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Vocal Point
Dealing with Register Breaks: Part II
Feb-02-2001
©2001 iBluegrass.com. All rights reserved.
Welcome to the January 2001 edition of Vocal Point of View, and happy new year!
This month is the second of a two part article on 'register break,' or the crossover notes from your lower to your upper register (see Part I from last month).
When our singing voice is free and unrestricted, sound functions take place that are wholly natural and automatic. If what you 'think' you have to do when you sing is not in alignment with these natural mechanisms, the result is vocal tension or stress that can result in register break.
Let's first take a look at the physical mechanics involved, (since we can't see our vocal instrument and don't have a visual reference like we do when learning to finger the neck of a banjo or guitar, we have to rely on what we feel physically and what we can visualize). There are two basic sets of muscles that affect registration. One group, we'll call them front muscles, have to do with producing lower, heavier chest tones. The other, the back muscles, function together to produce lighter tones referred to as 'head voice' for women or 'falsetto' for men.
Try this:
Lightly place your fingertips on your adam's apple and hum in a lower voice. You should feel a lot of vibration. Now keep your fingers where they are and hum a higher tone in your head voice or falsetto. Notice how, for the most part, the vibration disappears. You've now switched to a different set of muscles. If you place your fingers on the side of your neck around the pulse point and continue to hum you will now feel vibration, although not as pronounced as that in the front, (this group of muscles is more internal).
The vocal cords can be governed by either one, or both sets of muscles. It's when we develop both sets equally that the two groups cooperate and we have access to our whole range, seamlessly. Conversely, when we rely too heavily on either group it becomes overtaxed and strained . As we reach the point where the strained muscles can no longer bear the burden there's a sudden release or feeling similar to a muscular 'pop', over to the other set of muscles---i.e. vocal break. If register break is a continuously frustrating problem, at some point you may want to take some voice lessons and focus on some of the finer points of breathe support and placement---two significant elements in building a strong, resonant 'whole' voice.
For the here and now let's talk about some things we can do to help eliminate this strain. Here is an exercise I think is very helpful:
Shape your lips into a whistle position, but make sure they are closed so no air can escape. Now hum easily and lightly into the front of your face in 'chest' register (you will also notice some vibration in the chest, thus the term 'chest voice'). Feel a buzzy sensation on your nose, on either side of your nose and on your lips. Hum a comfortable partial scale in this lower chest register. Now hum a scale in your head voice or falsetto range while concentrating on continuing to feel the buzz in the same place---the face and chest area. Be sure not to 'push.' Secondly, hum a partial scale (lips in the same whistle shape), in your head voice or falsetto (again be sure the lips are closed) . Notice how this is a much lighter feeling. Once again hum a partial scale in your chest register, this time 'bringing down' and using this lighter, head voice (falsetto) sensation. This exercise helps to stimulate and coordinate both sets of muscles so neither set carries a disproportionate load. Be patient, go slowly and you should start to feel some results.
A couple more points:
1. If you think in terms of getting your voice away from the throat there will be far less strain. Think of the breath/tone as radiating through the face, by-passing the throat.
2. Make sure your throat is pliably open so there is a clear passageway for the breath to reach all the resonating cavities in the head.
3. Relax your jaw!
Take your time with the exercises, good luck and I'll see you next month!
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