The Female Primo Passaggio: A Survey of Its Physiology, Psychology, and Pedagogy,

The Female Primo Passaggio: A Survey of Its Physiology, Psychology, and Pedagogy, 

by Elena BIyskal

This article is filled with technical lingo and explanations surrounding the issue of the "break" in women's (mostly younger women's) voices.

Breaks and Registration:

• The "break" is where women struggle with the differences between head and chest voice, and how to "register" the notes they're singing depending on where they lie in their range.
• "Register" is a dangerous term as it has 5 different definitions, causing confusion.  Blyskal says: "if individuals rely on vocal breaks to define their registers, it is no wonder that the transitions become so conspicuous."
• In order to avoid the register break, students should aim to sing a natural, seamless sound throughout the entire range without consciously altering her voice to account for the break.
• Avoid gear-shifting
• Registration must be acknowledged and defined: "Registers are defined by laryngeal function... [and] resonance."
• Understanding the vocal folds' is paramount: The two pairs of primary laryngeal muscles are the thyroarytenoids (colloquially, the shorteners) and cricothyroids (the lengtheners)

Register Break Down:

• Although there are four generally accepted voice registers, only two are involved with the female primo passaggio: The "lower" and the "Upper" registers.
• The "lower" register has the thyroarytenoids more prominently contracted, making the folds shorter and thicker. The lower range of fundamental frequencies combined with strengthened higher harmonics result in a thick, rich, ringing sound.
• The "Upper" register is usually considered cricothyroid-dominant: the cricothyroids contract as the pitch ascends, placing greater tension upon the vocal ligaments. The folds become longer and thinner, creating fewer intense partials and a more flutelike tone.

Study Discoveries:

• "Thyroarytenoids are chiefly responsible for registration, antagonized by the cricothyroids as a pitch agent. It is the degree of thyroarytenoid activity—or lack thereof—that allows for a register change."
• Mix is produced mostly in either one register or the other.  It is not really the combination of chest and head voice.

"Mix"ed Register:

• Mix" is a concept widely used to camoflouge break.
• while mixed voice is primarily produced in one register, the singer can imitate the characteristics of the other register by modifying the sound's intensity, balancing the ratio between fullness and airiness."

- Ex: Kristin Chenoweth sings mostly in head voice, but places it forward enough that it projects and comes across as a "beltier", more musical theater sound

Smoothing out the Break:

• The singer can learn to smooth her transition not only by relaxing the laryngeal muscles, but also by formant tuning. 
• Formant tuning can be achieved through vowel modification. 
• Berton Coffin created the "Chromatic Vocal Chart", that showed which vowels would best resonate the fundamental frequency and harmonics on any note in a singer's range. 
• Regarding the passaggio, Coffin discovered that the female voice is narrower in the middle range while being wider and rounder at the top and bottom.
• Based on his chart, Coffin recommended that the female singer vocalize in the primo passaggio on alternating front and neutral vowels (/i/ and /u/ coupled with ¡a/ and /e/) to gain flexibility. 

Big Idea:

• The closer the formant is to the fundamental frequency, the more resonant the vowel becomes—essentially louder, purer in tone, and easier to sing.
• This is why "i" and "u" are so helpful in bringing tone forward amidst the break.

Physiological Issues associated with working through the transition point: 

• Young singers often attempt to accomplish intervals with a subconscious change in head position—either elevating the head for ascending pitch changes, or depressing the head to "dig" for lower pitches.
• The head and neck are crucial to positioning the larynx correctly: have the student focus on keeping her head relaxed.
• Appoggio breath management: "A uniformly resonant timbre is not possible unless breath energy is adjusted to match voice registration requirements." 
• When females sing exclusively in their lower range (which can be more comfortable at younger ages), they make accessing their head voice much more difficult.
• The development of the lower range is only detrimental if it is the only area young women sing in. It is still a natural part of the voice that should be utilized properly. 
• The female voice undergoes mutation in various ways: the trachea lengthens, the laryngeal muscles grow, the vocal folds thicken, and the larynx itself increases in size from twenty to thirty percent

Physiological Issues with working through the transition point:

• Not thinking about switching registers is actually a good thing, and can help to make the switch more discreet.
• For most female singers, the register break usually rears its head during adolescence, bringing about embarrassment due to the cracking and changing in their voice.
• Many young women think that the belty chest sound is the best way to sing because many of their vocal models sing that way.  Make sure to encourage them and inform them that "lighter" singing in the head voice is beautiful too!

Tips to working with young females in choir:

• With young choirs, it is smart to not classify your women.  Instead, divide all the women into 2 groups, and have them switch who takes soprano and who takes alto on different songs.
• No exercise should be used to point out and focus on the few pitches that mark the transition point: octaves, arpeggios, and legato scales can be used to smooth it out.

A true life lesson to sum up the article:

• "To guide a student through this transition is not only smoothing out a technicality, but also encouraging growth in being human—acknowledging weaknesses, accepting them, and patiently working through (not around) them to become stronger individuals."

P.S. Sorry this synopsis is giant and the video is a short film..... I didn't know what to do with all of the information.