Hello,
Thank you very much for your response. I have much less
difficulty managing high notes out of context (they seem to
come out most freely when I'm doing the dishes!). I will
try your suggestions and see what results. You mentioned
"building from the top down." Perhaps this is a theory I
should keep in mind while vocalizing as well. I tend to
begin warming-up at the bottom of my range and working
up----the result being I have way too much time to think
about what will occur in the higher register and to become
tense about it!
Thanks again, and good luck with your problematic passage
Ich grolle nicht :)
---Kate
--- John Alexander Blyth <BLYTHE@B...> wrote:
> Your teacher is quite right. There is no point in doing
> things which hurt,
> which, even if no permanent damage is done, will just
> lead to further
> tension anyway. Something I do with high notes is this:
> I'm walking home
> from work and I play a note on a pitch pipe, get that
> note in my mind and
> then sing it with a small, focused sound. The sound is
> really quite large
> and people blocks away turn round at the funny noise! The
> pitch pipe may be
> handy because its reedy sound is a bit like that of an
> 'ee' vowel. That
> should convince you that you can at least sing that note
> out of context.
> Now getting it into context is the next problem.
> There is a song (Ich grolle nicht, by Schumann) which
> has long sustained
> lines in the lower voice, passing through long sustained
> lines in the
> middle voice and then suddenly leaping from a D to an A
> with an awkward
> vowel change. To sing that A out of context is easy for
> me, but in context
> very hard. One has to be completely sure of a number of
> things, so that one
> does not sit in the crack between different things. First
> you have to
> really, really decide what vowel you are singing; then
> how it will change,
> which you can break down into pitch and resonance, as
> well as interruption
> by a specific consonant and/or a change to another *very
> specific* vowel.
> In the example I give I confess I'm working on it. Even
> a master singer is
> going to have trouble with the sudden change from 'chest
> voice' to 'head
> voice' in this context, and so people usually squeeze out
> the top note. I
> hope to manage a transition to mostly "head" a little
> earlier in the long,
> hardly interruptible lines.
> What this highlights is the difficulty of keeping a
> clear crisp "head
> voice" immediately after singing big round heavy notes.
> I fear this might be a mess of stuff to swallow, but you
> seem rather
> motivated and knowledgeable, compared to the average 16
> year old. I am only
> another singer, not an experienced pedagogue - but it
> does seem to me that
> you could try high notes out of context and spend at
> least smoe of the time
> building from the top down. Dn't be afraid of thin or
> duck-like sounds in
> trying this - it's a vocal exploration! john
> At 05:37 PM 7/14/00 +0000, you wrote:
>
> ....
> >
> >My problem? I am deathly afraid of high notes! My
> teacher has told
> >me that she believes (because of my high break---Eb)
> that I will be a
> >dramatic soprano eventually, I just have to wait for my
> high notes to
> >develop. Currently, however, I can't sing above a high
> A without
> >tensing terribly, which is why I am sticking fairly
> close to
> >traditional mezzo repertoire. I really do not have a
> lyric timbre,
> >it's been rather dark since I can remember (which leads
> me to think I
> >might be a mezzo).
> >
> >How developed were your ranges at 16? Do higher notes
> really just
> >magically materialize as you mature if you exercise the
> middle and
> >lower registers? Any tips to help me relax my upper
> register?
> >
> >On another note: I would love to start doing vocal
> competition. I
> >have been chronically ill for two years now, so have
> been unable to
> >do anything strenuous. However, I am starting to become
> stronger and
> >think my next step should be to gain confidence in a
> competive
> >atmosphere, since I am planning to study music after
> high school. I
> >live in the Northeast. Any suggestions?
> >
> >Thanks in advance to anyone who responds :)
> >
> >----Kate
> >
> >
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> John Blyth
> Baritono robusto e lirico
> Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
>
__________________________________________________
|
