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How to "Pavarotti" the high C?

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Tonyy

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So I would like to ask how to produce the full chesty sustained sound as high as high C (Pavarotti goes even higher):


For me the issue is that right at about high C (or just a bit lower) my voice tends to naturally want to turn towards more heady sound. Not quite as heady as Pavarotti's Eb5 in the video, but still a bit heady. The high C in particular seems like it just requires too much of a push to feel good or usable. I do certainly have a darker, heavier voice than Pavarotti, but not a low one by any means (maybe a low tenor or high baritone). The question concerns particularly the long sustained high C, squeaking a short and full one out with less than stellar technique is not that difficult.

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Do you have a teacher? One of the main tenets of The Four Pillars of Singing, an amazing and super comprehensive course put together by the forum owner, is bridging and connecting the voice. That means making the transition from chest to head voice seamless. It also means being able to use the TA muscles (chest voice musculature) in the head voice range, allowing you to have a full and connected voice throughout your head voice range. While I was already able to belt up to an E5 before, the course helped me completely eliminate strain in my upper range and start belting effortlessly as high as my head voice would go, about a B5 at the moment. It also helped me eliminate airiness, or rather control the airiness of my head voice

While all of that may sound like a commercial for the TFPOS, I said all of it to make the point that there's no simple explanation for what you're asking besides training your voice with the guidance of someone who knows how to meet your goals.

A more technical answer would be to develop your head voice as much as possible. Then learn to isolate and bring in your TA muscles along with your head voice. You need to be training in both coordination and strength of the glottis, TA muscles, placement, and changing acoustic modes. TFPOS can help you with that through specific onsets and acoustic mode training. Some teachers can help you as well, though I've had many students come to me who had been with other teachers for years and didn't meet their goals until after a couple of weeks with me. So, be sure the teacher can demonstrate what you're wanting to do, and teach you how to do it.

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not trying to discourage or anything like that....a high C "like Pavarotti" is an admirable goal.

 

just be aware of what it is you are asking.....here are some similar requests:

 

Id like a...

 

....swing like Ben Hogans

....365lb bench press

....cut 18" arms

do-able but it will take way more than any quick tip can do.

 

 

just a thought, I may be right or wrong in saying this....but to get to a Pavarotti high C, wouldnt one first have to get a, say, Bruce Dickinson or Joe Lynn Turner or Paul Rogers high C?

 

Rock Steady

 

 

This one is full of high C's

 

here is a whole vid of "rock" high C's.   I would think most all of these are going to be easier than a legit opera style high C

 

 

vids of interest

 

 

The "bigger" the voice....the smaller the range. Thats why i think one would be able to get a decent "rock" high C way before a huge opera high C

 

hits C around 14:00 mark

 

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To learn how to hit it like Pavarotti.  You need to learn to cover in the Passagio then as you get through the passagio you learn to open up through the cover however if you don't cover through the passagio and you stay open The sound will be splatty and thin. It takes s while to get the coordination and support with it but it works and helps the voice stay healthy. 

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Basically what Daniel said. Covering is really the key here. And what Covering mainly is is a modification to more closed vowels during passaggio without losing the "strength" of the vocal fold coordination.

There are several scales that can help you learn the covering. One of the most popular is the "Caruso scale" (look it up on YT). It usually starts on an open AH ("father") in the low range. This AH should be strong and loud, not breathy or soft. Then you go higher in pitch and modify to AW (as in "law"), during passaggio it will modify to OH ("go") and in the highest part of the range (from something like A4 on) towards OO ("tool"). It is very important to keep the intensity of the strong low AH while doing the modifications. If you sing an isolated OO in your high range without that "foundation" of the low AH it will usually be falsetto.

With this covered sound the notes up to A4 will usually already sound strong enough. The A4-C5 (with the OO modification) will often be "reinforced falsetto" (M2) when you start out. Most singers need a lot of training to get them as strong as Pavarotti. The thing to do here is to slowly and carefully open up the vowel again. This is a balance act because if you open too much you lose the covering and splat and if you don't open it will stay a reinforced falsetto sound.

You also have to consider that the A4-C5 area for classical tenors is a range where the voice is "pushed" slightly (which is why Pavarotti entitled tenor singing as "dangerous" compared to bartione/bass singing), a bit similar to belting/shouting in contemporary singing. In a balanced coordination with almost equal intensity between low and high range this area will usually be sung in M2/reinforced falsetto. Until like 200 years ago it was actually "standard" in classical singing to not push the full voice beyond A4.

Another scale you can try goes from EH at the bottom to IH at the top. This is what Pavarotti does here. You can hear very well here that the top notes are more like reinforced falsetto and not like the more "belty" sound he will use for those epic high notes. But this is really what you should go for at first and from there you can open slightly.

 

 

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The way way I learned it (from Arrigo Pola's Pavs teacher to my coach) you don't not go to oo at all. You go from ah to oh in the passagio and after Ab4 open the vowel to uh and then ah on the high C. Pav is doing a version of it in that vid but it's the eh version not the uh version. The uh version builds the strength and foundation

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Nice post benny.  

I work a lot on this round, covered tone. To me, the Caruso scale eventually (after a while) starts to feel like you have constructed a channel(s) that you just go into. When I do mine I am supporting all the way through using a lot of "controlled" energy.  To a beginner it will feel very unfamiliar, almost fearful, if you don't follow through and learn to maintain the air then follow the voice up to your (most current) top note.  During this exercise you really get the sense (and skill) of coaxing the voice and working with throat shapes.   ..think very accurate, very specific, throat shapes.

When you hit one of these reps. just right, you get this feeling of release, (yet with a hold)...hard to explain, and at the same time you find yourself amazed at the volume/resonance that comes out of you!  It is the most awesome sensation when you get it right or you are lucky to fall into it. You hear it, you think it's a G4, then you find out it's a B4, a warm, thick, ringing, Pro, bonafide, peel-the-paint, holy shit, near operatic, I did that? B4.

But in the beginning, it's grueling rep after rep, hit and miss (D.i.Y.ing) trying to channel and release consistently and accurately into these changing throat shapes. The "AW" as in  "awe" with a little bit of "OH" in it helped me a lot..

I still have a ways to go, but once you experience it, you will keep wanting to get it again and again.

Hope this helps.  

 

 

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