Maybe we need to clarify what we each think of as a "register." Part of the reason discussing technique is so iffy is that there is no way to objectify the language -- what is "forward" to one singer is "chiaroscuro" to another and "singer's formant" to a third. Of course, telling one student to sing "forward" may result in one singing a beautiful tone, another singing a shallow, over-bright tone, and a third developing jaw tension. Wait, I titled this email "registers." Okay...
Gina is saying that she doesn't believe in doing exercises that separate the voice into registers and then integrate them. Well, I do raw chest exercises because I believe they strengthen the top. That is obviously separating out one register, but I don't think it's what the majority of "pro-register" teachers are talking about on this topic.
I would bet that Taylor et al are thinking of registers as middle voice, passaggio, top... Gina would probably say those are parts of the whole seamless voice and not "registers," even though you may work them differently (i.e., don't fatten up the passaggio or else you'll be killing your top), while someone else might say, "But of course I work the registers separately! You treat the passaggio differently than the top and you treat the middle voice differently than the mixed chest tones." Everyone is doing the same thing, but some are calling the various sections of the voice (like, low, middle, passaggio, top, whistle, etc.) "registers" and some are not.
Of course, my open chest exercises ARE taking one register and dividing it out to work on. So maybe I'm wrong.
Isabelle B.
===== Isabelle Bracamonte San Francisco, CA ibracamonte@y... ibracamonte@y...
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