Rockwell Blake describes dark timbre and passagio

[2002obie]

The "turn" occurred at g# for HIS voice. But he started preparing for the turn and E by doing what I would describe as making a taller more vertical sound. That way when the flip occurred at g# it was well blended

[Arfat]

I always thought the passagio was the area (of chosing) in which you flip into head resonance.

[Arfat]

@Arfat at least that's how I use my passagio

[Stevo8844]

He's right, just a little iffy on the actual physiological mechanism. The male(and female) voice only has two registers, all this 3 and 4 register business is crap. Where he is getting some things wrong is that in the passagio men have to cover, and add falsetto coordination to the sound. While the register doesn't change completely it coordinates. Women also coordinate, but it's more falsetto dominant.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Stevo8844 - Actually you only have ONE register but you have 2-3 shifts in resonance. Passagio is a myth actually created to explain an uncoordinated support system. There is no physical spot on your vocal folds that needs to "shift gears" at certain approximations of pitch. To say there is a spot on your vocal folds that has to do something else to continue stretching is absurd. The CT and AT muscles do one simple movement.

Master support and the IDEA of "passagio" disappears.

[PastaAndPavarotti]

Not sure what to think of all this passagio controversy. I have always been taught that the passagio is difficult to manage yet I have never had a problem with it. Just as Blake states, for me it too does not exist. I don't get what all the fuss is about.

Blake is the first person I know who corroborates what I have found to be true.

As for dark timbre I have simplified this concept as well. Just listen to get a good, pleasing tone in the whole range. A balance of high and low tone in the voice.

[defuntoba]

@spgtenor @MisterPapageno @reynaldomonterrey Thanks all of you guys for your advice! I'm getting some practice, and i've noted that sometimes singing is more about not thinking (for example, i started to reach higher when i was singing with headphones, just singing along with the music). And as a beginner i made the horrible mistake of underestimating support, so I'm trying to learn support now. It's still kinda hard to keep the ribs open while breathing, but now it's just practice. Thanks!

[GameJourney]

Opera nuts are so conceited. He shoots down everything that guy says just to be a contrarian. He also said that women have 3 registers but men don't. That was made up.

[defuntoba]

Well, if thethe male voice got no break, no passagio, then my voice breaks in the middle because of what? I'm sorry for doubting this, but I'm a begginer self-taught kinda singer and my voice always breaks at a certain point when going up. I just started training passagio techiques, i just started to get them right, and them Blake says there's no such a thing (and I know Blake knows more about singing than I'll ever know)... Well, could any of you guys explain that to me? I don't understand...

[spgtenor]

@defuntoba - The voice is an instrument but it is still part of your body that needs conditioning. Think of figure skating or skiing, people train for many years before they are prepared to compete. Even then, how many times have you seen someone fall on a jump? I'm not avoiding your question, but the point is that some people will crack when they enter the upper register- simply put, it's more difficult to sing in the upper register, but you should find a voice teacher - good luck.

[MisterPapageno]

@defuntoba Well I think Blake is just speaking of ideas (the passaggio conceptually doesn't exist).

If I think I have to sing a G3, most of times I'm scared and sometimes I still crack the note; but if I sing some parts by heart not reading the score and not thinking I have to do a G3, I sing it with no problem.

I do advice you to find a vocal teacher because doing the passaggio not properly can ruin your voice!

I'm convinced byt he way that high notes are 50% technique and 50% psycological!

[reynaldomonterrey]

@defuntoba simply because you may lack of good support,the higher the note the more support u need if u do not know how to support your voice it will sound inconsistent all around,need to learn the proper support technique called appoggio,my friend.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@defuntoba - your voice falls apart not because of physicality in the vocal folds but in your support. What Blake doesn't mention here is the application of appoggio technique for support. Properly applied support using appoggio eliminates any obvious shifts in vocal mode.

[phatphace]

It turns into a religious discussion for about twenty seconds just around the 3:00 minute mark....

[RicardoRivera82]

Where the voice starts to turn is where the passagio begins. I have to say, in the last scale that Rockwell Blake sang, by the fourth or fifth note, his voice had begun to turn. I concede, it was an even scale, and though it was even, I could still hear his turn. In other words -although he denies its existence- I could hear where he was going into his passagio.

