The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #120438 Message #2619584
Posted By: Jim Carroll
27-Apr-09 - 10:31 AM
Thread Name: Songs for a limited vocal range
Subject: RE: Songs for a limited vocal range
......is to develop a sort of head voice!
No, no, no.
Apart from the aesthetics of a head voice (personal taste I suppose), you introduce more problems than you solve.
1 It takes twice as much air to produce head voice, leaving you with difficulties in singing long lines without having to break.
2 You invariably introduce the dreaded gear-change (shift from head to chest tone), which sounds peculiar, destroys consistency in tone, and, if extreme, can cause you to yodel - if that's what you want - go for it!
Tension quite often restricts the range by wasting the vocal energy. Get yourself a set of decent relaxation exercises, the simpler the better.
Quite often the simple act of dropping your shoulders and unclenching your hands (tension spreads) can do the trick.
Other than that, practice. I totally agree with Shimrod (as usual), take something just out of your range and make it an aim (with me it was Flying Cloud and Sheffield Apprentice), start as low as you can comfortably manage and work away. A pitch pipe is invaluable.
If you tend to rise in pitch - most of us do - find a way of controlling that. Hate to mention it but hand-over-ear works for me.
If you are going to practice at length, choose something you don't want to sing so you don't spoil it for the future. We used a couple of pieces from Wagner, 'By Evil Craft' and ''Tis Ended, The Everlasting Work', which also allows you to practice unusual intervals.
Hated Wagner to begin with so it didn't matter.
Break a leg - but not a vocal cord.
Jim Carroll