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In my previous blog post, I described the basics of registration for female singers. But a big question is why should a female, soprano or alto, develop their head voice? It is a legitimate question, since some of my young singers have amazing belts.
Here's why: 1) New Tone Color: The head voice gives a completely new vocal quality to a female voice. Compared to a belt on higher notes, it tends to have a more warm and less strident quality. 2) Expands your range: There is a limit to how far the 'belt' can go. While everyone is different, most sopranos find it difficult to stay in their chest-dominated voice beyond B flat, and while altos can go a little higher than that, there comes a point when using head voice is simply more practical and efficient. More importantly, head voice gives you access to pitches that are simply impossible in a belt. 3) Safer Singing Style: While belting can be done in a healthy and safe manner, it is very typical in young girls for their belts to turn into screaming, which is not good for the voice! DWS It is very typical for beginning sopranos to have 'registration' issues. Here are some definitions before we get into details.
Belting - Carrying the Chest Voice/Lower Register beyond the first passaggio and sometimes even past the second passaggio. This produces a trumpet-like sound on the higher pitches. Head Voice - Using your Upper Register for higher notes. This 'obeys' the correct registration rules in classical music. Registration - Simply refers to which muscle in the larynx is 'dominant/more important' in vocal production. If you are primarily using the lower register, you are using the thyroarytenoid. For higher pitches, it is the cricothyroid if you are using head voice.; with belting, you are trying to extend the use of the thyroarytenoid beyond where classical technique suggests that the cricothyroid should become dominant. The reality is that girls have to be able use both techniques if they want to be versatile singers: Classical singers only use their head voice for higher pitches, but most other music genres encourage some use of Belting technique. In my next blog, I will discuss how and why I help my young sopranos develop their head voice. DWS While I will be posting the rankings on Friday for my high school students, the thing that makes me most proud is the tremendous jumps in rankings many of my students had. It makes me feel good because I know my students work hard, can handle very difficult music with ease, and that I help my students improve. Just as an example, I have 3 Bass II's who ranked in the top 20 for the first round of judging (16th, 17th, and 20th) . All three of these students are now in the top 6 (2nd, 5th, and 6th)! And I had one Bass I go from 30th to 11th! Similar jumps in rankings occurred for my sopranos and tenors.
This year I had a record number of students make a Region Choir, and the vast majority of these students will be going on to Pre-Area Auditions. I am so very proud and happy for all my students who did so well. So now the process begins again with a very difficult Mozart piece and a Brahms song. All of which must be learned in a month. Whew!! DWS I am performing in a cabaret-style concert with Lone Star Lyric Theater on Friday, Nov. 16th (8 PM) and Sunday, Nov. 18th (5 PM) at the Ovations Night Club in downtown Houston. Visit the site at www.ovationsnightclub.com or email [email protected] to reserve tickets (it's an intimate venue of 70 seats, so reservations are highly recommended!)
I will be singing some Cole Porter, Hammerstein, and other Broadway tunes with my fellow singers. It should be a very fun, relaxing night of entertainment! DWS |
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