El Papel que Juegan las Escuelas y Comunidades en la Transición Escolar

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combination that will address the Tends To by applying a vowel, consonant, and scale combination that will make them go in the opposite direction from where they were.

5) Where is the first bridge?

For females, generally speaking, and I mean very generally speaking, A or Ab above middle C (C4). Some female voices start to bridge as low as a G or F#, and rarely you find a lyric type of voice that starts to bridge at Bb. For men, bridges start typically at Eb or E, sometimes as low as D, and up to F above middle C (C4).

However, the more developed a voice is, the smaller the range of notes in the bridge.

6) What is the difference between mix and bridge?

Imagine the areas as islands, with a bridge that ties each of those islands together.

The more developed the voice is, the smaller the bridge is – that is, the fewer notes would be in that bridge, and therefore more of the voice is actually chest, mix, head, or superhead. Another way to define bridges is “negotiation notes”.

7) What notes does chest voice include?

For men, the chest would be anything below Eb – the bridge begins at Eb4 and goes to F4.

8) And for women?

For women, chest voice is anything below F#4 or G4. The first bridge starts at the G, Ab, or A (rarely as low as F# or as high as Bb) and extends to Bb4. The second bridge is Eb, E, F above high C (C5). Bridges generally occur at tritone (augmented fourth) intervals.

9) What exactly is “chest voice” and “head voice”?

These are terms that refer to sympathetic vibrations that occur. In chest voice, because the frequencies are lower, those vibrations are felt in the chest. But the chest voice does not actually happen in the chest, it happens in the larynx.

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call “head room”. That term refers to the idea that you need a few viable notes higher than the highest note you have to sing, in order to keep your voice healthy. If you have to sing a high C (C6), you had better have at least an Eb above that note in order to maintain the health of the voice.

11) I have seen Seth push a student’s larynx down in order to get them through the fourth bridge. Is it OK for teachers to do this?

Seth does not push the larynx down. He simply places his thumbs on the larynx so that when the muscles try to activate and pull the larynx, they are prevented from doing so. Most teachers should not be doing this, unless they really understand how it is done correctly.

12) What is “pressing down”, “leaning in”, “pressing in”?

These terms refer to the horizontal closing of the cords over a vertical column of air, which feels like pressing down for a number of reasons. First of all, you have air pressure going up, and since you are resisting that, it feels like you’re pressing down.

When you close the cords on the horizontal, the thicker the cord is vibrating, the more sound wave velocity you get. That velocity coming up through the bottom of the vocal tract right above the larynx creates an intense amount of frequency because of how small the tube is, which creates a sense of energy going down on the cords. So the more you get that horizontal closure, the more you feel a downward press as a result.

People often get confused, and when we say “press down”, they tighten their abdomen, like it’s some kind of support process and that is not what it is. When we say “press”, we are talking literally – about the closing of the cords horizontally against a vertical column of air, combined with the intense amount of energy coming downward from the velocity of the frequencies created by the cords. When the student gets it right because you have tricked him or her into the feeling with the proper tool combination, the experience the student has can be called “pressing down”.

Again, it has nothing to do with abdominal pressing, in any way. Seth always says

“expect, don’t direct”, and that is what this is – the students are tricked into

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consciously trying to make something happen as a result of someone telling you what to do, you experience the feeling without making it happen.

13) How can we tell the difference between a strong mix and pulling in a student?

The vowel is the #1 criterion. You have to widen the vowel to pull chest. If you sing on an [u] vowel (OO) or an [i] vowel (EE), you cannot pull chest. You might squeeze, the larynx might come up, but you cannot pull chest.

14) What is our primary objective as teachers?

Our primary objective is to create conditions in which the student is vocalizing with a low, stable larynx and closed or adducted vocal cords with a closed quotient somewhere between 50–80%. Closed quotient is the percentage of total time that the vocal cords are actually adducting (closed) between periods of opening. Falsetto is 10% or less closed quotient. When you are in a strong mix, the larynx is not rising, and the cords have a closed quotient of 50% or more. If you get to 100%, there is no sound because the cords are together 100% of the time. 0% means they are never closed, as in a silent sigh. We speak with around 50% closed quotient. A very developed dramatic tenor has a closed quotient of closer to 70% or 80%.

15) What is the difference between mix and belt?

Belt is not necessarily incorrect. You can belt in a correctly produced mix, and that is fine. If you belt in chest, that means the vowel is broad, and the vocal cords have not been allowed to go through the process of the gradual reduction of the vibrating mass. So there is a lateral stretch on the cords, the larynx will lift and tilt, and the mouth is really wide. When you see a singer whose mouth is really wide, they are probably belting chest. Remember if the vowel is correct, you will drive toward mix.