[spgtenor]

@RicardoRivera82 - What you're hearing is Rocky applying the dark timbre (covering). He demonstrates the open natural sound, and then the classical "covered" sound for the upper register. He says that the passaggio is where men first begin to cover, and the voice does not reopen. This is true. He also says there is no "break" into the upper register. This is also true. If you listen, you'll notice that he begins to cover on Ab, which is typical for a leggiero tenor.

[RicardoRivera82]

So, if I were a 20 year old male and just taking voice lessons for the first time with Rockwell Blake, I would be able, within the first month of taking lessons, to sing, with ease, through my passagio by just darkening the vowels within it? No, I wouldn't.

Just because a male singer's passagio is smoothed out, doesn't mean that it didn't exist in the first place.

[MrFalconford]

Listen to him he knows what he's talking about.

[tneprescintr]

@bradleyjenks how so? (honest question)

[bradleyjenks]

@tneprescintr How so, meaning what? Meaning "wrong about women's voices"? Or something else?

[tneprescintr]

@bradleyjenks I believe you just explained. =)

[cleanears]

Sounds like he's not saying anything and just talking in circles.

[Biffy2008]

wait...he's saying that boys don't have a head voice?

[bartok6969]

@Biffy2008 - He's referring to the original use of the term - head voice was the same as falsetto. Blake certainly acknowledges falsetto, but in opera he says there is only one "acceptable" voice for men, and that's chest voice. I don't like the term chest voice, but his point is the speaking or "modal" voice in men is connected from bottom to top without break. The only break is into falsetto, there is no other supposed gap to bridge.

[Biffy2008]

@bartok6969 yeah, I wouldn't agree with his use either. head voice and faletto are not the same thing after all.

[clayton5150]

there is no passagio in the male voice because the male voice when used properly with classical training is connected and keeps chord closure all the way up. however females in classical voice flip because they art trained to do so. their upper range is suppose to be lighter and more airy for a feminine texture.

[AOG93]

@clayton5150 There actually is a pasaggio in the male voice. Great teachers of the past and famous tenors (There are videos of Pavarotti here on YouTube) speak about it too.As for the soprano, who says their head voice should stay light and airy? They can sing that way but in when they need to sing above the whole staff (Think Wagner, Strauss, Verdi, Puccini, yes- Bellini, Donizetti, Rossini, & Mayerbeer, etc, too) that "quality" won't be of much use, to the music, composer, sound or themselves

[seektheforce]

Is this true for all men? or Just tenors, or just Leggiero tenors?

[spgtenor]

@seektheforce - It is true for all men who want to pursue classical singing. Basses, baritones and tenors all apply the same technique, the passagio (area where we start to cover into the upper register) changes for each voice type (and sub-type).

[markmichaelwong]

There's so much mystery being created around the passagio these days... this is perhaps one of the most concised explanation of the passagio I've heard... i'm going to cherish this clip for sure - thanks for posting this!

[AlexVoltage]

OMFG!

Very Good Hight Notes!

:O

[IronMaiden0AcesHigh]

there's something i don't get should i sing above F- F# in head voice (chest goes up to B-flat even though the tone isn't as loud and strong as if i do it in chest voice ? i've only been singing for a year and haven't covered anything about passagio yet in lessons

problem is being a tenor which in my environment is quite rare i allways have to sing the high notes...

[donaldrose]

I consider this the best descrition of passagio obtainable on the net. Put simply unless you have Blake's tenore leggiero range, it is almost impossible to move beyond about F with the resonance too far forward against the mask. However once the resonance is opened up further back in the throat, it seems to relax the throat and allow a strong masculine sound right up to C and even D-flat (well for me because that is my highest stage note)..

[cuckthefardinals]

@bradleyjenks Why do you think this? As a young studying tenor, this makes a lot of sense to me. Adding that dark timbre, and keeping it consistent relates exactly to my teacher telling me to add vertical space at the start of the passagio, and to continue to add more past it. I think the way he addresses not darkening the middle is very important, too. Especially because lately I have started to overcome a case of over darkening the middle. Blake is, I think, competent in his knowledge of ped.

[bradleyjenks]

@cuckthefardinals I am not saying he isn't competent, and he certainly knows how to sing. I'm just saying that I think that it's overly complicated, and the terminology is unnecessarily vague and can be confusing.

[cuckthefardinals]

@bradleyjenks I am not trying to argue, I am just interested. Either way I am only 21, in my undergrad, with only 2 roles under my belt so I am just honestly interested in hearing what you have to say concerning this.

