A brief history of vocal registers - Part 1
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- Опубликовано: 16 окт 2024
- The existence, nature, and use of registers in the human voice has been a controversial topic for centuries. Let’s see what the first people to ever view registers in action had to say about them.
The excellent yodeller at the beginning is Minna Reverelli, and that is one of her own compositions. We can talk about yodelling, breaks, and whether or not the transitions between registers should be audible, in a future episode.
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As a registered nurse, working in critical care, I was trained in intubation with a Laryngoscope in order to view the vocal cords in order to not injure them when I was attempting to keep the patient's airway open. It is so amazing to learn how, why, and by who this life saving instrument came into being.
I think I started formal singing lessons when I was 15. My singing teacher, Edward Taylor, believed he had a good understanding of Bel Canto, and I was the student to help him demonstrate it. The principle was to bring the facility of the falsetto down into the chest register by using exercises that exchanged vowels native to the falsetto Italian u and o) with vowels native to the chest (Italian i, e, and a). Using crescendo and decrescendo exercises through out the entire range eventually my falsetto disappeared entirely, but I could sing fff to ppp on a high C, and throughout my entire range. The key was learning that what sounded small to me in the upper range sounded hugh to my audience, because we can only hear an echo of our own voices. The opposite was also true: If it sounded loud to me it was puny and throaty for my audience. The other piece of this was opening the pharynx with a visualization of an apple opening or pushing back the posterior pharynx, taught by Harry Garland. A variation of this teaches opening toward the anterior, but fails because the hard vocal mechanism permits no such expansion. A merged mechanism and a freely resonating throat allows the singer to sing whatever repertory is appropriate for their voice. Lyrics should sing Cassio not Otello etc. etc.
Interesting...the 3 register model with falsetto in the middle is exactly how I experience my registers. I have a 3+ octave range with an awkward passaggio around middle C. Middle C for me is where chest voice gets to be a little strained, head voice is weak, and falsetto is breathy. I identify myself as a bass-countertenor. I sing alto and bass comfortably but prefer not to sing tenor because it puts my clunky passaggio right in the middle.
Philip.... singing tenor is even difficult for tenors! Its all either in the passsaggio or just below and just above it.... ugh....
I would love to hear you talk more about the passaggio/break and how teachers had instructed students on this to obtain fluidity between registers. It seems like modern singers depress their larynxes and muscle through it, which makes my skin crawl. Is the chest voice meant to be carried up, or the head voice meant to be carried down? How would a singer maintain resonance and volume in the upper registers?
Just superb once again - this really brings the subject alive, and your presentation skills are excellent. I'm so enjoying these. Even a cliffhanger to end with!
I am in love with your videos. I wonder if you could recommend vocalise books or exercises that can help with learning bel canto. I'm a tenor with a dark tone, and I have a lot of difficulty with agility or anything melismatic, and I absolutely abhor the modern technique. I'll be looking forward to future installments on your channel!
Would love to see a video on your thoughts on voice classification and how it developed and (what I think) is the overly neurotic way it is applied these days
I have books about Manuel Garcia including singing instruction books. I greatly admire and appreciate his work. I'm coloratura soprano and I love bel canto. Thank you! I'm greatly looking forward to watching all your videos.
I really enjoy learning about opera from your videos- and I enjoy listening to your speaking voice
Hi, I was taught the traditional three register technique from Solomon Khromchenko who was taught in turn by a Bel Cantist from the beginning of the 20th century. The two "breaks" between the registers in my voice are between E and F above middle C and more or less the same interval an octave higher.
My teacher said in particular with the chest and middle voice it was like blending milk in coffee, more milk if a lighter tone was wanted and more coffee if trying to achieve a darker one.
A good way of demonstrating it to students is when the tessitura of a piece lies high and one wants to color let's say a D above middle C with the same lightness of the rest of the work, then one does not descend into the chest. Conversely, if I am singing something that lies low I definitely would sing that same D in a heavier or chestier tone.
