Notes sung above E4

[p3te]

Hi there,

 

I'm sure this has been answered before, but I couldn't seem to find a clearcut answer to this, searching the forum, so I figured I'd just ask. I would like some clarification regarding my understanding of the notes above E4 (or rather, the passaggio in general).

 

So, the way to get a 'chestier' sound above the passaggio, is to either:

 

1) pull the chest voice, or M1-musculature above the bridge and of course modifying vowels along the way. 

 

2) or go into M2/Head voice and dampen the sound by using darker vowels/dampened larynx. 

 

the 2nd approach is the so-called 'mixed voice'.

Am I understanding this correctly? 

[Steven Fraser]

3). Coordinate the registration and the breath, and sing to the top....

[Owen Korzec]

#1 Yes, although I will kind of re-explain what you wrote to be clear. I would not call it pulling chest as in yelling with constriction and hitting a wall. It is just staying in M1 a bit higher (thanks to the help of vowel mods), which a lot of singers will eventually wait to thin out at the second bridge, A4-C5.

#2 No. Maybe for females. For men this will give you a very nice easy range boost with a usable amount of volume if you develop it but it will retain a heady mix quality. Probably not "chestier" in the sense you're probably looking for.
 

Steve's #3: Yes too! I would add this on as a necessity for any passaggio approach to work.

What people call mixed voice seems to actually live somewhere between #1 and #2. One idea on what it might be is shifting to M2 earlier around the first bridge E4-G4 without losing stability. Or it might just be the same foundational coordination as #1 but backing off on the weight, volume, and cord closure, so it's really not entirely "full" anymore but they also haven't actually left the M1 vibratory mechanism any earlier than that second bridge A4-C5 area. I don't really know yet, I'm not an expert at it.

The catch is that some people call #1 mixed voice, thus the mixed voice confusion. A better definition is for what they mean is "full voice in the head" or "full voice with head resonance" and mixed voice is what I said right above.

It does depend a bit on physiology but for most males, especially the guys with lower and bigger voices, what I'm writing above seems to be the case. With higher lighter voices the lines between coordinations are a bit more blurred.

Like I said, steve's #3 is an important part of all of this. Whatever approach(es) you take, the registration should be smooth and the air flow/compression/air pressure/cord closure/etc. all balanced nicely, in order for it to sound good in singing.

[p3te]

thanks for the replies, it cleared out some stuff for me.