[bradleyjenks]

@cuckthefardinals actually, I just listened to it again, and I take back what I said about him being competent. The guy could sing, but I don't think he has a clue how to relate it to people, and I think he thinks about it strangely. He's particularly wrong about women's voices.

[cuckthefardinals]

@bradleyjenks Hmm, ok. I guess its a bit complicated, but really this does make a lot of sense to me, and I have been improving through my passagio. Its funny that you mention the quote by MacNeil, because about 2 months ago I had a lesson with a visiting lecturer, and thats exactly what he told me, that I was trying too hard to sound like an opera singer. But actually, this idea of dark tambre, or vertical space, has helped me in that regard.

[MisterPapageno]

@cuckthefardinals you're right; but remember that there are many schools, and in the classical period there where mainly the Italian school and the French one: the main difference was the use of risuonatori and the colour of the sound. So, it really depends what you want as a student; but once you become a professional, you should be able to distinguish color claire (clear timbre) and color sombrée (dark timbre); to switch from one technique to the other is difficult!

[MisterPapageno]

@MisterPapageno but not impossible; only great ones can, like Callas and Horne :D

[puffsplus72]

I'm taking voice lessons in the bel canto style and this echoes a lot of what my teacher has taught me. Brighter on the bottom, darker on the top. That way your voice sounds the same throughout the lower to higher registers, even though the way you make the sound is very different. This guy sounds like a good teacher.

[Pawelp]

Compare the effort of this sound with Pavarotti's explanation of "covered sound" "Dark timbre" ..... Sure.. Sorry

[sopranosd]

I think this guy is full of it. He sounds like a voice wrecker.

[tenorotti]

Mr. Blake is hardly an example of how to sing the passaggio or covered notes. Usually he is flat there because the voice does not do what the Italians call "il giro." Pavarotti, Gianni Raimondi, to name 2 were masters at covering. Domingo and Carreras passed everything in the nose. DiStefano was large and too open but all were great singers because they were great phrasers and that is more important in the end.

[iamsingin]

Wow... Thanks, Mr. Blake for setting back many young singers with your complete disregard for the science of voice. The ability to successfully navigate the passaggio does not indicate it doesn't exist. It's "master"classes like this that make it so difficult for a young singer to learn anything. He may have been a master at singing difficult Rossini runs, but he is certainly not a master teacher.

[tenorman123]

Wow, Fantastic! Gotta love this guy.

[RocktheStageNYC]

unfortunately a good portion of what Garcia wrote has been deemed inaccurate given today's pedagogy and analysis of the anatomical science of singing.

[reynaldomonterrey]

ONE WORD"APPOGIO"

[kharlitoz]

Passagio-Dark Timbre are the same thing for me. The sound in the high notes changes and its resonance changes, but it doesn't stop resounding in the chest, that's the main difference with falsetto. Passagio does exist (for me) and in that region the voice needs to be covered to prevent any kind of vocal accident.

[angelovocci]

The so called example of "dark timbre" was his just COVERING the voice.

[kigomin]

I like his way to explaining it. It seems to work very well for his vocal instrument.

[caruso81]

The truth about "COVERING" sound and "MODIFYING VOWELS" is that you have to modify the way your vocal chords work!!!

Physiologically!!!!!!!!!

The vocals (A, O, E) only use COVERING technique, (I, U) do not, because of position larinx is not opened like on (A, O, E)!!!!

The key is to modify vocal chords without modifying vowels them self (A, O, E), and that is the hardest thing to archive!

The less you hear change on covered vocals (A, O, E) that is better and you are going in the right way

[caruso81]

To ACHIEVE, typing error :D

[Webarton]

That is wrong! Completely wrong! Sorry, but it is the truth!

[caruso81]

@Webarton

You really don`t have a clue and I wish you all well and to achieve what you want but you are not on a right way......

[Tristiano]

Caruso81 you are quite quite accurate...the vocal cord must alter not the type or way a vowel is sung. Many people are just ignorant regarding the reality of the huge role the vocal cords play. They would rather smell roses and sing in a heady way or hum everything to death and sound like little cats. The cord  is vital.

[spgtenor]

There isn't a "one size fits all" method of teaching. Teachers cannot even agree on similar terminology, let alone technical instruction, so I'm not sure I understand what you mean.