This gives an almost endless palette of possibilities.
I do think there is a change of register around A above the treble staff. In that stratosphere one can only hoot or whistle, all the vowels converge into an "oo". This definitely should not be forced either upon losing your voice (pace Natalie Dessay).
I have a problem with for instance an interpolated high Db above the staff upon the entrance of Butterfly. Puccini did not write it either, Tebaldi did not do it, but when the sopranos insist upon it, even Callas, it sounds really screechy, like a sore thumb.
Not if the Db is floated softly.
@@jimbuxton2187 In any case, the Db above the treble staff sticks out as the 5th degree or dominant of a Gb chord. Puccini intended for this section to come to a resolution but we get the opposite effect when sopranos insist upon showing off their high notes here.
Thanks, lovely nerdy video!
Just some additional remarks:
All this knowledge has radically changed with the advent of recording technology, and particularly in the last decades when singers are very much learning from listening back to their OWN voice. And of course having more examples available and the option to play and replay endlessly also has a strong effect on the perception of singers.
I am classically trained myself, but about 15 years ago I took the 3-year course at the Complete Vocal Institute. This method is much more based in all kinds of pop/rock etc music, but the idea is still, in the line of Garcia, to be nerdy about the mechanisms and to study those by looking at the vocal chords with a camera.
The premise of this institute is, that there are 4 'vocal modes'. And this has been 'proven' by these videos of the vocal chords, and also by spectographs of the frequencies each mode emits. At the same time, the human voice is so personal and flexible, that many singers turn out to be singing in 'grey areas', meaning in between one mode and the other.
What has been revelatory to me personally is, that classical vocal technique is so entwined with producing the 'right' sound and additionally the style. This is a limiting factor of course, if you compare it to other ways of singing which can be no less healthy or skillful but would sound completely wrong in classical repertoire. Take for instance some famous non-classical diva's: Édith Piaf, Oum Kalthoum, Judy Garland, Patti Labelle, to name just a few. All these ladies certainly knew how to sing, but to compare the emission with classical singing is already apples and pears.
So, to circle back to this question of registers, one additional question would be: do these classical rules and definitions suit all kinds of singing, or are they very particular to classical singing? And: if we incorporate ALL kinds of healthy voice production, how many registers would we count?
A few observations about (good) technique and classical singing:
My definition of good technique is, to know your voice well enough to be consistent, and now get into trouble while you are singing. So if your repertoire doesn't require much, or suits really well naturally, you may have a natural excellent technique. With classical training, many of us who venture into that training, have such a lot to learn, simply because we may love that music and style, but not have an uncomplicated natural disposition to make that particular sound. And then there is volume… I only realized after the age of 40 (I started my formal training at 17) the consequences of always having to sing at such a relatively high volume. I do have a natural disposition for volume, but being trained as a Bass-Baritone, singing so loud in the lower part of the voice is technically quite demanding and leaves little margin for error. Only when I studied in the Complete Vocal Intitute did I realize how competely unaccustomed I was, to sing at my lower volumes. And also, that it was not necessarily easy, but after getting used to it, it did feel a lot safer and less strenuous. Listening to non classical singers I also hear that those who sing at lower volumes often have a more consitent sound when they get older. A good example there is Blossom Deary.
Came across your channel by chance and it caught me directly. Nice work presented by a lovely woman. With regards to the 3 registers and special focus on tenor voices I have to say that for decades now those singers have been trained to sing in one register, in chest voice which is being carried all the way up, or as long as even possible. No falsetto sounds
anymore.
Even singers who were largely self-taught, such as Amelita Galli-Curci, who did not believe in a particular method of singing and was not an exponent of diaphragmatic singing, read Manuel Garcia's treatise from cover to cover.
The extra pleasure is your voice, speech and phrasing
I've been flirting with subscribing to you for two years now. I finally made the jump. Maybe you're the teacher than can help take me to that next level.
