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Cord Configuration...

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Hey guys,

Lately I've been messing with singing in the passagio, and I've found two distinct paths of technique.

I would call them 'Cord Configurations'.

I am a tenor, and when I approach the A4 I find that I can do one of two things.

1) I can continue to bring the weight of my voice up into the register, attempting to expand my pharynx, appropriate twang, and increase support.

This approach leaves me with a weighty, belty sound, and using vibrato is very much like forcing a post back and forth that's stuck in the ground.

2) I can change completely to what feels like a 'Falsetto' configuration, attempting to appropriate twang, increase support, and 'swell' the resonance of the note by imagining an inhalation sensation. (ala Jaime Vendera) Most all of the physical sensation of 'weight' and 'gripping' is gone, and my vibrato feels more like a pinwheel in the wind.

The latter is what I've wondered about being the correct approach for what I'm looking to accomplish. I am a huge Adam Lambert fan, and he seems to be able to get a very full, very cutting sound while maintaining the ability to use vibrato that would make Josh Groban blush. :)

With this approach, I'm taking an educated guess in assuming that more and more of working to achieve a darker tone from my 'falsetto' configuration; swelling the tone from falsetto tone to full voice tone, while maintaining the same configuration, is going to eventually provide me with the sound I need! :)

Let me know what you think!

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Mr.stevenbradley: Waiting to A4 to make a transition is too late. To make the kind of sound Adam Lambert is doing, you have to start dropping the phonation weight on the way up as you approach the E-F-F# range (or even a little bit earlier), letting the laryngeal configuration adjust note-to-note so that when you get to the A you are making a resonance adjustment, but not a significant laryngeal configuration change.

Here's the logic... the pitch-control mechanism of the larynx trades off the shorten/thicken and stretch/thin actions as you maneuver through the scale. This activity is generally termed 'registration'. To achieve the top voice with ease, power and a spinning vibrato, the registration, the breath energy, and the adduction need to be correctly balanced.

For strong voices, this is particularly challenging in the upper middle voice, say, from Middle C4 to F4. However, if the registration is to adjust so that the top is connected smoothly, the weight has to be dropped off in this range (using the support and imagery you mention for #2) while maintaining a clear tone. This does not mean getting softer, necessarily. It just means not letting things too loud in that range... avoiding the tendency to oversing, and letting the twang and resonance carry the voice, rather than 'push power'.

As you explore this, one thing I have found very useful for large voices is the use of semi-occluded consonants on slides. If you use the 'inhale the tone' metaphor (which is a very old way of avoiding pushing) and the voiced Th (as in Thee), you should be able to slide (siren) the octave from A3 to A4 maintaining consistency of buzz at the teeth, with some practice. Once you can siren it, then siren scale intervals and open to a vowel once you reach the top note of the interval , i.e., A3 to B3, and open to Oh., then A3 to C#4, again opening to Oh. You get the picture. Do not 'sell' the vowel in any way. The idea is just to experience the continuity of registration between the consonant and the vowel.

The more you play with it, the more you will become comfortable with the state of mind and the physical feelings that go with this registration continuum. It does not feel the same in the body as before... it will feel 'intermediate' between the full middle voice and the falsetto... as if the registers have been 'blended'. They have not actually been blended, the muscle actions have just been appropriately coordinated.

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Mahalo Steven, for that explanation. It took several emails and a couple of Skype lessons with Robert for me to get this. When the light finally went on, I got it and applied, I went to A4 with every vowel and no vowel modification (though I know that is preferable) without going into head voice. Transition from that coordination to head voice was then a piece of cake. It was an epiphany, and only after experiencing it did I fully comprehend what Robert was trying to get me to do.

Mr.stevenbradley: Waiting to A4 to make a transition is too late. To make the kind of sound Adam Lambert is doing, you have to start dropping the phonation weight on the way up as you approach the E-F-F# range (or even a little bit earlier), letting the laryngeal configuration adjust note-to-note so that when you get to the A you are making a resonance adjustment, but not a significant laryngeal configuration change.

…

The more you play with it, the more you will become comfortable with the state of mind and the physical feelings that go with this registration continuum. It does not feel the same in the body as before... it will feel 'intermediate' between the full middle voice and the falsetto... as if the registers have been 'blended'. They have not actually been blended, the muscle actions have just been appropriately coordinated.

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You guys rock, those explanations are so amazing.

