Fellow Vocalisters,
I need your expertise, if you would. I just finished giving a lesson to a freshman tenor, our second lesson. In the first lesson, I just basically warmed him up, and made mental notes about his range, vocal timbre, etc. My first impression was that this was an extremely lyric tenor voice, almost like an Irish tenor. When we began working today, however, it became apparent that he could not crescendo one whit on his high notes.
We started working on breath support, and he was getting it pretty quickly. As soon as he started to get toward the d above the bass clef staff, he was cracking...something he was not accustomed to doing there. I could see the panic written on his face, and I did my best relieve his fears, but I don't know that I did a very good job.
Has anyone else run across a "tenor" who sounds more like a baritone when breath support is added? I know that he sings tenor in our choir, and has sung tenor since junior high. How can I handle this without being traumatic to him or his voice? Thanks for your input!