I am intrigued by the timbre of both your singing and speaking voice. Do you identify as a contralto or mezzosoprano? BTW I had occasion to participate in master classes given by Rae Woodland - she was obviously a very capable vocal pedagogue and a wonderful performer judging from the recordings I have heard of her in her prime.
I would be very interested in your assessment of Yma Sumac’s voice
Ah, the flageolet...so exciting! The presentation of your vids is always so entertaining.
Thank you for presenting the nineteenth century practice on registers and for introducing Ms Larkom. Can you tell us more about her?
Just a few hours after hearing this entry this morning, I went to the afternoon movie, "In The Good Old Summertime" (1949) with Judy Garland. The projectionist and I thought Judy might be the best entertainer of the 20th Century. But I was completely fascinated anew with Judy's talent. Every song melody seemed to be mostly in her chest range, with higher pitches well controlled. I wonder if you could analyze her voice to show how successful musical and pop singers (and their composers and agents) use the same knowledge of opera vocal range in maximizing the effectiveness of their pop song presentations.
I would love to see this topic talked about. I am fairly new to this view on opera, but from I have gotten so far, it seems to me that singing in the older days of opera shares a lot of principles with musical theatre.
Fabulous video and presentation, even for a non-singer like me. I could listen to her just speak all day.
yes, I'm very interested in hearing more about the break between registers and how it's used!
Later in his life, Garcia explained that in fact, the falsetto and the head voice are one register with two modalities (more darkness and chest vibrations in the falsetto; more light and head vibrations in the head voice); he noticed that the "passaggio" between falsetto and head voice is much easier than between chest voice and falsetto.
What you are saying here, in my own personal experience, makes sense to me.
@@mickey1849 It makes me happy. As a counter-tenor, when I began to have singing lessons fourty-five years ago, it was not so easy to get good informations about the old bel canto school. The singing teachers ignored the counter-tenor voice. Fortunately, I met a woman who decided to train me in the same way that she did for the contralti. The art of the castrati was lost and I spent much time looking for old books written in the past centuries. The first generations of english counter-tenors as Deller, Bowman, Eswood, Brett used exclusively the falsetto register; so, the best models were women: Callas (whose teacher, Elvira de Hidalgo, was inheritress of the Garcia school) and then Berganza, Horne... Sorry for being so long.
@@brunopicaude3092Horne is not an example of proper technique, her voice is too throaty and artificially darkened, she does have chest and head voice, but unhealthy produced 😢
It's definitely three for me too, and I think the obsession today with the voice having to sound exactly the same all the way up and down might be unhelpful.
It's so comprehensive, I would like also to know more about your teachings on yodeling and breaks, and the essentials of having them. Also, I also would like to learn whistle, humming, and breathing.
Very interesting and beautifully presented.
This is a brilliant video.
Speaking of "chest voice" or "natural voice" the shock of my life happened when I heard Agnes Baltsa for the first time. I just couldn't believe what I heard on the record. Her chest register was going so much up, she used it for much higher notes then absolute majority of modern singers and singers of her generation. And she put it up front, proudly using it as one of the major tools in her performance. After a first shock I gradually got used to her manner and then started admiring her. She is really one of my favorite mesosopranos now.
Actually she is a soprano
@@vol.145 So?
Brilliant and thank you so much. Your wonderful presentation is so well thought-out, warm, interesting, enjoyable, engaging and explicit---who could ask for more ?! The subject matter, of course, is fascinating and something I have never heard explained in such detail before. My education continues apace...……….
Fasinating channel. Knew about the Garcias but not their accomplishments .
Thank you for featuring Marian Anderson, my favorite contralto.
would love to hear about yodeling and throat singing too. thank you darling x
I had high notes from the start, head voice was my happy place, it wasn’t until my mid twenties that I actually developed and made friends with my chest voice.
Very interesting to hear someone describe the passagio as the falsetto.
And to hear the differing theories.
