Karen,
This seems to be the best description of this that I have read, and
for me it is something of a revelation that what happens for a mezzo is
analogous to what happens for a baritone, leaving aside the acoustic
necessity of vowel modification higher in the female range. Thanks for this,
and also for keeping the list going (thanks to I.B. too). john
At 10:04 31/03/00 -0500, you wrote:
...
>Learning how to produce big, lush high notes has been a two-stage process
>for me. First, I had to learn how to produce easy, unforced high notes
>that "spin", without squeezing ribs, tightening jaw or tongue, or doing
>any of the other things that would "force" out the note and make it harsh
>and edgy. To this end, my former teacher and I spent a lot of time
>teaching me how to truly "float" the high notes way up in my cranium
>(that's the imagery and sensation) - it was a combination of images,
>actually - the first was the "floating" image, the second was a laser, the
>idea being that the sound was very precise and focused, rather than
>spread. When I accomplished this, I was able to produce very "lyric
>soprano-like" high notes (in my mezzo range, of course) - clear,
>bell-like, very easy to sing, almost "whistle-like" but with vibrato-spin
>on them. In my head, the notes sounded very small and focussed, but my
>teacher assured me that acoustically they were definitely audible and rich
>enough sounding.
>
>I started with a new teacher a little over a month ago, and one of the
>first things she started working on with me was to get to the next stage,
>which was to, as she put it, fulfill the promise of my middle register
>when I moved into my upper register. The idea here is to bring the weight
>of my middle register into my high notes. This is a matter of adding
>compression and support, and also allowing the larynx to descend more when
>I move higher - basically, the imagery she uses is that of a counterweight
>- as the note ascends, there's a kind of vocal counterweight that must
>descend, so the whole aural spectrum actually gets wider as the notes get
>higher (and the result is that wonderful texture of overtones you hear
>when big voices sing high notes well). So the idea isn't to take exactly
>the same production you use on the middle register and move it, like a
>ball bouncing up a stair step, to the upper register; instead, it's a
>sense of opening up and down vocally as you sing higher.
>
>It's very hard to convey these ideas in writing, but one thing I do know
>is that I could NOT be doing Stage Two without having first succeeded with
>Stage One to the point where I was always producing those "floaty" high
>notes consistently well, without tension ever.
>
>Hope this helps.
>
>KM
>=====
>Ich singe, wie der Vogel singt,
>Der in den Zweigen wohnet;
>Das Lied, das aus der Kehle dringt,
>Ist Lohn, der reichlich lohnet.
>- J.W. von Goethe, WILHELM MEISTER
...
>
>
>
John Blyth
Baritone, inter alia.
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
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