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The Elastic Passaggio: [a] Edition

August 11, 2017 By Ian Sidden

At the passaggi, a singer has some flexibility. With the vocal tract being comprised of flesh and cartilage, we can manipulate our throats within reason to achieve certain vocal effects depending on the musical choices we want to make.

Once you see my examples, you might think, “Yea, well duh. I’ve heard lots of singers do this stuff,” and you’d be right. But I want make these “flipping” strategies more explicit than they have been. Because the concepts of formant tuning are still relatively new, many singers approach their passaggio with a certain amount of guesswork, and that guesswork can lead to uncertainty about the results they can expect.

If you don’t know what the heck I’m writing about with regards to formant tuning, please check out the formant-tuning primer I wrote for the occasion.

My examples, by the way, will detail the strategies for ascending on an “ah” vowel (IPA: [a]) into resonant second formant third harmonic tuning (F2H3) and away from first formant second harmonic tuning (F1H2). 1
[Read more…]

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: dramatic choice, formant tuning, franco corelli, mario del monaco, musical choice, passaggi, passaggio, Pavarotti, scale

Passaggio Tips: Part I

August 23, 2012 By Ian Sidden

James writes:

I am 21 years old and I was wondering how to mask my passaggi. I don’t have a vocal teacher currently but I know for a fact that for now I am a lyric baritone. Do you know of any type of vocalises to help with resonance?

This will be in two three parts. Part I discusses the passaggio and why it happens. Part two deals with strategies to master it, and part three gives exercises to practice it.

What the heck is the passaggio? How about registers?

First, let’s think about what the passaggio is. The passaggio is the passage between two registers. Ok, what does that mean?

The first concept you have to understand is that the entirety of your voice is produced within the vocal tract. The vocal tract begins at the glottis (the space between the two vocal folds) and ends at the tip of your lips. Your nasal passage can also be considered part of the vocal tract if you sing and allow air to escape your nose.

Think about a trumpet or a trombone. Their mouthpiece is similar to the vocal folds, and the tubing each instrument is like the vocal tract (except they’re much longer than our vocal tracts). The length and shape of the tract determines a lot about how our voice sounds. The longer the tract, the deeper the sound and vice versa.

What does this have to do with registers?

The single most persuasive idea I’ve read about the registers comes from Dr. Donald Miller’s Resonance In Singing. In it, he discusses his research illustrating how registers are caused primarily by acoustical events due to the natural resonances of the vocal tract.

What does that mean? Well, it’s hard to explain sufficiently in one blog post, but essentially it means that the way our voice sounds and feels can’t remain the same throughout its entire range. If you attempt to maintain a single consistent feeling of voice, then you will distort your voice in a way that sounds strained. In other words, you have to change to sound consistent. Ironic, no?

Consider the truly beginning singer. A common error is a rising larynx. This, I believe, is an attempt to maintain a consistent feeling in the voice from the speaking voice range into the higher ranges by shortening the vocal tract. This is done as the wavelength of the fundamental pitch also becomes shorter.

The trouble is that the vocal tract is not infinitely flexible. We can hear strain, and you can certainly feel it. And for classical singers, the sound of strain is completely undesirable.

A more advanced singer experiences zones or registers where one basic acoustic concept is used but is abandoned when another register is entered. Over time the singer finds the best places for these shifts to happen, and those points – or passaggi – tend to be consistent within voice types. That means that a tenor tends to shift where other tenors shift and so on. It’s not 100% consistent, but it’s close.

The general goal is that the change sounds smooth rather than abrupt. Sometimes, however, a singer will choose to make an abrupt change. Passaggio points are not set in stone but are somewhat flexible, and the singer can make a choice about how to maneuver around them. It all depends on the idea being expressed and the choice of the singer.

Takeaways

The main idea I want you to take away from this part is that we use passaggi when we move between acoustic zones or registers. The other idea is that we have to change to sound consistent.

NOTES:

    1. This is not easy to understand, and I’m summarizing a lot. I encourage you to read about acoustics or vocal science. Ingo Titze and Johann Sundberg are good authors to read.
    2. Also check out Dr. Miller’s webpage, where he gives you a free chapter of Resonance in Singing.
      http://www.voiceinsideview.com/RIS.html
    3. Talking about registers at all is dangerous because of controversies surrounding use of the term. The way I’m using the term here is for areas within the broader modal voice since – in general – classical singers don’t use vocal fry or falsetto.
    4. Another idea of register change is that there is a gradual shift of thyroarytenoid dominance to cricothyroid dominance. From what I’ve read this is still hypothetical because it’s very hard to test precise muscle use during singing. Even if it proved to be true, I’m not sure how it would help work through the passaggi.
    5. Image by Kiaura under CC 2.0

