Vocalist.org archive


From:  Anthony Howden <antnee1027@y...>
Date:  Wed Dec 11, 2002  4:29 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] Re: Too many low notes?


hey i noticed the same exact thing. In the morning i can hit some amazingly high
notes in my head voice, Soprano Bb-B. As the day goes on I have to strain to hit
those and I top out at a Soprano Ab. I am a bass-baritone, so i talk low pretty
much the whole day. I am trying to start raising my speaking voice so I can hit
tenor notes much more easier via my mix. I would also like to keep my voice
higher so I can hit soprano B and possibly above...
GWendel Yee <gwyee@r...> wrote:At 02:11 AM 12/8/02 -0000, Michael
<chosdad@y...> wrote:
>Why would you want to maintain mixed voice for the lower part of your
>range? Shouldn't the lower range of a tenor (or any singer) be in
>chest?

Exactly! Staying "in the mix" with a sense of both head voice and chest
voice simultaneously, though varying degrees of each depending on pitch, is
a comfortable way for me. It allows me to flow fluidly and with less effort
from approximately A-Bb below middle C to the Ab-A above. I don't recall
ever having been particularly *instructed* to do this but I seemed to have
been "guided" this way; my teachers have said they liked my "mix" and never
instructed me to do differently. My earlier post lamented that the tenor
part in the Choral Praise Book (RC-speak for hymnal) used at my church
pitched the tenor part so low that I am in chest voice almost all the time,
where I can't use mixed voice. For me, having to sing in chest voice causes
me to tire so that even medium notes seem high.

>It is interesting that we are all different...I'm just guessing, but
>if your voice is about a half-step below a lyric tenor, than our
>voices are not dissimilar at the low end, and I love singing choral
>bass despite a light voice that is often assumed to be tenor.

Perhaps, but as I mentioned in my earlier post on this, my lowest
consistently useable note is only Bb, a ninth below middle C, and the A
below is very soft. My teacher says my low notes are too weak for
baritone; and I expect a credible baritone should have an "authoritative" A.
The music for our basses goes to the deep F and occasionally deep E. I
can't even dream about those notes! On the other hand, my teacher says the
center of my voice is still rising (even at my age!) and he now has me
trying to learn an aria which I think is for leggiero tenor.

>Nonetheless, I do recall one of my teachers saying that a singer has
>to choose how to "weight" their voice, and he felt that tenors in
>particular have to work to maintain a lighter vocal weight to
>facilitate the upper range - perhaps that is what you meant by trying
>to maintain a mixed voice in your lower range.

An interesting concept. I think I understand what you're saying. However,
I wouldn't call what I do to keep the voice lighter/brighter "work".
Rather, it's just the opposite. It's what I do to *reduce* the work of
singing, especially high notes. It would be interesting to hear what other
tenors have to say on this subject.

GWendel






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