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How Manuel Garcia Taught Blending Of Registers

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Hey all,

This is a super interesting article, I do not understand it fully and hope someone can explain it better. Btw Manuel Garcia is the guy who invented the laryngoscope in 1854 :)

http://www.voice-talk.net/2014/02/how-manuel-garcia-taught-blending-of.html

That's all folks!

- JayMC

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What I get from it is:

Students are always taught to sing the AH scale. Many stumble because they don't modify the vowel.

So it goes on to say you should use modifications to get the correct setup in the throat etc etc then as you get the hang of it, resort back closer to the pure vowel.

The french vowel is a mixture of OO and EE, that's how I achieve it.

To be honest it's pretty standard stuff and no big secret. Phil has been teaching me vowel modification for sometime now.

AH > OH > UH > OO

AA > OH > UH > OO

OO > OH > OO

EE > EH > AY > EE

The support section is just simply a proud chest with open rib cage and contraction of the abs.

He also says, instead of being aspirate and airy in falsetto, treat it like you would the "chest" and "mixed" voice. Then it can become one strong voice.

Pretty simple, BUT, it takes practice.

The French U vowel is said in the first 20-30 seconds

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And many is the person, and a few authors, who made a big deal out of Garcia and the laryngoscope. A bigger deal than he did, himself. His primary purpose was to view the act of phonation. Once it confirmed his idea of how it happens, he had no more use for it and realized that it would be of more use to doctors and scientists than it would to most voice teachers and just about no value to students. And in his instruction, students were not memorizing anatomy. They were learning exercises, as talked about in this blog post that was linked, viewing the notes of a Garcia student.

For, essentially, the exercise brings alignment into play, which provides for better production of both tone and volume, and, in a training effect, easier and more durable singing.

The training effect is not about massive muscle build-up, unless you have atrophied due to some disability from trauma or other problems. The human body, like that of any animal, is designed to consolidate actions for efficiency. When you first learn to walk, it is clumsy and feels strenuous. As the body becomes accustomed to the neural firing and use of muscles, the body "trains." Then walking is "easy," fatigued only by over-use.

I have also seen this vowel modification from a few different perspectives. Such as ah being a "tall" vowel, suitable for the upper parts of range. And that as you descend, you may change to a different vowel that resonates better in the lower part of the range. I wonder if this is what Frisell is talking about in vowel inversion. He notes that tenors often have the effect of having great tone and volume at C4 and above, only to falter and disintegrate below C4.

And perhaps it's caused some confusion because baritone and tenor overlap in range, sometimes, also in tone.

At least in my opinion, from what I have read and think about it.

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AH > OH > UH > OO

AA > OH > UH > OO or for practice skip all these modifications (lots to think about and where and what notes to do it on,especially for a beginner) and just use ou as in "book" or a very dipthonged "oh" (uh-oo) from lowest to highest.

once you've got it use the other vowels in the same space.

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