Comments on: Whoa! Graduation, “Tenor-hood” and Passaggio

By: Sophia

Sophia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:26:38 +0000

I never used to really notice my passaggi, before I got sick…so, I can understand singers who say that. However, I think it is important to pay attention to them, in order to not approach them incorrectly and, eventually, have negative consequences popping up.

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 16:22:25 +0000

I’m glad to hear that it’s feeling stronger since you’ve been working on it.

This is an older post but I’ll still ask; are there women singers who claim to never pay attention to their passaggio? Both Alfredo Kraus and Rockwell Blake (two of my favorite singers) claim to hardy pay attention to it. I personally do have to pay attention or the results are awful. But I do wonder, do women ever say that?

By: Sophia

Sophia — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 09:47:39 +0000

Oh, passaggi. With the whole reflux thing going on, my passaggi became way bigger and way more pronounced…especially my lower one. The upper one was solved just by not collapsing the ribs. The lower one, I had to work a bit with how high to carry chest and how low to carry head. I was adding a ton of tension I didn’t know I was adding and it was making things a lot more difficult than they had to be. It’s still definitely weaker than the rest of my range, but, it is MUCH improved, in just this short time I’ve been working with it.

By: Betty

Betty — Tue, 12 May 2009 01:04:43 +0000

How about just a word of congratulations on the achievement of your degree and a wish for a bright and melodic future?

By: Ian Sidden

Ian Sidden — Mon, 11 May 2009 04:29:02 +0000

Yes, there is a sense of liberation in using my extended range. I agree with that entirely.

And for the most part I don’t dread the break unless I spend a lot of time within it. I have been singing “Una furtiva lagrima” a lot lately, and the aria is challenging because it hovers around and within the passaggio. That’s when it gets tricky because if one is not careful, that kind of singing can become very tiring very quickly even if a piece never takes you very high.

By the way, all singers (and non-singers!) are welcome to give their opinions and experiences.

By: jean

jean — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:54:37 +0000

I know I’m just a singer singer but nonetheless I take (took) it all very seriously and when I found out I had a strong lower register I felt liberated, so maybe with time you’ll feel the liberation. The passagio fascinates me and always has so it’s good to read your thoughts on it, which is in layman’s terms called the ‘break’, very scary yet many times I have it figured out, mostly when I’m not anticipating and dreading it.