Please help, skipping notes when going from chest to head

[Olem]

Hello, all you singers!

I have a really annoying problem that has been bothering me for awhile now. I have been practising alot around my break, my break lies from F to G i think. If my support is good i have no problem bridging into my head. It´s when i am singing phrases i get problems, from one phrase in chest around my break and then the next in my head i always skip the G and A note. Could it be that i have not developed full head voice in those tones? Well, i am confused and i hope someone here could help me. I post you some clips of how i could sound.

Thanx in advance/ Ola

http://www.box.net/shared/p3t0pi2ex9

http://www.box.net/shared/74uh24jpi3

[jonpall]

If you listen carefully to the high note at the end of the first clip that wobbles a bit and doesn't sound all that good, you'll hear a windy sound underneath your tone, a bit like the wind blowing outside. This is your voice being too breathy, which makes it impossible for your voice to be connected. I used to not hear it in my own voice. It was only when I listened very carefully that I noticed it. If you can eliminate that breathyness, you'll fix the problem. It CAN be done and there are many vocal coaches on this very site that offer programs to fix this.

Since you say this happens only when you sing words and not with simple scales, I suggest you spend time singing words and phrases and songs, and not ONLY vocal exercises. There was a time when I forgot to do that myself. One neat trick to get you over this hurdle is to sing the melody with the words replaced with, say a dopy "mum, mum, mum" or a twangy "quack, quack, quack" sound and a then the melody WITH the words, alternatively.

For example: "Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, muuuuuuum. Oh, say can you see. Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, muuuuuuum. Oh, say can you see. Mum, mum, mum, mum, mum, muuuuuuum. Oh, say can you see. ............"

The mum, mum, mum (or quack) should be sung with the same melody as the one with the words in it.

You should try that! And, like I said, just sing more songs, freely, and not just exercises. Have fun with it.

In the second clip you do a bit better because your twang takes away most of the breathyness, but you should twang sliiiightly more in that final high note because I still hear a bit of breathyness on that note. Then you can work on adding a slight "dumb", "dopy" sound to hide that overly twangy, pure pharengeal voice. Keep at it and you'll succeed! Good luck with it!

Disclaimer - I'm not a vocal coach, so take this with a grain of salt.

[Olem]

Thanx for your advices, Jonpall. However, even if i twang alot i usually skip two notes, the G and A, sometimes not the A but always the G note. It feels strange, i try really hard to sing full voice G´s but i am only able to do it on low volume. More Transcending excersises perhaps, but i have done this alot and it´s hard to see any improvements.

[jonpall]

It happens even when you twang? Could you record that and show us? I have the feeling that you think you're twanging properly but are not. That happened to me.

[Olem]

Well, it´s in the clip i linked above. In the second clip "like" is in F (middle) and the last phrase "rain" is a B, so you have it there already.

[Steven Fraser]

Thanx for your advices, Jonpall. However, even if i twang alot i usually skip two notes, the G and A, sometimes not the A but always the G note. It feels strange, i try really hard to sing full voice G´s but i am only able to do it on low volume. More Transcending excersises perhaps, but i have done this alot and it´s hard to see any improvements.

Olem: First, I agree with what Jonpall said. The phonation quality in the head voice notes is a bit breathy, even though you are twanging. Twang and open quotient result from different muscle actions/coordinations.

You mentioned that you don't have an issue with this when you are vocalizing... just when singing the songs. That means to me that you are conceptualizing vocal production of the the word 'rain' differently than you do that same note and vowel and pitch on a vocalise. IMO, the places to start looking are 1) the initial consonant 'r', (which is constrictive) and in the shading of the sustained vowel /e/. Somehow, you are changing your concept, and that is affecting the consistency of your adduction up top.

As an exercise, take the phrase, and remove all the consonants from it... just sing its vowels. The key jump is the transition from the /a/ of 'like' and the /e/ of 'rain'. Sing just those two notes and vowels in isolation, perhaps with a slide between them, until you get them just the way you want them, and then add just the R first. If its an issue, replace it with a very fast W for a few tries (yes, will feel funny, to sing it like elmer fudd). THen, replace it with a very fast schwa, which is the usual vowel replacement for R in non-brit English singers.

When you get that working, add the K right before the schwa.

Also, some other points:

The stability of full head voice is strongly influenced by the vowel you are singing. To my ear, you are singing a too-bright vowel on the top note, perhaps letting your larynx rise just a bit too far as you leap for it.

To test this idea with the second example, singing the word 'rain', shade the vowel a teeny bit toward eh, and leave the twang just as you are doing it. I put these two snips through my spectragraphic software, and your vowel shading up top is just a bit too bright to align well with your harmonics.

[Olem]

Wow, a very solid answer, Steven. I am sure your answer will help me with this issue. Many thanx to you and take care/ Ola