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: Donald Miller, passaggi, passaggio, Reader Questions, Resonance, Resonance in Singing

Tenor or a Baritone? 5 Questions to Help you Decide

September 9, 2009 By Ian Sidden

Do you know what the real definition of a lazy tenor is?
A very rich baritone!
–Thomas Hampson

Note: I have edited this article slightly since it was first published, and I’ve changed one of the original five questions. I sing baritone now, and am very happy singing baritone. As I write this, I’m 30 years old, and my voice has grown into itself. My experiences singing as a tenor probably slowed down my career as a baritone somewhat, but those experiences also made me a much smarter singer. I feel a responsibility to keep this article current with what I believe about singing because it is – by far – the most read article on this site, and I don’t want to steer anybody wrong. Enjoy. – Ian, Aug. 30, 2013

In Spring 2009, I switched from baritone to tenor (and since then, I’ve happily switched back). Since I’ve written about this struggle often, a lot of people have found this blog by asking the question via Google: Am I a tenor or a baritone?

The answer: it depends.

Fach Identities as a Tenor or a BaritoneIt's not everyday that you see Werther sung by a baritone.

There is a lot of identity that goes with singing within a certain fach (voice type). One person’s personality may be attracted to one kind of character over another, but their voice may point them in a different direction.

Baritones play more villains (Scarpia, Jago, Jud Fry, Javert, Klingsor) or men of questionable integrity (Count Almaviva, Oppenheimer, Escamillo, Don Giovanni, Wotan) than tenors. Baritones are often cast in comic roles (Figaro, Papageno). When they’re heroic, in opera, they can often have a fatal flaw (Valentin, Amfortas, Wolfram, Flying Dutchman, Athanaël).

Tenors tend to be lovers (Nemorino, Fenton, Rinuccio, Rodolfo, Alfredo, Faust) and heroes (Siegfried, Jean Valjean, Parsifal), and, at their worst, they can be jerks (Pinkerton) or creeps (Hermann), but they are rarely murderers (Don José). Tenor roles can be less dramatically complex and meaty than baritone roles, but musically – in my opinion – they tend to get the soaring tunes that folks tend to whistle afterwards.

If you are a baritone who wants to play primary protagonists all the time, your options may be limited in opera and more plentiful in musical theater (Curly, Lancelot, Marius) or operetta.

In my early struggles with being a baritone, I was hoping that I could be the next Thomas Hampson and get some of the rarely performed baritone versions of popular tenor roles tenor roles transposed (Werther ), but that was and remains unlikely.

Questions to Ask Yourself

None of these questions are fool-proof. Some baritones have high passaggi and some tenors have a hard time with high C’s, but these can get you thinking more clearly about who you are:

  1. Are you uncomfortable or in pain?

    If you feel sore when you sing, whether it’s high or low, then you may want to try something else. If A2 on the bass clef feels bad to you, then you may be a higher voice. But if E4 feels bad to you even after regular practice, then you may have a low voice.

  2. Where is your passaggio?

    Where is the most unstable area of your voice? That’s likely to be your passaggio. Usually, it is a good guide to help you decide whether you are a high or low voiced person.

    Normally, we speak of having two passaggio breaks: the first break (primo passaggio) and the second break (secondo passaggio) with a zone in between (zona di passaggio).

    For me, the zona di passaggio feels similar to singing on a tight rope where one wrong move will cause me voice to flip in and out of falsetto in a fluttery kind of way. It is also difficult to hear my own voice properly there.

    Here is the chart from Richard Miler’s The Structure of Singing laying out men’s passaggio points (with those in parentheses being alternates):

    Voice Type primo passaggio secondo passaggio
    tenorino F4 Bb4
    tenore leggiero E4 (Eb4) A4 (Ab4)
    tenore lirico D4 G4
    tenore spinto D4 (C#4) G (F#4)
    tenore robusto (tenore drammatico) C4 (C#4) F4 (F#4)
    baritono lirico B3 E4
    baritono drammatico Bb3 Eb4
    basso cantante A3 D4
    basso profondo Ab3 (G3) Db4 (C4)

    Test out your voice by singing a truly pure “Ah” vowel beginning in your speaking voice area. As you ascend, you will reach a point where you have to tilt your jaw up if you continue to sing in the exact same manner as you began. That’s your primo passaggio. A fourth above is your secondo passaggio. This doesn’t work in 100% of cases, but it usually is helpful.

