Keane. Tom Chaplin. Is he twanging or belting?

[medcall]

Hello,

I am new to the forum and also a beginner in singing, although I already tried some different methods. So far I am still confused on how to bridge between chest and head voice. I am training the four pillars and while doing the sirens is not that hard (but it still requires coordination).I am just looking a reference on how to get a decent sound, just the picture of what I am trying to reach. I think I know the difference between twang but it is hard to make it clean and not constrained. I do not feel it is so hard while doing sirens, although I am not sure how to maintain twang while singing songs. It gets really strained, not clear and volume-decreased... I get the sensation on how you can connect both registers but the main point is the quality of this connection. That is why I think that the problem is knowing what twanging is but not in the very high notes while doing sirens, but also singing in a song like this. Please can you help me with this?

Thanks in advance.

[VideoHere]

what part? send the time...

[medcall]

I assume that in the chorus he is twanging, but what about in the verses? It is ok a brief general description on the song , but for me it is difficult to know how to start (if I start heady I can put volume). The question is also for the chorus , for example at 1:35 when he starts to sing a bit louder at least for my ears.

Does he have good technique?Any comment would be appreciated since I feel that anyone's opinion here would help me to face the song.

Thanks a lot.

[Marcus]

It's sort of an impossible question in the title Twang is required for belting (but not only for belting), most singers have at least some amount of twang when singing. Some techniques, like belting or creating grit/distorsion needs more twang to be performed safely.

Twang is a fuction, a narrowing of the vocal tract, and can be used (among other things) to increase volume.

Belting is more of a "sound", usually singing high in chestvoice is referred to as belting but differents schools of singing uses the term for different things. Some calls a sharp mixed voice belting, and even rock falsetto can be called belting by some people. Vocal terminology is a jungle, so don't worry so much about the terminology.

Practicing twang will help you with the bridging into headvoice, and is a very good function to learn to control. It should never hurt when you sing, so keep practicing and get to know your voice. It's good that you want to improve - and with time and effort you will!

[medcall]

Hi thank you both for answering

First thing I want to know is if he is bridging or maintaining the singing in chest voice and if he is bridging when exactly is doing it, because the voice doesn't sound heady for me...

Thanks for the advice

[Marcus]

Actually bridging the voice doesn't have to sound heady at all. With good technique no one can really say exactly where you are bridging (or using "mixed voice"). Some schools of singing don't even talk about chest and headvoice, but lets not get into the jungle of vocal terminology.

Take this example, it's probably not the genre you listen to but I consider this an extremely technically talented singer who is very good at adding "weight" to his upper registers:

If I have to guess, I'd say the very first note in the verses is sung in chest, and the second is bridged (fall(chest)owed(mix).

In your example let's take the first part of the chorus. To my ears the first phrase is in chest (0.51-0.53). Then comes a part where I'd say he goes up in mixed voice on the higher notes - on the text "Is it any wonder I'm". Hard to tell exactly on other singers, on some it's a little more obvious than on others but if one singer is good at connecting registers it's usually pretty seamless.

But - where one particular singer uses mixed voice, bridging, whatever you want to call it - it's not necessary the exact place where you have to make the transition as well. Everyone is different, and the "break area" is different for different singers. That's why it's sometimes so easy to sing along with one singer, and not another singer in generally the same pitches. They usually lay the melody of a song so that it will be comfortable for them to sing, and how they use the words and vowels also affect this.

My suggestion is that you practice, and by all means do practice to songs as well, and try to find where in your voice that you need to make the transitions into mixedvoice and headvoice to be most comfortable. It takes some practice to find the coordination, but once you get good at this you will not have to think so much about it, and people will probably not be able to tell when you are actually bridging into headvoice. Take it easy to begin with, make sure nothing hurts and let it take some time. There's no magical fix, you have to work at it to get good.

Also it's worth reading up on vocal technique from different methodologys. Maybe one method is easier for one singer, and another is easier for someone else. I've read tons on the subject, bought DVDs, listened to different singers, and I also have an education in Musical Theatre. You can pick up good stuff from different methodologys, but if you're a beginner I think you'll benefit by sticking to one methodology at a time and see if it works for you. Then you can broaden your horizons later on.

[medcall]

Interesting point Marcus. I had not thought of the possibility of singing along easily with some singers and not with others in the same pitch because of the different break notes

Thank you

[Marcus]

I don't mean the exact same pitch but in the same general area. One singer may prefer to have the melody very much on one particular pitch that is harder to sing for me because it's just on my break area (where it's harder to keep the voice together, meaning you have to work more to keep it sounding good) while another singer maybe have a similar break area like me and prefer to lay the melody around that break area so the melody are just briefly passing that particular pitch and focusing more just above or below it. But it also have to do with sound colour and use of vowels with different singers, so even the same pitch can be easier singing along with one singer and harder singing along with another.

Don't focus overly much on what is head or chest resonance for other singers, but practice bridging for YOUR voice, since it is unique. It's always good to listen to other singers and set up goals for yourself, and believe in yourself and what you can achieve with practice.

[medcall]

THanks a lot