[bradleyjenks]

I just mean that it is overly complicated and especially focused on manipulation of sound. People start trying to do weird things to create a certain "type" of sound, instead of taking simple, honest singing and disciplining it to a professional level. Cornell MacNeil said it best in his interview for "Great Singers on Great Singing", by Hines. Personally, I hate when opera singers sound like "opera singers"...

[mhoeler]

A great example of teaching from the "end product". Mr. Blake was/is a great singer. I don't know how he came to be able to do it. Perhaps it was "all together" from the start. Most of us are not that lucky and have to build this "seamless" voice from two voices - chest and head, regardless or our gender. Strengthening both until they can mix. Once that is established, his suggestion to use the dark timbre can be of use, not before.

[kashgarinn]

all descriptions are useless if you don't take the time to explain what you mean by your descriptions. I'd suggest people check out "science of singing" on youtube, it's something to digest regarding singing technique, if that's what you're interested in.

[primohomme]

He doesn't know what he is saying. Maybe he was taught that we have one voice which is true, but we have 3 different registers (plus the falsetto and whistle register and vocal fry). Physiologically chest voice stops (that is PURE chest voice) stops at F#4 for women and G#4 for men. Above that is degrees of mixed voice (chest/head).

[BelCantoBoy]

You've obviously been reading many old books. Nobody in the professional field of vocal pedagogy agress how many registers that men, especially tenors, have. You can't speak like you are dealing with an absolute science. The ugly truth is that SOME things are universal, but most are specific to each voice. Any respected professional who actually SINGS will argue that only basses & baritones have a falsetto & only women have a whistle.

[1991jep]

If only woman have whistle, than what is it that gets Adam Lopez up to his (I believe) C#8?

[91BROWNIE91]

thats silly terminology. all voices can make the same sounds. Why would you call the male upper voice "falsetto" and the female upper voice head voice..its silly.

[BelCantoBoy]

No, technically, they can not all do the same things or make the same sounds. Each voice type is extremely different, but the anatomical differences present because of the difference of gender makes them worlds apart. People who don't understand this just make more shitty voice teachers.

[91BROWNIE91]

well ok. but thinking about it with just logic there is no reason why they can't. Just because your hand is bigger or smaller than mind doesn't mean we cant both type on a computer or drive a car. its silly if you really think about it. but what do i knw

[Webarton]

You got it right.

[BelCantoBoy]

Tenors have no falsetto, they just don't support it anymore when they call it falsetto. There is no separate register for it. Men aren't supposed to biologically produce any kind of whistle register, and yet some can. Stop being a pedantic pedagogue. This is the kind of thing who somebody who can't actually DO would say. The only people who argue that pedagogy is the way to the voice are those who cannot sing and try to explain it away to others whom they teach who also can't sing.

[primohomme]

I don't think you have the right to speak about good singing, since your horrible chocked child-like voice plus wobble in middle voice is particularly terrible.

[DannyWrigley]

Whistle register is just zipping up the vocal cords, all men are capable, it's just a matter of learning the larynx coordination. Very few do because very few gain enough fluency in their upper head voice to relax enough and reach that level.

[BelCantoBoy]

Your idea of whistle register, while not necessarily incorrect, is not absolute fact. Pedagogy is not nearly as true, accurate, or definite as people who teach it would like you to believe.

[DannyWrigley]

Well, it is absolute fact that the whistle register is when the vocal cords are contracted to a greater degree than with head voice, leaving only a small amount of space for vibration. So then, every male has a vocal cord, and every male has the ability to shorten it to some degree, so if one were dedicated enough they could develop flageolet. Obviously the degree to which people already know how to do that and the ability to learn how to do it will vary from person to person, but all are able.

[edraith]

Tenors have falsetto. Any voice have the falsetto.

Basses and baritones, having longer vocal chords, could try to develop a "sopranist" voice, using falsetto. Tenors usually have too little chords to develop a full falsettista voice to sing in a sopranist repertoir, but they do have a falsetto register, as well.

Any voice has a falsetto, is just a way to use the vocal chords.

And this is not related to singing opinions, this is science.

[RocktheStageNYC]

he's just essentially maintain vocal compression and "cover" the sound to eliminate the break area. "Dark timbre" as he calls it is basically "covering". I don't agree that registers don't exist in males. Chest register and head register. The removal of dark timbre is called "dropping weight" from the voice.

[ciociosan]

mr. blake knows what he is talking about. my questions is this - if his so called "applying dark tamber when moving into the upper register", then why and how come he sings flat a lot of times?

