A number of my students this week have been talking about the ‘break’ in their voices. Some of these girls were involved in the Oxford Festival, in a class where the adjudicator discussed the different ‘parts’ of the female and male voices, and had questions about it; others have been well aware of the transitions between different parts of their voices for a while, and are in the process of learning to manage more extreme shifts in their tone production.
Whilst girls’ voices do not ‘break’ in the same way that boys do, we have distinct areas of the voice which resonate in different parts of the body. These are often referred to as the ‘head’ and ‘chest’ voices, although I was always taught – and instill in my own teaching – that the voice is ONE instrument, which must be treated the same across the whole range. Some teachers like to treat the lower register and upper register separately, but I have found that this often leads to a more pronounced switch between the two tone qualities, and difficulties for the student as they try to control the voice in different ways.
As the ‘chest’ register is often louder and stronger in young voices, some students are encouraged to sing down there in an attempt to get greater projection. All well and good, until they lose access to their upper notes. The more gentle sound of the natural ‘head’ voice sound weaker, and therefore less appealing, so students sing less, making the low notes even stronger and heavier, and conversely the upper notes weedy and thin sounding. This uneven distribution of vocal weight can cripple young singers, and leads to one of two scenarios: either they will only sing in a low register, or they must contend with a very disturbing loss of control in the middle of their voices, as they switch between the parts of the voice.
The aim of all singers of whatever stage in their development is to have an even and focused tone across their entire vocal range, where all notes can sound exactly the same at whatever dynamic the singer is required to sing. If the ‘passagio’ (or transition point between the head and chest voices) is not carefully managed, the desired even tone can never be accomplished.
So, how do we tackle the ‘passagio’ and get that even tone? The simple answer is technique exercises. My students always start all their exercises at the top of the scale. This means that each exercise starts in the upper resonance, and slowly travels downwards. If the singer has to shift into their lower register it is easier to achieve the transition in that direction, and the focus is always on maintaining a smooth legato line on an open vowel. If the exercise begins at the top of the scale, the singer is less able to use too much air pressure or weight in their voice (which usually occurs if exercises start in the easier lower register), and the upper head register becomes stronger as the muscles controlling the vocal folds acclimatise to the demands of singing. Gradually the singers get a more focused tone with less breath escaping, and the upper register becomes the natural and easy place to sing. I was taught to start these exercises with a consonant, to help younger singers to start the exercise cleanly, and with greater confidence. When your voice is young and you lack experience, starting exercises straight on to a vowel will almost guarantee extra air escaping: introducing a consonant to start the scale gives more security on those high notes.
So now you all know why I insist on those scales at the start of every lesson! They have many other uses too, but more on that at a later point….
At present I have three singers who are all at different stages of battling with a very pronounced break. Even though I rarely discuss the vocal registers with my pupils as I want them to think about their voices as one continuous thing, sometimes it’s almost impossible to avoid discussing the problem if a student’s break is very obvious. C, E and I have been encouraged in the past to sing in their lower registers, even though all of them have a beautiful and open ‘head’ voice which has been hidden. C has been studying with me for slightly longer, and whilst the break is still difficult, she is more able to manage it most of the time. E and I have suffered under my tutoring for slightly less time, but both girls have made huge strides forward in recent weeks, and their exercise now show no hints of the vocal difficulties which were so apparent a few months ago. The challenge now for all three girls is to transfer the beautiful even tone they can achieve in their scales to their songs, without resorting back to old habits. Keep going girls; you’re doing a fantastic job!