Am i building up my middle range in the right way?

[Olem]

Hello, singers!

I have a problem with a weak middle range. From E4 to B4 my voice is weak, cracks alot and is a bit breathy. I have no problem singing from C5 up to G5 with full voice which means that i try to pull chest up to B4 and then from there go to my head voice, but that solution is a bit tiring fo me and my voice and instead i would like to use my head voice from my break. I have practised sirens and tone transcendings for awhile now. I wonder: Does it take a long time to build a strong middle range? Also: Am i doing the tone transcitions right, it feels like i am in falsetto and is stuck there?

Here are the links:

http://www.box.net/shared/qpxnj5bnjs

http://www.box.net/shared/m488a1bm3r

http://www.box.net/shared/2o4nevdf0c

http://www.box.net/shared/5b6c2ckf6j

http://www.box.net/shared/0bq70h2h7r

Thanx in advance/ Ola

[Steven Fraser]

I have a problem with a weak middle range. From E4 to B4 my voice is weak, cracks alot and is a bit breathy. I have no problem singing from C5 up to G5 with full voice which means that i try to pull chest up to B4 and then from there go to my head voice, but that solution is a bit tiring fo me and my voice and instead i would like to use my head voice from my break. I have practised sirens and tone transcendings for awhile now. I wonder: Does it take a long time to build a strong middle range? Also: Am i doing the tone transitions right, it feels like i am in falsetto and is stuck there?

Olem,

Strength of tone in any range is accomplished by matching the breath energy with the laryngeal muscle action. In my experience, the most common issue is the oversupply of breath energy. Its just too much right now for the level of laryngeal muscle action.

IMO the quickest path to a non-breathy tone is to reduce the forces which are pumping air out of your body while you sing. The very easiest one of these is to let the chest assume a high posture ( but with shoulders relaxed), and let the breathing happen below the level of the chest. Or, expressed more directly... don't raise your chest when you inhale, or let it fall when you exhale. Leave it wherever it is, and breathe 'down below' it.

[jonpall]

Interesting, Steven. It may be just a minor detail that's not extremely important but you seem to advocate the type of breath support that involves trying to keep your solar plexus expanded (which f.ex. CVT advocates) as opposed to thinking of a "downwards pressure" or thinking down (which f.ex. Jamie Vendera and James Lugo advocate). I'm wondering if those 2 methods are pretty much the same one, just two means to the same end?

[Steven Fraser]

Interesting, Steven. It may be just a minor detail that's not extremely important but you seem to advocate the type of breath support that involves trying to keep your solar plexus expanded (which f.ex. CVT advocates) as opposed to thinking of a "downwards pressure" or thinking down (which f.ex. Jamie Vendera and James Lugo advocate). I'm wondering if those 2 methods are pretty much the same one, just two means to the same end?

jonpall: Just wrote you a fairly lengthy post on just this topic over in another thread, but I did not draw the parallel that you have.

IMO, its not a minor detail. You have mentioned two of the most popular approaches to communicate the motions which can generate the breath-energy-controlling action of the diaphragm during singing. Another (unmentioned one) is the 'flop the belly out' approach.

I particularly like the one which results in the expanded solar plexus (called the epigastric region of the abdomen,) mainly because it is very easy to see when it is happening, and when it is not. The bulge at the epigastric region indicates that the diaphragm is staying flexed during the phonation. And it is _this_ action, the continued activity of the diaphragm, which is what we want to manage the breath energy.

Secondarily, all the phonation starts from a balance of the forces of inhalation and exhalation, so oversinging is far less likely.

[jonpall]

Steven, you may be an opera singer but you rock! Thanks so much!

[VideoHere]

Hello, singers!

I have a problem with a weak middle range. From E4 to B4 my voice is weak, cracks alot and is a bit breathy. I have no problem singing from C5 up to G5 with full voice which means that i try to pull chest up to B4 and then from there go to my head voice, but that solution is a bit tiring fo me and my voice and instead i would like to use my head voice from my break. I have practised sirens and tone transcendings for awhile now. I wonder: Does it take a long time to build a strong middle range? Also: Am i doing the tone transcitions right, it feels like i am in falsetto and is stuck there?

Here are the links:

http://www.box.net/shared/qpxnj5bnjs

http://www.box.net/shared/m488a1bm3r

http://www.box.net/shared/2o4nevdf0c

http://www.box.net/shared/5b6c2ckf6j

http://www.box.net/shared/0bq70h2h7r

Thanx in advance/ Ola

olem,

unless i hear wrong, if you are trying a version of the "messa de voce" (a.k.a. transcending tone, a.k.a. creschendo/decrescendo) i don't think you are swelling from a start of falsetto to an end of full voice. it sounds like you swelling within falsetto. steve got me started on messa de voce and this is without a doubt the absolute most, most, difficult vocal exercise to do, and to do consistently but you'll reap benefits along the way just trying it.

i've been trying to do it on "yay's" from e above middle c to g and i'm still trying to iron out the cracks. this is truly a tough one.

it can take a long time to master. then after you've tried soft to loud try loud to soft....geees!!!

