A .png for those without Scorch
At a coaching this week with Julian Reed of Arizona Opera (which was an excellent coaching btw), I was instructed to sing this exercise. The goal is to take the pure [i] and [e] as high as your upper passaggio (flip, bridge, break). Use the front of your tongue to pronounce, but keep plenty of space in your throat to keep the depth. One image is to use an “uh” or [a] in the throat while pronouncing the other vowels.
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Joan Sutherland, (Pavarotti’s mentor when it came to diphragmatic breathing,)said she always “warmed up her middle voice before performances, while my colleagues were wearing out their high notes.”
This vocalise is very similar to what I like to do–octaves. The it woos you into head resonance and brings you to the upper extension–the notes above G. Very nice.
Yes, that is true. What I am finding as I explore my high range is that the top notes are almost always there, but the pathway to them is not. Therefore, we should all take a cue from Dame Joan.
P.S. Your new website is very attractive.-T.
Thanks, Tom!
Exactly. Having the notes on the high or low ranges is not useful, unless one can transfer in and out of them.