Baritone "Hook"
MD
As a teacher, I would tell you that
for a baritone, E natural is a critical note. If you're on an "ah", you need to darken the vowel on that note and above. So "ah" would darken to "oh". I would term that "covering the voice". The trick is to do exercises taking you in and out of that area of the voice, always darkening the vowel on E natural and above. "Ay"
darkens to "ee" and "Oh" darkens to "oo". "EE" and "00" are already narrow vowels and don't need to be tampered with. Pavarotti probably had the most seamless ability to cover the voice, and he of course approaches it higher than you would,
usually on an F or F#. Milnes probably had the worst time in your passage area, and did indeed have a nasty hook, that he never got rid of. So rather than get your tongue lifting up, alter the vowel instead and see if that doesn't help. Please note that the trick is not to let the audience catch you covering the voice... to them it should sound like a seamless "ah" all the way up and down... only you will know you're altering towards "oh"
above an E.
Have fun!
MD
Kagami101 wrote:
> Maybe some of you voice teachers can help me with this. I am a true
baritone
> but have a problem above D#4. I get into that area and my tongue
tends to curl
> up in the back and my voice tends to "fall back" into a very covered
sound once
> I get up in that area. Needless to say this makes getting above E4
a major
> chore. :(
>
> It is tough being a baritone that doesn't have a passable G4. :(
>
> My teacher tells me I have a "hook" in my voice and it wants to fall
back
> instead of staying forward.
>
> Is there a real technical term singing teachers use for this? Are
there any
> exercises I can do to smooth this out and maybe improve the ease
of getting
> into the G-A area of my range?
>
> I know this is hard to do without actually seeing me in action, but
any ideas
> you might suggest would be most helpful.
>
> Todd
Kagami101
but have a problem above D#4. I get into that area and my tongue tends to curl
up in the back and my voice tends to "fall back" into a very covered sound once
I get up in that area. Needless to say this makes getting above E4 a major
chore. :(
It is tough being a baritone that doesn't have a passible G4. :(
Brady McElligott
and do, especially Milnes. Some of my coaches say that this "hook" has ruined
Milnes' voice. I don't know.
At any rate, I don't think it is necessary to do, although the effect seems to
thrill a lot of audience members. I can do the "hook" with my voice, but it
seems to me to be a short cut instead of the real thing, sort of like the
"wobble-chin" instant vibrato that the Church girl uses, instead of getting a
relaxed throat. (The hook thing does not happen when the throat is relaxed.)
When I do the hook thing, it is usually because I haven't worked up the section
properly. I found it most recently as I was working on Scarpia's "Tosca, mi
fai dimenticare Iddio". It made me angry that on just an F I should have to
hook, and after analyzing what I was doing a bit, it was completely
unnecessary.
How old a baritone are you? It may be that you are too young to sound like a
forty-year-old, and the higher notes will come in time. If you sound like a
forty-year-old when you are twenty, what in the world are you going to sound
like when you are forty?
More info!
>It is tough being a baritone that doesn't have a passible G4. :(
You said a mouthful. I didn't get one until I was about 32.
Ryan Edwards gave me a good exercise to get rid of the hook. (I give him the
credit, since it is such a great exercise...I give the exercise to my students,
too, and have shared it with some of the other voice teachers in the area, so
it's not a big secret or anything.) If you are interested, send me a private
email.
Brady McElligott --Edgewood, NM
arr...@aol.com (<--please reply to this one)
(ve...@unm.edu) (and not to this one--for stuffy university use only)
"Is it music, or just on purpose?" -N. Rimsky-Korsakov
Mike {The Piano Monster} Schear
i have had a similar problem (i am a tenor and this happens a bit higher
up for me, but i think i understand what you are saying.
the vocalization that my teacher has shown me that helps the most is,
on an "e" (like in sleep) vowel, start at that bottom of your range
and sing staccato notes, arpegiating a triad. (you could even do it on
another vowel first and then more to "e"). keep doing this all the way up,
keeping the "e" very forward (better to be too forward and slightly nasal
that not
enough). this one has helped me.
good luck,
mike
On 20 Aug 1999, Kagami101 wrote:
--->Maybe some of you voice teachers can help me with this. I am a true baritone
--->but have a problem above D#4. I get into that area and my tongue tends to curl
--->up in the back and my voice tends to "fall back" into a very covered sound once
--->I get up in that area. Needless to say this makes getting above E4 a major
--->chore. :(
--->
--->It is tough being a baritone that doesn't have a passible G4. :(
--->
--->My teacher tells me I have a "hook" in my voice and it wants to fall back
--->instead of staying forward.
--->
--->Is there a real technical term singing teachers use for this? Are there any
--->exercises I can do to smooth this out and maybe improve the ease of getting
--->into the G-A area of my range?
--->
--->I know this is hard to do without actually seeing me in action, but any ideas
--->you might suggest would be most helpful.
--->
--->Todd
--->
--->
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Michael Schear - 46 Raleigh Street, Rochester, NY 14627 - 271-2569
ms0...@uhura.cc.rochester.edu msc...@cs.rochester.edu
mi...@cvs.rochester.edu mi...@cif.rochester.edu
"Do what's good for you or you're not good for anybody". --B. Joel
"Don't compromise yourself -- You are all you've got." -- Janis Joplin
"You're only as beautiful as your thoughts." -- Earth, Wind and Fire
Joseph M. K.
I'm a tenor and up from the passagio, i notice that something is closing around the
soft palatal area. Is that the Hook thing? It really bothers me but you can't notice
the difference just hearing me and my teacher who's a baryton keeps telling me
nothing's wrong.
It'll help me a lot to have some explainations from those who experienced it. It's
hard to get it from a teacher for whom singing was just too easy from the beginning.