[acitipo]

Ojala que alguien lo traduzca al español porque no entiendo algunas palabras Muchas gracias

[sevoflurane]

Blah blah blah. I hope you guys will sing belcanto like Blake, at least once in your life. Writing comments on youtube is easy, being on the operatic stage for nearly 30 years is a bit different. Just face it.

[Webarton]

The covered sound, is not only a source of a HUGE NUMBER OF DESTROYED voices, but it is also, in fact, the reason for all these singers that you cant understand a freakin word they are saying. Covering, and vowel modification at some point leads to bad phrasing!

Hope I helped.

Joe

[cyeh2]

I've heard so many successful singers and voice teachers saying the opposite that spreading vowels in order to attain a FALSE SENSE of "pure EE" is "a source of HUGE NUMBER OF DESTROYED voices." So, as a voice student, I must say that your words might not be helpful but only give confusion.

[caruso81]

@Webarton

Nonsense......

Bad covering is reason........

Without covering the voice sound scrimy

and to open, an this man is talking about Darkening what is really a covering of sound beyond note f....

[Webarton]

I am sorry flaze3, I do not mean to be arrogant, but just from one singer to another, let me tell you that, Pavarotti didn't know what the hell he was talking about.- Believe me, someone I know indirectly knew Pav, he is good friends with Horne. The truth is, 99% of singers, yes even the famous ones, don't know how the voice works. They all say, oh cover, oh do this or do that, this guy who im working with now... he sings me a PURE EE vowel at HIGH C, EXPLAIN that, and its BEAUTIFUL.

[HansHottest]

Man, if you dont listen the difference between pavarotti's three voices you should star trying to develop a better ear, because THEY ARE THERE. There's a lot of confusion with the cover sound, but certainly is healthier.... and... Im not saying that this is the correct way to do it, but Pav knows LOTS about technique.

[mistalala]

My singing teachers knows a lot (believe me) about bel canto, and says the same. Pavarotti talks about covering and thats bulls**t. However she told me that he didnt cover the voice when he was singing, perhaps he wanted to say another thing. But the truth is that cover the voice y to give it a false timbre and make as the voice is really concentrated, but its not, and it also makes the vocals unclear

[Grandtenore]

I think that it depends on what you are calling covering. Trying to weight the sound or create a throatier sound (like many bari's do) will destroy the voice. But modifying vowels helps maintain the proper laryngeal shape, space, and relaxation. I think the better "concept" is cuperto. It speaks on maintaining chiaroscuro throughout the registers rather than manufacturing sounds and feels much more natural in production.

[flaze3]

I think that directing the sound properly onto the soft palate when going up will maintain the consistency of your normal voice and it actually feels much more relaxed than any alternative (like a nasal production). Though excessive nasal resonance sounds more tenorish, it does no good to TRY to achieve it: you should only sing with the natural character of your voice: i.e. with perfect 'placement'

[libetta]

are you really more concerned on the term used rather than what he was emphasizing?

[edraith]

It depends on how you cover.

If you don't cover, you can't sing opera.

Furthermore: correct covering HELPS singing high notes.

It HELPS.

But if you sing with closed throat and OVERcovering your voice, then you'll have much problems. One should try to cover JUST the necessary ("il minimo necessario", I can't translate it in english because it's late and I must go to sleep xD).

[IanSidden]

That would seem strange, but [i] vowel, properly sung without tightening the throat and jaw and with a relaxed but forward and high tongue, is a closed vowel. Ingo Titze has found that closed vowels like [u] and [i] actually help the voice move into the higher portion of modal voice(or whatever term you care to use). It's not impossible to sing a high [i] vowel, and in fact this lends credence to the idea of "covering", or more precisely, slightly slowing the air down from leaving the throat.

[flaze3]

I think this guy's just wrong. It's clear to me that there ARE two voices in a man, and that there are a few notes where you need to change something.

When he was singing it is clear that he's doing something with his voice to get from high to low--that shift is exactly what ppl identify as passagio.

This dude seems like a musical creationist :p

[BeautifulAccidento]

Nah. I don't think it's smart to define it as "two voices". Your vocal chords either zips up in the top of the voice, or they flip over to unconnected falsetto. It is different areas of your voice. But only singers with bad technique or unsufficiant training are unable to go past "register breaks". I have bad technque, and I'm not well-enough trained yet.

Conclusion: I really like this way of looking at it!

