This describes exactly what we have been discussing lately about
building the
voice from the heavy mechanism up, with the open column and back space:
"We worked every day to develop a different kind of vocal technique and
build
up the stamina for sustaining my voice through a three or four-hour
opera. I
think I learned more about singing high Cs by discovering the bottom of
my
voice and creating a line that goes from the bottom up to the top. Early
on,
Selena gave me a sense of singing on the diaphragm, not as a thing to
push,
but to ride on a column of air on the diaphragm, using the extremities.
Instead of singing shallowly from the chest, we use more of the body-the
lower part of the body-and focus on expanding the back. It's a great
source
of help in terms of singing the high notes."
This proves the point that different singers will describe and
experience a common phenomenon in a myriad of ways. I absolutely agree
with the statements indicated in the previous quote, and with most of
what Tina has mentioned regarding her technique. Indeed, I teach it to
all my students, adapting it to their individual needs (similar to what
Lee mentioned in an earlier post). So here's the thing: I would
describe my sense of this training not simply as bringing the bottom up,
but as promoting a blend of the two registers with changing percentages
of low/high depending upon the note being sung, with both being equally
important. I generally start with the register that is dominant in the
voice and work to strengthen and blend into it the weaker register. In
my own singing, (I am a very full lyric soprano with a strong low range
who has been hired on occasion to sing mezzo rep) even though my lower
register is absolutely present and important in every note that I sing,
I still feel primarily a sense of bringing much of the technique down
from the top (perhaps because the soprano range by it's very nature lies
where the high register would be dominant). A mezzo might experience
the exact same feeling but have more of a sense of bringing the bottom
up.
One other query: has anyone else but me experienced the
feeling that achieving really good breath coordination with a wonderful
onset seems easier to achieve while using more of the light mechanism
(high register) than the heavy? With many of my students it seems that
the lower register is much more apt to get caught in a tense
throat-oriented production than is the higher. For them, working down
from the top is a very helpful avenue.
Sharon Szymanski
The Szymanski Studio -"encouraging excellence in the vocal arts"
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