Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Femal Chest Voice
The article "Female Chest Voice" addresses the potential pros and cons of the female chest voice, comparing the thoughts of Gwenellyn Leonard, a voice teacher who has taught at Uof O, Linfield and Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and Freda Herseth, a widely known mezzo and voice faculty at Univ. of Michigan.
Leonard states that the female voice should be seamless when passing through registers, and that that should be the ultimate goal. Being comfortable switching registers needs to come first, which is then implemented by scale equalization, which is singing a scale evenly, bridging that gap between chest and mixed voice, and then mixed to head voice. When discussing it anatomically, what should happen with the larynx is that when singing an ascending scale, the cricothyroid moves down toward the thyroid and the cricoid moves up, successfully stretching the vocal folds as the voice moves higher up the scale. Leonard also talks about how important the phonatory, breathing and posture processes are in successful register switches.
Freda Herseth mentions that use of the chest voice, or of mixed voice, is essential for giving whatever piece is being sung, the emotional drive it needs, with "the goosebumps or the unexpected welling up of tears." She asserts that most audiences don't just want to hear high, floaty soprano pieces or arias that hang out in the upper staff area and that they need those warm, resonant sounds well. However, Herseth also mentions that singing or speaking predominantly in the chest voice can cause fatigue and vocal faults. Developing strength in the speaking chest voice and utilizing vocal exercises will result in further strength in the singing chest voice. The correct repertoire is also of huge importance. Giving a student a piece of music with a recording, and telling them to mimic what they hear, is not always a good step. The student needs to be in tune with all of the healthy ways of using the chest voice, the muscles and other behaviors to sing correctly. Otherwise, they could be trying to tackle too big of a task too early on. Overall, Leonard and Herseth agree that when engaged correctly, women singing in their chest voice, or mixed voice, can be ultimately beautiful and bring a lot more presence with the character and emotion of a piece of music.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I think this is interesting for a lot of people. The chest voice is a very difficult way to sing healthily. Vocal faults are very common and the main cause of a shortened singing career.
ReplyDeleteI am curious if the article talked about exactly how to use chest voice healthily. I know I struggle with singing in my chest voice if any extended range is required. Usually above an F4 starts feeling quite strained or shouty in my voice. I think this is true of many other classically trained sopranos?
ReplyDeleteSinging in chest or mixed voice for a woman can be very beautiful but I see it as an effect (at least for sopranos). I think the color and "emotion" they are taking about is some times more effective in a different voice type rather than pushing someone to sing too low for too long. There can be just as much emotion when a piece goes high as when a piece goes low.
ReplyDeleteAs Megan talked about, I think it's definitely vital for moments such as Carmen and Tosca (I was thinking about those two examples in class as well), but Bryce, Laurel and I can attest that it can definitely go overboard at times and stop being beautiful, even when used for appropriate emotional effect. The version of Tosca that we watched in Opera Survey last term had chest notes that we all just wanted her to stop singing.
ReplyDeleteThat being said, ability to use and control the voice is important, and that definitely includes the chest voice. I found it interesting how the second woman discouraged singing according to professional models, especially early in the career, because the anatomical processes need to be trained in order to be able to coordinate sound like the professionals do. It's also interesting, because due to conductive resonance, you can be imitating a professional in your head, but sounding completely different to the outside world.
I know that we focus this class on classical music, but especially with the ever-popular use of microphones in modern musical theater and pop music, I think it is really important for students to learn how to properly use their mixed voice. Oftentimes singers of musical theater utilize their mixed voice in such an efficient way that, to the untrained ear, it sounds no different than chest voice and is infinitely more healthy than using a pure chest voice. I think it is also important for Mezzo-Sopranos to learn how to utilize the mixed voice for the sometimes extreme ranges that are required of them when singing Alto in choirs (Bach, anyone?).
ReplyDeleteI think it's super important to teach a healthy use of chest voice. I totally agree with this article that the importance of using chest voice to get rich, full tones is completely necessary and wonderful. I am surprised how much chest voice, in its pure form, is supported. Chest voice, when abused, can cause major vocal issues so it is very important to teach proper technique. I totally agree with Jessica that teaching how to mix as soon as possible is a great idea (or as soon as it is applicable to the voice in terms of maturity).
ReplyDeleteHaving a clear chest voice can be a great help to projecting, but if all you use is chest and mixed voice it can make reaching the head voice much more difficult. I agree with the article that over use of the chest voice can lead to severe vocal fatigue and feel like I need to rest my voice more than usual after a particularly intensive day of Bach.
ReplyDeleteI am a firm believer in having a strong and beautiful chest voice for many reasons... One, being that I am a mezzo and having that rich chest voice is absolutely necessary for a large amount of the repertoire available to us and two, because I love musical theater and other forms of singing I rely on using my chest voice a lot higher than the average singer and work very hard at making sure there isn't a clear difference between my chest and mixed voices. As long as you are not overusing your voice and are trained in a healthy way, I find that the female chest voice is a great thing in several mediums. It's all about knowing how to properly use your instrument and what it's capable of.
ReplyDelete