Dear Vocalisters:
Exercises for blending registers are more effective if they include
emphasis on vowel usage. As a general rule, the vowel selected will
determine the location of the passaggio (both low and high passaggio
for women and the single passaggio for men) as much as a minor third.
For example the typical passaggio for the lyric tenor is from Eb4
(just above middle C) to G4 but that is primarily true only for the
vowel /a/ (IPA notation). On the vowels /i/ or /u/ this passaggio
moves downward to be located at about C4 (middle C) to Eb4. The
vowels between /a/ and /i/ or /u/ which are /e/ and /o/ will lower
this passaggio somewhere between the highest version for the /a/
vowel and the lowest version for the /i/ or /u/, in other words at
about D4 to F#4.
This phenomenon allows the singer to adjust the position of his/her
passaggio enough to avoid the most obvious passaggio difficulties and
will, through consistent use, eventually become habitual. The effect
for the singer is that the passaggio is no longer a major
consideration in singing through this area of the voice.
This phenomenon is also the cause of the mysterious "shifting
passaggio" of which many singers speak. In effect, the singer has
used a different vowel, or a slightly different vowel, and is
startled to discover that his/her passaggio is no longer in its usual
position. This phenomenon is also the reason that most early voice
pedagogs did not use the /a/ vowel with any more regularity than the
other vowels. To do so tended to lock the voice into an expected
passaggio difficulty at a fixed location which was and is unnecessary.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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