THE MIX: A VOCAL CHALLENGE TO BECOMING A PROFICIENT SINGER! (Green Bay, WI) Vocal Mechanics Singing
One of the utmost difficulties that many vocal students encounter is blending their voice from the chest (lower register) into the upper register (head voice) easily. The muscles that have a tendency to control each register of the voice appear to be incompatible, or inconsistent with each other. This incompatibility brings about extreme frustration among many singers. The cessation in the voice can feel like an unconquerable hurdle.
As a singing instructor, one of our major objectives is to resolve this move or flow between the lower and upper registers in students’ voice. We try as much as possible to make a student capable of sounding like there is a mix or combination of registers—to make it sound as if they are singing in a united voice from the base to the highest point of their range. The vocal sound that is our priority is a full tone, resonance, power and fluidity. A skillful voice instructor is capable of giving specific exercises for each student’s unique vocal affinity that will assist them in developing this mixed voice and, consequently, adjust their breaks.
At times there are junctures in a singer’s vocal range whereby the vocal folds transform from a short and thick condition (often seen when singing lower pitches) to a long and thin vocal fold condition (which is usually common when singing higher pitches). This variation in vocal fold setup happens while the singer is going through a change in resonance sensations starting from one part of the body to another. The combination of system changes and apparent resonance shifts makes many singers encounter a cessation in their voice. The most noticeable point of cessation for lots of people is the change that happens toward the highest point of their chest voice.
The key step in starting to iron out this operation is comprehending the fact that at this first stage the singer must encounter an impression that is neither pure head voice, nor absolute chest voice. This is referred to as the mix voice or pharyngeal voice. Our objective is for the students to gradually move from chest voice to head voice while keeping their larynx in a calm, nonaligned, relaxed position bit by bit from lower register to upper register. The larynx should be kept in a casual, impartial or resting stance (neither stuck up as in gulping nor secured down as with a full yawn).
It is important that the vocal folds remained balanced between airflow and cord adduction (conclusion). What really takes place physiologically is not the same as what singers regularly encounter; in this manner, the purported "scientific method" to training singing can be loaded with its own drawbacks. It is highly imperative that we train singers from their point of view rather than confusing them with many vocabularies, which may make them try to specifically control some aspects of the methods that are automatic.
As soon as the singer ascends to the highest pitch of their chest voice and above the passage, they possess three distinct alternatives, yet just one of them is desirable:
1. FALSETTO: The singer can unleash many of the additional vocal folds so as to sing on a little vibrating mass by singing just the external edges of the lines. This is known as falsetto. Falsetto sounds extremely airy without conveying power and is normally complemented by a conspicuous break. Falsetto does not easily mix with other voices. Albeit chase falsetto is possibly not harmful, it is not known to be a full-voiced sound that many singers and audiences want.
2. THE MIX: Singers can remain connected to the chest voice while in the meantime enabling a continuing diminishing and stretching to happen. This kind of blending activity can be created by a full and resounding sound (different from falsetto), however, there is the little possibility to feel strained or cause vocal harm like when a singer pulls their chest.
3. THE PULLED CHEST: The singer can sustain staying in the unchanged chest voice as the pitch increases. This will call for an increase in volume as the pitch rises. The feeling is the same as screaming. Conveying this unchanged, very high chest voice could bring about a very huge vibrating mass, the larynx normally increases, the vowel twists and the tone has a tendency to be low-pitched or flat. To the audience, the sound is uncomfortable, which leads to strain and pitch problems. This situation causes lots of vocal harm in singers.
Apparently, the most appropriate option in passing the breath and sound from the chest voice to a head voice is to support and build up the mix. The capacity to sing in a mix enables a singer to keep up a moderately undisturbed laryngeal stance while maintaining a relaxed balance of cord airflow and cord closure. Building up the mix is important for singers of nearly all styles of music. After some time, the blend can be incorporated into an exceptionally strong, full, and abounding voice. The mix is flexible. It can be utilized to sound like an expansion of the chest voice i.e., a belt, or can be likened to a downward increase of the head voice. The mix empowers the singer to flow through their voice with no clear breaks of any sort.
Building up the blend is the consequence of hard work and a professional vocal teacher, after some period of adequate and regular training of the voice. Every singer has their own vocal needs that must be tended to; therefore, there is no single vocal program that can be effectively adhered to by all singers. This is the reason it is uncommon for singing students to really learn the skill to mix by utilizing self-study, pre-packaged singing projects. Every voice is one of a kind and every vocal propensity must be dealt with in its own special manner