  3. What is your most comfortable tessitura?

    The best guide to your range is your tessitura. That’s where you’re happiest singing with good technique for an extended amount of time. Even if you can manage to sing all the notes in a given tessitura, it must sound pretty easy for you, or the audience will have a kind of cognitive dissonance with your performance. You might be able to honk out a killer high note, but if you cannot actually sing in the tessitura required by a piece, then you aren’t actually that voice type.

    For example, the aria “Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön” from The Magic Flute is full of notes that a baritone can sing. The highest note is a Ab4. The tessitura, however, sits too high for a baritone, and it will sound difficult for the baritone to sing. He will also most likely tire himself out before the end of the aria.

    For me: I’m happiest singing in the baritone range. When I sang Nemorino, I did it, but it felt so incredibly difficult and stressful, while singing Almaviva – a baritone role – in Le nozze di Figaro felt great.

    This takes experience and lots of trial and error, but if singing stops being fun due to an incorrect choice, then it’s best to make a different choice.

  4. What is your reaction to other singers?This gives "Big Mouth Frog" exercises a whole new context

    If you listen to a singer and think “Yes, we can!”, then give it a shot and see. Try what they do. Don’t get attached because it might be wrong for you right now, but there’s nothing wrong in trying something out once. Your gut may be telling you something.

    If you feel inadequate after listening to a singer or a sense that it is totally beyond you, then maybe that repertoire is not right for you.

  5. Are you faking it?

    You may not feel any discomfort or pain when you sing, but you may be faking it.

    Faking Baritone?

    Faking baritones will make choices that appear to make their voices lower and darker than they naturally would be. The voice might be quite dark, but something won’t ring true about it.

    Examples of baritone fakery include a tongue shoved into your throat or an overly lengthened vocal tract by shoving your lips outward. You may be pulling your top lip down to darken your sound. You may be modifying your vowels too early to create an artificially low passaggio. You may sound incredibly loud to your own ears but small voiced to everyone else.

    Baritones are able to have a clear phonation lower than most tenors. Baritones aren’t basses, and they don’t need to sound like basses, but at G3 and lower (down to Bb2 or lower depending on the baritone) they must be able to phonate without breathiness. It doesn’t matter how dark the timbre is if the singer doesn’t have this fundamental clarity.  Naturally, beginning singers may have a hard time phonating clearly in any part of the voice, so some flexibility is required there.

    Faking Tenor?

    Faking tenors will make choices that make their voices appear higher and lighter than they naturally are. They might be able to sing very high notes, but something will feel false.

    Faking tenors may have a larynx that is pulled up into the backs of their throats. To give the appearance of a high passaggio, they may keep their voices spread instead of modifying their vowels appropriately. This sound may not sound like singing at all and may be highly unpleasant to listen to (though even the prettiest voice can sound unpleasant if it’s loud and in a small room).

    True tenor high notes must be connected to the body. A faking tenor can use a well rounded hard rock wail to sing very high notes, but it won’t have the same rooting that true tenors have, and they won’t have a smooth transition to the rest of the voice. A true tenor should be able to briefly grunt most of their high notes with full abdominal support, while a baritone will hit an early uppermost limit.  Try it through lazily rounded lips using the word “buddy” with a Texas drawl for help (Thank you, Julian). The “u” will sound more like the vowel sound from “book”.

    As a general bit of advice: try singing as simply as you can for awhile and forget all of your technique and Fach identity. Just intone some “Ah”s and try to avoid creating any tension in your throat. Record yourself. What do you hear?

Do I have a choice?Melchior made the switch. Should you?

For most people, the answer is ‘no’. For most people, they are clearly in one camp or the other, and there is very little they can do to alter that. The question becomes “What kind of (bass,baritone,tenor,alto,mezzo,soprano) am I?” That takes time to learn as well.

But for some others, they may have a choice. Lauritz Melchior sang as professional baritone before he switched up, and he must have been credible to audiences at the time. Thomas Hampson could probably have made a credible tenor, but he’s done ok for himself.

The choice to remain or change is a highly personal one. If you are toying with the idea then talk to your teacher (and maybe several; I got a second opinion with my teacher’s blessing) and take some time to play with it. There’s no harm in play.

[Have you made a change in your fach? What was the experience like? Was it easy, hard, in between?]

————————–

{“Si se puede” frog by artfulblogger.}

Filed Under: Craft Tagged With: baritone, baritono drammatico, baritono lirico, basso cantante, basso profondo, Fach, heroes, passaggi, passaggio, Richard Miller, tenor, tenore leggiero, tenore lirico, tenore robusto (tenore drammatico), tenore spinto, tenorino, transpositions, Villains, voice classification, voice type

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Ian Sidden is currently a bass member of the Theater Dortmund Opera chorus. Read More…

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