The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #142943   Message #3298802
Posted By: Crowhugger
29-Jan-12 - 08:34 PM
Thread Name: Speaking voice versus singing voice
Subject: RE: Speaking voice versus singing voice
Does this breathy sound happen every time you sing the particular note?

I find that a certain low note or two will be breathy when I've first begun singing but solid after half an hour of singing. For me this is the case with what I consider the lowest note I can solidly sing, C below middle C. If absolutely necessary I can get enough sound on the B to make it work if it's only here and there. Some days though, when I visualize sending the sound through a small spot between my eyes, I can get that low B, sometimes even B-flat, to sound cleanly.

If the lowest note of a song is always breathy but occurs rarely and only for short duration, I might leave it in that key if I like how the rest of the melody sounds and (if accompanied) how the guitar part works. But if it's breathy and it's important to the melody, I will move the song to a higher key, and use a capo. If that causes the top-most notes to be too high, I don't sing the song. That has been a very rare occurrence for me because a great majority of songs I've wanted to sing have a melody that falls within an octave or slightly more, usually either doh to doh or sol to sol, give or take a note or two. I can fit that into either my low range or high range and not have to use the two different sounding voices in one song.

Also: CORRECTION to my range given in 28 Jan 12 - 03:36 PM post--I had handbell arranging on my mind and gave my range in handbell parlance. My range is B2 to F5 or so.