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Patricia Feltmann,

Singing instructor

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Tip of the month

As a teacher of both classical and popular singing styles, I spend a lot of time helping students learn to sing higher in a more comfortable way and with a more pleasing sound.  And I have discovered in my 20+ years of teaching that classical high notes are much easier to learn than popular, especially in female singers.

 

What I, and many other teachers of popular music, have learned is that singing in a laryngeal position between the classical and popular increases the upper range and can still maintain the sound desired by popular singers.  It is usually referred to as the “mixed voice”.

 

Let me explain in more detail.  For women, imagine the voice you would use to sing a moderately loud to loud melody very near the lowest part of your voice.  I choose to use the word “lean”, coined by Lisa Popiel of Voiceworks™ in Los Angeles, to represent that sound, usually called “chest” or “belt” voice. 

 

I use the word “classical” to define the voice more commonly called the “head” voice.  Think of the voice commonly used in a choir on higher notes.  The voice tends to be airy and quieter than the lean voice except in well-trained, classical singers.

 

A male singer is somewhat different.  He will mix a the head voice with the falsetto.  The falsetto is the voice a man would use when he is imitating a woman, or a child.  It sounds completely different that his natural or true voice.

 

For the male to find a mixed voice I will have them sing an octave descending scale beginning in the falsetto, usually on the G or A above middle C.  Very high male voices may need to start higher to make sure they are in falsetto.  What happens is that the bottom of that scale is too low to be able to maintain the falsetto.  I tell them to try not to switch back into the true or head voice, but they can’t stay in the falsetto and end up somewhere in between the true voice and falsetto, which is the mixed voice.  The next step is to descend the octave and then go back up again, without taking a breath, and switch back into the falsetto.  Next we try to ascend without switching fully back into the falsetto, but instead stay in the mixed voice all the way back up to the top.  In five minutes, I’ve had baritones that have had difficulty singing above a D be able to comfortably sing a G.

 

The next steps would be to take a breath at the bottom of the octave and see if they can start the ascending octave in the mixed position.  Then try a lower octave, such as E or F, and see if they can start at the top of the octave exercise in mix.  More difficult exercises are ones that descend so low that the singer goes fully into the true voice and then has to ascend back into the mix.  Changing into the mix at the lowest note possible gives the smoothest transition.

 

Women can sometimes have a much more difficult time finding the mix and keeping it relaxed.  The best exercise that I have found to date has been the “number” exercise.  It will be harder to imagine the sound from just reading words, but I’ll do my best. 

 

First, I have the singer sing an easy exercise like D, E, F#, E, D in their classical voice.  We label that #1.  Then we sing the same exercise a little less classical, with a little feeling of a talk-y sound and label that #2.  Then we sing with more lean, a little brassy, or sassy and label that #3.  Then we sing fully in lean, which can have a yell-y feel and can be quite loud.  That’s #4. 

 

A singer can do any number of variations  between the lean and classical voice, but on the easiest notes, I think four is the minimum.  Being able to sing an infinite number of variations between the lean and classical voices is one sign of a well-trained contemporary singer.

 

The singer is next asked to do the same exercise a half step higher.  The exercise gets higher and higher.  Most female singers will find that around the key of G (the high note would be B) that doing the full lean can become difficult, so we only sing the first three variations.  As is gets quite high, such as the key of B (the high note would be D#) #3 can even become difficult for beginners.  The goal is to be able to carry a #3 up to an F.  If that’s too tense, then try something like a 2 1/2.  The #2 can sometimes work, but can sound too classical in some voices. 

 

Always starting the exercise in the classical voice has kept my singers from getting tense and they find that they are able to get higher and stay more relaxed and comfortable, in addition to sounding better.

 

This exercise also gives me the opportunity to label different sounds and gives singers a feeling for the different mixes that they can choose from for different songs.  One singer I’m working with sings pop songs in a #3, and sometimes goes almost to a #2 on the highest notes.  But on a low, sassy, classic country song, she sings #4.  She loves being able to do it all and being so versatile. 

 

This concept is going to be the main focus of my next exercise CD, so keep checking back.  I’m going to start working on it soon.  It will have lots of examples of the exercises by both male and female singers, so it will make much more sense than just reading words. 

 

Happy Singing,

Patti

Utilizing a ‘mixed voice’ to sing higher

Date: 03/23/09

Being able to sing an infinite number of variations between the lean and classical voices is one sign of a well-trained contemporary singer.