Hi all,
I'd like to comment on the current thread about registrations. I have found
everyone's posts very interesting so far (you guys had to wait until I'm
about to unsubscribe for 3 weeks of vacation time to come up with the good
stuff, huh!!... just kidding ;o) )
First of, when you look at men's and women's voices it's clear that most of
a man's singing range is usually in his chest voice (with exceptions, of
course), and most of a woman's singing range is in her mix and head voice
(with exceptions). However I find it very unnatural for a woman to speak in
her head voice to start with. Regardless of the size of her larynx or length
of her cords the basic functionality of the vocal mechanism stays the same
for everyone more or less. I have observed that the very few female students
who had somewhat of a heady speaking voice self corrected this the more we
got into training the singing voice, without me really having to say
anything.
As far as chest, mix and head go, I teach my female students to start mixing
around g4-a4 and transition into head voice around d5-e5. This doesn't mean
I have them "pushing" pure chest up to g4, there are different degrees of
chest as well in terms of how far down into the chest the resonance goes. I
like to define the first passaggio as the point at which the voice starts
resonating clearly in the pharynx as well as the mouth/neck region. When you
reach the second passagio there is a clear sensation of "lift up" and the
resonance is clearly felt in the head, but without losing relation to the
rest of the body either. That depends on the degree of mix; headier or
chestier depending on the style of music.
Men's bridges are usually around d4-e4 for mix and g4-a5 for head. All with
exceptions for heavy or very light voices, of course. (although I have to
say that while working with a bass he didn't need to start mixing until
c4-d4 and went up to his second passaggio nicely... the guy had a
spectacular range!!)
However there should be a certain degree of chest above the second passaggio
as well (just enough for it to sound connected to the rest of the range); it
takes time to achieve this without strain but otherwise it sounds like the
voice loses the bottom end. Basically, if a tenor sounds full up to the
second passaggio and then starts sounding kind of falsetto-ish, then he
needs to keep training. Of course every voice has a different color, but in
my own experience, I used to be completely uncapable of having a real sound
above the third passaggio especially; it was all just a big squeak to start
with. Then it got a falsettoish quality until it finally felt connected to
the rest of my range. By freeing up that 3rd passaggio I was able to add
more bottom end (when needed) above my second passaggio, for example for R&B
or similar, to get the sound without hurting myself. Takes a while, that's
all. Now I'm working at my fourth (e above high c), but that's a whole
different story....
Best!
Rocio Guitard (who is going to Europe for the Holidays next week and can't
wait!!!!!!!)
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