Falsetto is not passaggio, it's a zone, from F3 to C#4 (for women, bass start from Db3, barytones from Eb3 and tenors from E3) where the two registers can vibrate together, from D4 it's better to sing in pure head voice (in pop music females can push a mixed chest/head voice up to a G4, not so healthy, but possible with a microphone)
Hello. I have no musical background. I know little about Opera. Now maybe I'll be able to recognize a few aspects of it when it comes on the radio. Thanks.
I would love to read about Agnus Larkin! Please, what is the book you are reading from!
I agree there are three registers (though I notice my voice has a very tiny fourth one from D6-E6. I can sing C#6 in full voice, but D is variable, and usually a whistle-type note).
I've noticed men talking about chest and head only (ignoring countertenor-style falsetto for a moment), but women tend to describe chest, middle, and head. I'm a soprano, but I don't commonly like to use my chest register above a middle C. It prefers to start at a low B flat, meaning B3 and middle C can be in either register, depending on what the repertoire requires. Is that usual?
I used to have Queen of the Night F6, plus a few more, but illness took them away.
Very interesting video. So many different concepts to most modern teaching. I'm curious though as to why he thought the middle voice had to sound veiled and soft, I would say my voice is strongest there? Or should you soften it off if you want to go properly into the head more easily ?
I always love learning from you darling. xxx
Thank you for the video!
The chart at 4:19 is intriguing, especially the fact that he places the middle voice at the same pitch for all women's voices. And his chart for tenors bears no resemblance to what is standard today.
I have so many difficulties with my falsetto... Particularly when going from head voice to falsetto. I really cannot do it properly yet!
Although I can gather that you also heard many arguments and different explanations (and people are still debating/arguing) about "registers", the explanation of how Falsetto works is completely wrong here. It is not an intermediate register, either. I can produce Falsetto, which is way higher than "Head voice". ("Head voice" and "Chest voice" are produced by using different resonance chambers, but the vocal cord is used the same way). As it is mentioned, "Whittle" is a part of Falsetto, but it uses a further smaller portion of the vocal cord and more breath, in order to produce doubled-up vibrations. It is known that Falsetto is produced by using vocal cord (folds) differently from the normal way. The shape of vocal cord used with "Chest/Head voice" looks similar to the shape when it is used in normal speech. In Falsetto, you increase the diameter of the throat (by using muscle there), that stretches the vocal cord more. You also intentionally "relax" the vocal cord. You feel that your throat is now more "open". With the vocal folds stretched more and now it is thinner, it vibrates with higher frequency. The same phenomenon can be observed by tightening strings of instruments or by blowing wind pipes with more air, in order to produce octave higher notes. Apparently, many females mistakingly think it is the "Head voice", when, in fact, shifting to Falsetto in higher range unconsciously. The same source also said that some females never sing other than Falsetto. I presume that this shift from normal use of the vocal cord to that of Falsetto is easier to understand intuitively by males, due to the anatomical difference. Also, it is because Falsetto is not a normal mode of singing in males. Thus, "Head voice" and Falsetto position themselves side-by-side, with some over-up in their ranges. Falsetto works by producing the doubled-up frequency. So, naturally, it is more difficult to produce lower notes. I don't list references.
Could you do a video where you demonstranter the different techniques on your own voice?
As I stumble upon this side of the Internet more, it becomes easier to find a comment of yours 😆😆
@@wachamcaulid You've seen me alot in the opera-community on youtube? 😅
@@mathildehb0076 yes
@@wachamcaulid Well, then I am quite active in this community ☺️ I ask, because I want to get to the bottom of things
@@mathildehb0076 ❤️❤️❤️
I feel that to me Mado Robin was especially unusual as her highest notes seemed more like normal head voice than any other singer I've heard going up around there, in flageolet or whistle tones.
That is just because her vocal cords are so thin her registers sound very similar. I don't think she used her chest voice. The glory of the true coloratura soprano is the unusual eveness of their entire vocal compass.....lily pons is an exceptional example.
That was enlightening, thanks!
