Sounds like that particular note may be right on your upper passagio, thus
the difficulty.
Here's a few things to try that may free the note up for you:
Think TALL and NARROW. Watch yourself in the mirror as you sing the piece,
and pay particular attention to what your mouth and jaw do as you
"prepare" for that note. If there's any "spread" - i.e., horizontal
movement - in the mouth, DON'T DO IT. Instead, think vertically, and
simply allow the jaw to drop (loose and "floppy") open a bit more to
accommodate the higher pitch. Don't force the jaw down.
Also, make sure you're not using jaw to create the vowel sound. At a
certain point, articulation of the vowel is mainly a matter of THINKING
the vowel sound, and not actually physically trying to produce it. At and
above the upper passagio, the vowel sound should be produced primarily by
the tongue position (physically) and by THINKING the vowel sound you want
to sing. Jaw has NO role in articulation when singing, and lips should
have a minimal role when singing that high, except to allow the opening
necessary to produce the note easily.
Focus your tension into your buttocks, and think about "compressing
outward" below the diaphragm. I find a quick clench of the buttocks as
I attack the high note actually helps "propel" the note, and refocuses my
tendency to tense up to a muscle that won't interfere with the quality of
the sound.
Think about keeping your resonance deep - imagine the note as an elevator,
and the resonance depth as the counterweight. As the elevator rises, the
counterweight must drop even further. So the higher you go, the deeper
your resonance should be. If you deepen the resonance, you're less likely
to "overshoot" the note and sing it sharp. By the same token, don't
forget that the elevator must go up an equal distance in the opposite
direction from the counterweight - so don't simply darken the note (which
will "flatten" it) - shoot that "laser" through your cranium to sing the
high note, but also allow the jaw to drop open freely and THINK depth of
resonance at the same time.
If starting a phrase with a trouble high note, breathe into the shape of
the note - i.e., the shape your mouth will be in when you sing the note.
Keep the lips moving. I find that this helps eliminate "lock up". If
you're singing an ascending pattern (like the one you describe), it can
help a lot to simply "readjust" the mouth and jaw on each note to ensure
that they remain loose, "floppy", NOT tense. I find this also helps on
long coloratura passages where, by the end, I might otherwise have
"locked" the lips and jaw into a certain position, which will make it more
difficult for the breath to flow freely and get me to the end of the
passage with the same energy and resonance that I had at the beginning
(this is probably true with ALL long passages, but I find that "lip lock"
tends to be more of a problem for me on upward-ascending high phrases, and
on long coloratura runs.
Work on exercises that involve arpeggios that move up to - and through -
your upper passagio. One I particularly like is singing the following
pattern very lightly - think of the voice as a butterfly flitting from one
note to the next and landing on each for only a split second: 1-3-5-8-10
(an octave above the "3" below)-8-5-3-1 on a series of different
vowels (for example: C4-E4-G4-C5-E5-C5-G4-E4-C4). Another I've found
very helpful for "conquering" the high passagio problem is (Italian closed
vowels):
1 8 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8
i a i i i a a a a i
The ascending scale should be at "coloratura speed".
Then you can reverse the exercise:
8 1 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1
e o e e e o o o o e
The descending scale should be at "coloratura speed".
When you practise the piece (without the piano) try "transposing" it, both
up a half and whole step, and down a half and whole step. I find this can
help a lot, because my body stops associating that particular trouble note
with a particular set of sensations. Doing it slightly lower, helps me
feel that note with deeper resonance and more ease, while doing it higher
helps me better "shoot for" the "laser through the cranium" sensation.
Then I go back and sing it in the correct key, and it always feels easier,
particularly after singing it a half and whole step too high.
Finally, finally, finally: Do everything you can to stop obsessing over
your trouble note. That is a sure way to set yourself up for failure.
Good luck!
Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
That man is the happiest who
is most thoroughly deluded.
- Erasmus
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