". It wasn't what I'd consider pretty or pingy like Rita Streich could do, but it was at least there.
Question: How do you deal with crossing over more than one "break" in a case like this where the run goes from an a on the scale all the way up to the high e? I'm finding my voice switching registers around f and again around a. The register from the a up seems to have no meat to it and is screachy. Any ideas?
Thanks everyone for all the great tips. They're extremely helpful during the times when I'm unable to have lessons for whatever reason (currently my teacher is recording in Germany).
Laura
-----Original Message----- From: Greypins@a...] Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 2:24 PM To: vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [vocalist] re: Raised larynx, Crowded throat
in my experience, a rising larynx is most aggravated by goofy notions of how pitch works. some singers begin with a raised larynx no matter what the pitch is, but most, come across the problem as pitch is increased. behind this problem, lies the common notion that 'high notes' means 'high in height' not, 'high in frequency'. so, these singers, while having the physical
problem of not being able to keep their larynx down, have the additional
problem of a poor concept in how sound works. as long as they think pitch goes 'up, up and away', they will continue to reach for these notes, raising the larynx. it will continue to be difficult to get these people to get their larynx stable as long as they are intentionally raising it.
i like randy/seth's idea of using the dumb sound (as in, 'duh') to keep the larynx low. it works as well as anything and most people are readily able to reproduce it (getting some to actually try it is often more difficult). i would add that it is a good idea to have the student 'decrease their IQ as they increase pitch'. some of my students have been so convinced that 'high notes' means 'high in height', when they succeed in getting their larynx not to rise, they suddenly switch to an octave lower, revealing their misconception. (it's almost as if they think of pitch the way a cat thinks of a flashlight beam.)
unfortunately, for some of these people, the concept of placement (usually, 'forward' and 'in the mask') aggravates the problem as they usually end up trying to place the larynx 'forward' and 'in the mask' as if, sound and flesh were one.
as long as the misconception of pitch exists, the student will be working against your efforts rather than with your efforts.
mike
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