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From:  "Caio Rossi" <rossicaio@h...>
Date:  Wed Apr 3, 2002  4:36 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] how do you define 'head voice'?

MIke:> try vocalizing on one pitch alternating from 'mum, mum, mum' to 'bub,
bub, bub' and i'll bet you will find that 'mum' resonates more in your nasal
passages than 'bub'. does that mean the 'mum' is more in head voice than
bub, even if both are on the same pitch in what feels like the same voice?
i think not.

Lea:>WOW isn't that strange? Hmmmm well it remains ever elusive to me...and
I hope while I learn more I don't do any damage...because that's a fear of
mine....singing up to an A flat below high C and not being sure you are
doing it in head tone...it's a yikes moment.<

Mike already knows what I think about it, and now will also the world! hehe

What you feel when you do the "mum" is the AIR friction in the nasal cavity,
and what you feel when you do the head voice is the RESONANCE in the nasal
area. They're both felt as "vibrations", but they're not the same
phenomenon.

On the other hand, my ( and many other people's ) experience has been that
nasal sounds help tune into your head voice. And my tentative explanation is
that feeling the vibration created by air friction gives your body the
"vibrating feeling" and and helps fool your larynx muscles into producing
that same "effect" a different way. It's like buddhist meditation on
"deities": educated buddhists know those "deities" are just triggers toward
their end.

I have the impression, though, that nasal sounds won't help develop your
head voice if you don't include exercises that actually provoke the CT
muscles to get involved. Those nasal sounds just help your nervous system to
develop that "sense of placement", to know where the voice "should be".

Best wishes,

Caio







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