In a message dated 8/3/2001 4:52:39 PM Central Daylight Time,
w.ritzerfeld@c... writes:
w.ritzerfeld@c... writes:
> However, if a woman singer chooses the
> point of transition to be low in the range (around E4, depending
> on voice type) it is possible to make the transition virtually
> inaudible, both by means of adding weight to the lower head voice
> (known as middle voice) and also by resonance adjustments.
> This is what most well trained classical women singers do.
> Traditionally this is referred to by both singers and teachers
> as 'adding chest'. However, this is not what is actually happening.
>
This is exactly what I'm referring to as trouble: the misconception that
there is a transition at E4 and that the idea is to add weight to the lower
head voice. As you said, this ISN'T what is happening, and the fact that that
is what is taught and written about by so many is what is disorienting. As
Lloyd wrote in his wonderfully clear and precise analysis of the physiology
and physics involved, "Physically it is not
possible to mix a chest voice with a head voice because the vocal folds
cannot do both of these functions at the same time. But the folds can
migrate in their action between chest (heavy) and head (light) and these
gradual changes are strongly influenced by configuration of the vocal tract
(resonance)." That gradual migration is what we are all feeling as a mix, and
my point is that migration can't happen in a supported, consistent, and
correct way by discounting the heavy phonation. Too many pedagogues in the
classical world do that, in my opinion, which causes the singer to come off
the voice and try to reinforce a light phonation that is out of registration.
And, Lloyd's right, too, in that the alignment of the vocal tract is also a
huge component of successfully achieving the "mix", or migration. (In my own
experience, when I feel my jaw free and little back, it causes my tract to
become aligned and the migration is flawless.)
One more point I'd like to make without going on too long is that when you
achieve the proper migration, there is the great discovery that notes that
used to be troublesome before ("Are they head? Are they chest?". . . notes
like F, F#, and G) are so well coordinated that when you attempt to initiate
them from a "head" perspective or from a "chest" perspective, there is
ultimately no difference AT ALL in power, color, or feel of registration.
That's when I know I'm on the right track.
TinaO
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