A day in the life of a dramatic soprano:
Random opera directors to thick throat me: You don’t sing on top. Your voice is too big.
Me: Wanna bet? Well, I didn’t really say that. I just bring in high and hard music and put my money where my mouth is.
Random opera directors: See you at your audition.
Me: At the audition, I show my steel and fully hang with the coloraturas singing high and hard. Now not everyone wants a steak dinner on top, but some of the 19th century opera charts demand it.
Random opera directors: Ok, top it is for you.
My point, you wonder?
Singing high IS NOT “hitting” upper notes once in awhile.
Singing high IS being able to hang in the high note room aka passagio aka path to top of range. For many sopranos, that top hang/tessitura ain’t an easy feat. No matter how many high Cs you can pop out, singing between D5-A5 takes mad technique. Singing high means you can sit in this range on many different vowels and consonants and not become fatigued. Some sopranos can hang higher than others. I love singing Mendelssohn high but give me Madame Butterfly humming chorus and I’m running for the cigar smoking alto section.
So there may come a time where you get music that lives in this upper range. Often a less than vocally minded composer is not too concerned about writing closed vowels on G# and above. You think to yourself. Tsk. Tsk. I can do it. G# is no high C.
Au contraire, sitting in this upper middle range can be far more taxing than popping out some Mariah Carey extension pitches.
So today, my voice student brought this gremlin of a soprano section to her lesson. See music below. She had been getting tight singing these passages. Most of us would. Our goal was to find ease throughout this range.
Via vowel modification, rotation, head voice oo, body work, isolated chest voice exercises, and modulating the phrase higher than what is written, she found much more of a release and was able to sustain the tessitura.
It’s a gym workout for the throat to be able to sing challenging phrases in the “break.” After creating solid muscle memory, it will work automatically. You will be able to access these phrases also by finding the most efficient sensation on your best vowel and consonant.
High notes are great. They are exciting to an audience. But it takes a vocal village to be able to produce healthy sound continuously and consistently.
Find your bff vowel. Hang with your fave consonant. They will be a loyal companion regardless of repertoire and melodic approach.
You won’t be sorry.
#akintsucrooner
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