16) What happens physiologically in the mix?

There is a gradual elimination or reduction in the vibrating mass, as E. Herbert Caesari says. Seth calls it “damping”. We know that as we ascend in pitch, less and less of the cord is being used.

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resonance frequency is accentuated. So if the vowel is correct, you will feel a shift into your head, so it feels like a split between the mouth and the area behind the soft palate. It’s not something you DO; instead, your job as a singer is to modify the vowel and narrow the vowel through the bridges. As a result, like in a figure of 8, you expand in between the bridges and narrow going through the bridges. If, instead of narrowing the vowel in the bridges, you widen it, the voice gets “stuck”. When you hear someone “singing from the throat”, the resonance frequencies are sympathetic to the first formant, which is the throat. So the only way to get higher pitches at that point is to lift the larynx and shrink the tube. Split resonance is a by-product of good vowel production.

18) What are we in control of as singers?

You only have control of three things as a singer: you’re in control of how much you close the cords, how much air you blow, and how you shape your vowel. Everything else that other techniques talk about (putting the sound forward, feeling it in the mask, etc) is a by-product. Singing in the mix is a by-product of keeping the cords closed and shaping the vowel correctly. The split resonance is a result of good vowel production while the cords are staying closed.

19) What do you do with a voice that has no sound above the chest voice?

Sometimes it is best with voices like that to let them flip so they can experience falsetto, even if it is breathy. W[i] W[i]’s are good for that purpose. If they have no sound at all on top, they need to go get checked out by an ENT, because the only reason someone would not have anything up there is if they have swollen cords. If that is the case, there is probably something wrong. If the doctor says the cords are OK, then you are dealing with someone who needs to be tricked a lot, because the muscular behaviors are causing the cords not to be able to make the transition.

20) Is there a difference between tenor and baritone bridges?

Rarely, usually they are about the same place (D, Eb, E4). Most baritones bridge where tenors do, but they have a much more dramatic, heavy sound. Some heavy bass voices will bridge as much as a fourth lower, but it depends on the weight of the voice.

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fourth bridge as well. If the male sounds effeminate on the higher notes, it is because they have abducted at the second bridge.

22) Is it okay to work on the second bridge if the student is having trouble with the first?

Yes. Depending on the Tends To’s of the student, you may find that working the second bridge allows the student to release a little at the first bridge.

23) On the Lip Trills, how do you get a student to use the chest voice if they are disconnecting when descending?

Give them the edgy “mmm’” so they understand what it feels like to have the cords together, then go back to the Lip Trill with the “mmm” behind it.

24) How high is it safe to belt?

You know you are singing incorrectly if the larynx starts to rise and/ or the cords come apart. If that happens, you are not using the vowel correctly in the approach to the bridge. If the vowel is correct, the larynx is stabilized, and the cords closed, you can press through with more of a belt sound, but only when the student is physically ready to do so. It is never appropriate to sing with more air pressure than the vocal cords are prepared to resist.

25) How do I help a student find chest voice?

Refer to the Tends To’s and Tool Solutions section of Chapter 6 for the appropriate tool combination. There are numerous suggestions throughout Chapter 6 for dealing with each of the Tends To’s, including “no chest”.

26) Can a student be pulling chest if the sound is airy and breathy?

Yes. Again, the key is in the vowel. If the vowel is narrow, they cannot pull chest.

27) How do I know when to leave chest and blend into mix?

You don’t have to know, it will just happen as a result of correct vowel and cord closure, and a low, stable larynx. You do not have to define the bridge for your students. The bridge defines itself when you approach it correctly.

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More than anything, listen for the vowel. If the student has to hit it with more air in order to get through there, it’s probably chest. If the vowel is wide and the larynx is going up, it’s probably pulled chest.

29) How do you get the intensity of the belted sound without harming your voice?

You can get a very intense sound without harming your voice – it requires appropriate air, a good vowel, and good horizontal closure of the cords.

30) What exactly is falsetto?

Falsetto is where the cords are bowed, and separate, so the resonation is occurring not because of the cord adduction, but because of a rippling effect across the cords and the false cords that takes place in the mucosal layer, the outer layer of the cords.

The difference between falsetto and head is that you will hear a buzzing sound as the cords adduct in the head. The “Edgy mmm” is great for teaching the cord adduction.

31) How do you know if a voice has reached its upper limit and you should not vocalize it any higher?

If the larynx is rising and the voice is pushing to try to get to a higher note, you need to trick it into that place. As long as the larynx is stable and the cords are closed, the voice will just keep going up and up.

