Downplaying Opposing Qualities

[Guest]

Hey all, if you have pillars you know that twanging and dampening can help us do different things. This question is based of something I observed today regarding bridging & connecting my voice. That if I balance out the timbres to brighten or darken the sound it will be easier to bridge and connect. For my voice the upper chest registers sounds are very bright and the lower notes in the head range feel "diva" like and darker in sound.

Today while practicing twanging and bridging on the way up the siren I decided to dampen the sound slightly and use a naturally darker vowel (uh) while maintaining twang. The sounds balanced out and it was much easier to bridge and connect. Alternately, when performing descending falsetto slides adding twang to brighten the tone makes it easier to get cord closure and a stronger more connected tone.

Does downplaying the opposing qualities of registers help the bridging process? If so how can I use these tools to bridge and connect more freely?

Thanks in advance.

- JayMC

[Steven Fraser]

Hey all, if you have pillars you know that twanging and dampening can help us do different things. This question is based of something I observed today regarding bridging & connecting my voice. That if I balance out the timbres to brighten or darken the sound it will be easier to bridge and connect. For my voice the upper chest registers sounds are very bright and the lower notes in the head range feel "diva" like and darker in sound.

Today while practicing twanging and bridging on the way up the siren I decided to dampen the sound slightly and use a naturally darker vowel (uh) while maintaining twang. The sounds balanced out and it was much easier to bridge and connect. Alternately, when performing descending falsetto slides adding twang to brighten the tone makes it easier to get cord closure and a stronger more connected tone.

Does downplaying the opposing qualities of registers help the bridging process? If so how can I use these tools to bridge and connect more freely?

- JayMC

JayMC: I would not have called this 'downplaying', I would have called it 'combining' :-)

What you did (doing both twang and a darker vowel) smoothes out the consistency of tone quality by helping the glottal motion be more consistent through the bridge area, giving firm phonation with less strain, etc. Its not just 'UH', as well. There are other vowels that will work similarly.

I suggest that you continue experimenting with this, to fine-tune the amount of twang and dampening that work for you. IMO, its a very beneficial path for you.

I hope this is helpful.