[gno]

Olem - Starting at E4 and up to Ab is commonly referred to as passagio - which is really the toughest area of the range that many people have to work hard at. (you are not alone!) It sounds to me that you are trying to bring your head down to E4 instead of bridging chest to head in this range. That is why it isn't powerfull.

One way to work on this area of your voice is the use of vowel modification. Try ascending on a scale starting on F3 singing "ah" (as in far) in chest voice. When you go from Eb to E, change the vowel from "ah" to "uh" (as in hungry). Use this vowel on up to your head voice. Along with the "uh" you could feel the sensation of yawning. To me it feels like the "focus" of the tone moves back from my mouth (in chest) to my nasal cavities. You can exaggerate the change in the vowel at first, but as you get good at it, you can disguise the "uh" to sound like "ah". It can be so subtle that the listener can't tell. If you do it right it alleviates a lot of tension that otherwise would occur if you didn't modify the vowels going up in chest. It also provides an easy way to go into head around A4 or Bb4.

Good luck

Geno

[Olem]

Thanx alot you guys for all the tips, seems like i have some work to do :)

[Steven Fraser]

One way to work on this area of your voice is the use of vowel modification. Try ascending on a scale starting on F3 singing "ah" (as in far) in chest voice. When you go from Eb to E, change the vowel from "ah" to "uh" (as in hungry). Use this vowel on up to your head voice. Along with the "uh" you could feel the sensation of yawning. To me it feels like the "focus" of the tone moves back from my mouth (in chest) to my nasal cavities. You can exaggerate the change in the vowel at first, but as you get good at it, you can disguise the "uh" to sound like "ah". It can be so subtle that the listener can't tell. If you do it right it alleviates a lot of tension that otherwise would occur if you didn't modify the vowels going up in chest. It also provides an easy way to go into head around A4 or Bb4.

Geno: You reminded me that one of Caruso's favorite exercises was a scale sung with vowel modification. Since Ah has the highest passaggio, its the vowel that is the most challenging to sing there.

Caruso's exercise was simple: On a scale starting on the E below middle C, he sang upward and downward major scales. He sang Ah on all the notes below and including the Bb below middle C, then shifted the vowel color progressively toward Oh from Middle C to the F above that, and then sang Oo on any notes above the F. You may recognize this... its a deliberate vowel migration to the closed vowels, in order to seek the _exact_ right amount of closure. In other terms, its a technique for practicing the 'cover', in a manner that allows the singer to discover just the right amount.

The reason that Oh is used is that its 1st and 2nd formants are quite close together, and this increases the bandwidth of both of them. The passaggio for Oh starts lower than it does for Ah, so that coloration allows the singer to begin the register transition at a lower level of risk, and still sound like they are singing a refined version of Ah.

Try it out, and let me know what you think!

[gno]

Steven - you're right as usual. The modification from Ah is to Oh not Uh. And then Oo above that. I'm doing it automatically now, and it is a very subtle change. I usually don't start with the Oh until E4, but I'll try out Caruso's example of starting a little lower. It is interesting about the formants. So the lower formants of the Oh kind of "carries" you up there?

[Steven Fraser]

Steven - you're right as usual. The modification from Ah is to Oh not Uh. And then Oo above that. I'm doing it automatically now, and it is a very subtle change. I usually don't start with the Oh until E4, but I'll try out Caruso's example of starting a little lower. It is interesting about the formants. So the lower formants of the Oh kind of "carries" you up there?

guitartrek: The 'right' place to do the shading depends on the indiviual voice. I just hold out the exercise as a beneficial one to help a singer find just the right shadings.

In answer to your question...Yes, I think that is the case. The grouping of F1 and F2 together makes a broad region of strong resonance that you can 'ride' through the area, reducing the effort, and that helps with the registration changes that need to occur.

[VideoHere]

folks, i'm in to steady vocal exercising for a fat 9 weeks now but one "accomplishment" i seem to have made is when i do a full voice scale and i get high up near the "b" note (i don't read music, one key below the tenor c) i get this really nice ringing sound as if the tone is "suspended."

all i can say is i'll be vocal exercising till i die. i wish i hadn't been so naive...

[Steven Fraser]

folks, i'm in to steady vocal exercising for a fat 9 weeks now but one "accomplishment" i seem to have made is when i do a full voice scale and i get high up near the "b" note (i don't read music, one key below the tenor c) i get this really nice ringing sound as if the tone is "suspended."

VIDEOHERE: Ooo! That is exciting. Would you post a recording of some of that, so I can do a spectrum analysis of it?

By the way, a Tenor would call that 'High B Natural in the full head voice'. \

Congrats!

[gno]

VIDEOHERE - Does the B feel as though it is "easier" to sing than the notes below it? Sounds to me that you broke through to the head voice like Steven mentioned.