32) What about the soft palate?

The soft palate raises or lowers depending on the vowel you sing; you don’t have to raise it or lower it consciously. Again, that is a by-product of the correct vowel.

33) What if the student sings nasally?

Work on the [ƚ] vowel, use hooty, and apply the opposite tool set of what they are doing.

34) Why do we use the leaning forward?

Singing is a psychosomatic process. When you lean forward, you think differently about the high note :you allow the high note to happen rather than making it happen.

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vowel production and consonant production, thereby allowing the singer to start from the fundamental place of good cord closure.

36) What do the witchy and bratty sounds do physiologically?

Those are what we call “pharyngeal” sounds, and they help thin out the cords and adduct the cords so that students can get into the mix. However, they are temporary sounds, which should be discontinued after they have achieved their purpose because they do tend to raise the larynx. Once the student is mixing, get them moving toward a more Speech Level or normal production as soon as you can.

Also, be aware that “witchy” or “bratty” may mean one thing to you and something else entirely to the student, so describing the sound does nothing unless you can trick them into that coordination.

37) What is the “fraction” concept?

You have two vowel sounds working together: the higher up you go, the more it moves towards one vowel, and the more you go down, the more it moves towards the other vowel. So if your fraction is [a]/[ƚ], the higher up you go, the more you will sing [ƚ] and the lower you go, the more you will sing [a]. This is the vowel process of narrowing and expanding.

38) What exactly is meant by “hooty”?

Hooty is just a way to shape the vowel while helping the larynx to be low and stabilized.

39) How do you know when to stop using the temporary sounds, the witchy, bratty, or hooty sounds?

You observe the Tends To’s and you want to get the student to a Speech Level posture as soon as possible. That is the “art” of teaching voice!

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have a vibrato. You may need to trick the body into feeling what that is like. I particularly like poking the student about an inch or two below the sternum while they sing a straight note. This way, their experience is not one of making it happen, but experiencing what it feels like when it happens. Essentially, that is what vibrato is – you don’t make it happen, it just happens.

41) How do you deal with a really fast vibrato, tremolo, or bleat?

Have them hold the note straight first. Once they can hold a straight tone without tremolo, you can start to poke them. This also works for a vibrato that is too slow (a wobble). Usually a vibrato is not working well when we get in the way, so we have to solve the Tends To of the student first, and that will predispose a natural vibrato to happen. If the student’s jaw is moving during vibrato, then that is a sign of tension in that area. Don’t let your students imitate popular singers who shake their jaw to create vibrato!

42) When do you introduce the vibrato?

It depends on the student’s Tends To, but I like to get to it in the first lesson if possible.

43) How do we encourage a “natural vibrato”?

The only reason we don’t all have a natural vibrato is that we get in the way of ourselves. You need to eliminate the influencing factor that prevents vibrato, whether it is changing the vowel, or ease up on air pressure or volume. You need to balance the voice in order to enable vibrato.

44) What about the “jaw shake” you see singers do these days?

That is definitely incorrect, and a result of excessive tension and lack of balance.

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Most styles will require that you bend the rules at least a little, some styles more than others. So the question is, how much can the singer “bend the rules” and have that be a temporary condition, rather than having it become a habit. If they are bending the rules because they don’t know any better, or they don’t know enough to get out of that condition, then they get stuck there. It’s important that what we do for singers is help them to keep a “home base” and not let them get so caught up in style that they lose that home base, Our job as teachers is to balance them and keep home base as our number one priority, but as SLS instructors we are not producers, directors, record labels, or music directors. We are there to make sure that the foundation is good.

46) How is the SLS approach applied to Opera and Classical differently than the traditional approach?

Good classical singing IS Speech Level Singing. Bel canto vocal training is very similar to SLS training. You will see this if you go back and read the literature. They had a lot of the same ideas about registration and so forth that SLS has.

Unfortunately, in most university and conservatory programs, the original Bel canto training has been so diluted that it doesn’t mean anything. So, these teachers get so caught up in “support”, “put it in the masque”, “lift the soft palate” and all that, which are really counterproductive. Many of the people teaching in these situations were born with exceptional gifts and may have had something of a career, but they end up teaching, so they don’t know how to develop voices or are trying to teach someone else how to do what they did naturally. Therefore, they try to explain and describe by saying things like “more support” when they are trying to tell you to experience singing like they do. But singing is so subjective – you may do exactly what they tell you to do and get a completely different result.

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In document Transición a la Escuela. Actualización Julio CEDJE TRANSICIÓN A LA ESCUELA 1 (página 71-82)