0:18, Agnes Larkom, The Art of Singing, 1920
4:00, Garcia jr, sui registri e falsetto come tegistro centrale
7:00, L. Tibett, esempio
7:50, Garcia
8:52, esempio registro central
09:50, Larkom compiange le nuove aspettattive degli anni 1920
11:20, flagiolet registro
13:20, quarto registro
What about throat singing? I’ve had the experience of listening to Huun-hur-Tu in person circa 2005
I cannot wait to know about that fourth 'register'!!!!
Who is the singing im the beginning yodeling? Schumann Heink?
I have the same doubt, haha
I found out a moment ago that the name of the singer is in the description. - It’s Minna Reverelli
The funny thing about this is that I don't know if the whole three register subdivision does concern untrained voices or not, but eatherway it is used for untrained male voices constantly in my experience- and wrongly it seems???
For example, I'm an untrained male, and I obviously do have three registers. One from G to about c' (resonant, more overtones), another from about a to g' (softer and duller) and a third from c' to d'' (thin, ridiculous sound, dynamics severly restricted ) .
And I even learned in school that this were the three registers talked about by Garcia. But is that even true?
The way I and many untrained/lesser trained male singers use the registers has absolutely nothing to do with Garcia's categorys or does it?
This video is brilliant. Thank you.
Could you write down the title of the book and the author's name, Agnes Larkin? Larkim?
"The singer's art" by Agnes Larkcom.
Completely off topic, I'm sure, and I might be completely mistaken of course, but could it be that there was a distant relative of that famous Mr García doing the rounds as a waiter also called Manuel in some sort of hotel if you like in Folkestone, in the 70s? It's an uncanny likeness, I must say.
Curious why you chose to talk about them in terms of registers, which, as you mentioned, is very controversial and disputed about "what's what". "Falsetto" means so many things to so many people that it's almost a useless term. I've found it very effective with students to describe (even if I don't use the words) TA dominant singing and CT dominate singing and "mix"--which essentially is the three registers you describe, but a more technical approach of actually which muscles you're utilizing. I'll still use the register language of where the student feels the sound, but it's rooted in a visual demonstration.
11:49 Is it me or does this sound exactly like the end of Think of Me from Phantom Of The Opera .... ???? Well I'm not surprised ....
Have you heard the great Cackle Sisters?
How could there be three registers when there are only two groups of muscles responsible for creation of voice?
I love your videos
Voice as perfection💜
Where would mixed voice fall in?
Basses start from Db3, barytones from Eb3, and tenors from E or F3...all females start from F3 up to D4 (then it should be pure head voice), but it's possible to sing in the two mechanism at the same time much much lower
@@fulvioarborio9578 i don’t understand, does mixed voice exist then? Why doesn’t she mention it?
@@toothless2323 She does mention it. It's just that García called it "falsetto" rather than middle or mixed voice. It's explained in the video.
It exists, but it's better to avoid it since it is rather a result of a faulty technique. Douglas Stanley in his book your "voice" explains how it degenerates the voice.
@@AllenFigueredo5 Everyone mixes and it's the healthiest and most efficent way to sing with all vowels above the bridge
Who would be an example of a singer who can / could move smoothly from register to register without noticeable effect on the passage notes?
Montserrat Caballe was noted for her smith transitions.
Here's where that old saying "Practice makes perfect." applies...
What about cupurto singing?
The intro!! 😲😃
Look into the Estil Method. Jo Estil identified six different “sounds” that the voice can make. She spent the best part of 20 yrs with a camera down the throats of singers to develop her method of voice production. These include speech, classic, sob, falsetto, belt, opera. All these use different subtle techniques involving things like the tilting or non-tilting of the thyroid cartilage which impacts the thickness of the vocal cords thus producing different sounds. She also exposes a new understanding of where support comes from. Not from the diaphragm or stomach area, but rather the pectoral and lateral muscles of the torso. Learning her method totally gave me control over my voice and allowed me to access sounds I never thought possible.
