In a message dated 2/1/2002 9:15:41 AM Pacific Standard Time,
Greypins@a... writes:
> > no, there are many who do only sing in head voice. there are
> > certainly a great deal of sopranos who do and, there are quite a few
> mezzos
> > who sing as low as they can in head voice and then do the 'reverse yodel'
> > thing for their low notes, slamming into their chest voices (simionato,
> > cossotto, etc.). those who do attempt a mix, seem to mix very low,
> > getting into head voice as soon as possible. to be clear, i'm saying
> that
> >
This brings up again my theory that when it comes to female singers, there
are two types: heavy mechanism based and light mechanism based. As a voice
teacher, you take what the native strengths are of the singer and work from
that angle. I am a heavy mechanism based singer, always have been. I belted
raw chest forever and hated my light mechanism. My challenge as a singer has
been to assimilate the light mechanism into my mix.
Now, as an opera singer, I mix my heavy mechanism (on speech always) up to
Bb, (below the tenor's high C) in exactly the way I do when I sing pop. But,
my resonance is different. My opera resonance has more back space and
fullness (although always with the frontal resonance employed.) My pop
resonance is more strictly frontal and brighter.
I have discussed this a lot with my teacher (who is brilliant, by the way),
especially in the realm of mezzo singing. Lyric mezzos like Baker, von
Stade, Graham, Bartoli are light mechanism based singers, who mix from the
head down. Fuller mezzos such as Elias, Verrett, Horne are heavy mechanism
based singers and mix from the chest up. And, that is how you also get that
meatier sound.
I can mix from the head down, but for me, it is unstable and contrived
feeling. When I mix from the chest up, it feels solid and stable, and feels
like ME, rather than some artifice. I spent years trying to mix from the
head down due to all the propaganda in the classical singing pedagogic field
that opera singers should sing in reinforced head. It is simply not true for
all singers, especially if you are of a heavier voice. It is true for some,
and that fact is what must be recognized from voice teachers off the bat and
worked with, rather than against. It took me years to find a teacher who
understood this, and once I did, I improved radically under her care.
TinaO
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