I'll continue to work with it, and take these principles into

mind while I do it.

Tommy Shaw has a version of Journey's "Open Arms" that I've heard

is performed in head voice for the highest notes during the chorus. It sounds

amazing! And there is no distinguishing it from his chest timbre.

Check it out.

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Tommy has always been one of my favorite high rock singers! Never knew about these covers. Freakin' Love Gun too? Thanks so much for linking that!

On a side note...w/ out going into the 101 different terminologies...sounds like he opens up to a pretty damn "thick fold" config up there(in the chorus). At least as much as Perry did(imo.) If that's head voice...ROCK ON with it brother!

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those high notes are full voice.

thanks for sharing....speaking of high notes....

i had never heard of this guy till yesterday, he's the guy that took over for the lead vocalist of "the little river band" and i think he's awesome

john farnham

here he is in his younger years( good song too):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99P7TTvpO1g

but even recently in his early 60's he's still going quite strong (i guess there's hope for me, lol!)

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Mr.stevenbradley: Waiting to A4 to make a transition is too late. To make the kind of sound Adam Lambert is doing, you have to start dropping the phonation weight on the way up as you approach the E-F-F# range (or even a little bit earlier), letting the laryngeal configuration adjust note-to-note so that when you get to the A you are making a resonance adjustment, but not a significant laryngeal configuration change.

Here's the logic... the pitch-control mechanism of the larynx trades off the shorten/thicken and stretch/thin actions as you maneuver through the scale. This activity is generally termed 'registration'. To achieve the top voice with ease, power and a spinning vibrato, the registration, the breath energy, and the adduction need to be correctly balanced.

For strong voices, this is particularly challenging in the upper middle voice, say, from Middle C4 to F4. However, if the registration is to adjust so that the top is connected smoothly, the weight has to be dropped off in this range (using the support and imagery you mention for #2) while maintaining a clear tone. This does not mean getting softer, necessarily. It just means not letting things too loud in that range... avoiding the tendency to oversing, and letting the twang and resonance carry the voice, rather than 'push power'.

As you explore this, one thing I have found very useful for large voices is the use of semi-occluded consonants on slides. If you use the 'inhale the tone' metaphor (which is a very old way of avoiding pushing) and the voiced Th (as in Thee), you should be able to slide (siren) the octave from A3 to A4 maintaining consistency of buzz at the teeth, with some practice. Once you can siren it, then siren scale intervals and open to a vowel once you reach the top note of the interval , i.e., A3 to B3, and open to Oh., then A3 to C#4, again opening to Oh. You get the picture. Do not 'sell' the vowel in any way. The idea is just to experience the continuity of registration between the consonant and the vowel.

The more you play with it, the more you will become comfortable with the state of mind and the physical feelings that go with this registration continuum. It does not feel the same in the body as before... it will feel 'intermediate' between the full middle voice and the falsetto... as if the registers have been 'blended'. They have not actually been blended, the muscle actions have just been appropriately coordinated.

steve, b.t.w. i'm sold on that "messa de voce" exercise...it's a real, real bitch to do, and i'm far from sucess, (creakng all over the place, lol) but i feel i'm getting closer and by doing them i feel that falsetto trancending to full voice and it "feels" great. i'm a firm believer in the doing all the "pretty highs" in full voice.. (thanks jaime v.'s book too)

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steve, b.t.w. i'm sold on that "messa de voce" exercise...it's a real, real bitch to do, and i'm far from sucess, (creakng all over the place, lol) but i feel i'm getting closer and by doing them i feel that falsetto trancending to full voice and it "feels" great. i'm a firm believer in the doing all the "pretty highs" in full voice.. (thanks jaime v.'s book too)

VIDEOHERE: Cool. The messa di voce is so simple, and yet so challenging. To do well, all sorts of things have to be coordinated, and it tells you immediately if they are not. Glad to hear of your progress. IMO, the work is well worth it.

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hi steve, is it okay to skip around and do other exercises to break up the monotomy? or should i stick with a select few for several months?

VIDEOHERE: There are many skills to master, and mixing things up to retain interest is a very good idea. Especially important is the work you do to incorporate technique into songs. For example, how to use your increasing control of dynamics in shaping musical phrases that begin at one dynamic level, and gradually increase to another level during the course of the phrase.

Maybe I should write a book... the skills of singing.

