Vocalist.org archive


From:  GWendel Yee <gwyee@r...>
Date:  Mon Dec 9, 2002  4:05 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Too many low notes?

At 11:30 AM 12/8/02 -0500, John Link wrote:

>Maybe you need to sing more predominantly in chest voice. I'm
>wondering whether you tire when singing low for a long time because
>you are attempting to use too much head voice. Didn't you say that
>you want to maintain a mix? What if you just let yourself sing in
>chest?

I do prefer to stay in the mix as much as possible. As I mentioned in
another post, doing so allows me to flow from chest to head and back with
much less effort. The problem is I can't sing in mix at the pitch levels
written for the tenor line in the church hymnal. Thoses pitches are usually
well below the lower break for tenor, so I am, in fact, singing most of the
hymns in pure chest voice. After 2-3 hymns with 5-8 verses and refrains
each, and a couple of Responsorials, etc., all in chest, I get tired.
Please don't misunderstand--when I work on arias with my teacher, I often
sing in chest voice for several measures at a time, then through the mix
into my higher range, and have none of the difficulties I've described
previously. The problem is only in church where the parts are written so
low that mixed voice is difficult if not impossible.

>If my guess is correct then this would be a parallel to the notion
>discussed in another thread about classically-trained women taking
>the head voice too low.

Possibly. I have heard of some women tenors who, after singing chest voice
all the time, complain of a larger break. Randy likely will have some
cogent comments on this from a pedagical perspective.
>
>Personally, I'm a baritone able to vocalize from D below the bass
>clef to G above middle C. Sometimes I'll play around for awhile in
>the range from my low D to the A above that. I don't seem to ever
>tire of that, even though that's not where I would prefer to sing.
>After singing in that range for some time I find that my highest
>notes become much easier. I think a key to this is to not force
>anything.

In retrospect, I think Dre's comments are particularly on-target:

>... I think you have to get to the point where you have complete
>control over your head voice and mix. From what you say, I get the
>feeling you found a way to sing in a light mix all the time, and have
>difficulties getting back to it, once you went to full chest. If you
>have full control over your mix, it should be easy to go back from full
>chest to whatever mix you prefer. And of course it is a mix you need to
>sing an e3 e.g. in a non-fatiguing way.
>
>Secondly: we associate singing in full chest and lower male notes in
>general with a lot of power. I admit, it sounds like that, but at least
>in my case it is exactly when I don't do much (nothing more than for
>lower middle notes) that my lowest notes come out very easy.

In fact, early on, someone once tried to train me as a baritone. I was a
miserable baritone, always sore, with much less vocal stamina. Trying to
sound baritonal, I was pressing everything and using strohbass down to the G
an octave below. I wonder if after a continuously low tessitura, especially
trying to balance against some rather loud church basses, I'm trying to
press again, locking into "baritone-mode"? So, it would seem that one has
to have complete control over the chest voice, too, scrupulously resisting
the temptation to press the voice, and despite the pressure of the
surrounding voices. I'm not sure if that's the whole answer, however.

GWendel, tenor





  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
21365 Re: Too many low notes?John Link johnlink010254 Mon  12/9/2002  
21367 Re: Too many low notes?Michael <chosdad@y...> chosdad Mon  12/9/2002  
21430 Re: Too many low notes?Anthony Howden antnee1027 Wed  12/11/2002  
21431 Re: Too many low notes?John Link johnlink010254 Wed  12/11/2002  
21434 Acceptance, was Re: [vocalist] Too many low notes?Michael <chosdad@y...> chosdad Wed  12/11/2002  
21378 Re: Too many low notes?bjjocelyn   Mon  12/9/2002  

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