> Just how high should one be able to hum? Some of my
> students can hum all the
> notes which they can sing, others can't go higher in
> a hum than A5 but can
> carry on to C6 in an open voice.
My teacher says that you should be able to hum all the
way to the near-top of your register (since I can
squeak out F's, I take my hums to a high D). This
involves stretching your mouth (like you're humming a
big tall "oh" inside) to reach the notes.
She has always told me that a voice that cannot hum up
into the top of its range is unhealthy in some way
(tired, training not quite lined up, speech voice
strain, other technical issues).
I have discovered that there are two different hums --
one is a relaxed-jaw (i.e., closed-mouth) hum that
vibrates in the bone structure of the face, and the
higher one, which stretches the jaw open (lips still
sealed) and buzzes in the lips and front of the mouth.
Maybe your student is only doing the first kind,
which cannot be taken up high without hiking the
larynx up (in my fumbling experience).
The second type of hum is almost like you have put a
huge gumball or something in your mouth, which
suddenly expanded vertically, so there is a high tall
thing in your mouth and you are opening your jaw to
accomodate it, while still keeping your lips sealed.
I wish I could put a video clip up! I'm totally
inspired by Tako's cool web page to find out how to
put up demonstrations of all these concepts of mine.
Isabelle B.
=====
Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
__________________________________________________
Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints!
http://photos.yahoo.com
|
|  |