Speaking of skills, Dr. Hansen sent me this youtube reference yesterday. Its an 89 (yes, eighty-nine) year-old tenor singing the climactic note of an aria from the Opera 'Faust'. The top note is tenor High C. Notice what he does with the dynamics of the note, and of the Ab which follows it.

If you go to

you can see some of his other stuff.

Enjoy!

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For those interested, I've got a spectragraph of that top C. Know what it shows?

The _very_ loudest harmonic is the 3rd one (octave and a 5th above the fundamental) and shows strong singing formant. If anyone is interested to see it, just say so, and I will post it to this thread.

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I'm interested in seeing it. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the formants and harmonics. Can you explain what the significance is that the 3rd is the strongest? Is that a result of great technique or his natural resonators?

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I'm interested in seeing it. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the formants and harmonics. Can you explain what the significance is that the 3rd is the strongest? Is that a result of great technique or his natural resonators?

guitartrek: Here is the spectragraph. I'll write a bit on your questions below it.

Operatic tenors very frequently sing vowels in their top voice where the 2nd vowel resonance (associated with Formant 2 (F2)) aligns with either harmonic 3 or 4. Its the natural result of the usual vowel-darkening (cover) that is taught to classical tenors. Its one of the reasons that good composers set words which contain those vowels... its just way more effective to sing. When its harmonic 3 that is emphasized, the voice takes on a very distinctive color, as the 3rd harmonic is 1 octave and a perfect 5th above the fundamental, and thereby adds a 'quint' sort of timbre to the tone, making it reedier.

Also, by maintaining epilaryngeal resonance (singing formant), he gets all the cushioning benefit that comes from that, and a phase shift that increases the intensity of the odd harmonics generally, and a big volume bump centering just above 3200 Hz. If you'll note, the fundamental is the _softest_ of the first 7 harmonics.

All this is about good technique. He also has a fine natural instrument, as evidenced by how little he really is working to make this happen, and the quality of his control as he does the diminuendo.

I hope this helps.

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I didn't know you could have a phase shift in your vocal tract. But I guess you can and you're saying it give a volume boost to the odd harmonics. Interesting stuff. Still very confusing. Each vowel has different formants so to keep all these in your head and the ability to overlay these formants onto the harmonics is a feat in itself. I have a hard enough time mapping notes to herz. It would be cool if the spectrograph could overlay the formant curve. Is the spectrograph a plug-in in Sonar?

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I didn't know you could have a phase shift in your vocal tract. But I guess you can and you're saying it give a volume boost to the odd harmonics. Interesting stuff. Still very confusing. Each vowel has different formants so to keep all these in your head and the ability to overlay these formants onto the harmonics is a feat in itself. I have a hard enough time mapping notes to herz. It would be cool if the spectrograph could overlay the formant curve. Is the spectrograph a plug-in in Sonar?

guitartrek: :-) yes, each vowel has different positions for F1 and F2, the lowest two formants. Speech theorists (and psychologists) think that the spacing and absolute frequencies of these two formants is what our minds interpret as vowels.

Yes, I agree that the overlay of the formant curves on the harmonics would be cool. That actually is the just beyond the current state of the art. The very best we can do (at a lab in New South Wales, AU) is to plot F1 against F2 realtime by introducing a broadband sound signal at the mouth (white noise, via a speaker) and then measuring the resulting amplitudes of the frequencies. Using white noise, the shape and position of the resonances can be seen. The formants are invisible, and unmeasurable, but the resonances which result from the sound interacting with the formants is measurable.

The spectrograph is freeware. Write to me privately, and I will send you a copy that will run under windows, and send instructions as to how I use it. If you want, I can talk you through it.

FYI, once you have sung into a realtime spectrograph, and seen how small vowel modifications change the resonances, you 'get it' in a hurry. I practice this way every day.

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steve, i'd love to hear you sing too. are there any recordings we can listen to?

VIDEOHERE: I posted three choral songs (all voices mine, overdubbed) to my TMV home page. Just navigate there, and scroll down. Should be on the left. I recorded these about 2 yrs ago.

These are men's chorus pieces, by good choral arrangers. You'll get a sense from them of what kind of baritone I am.

enjoy

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steve, i've heard these, thanks. just thought you had others...perhaps from other genres?

VIDEO: I'll have to record some more. I have a nice little slow-dance, C&W original song, called Butterwing. I have all the instrumental down, just need to do the vocal.

and, er, put my recording studio back together.

I will put this on my radar.

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