I believe this channel is looking at historical singing. Estill is not historical at all.
Estil method is based on tension, tension and tension. "Anchoring" IS tension. It gives immediate short turn results but will kill your voice in the long run.
Ernestine Schumann-Heink yodeling...
Apparently this is my rabbit-hole to fall down today because I'm binge-watching your videos. I'm trying to keep an open mind, but am noticing some things I'm taking exception with. The first is the absurd notion of female singers having a falsetto voice. That is strictly a male voice peculiarity. The possible exception might be the whistle register, which is--I believe--produced by sheer overtones. Heck...I'm a contralto and I can get into the whistle register, thus my theory of it being produced by overtones. (I feel that male falsetto is more overtone singing than pure vocalization.)
The second is the shading of the voice...which is almost non-existent in the old recordings...except for the odd singer who swallowed his/her sound...like Mrs Gotrocks on the Flintstones cartoons...or Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies. That was what I heard with Marian Anderson...an extremely swallowed and unattractive sound. Ernestine Schumann-Heink sounds much the same way to me. Not every singer of the day sounded that way, so I wonder if it was an affectation from the Wagnerian school of singing back then.
As a contralto myself, I was frankly shocked at the unattractive raw sound recorded by Clara Butt. It was not an attractive sound at all. Just because a female singer can achieve a low note doesn't mean she should sing it.
Your entire vocal range is almost three octaves from the E below middle C all the way up to a B-flat to octaves above.
I heard her talking down to a Bb2 in one video.
Você por aqui!? Achei esse canal a uns dias. Estou achando interessante! Te conheço do canal do Paulo.
@ailtonsouzadeara
It's just that I considered only the vocal range that she presents in this video, I've heard her speaking down to approximately G2, in the video where she imitates Queen Victoria. She even reached a C6 in the video about the difference between Vocal Technique and Style.
Que bom que você já me conhece do canal do Paulo Bass.
Você assistiu os vídeos em que eu cantei?
@@pedrosergio2002 Interesting.
Sim, vi seus vídeos cantando. Gostei bastante.
@@ailtonsouzadearaujojunior2210
No primeiro vídeo muitos começaram a me criticar dizendo que eu sou um tenor lírico e não um barítono.
@@pedrosergio2002 Eu vi.
What’s the best recording of Kirsten Flagstad ?
LISTEN to SUSANNA FOSTER
Loved this, but why use such old recordings to demonstrate the different type voices? I would presume that there are modern singers that can exemplify these techniques.
The Russian basses are sitting on the bench waiting to be acknowledged.
Man the more I hear about this subject, the less I understand
red. mmmmmmmmmmm. red.
she's hot!
Whistle register, I can do it haha. It’s the same thing Mariah and Ari do
Are you contralto?
Countertenor ok no that's a joke
I assume you mean the woman who does the videos...and I don't think so. I listened to a few things she recorded during the lock-down, and I see her as clearly a mezzo. She has a freedom in her upper register that mezzos have, and usually contraltos do not.
@@joannathesinger770 Thank you. I'm trying to learn the difference and identify the voices better
She sounds like she's either a light or lyric mezzo, most-likely lyric.
A pity we can almost only say "it´s what HE would have wanted".
Female pop singers can show off with really high "whistling" notes, but that ability is misused! One of the worst songs ever is "Lovin' You", and it doesn't matter about the singer's ability to reach a high octave.
This is a dangerous channel for vocalists. Please disregard their content.
Very dangerous. Singers might actually get to hear records by people like Tibbett, Anderson, Tagliavini, and Ponselle and realize that modern vocal technique produces consistently mediocre and inferior results. They might want to try to learn to sing like these great vocalists of the past, and that will be socially isolating and make them unemployable as "old fashioned." Very dangerous indeed.
Seriously though, if you're going to call it "dangerous" at least give some reasons.
I'm a vocalist who has improved my singing and enjoyment of it, with Ziazan's methods. Some teachers can be dangerous to your voice, she's not one of them.