New high notes

[DoverOs]

Yesterday I watched some tenors singing high C, and i noticed that they weren't dampening that much.

So today i let off some of my deeper sound, trying to put as little dampening as i could, and I managed to hit a A4 in a operatic style. The weird thing is, that while my G4 and A4 notes were good for me, my G#4 wasn't that good and lacked a lot of resonance and vibrato.

So that was strange, because i could sing up to A4 pushing in my normal voice, but i wouldn't go past G4 in my dampened voice, most likely because i was holding it down too much, and for some reason my G#4 was a very straight note that i thought was too high for me. But it wasn't. Very interesting to myself.

[VideoHere]

dover, you've got me on this one...what is dampening?

[Felipe Carvalho]

Dunno what dampening is, but if on the tenor high C there is less, its probably "lowering larynx".

Except for the thing that by dampening I understand counter pressure from the tongue to prevent it from rising, and what a tenor does is just depressing it a bit to sustain tonal quality near the passaggio.

If you let your larynx rise from the position you are used to, you will reach a few semitones higher. Does not mean technical improvement. Unfortunately life isnt this easy, rising the larynx means openning vowels and considerably increasing the strain on the folds.

[DoverOs]

ya sorry I meant lower larynx=dampening. It seemed like an easier word to use while meaning the same thing.

I meant, if I try to lower the larynx A LOT, then it's hard to sing high notes.

If I use my normal voice, which i assume has a high larynx, the A4 and Bb4 likes to crack

Or I use the smallest amount of lowering my larynx, to get a small operatic effect, and can hit A4 and Bb4 in a somewhat richer tone

where the minimal lowering of the larynx is what I noticed when hearing some tenors.

I'm confusing.

[VideoHere]

okay,

too low is not a good thing. you want it appropraitely low.

[Felipe Carvalho]

ya sorry I meant lower larynx=dampening. It seemed like an easier word to use while meaning the same thing.

I meant, if I try to lower the larynx A LOT, then it's hard to sing high notes.

If I use my normal voice, which i assume has a high larynx, the A4 and Bb4 likes to crack

Or I use the smallest amount of lowering my larynx, to get a small operatic effect, and can hit A4 and Bb4 in a somewhat richer tone

where the minimal lowering of the larynx is what I noticed when hearing some tenors.

I'm confusing.

Yes, you are

The difference between what the tenor you heard is doing, and what you are trying to do, is that tenor is not using larynx position as a way to "reach" notes.

And even on the passagio, where the larynx IS lowered to maintain tonal consistency and also to help making the larynx stable, he is not doing any effort to do so while singing, he trainned it to the point its automatic and natural. And the change is done ONLY by changing the vowels, not by actually pressing it down.

What is crucial to understand is that a classicaly trainned voice is already using a configuration of the vocal tract that is much more relaxed and that, being so, causes the larynx position to be lower than spoken voice.

On the higher part of his tessitura, yes, the larynx is allowed to rise a small bit, but never losing comfort.

Direct counter-pressure, or dampening as you say, will probably allow a few semitones higher, at the cost of comfort AND plasticity, causing tension on the back of the tongue and making you sound as if you were inside a tube.

[DoverOs]

wowy that's really enlightening FelipeCarvalho. thanks a ton