[tweezy99]

Also, there is one last thing I'd like to add. Even though I my opinion that Blake's knowledge when it comes to vocal pedagogy is quite primitive, I would like to make clear that I'm not stating his theory isn't "bad" or "unhealthy". He has obviously benefited from his education regarding his technique. Which means if it has worked for him, it can, and may work for you!

[tweezy99]

So Blake is correct in a sense that adult men don't have as many registers as women.

[tweezy99]

Blake is wrong. Science states that the human voice phonates in only four possible ways: vocal fry, modal/chestvoice, falsetto/headvoice, and whistle. That's it. No more, no less. Everybody is born with the ability to phonate in these four registers! However %90+ of men loose the ability to phonate in the whistle register during/after puberty. And this is strictly because of a physical change in anatomy. The man's larynx grows larger than that of a woman's.

[spgtenor]

Blake is not wrong. As a tenor, the confusion of registers and covering dogged me for years and I wish I had this knowledge earlier. Vocal fry and whistle voice are not conducive for male operatic singers, and falsetto is rarely used, so that leaves one voice for men- chest voice, or normal, or modal voice.

[Grandtenore]

Well there's always head voice which is still uses full chord induction. Falsetto and whistle tones use very little chord mass thin or otherwise.

[spgtenor]

Grandtenore- That's just terminology. There are dynamics of course, mezza voce and sotto voce vs. fortissimo singing, but it's only useful to think of it as one connected unit. Even falsetto, which I've trained myself to connect to my full voice, as Rocky has, must function as one unit from top to bottom.

[Grandtenore]

I'm sorry...but I'm not sure how this is a response to what it was that I was saying.

[mafelix]

My God!...such a great video! Even to me as baritone ;)

Thank you!

[hobo197]

thanx so much for the subtitles ur amazing!!!

[signorinaermione]

The black puppy in Rocky's arms is Pauline, it isnt?

[rosetheatre]

good memory!

[signorinaermione]

THANK YOU! This is a wonderful work: you are an angel! Now a can traslate in Italian a class by Rocky! Thanks thanks thanks!!!

[Webarton]

Caruso called it darkening the vowel(vowel modification), Pavarotti called it covering sound.. Rockwell Blake calls it, Dark Timbre.

[flaze3]

the difference is that Pavarotti knew what he was talking about :p

'Covering' makes sense--it is a technical function--but 'timbre' is stylistic: a completely different concept!

[ideiao]

Mr Blake is one of a few that really know what he is talking about.

[mhoeler]

Those are scales to E by the way.

[raycanto76]

This is great and explains why he has such a "seamlessness" quality from the lower to the upper register. Very simplistic!!!

[cocoloco707]

please! alguien que lo traduzca al español :(

[jowox]

great explanation of the dark timbre used by opera tenor (low larynx). my experience is that it really helps me to get through the passaggio in a controlled manner. after that I try to open up and reach the high B and C in a nice sounding way but this is difficult. I f I raise the larynx a bit I can do rock screams in the 5th octave. blake´s E5scale at 4.30 is pretty non-dark while the Eb5 scale afterwards is darker (at least to the C#5). the scale at 2.20 is very instructive.

[agnellodei]

Basically he is describing the pyramid/upside down pyramid concept for crossing the passagio, it's a concept that bel canto singers use in order to manage the register changes :)

[francotenelli]

Dark timbre is a realy an illusion in a case of an open throat-appogio technique-in reality those who used open throat-appogio have absulutly unmodified sounds on passagio and higher(Caruso,Pavarotti, Gigli)

watch my series of Science of singing.

But if you cover, you modify, and then timber appears darker and in some cases overdarkened.

[picapin]

get lost Mr. Know it all! you don't know shit!

[maestraconway]

francotenelli: Pavarotti and all those who used what you call "open -throat appogio" DO have to modify the sounds on passagio too. The difference is that they were able to do it in a very subtle way.

"Open-throat appogio" is an illusion. It is covered voice, it is modified vowels but in a very subtle way that generally only lyric voices can do.

[francotenelli]

maestraconway: You probably have some old understanding of what covered sound is.

Begnamino Gigli first mentioned that he doesn't cover but supports it well.

Fucito(Caruso's coach) sais that Caruso did not modified and was msunderstood because he proposed an excersise a-o-ou, which suggests modification but in fact he did not.

You are confusing dark, connected with the chest consistant sound with the actual modification. Sound, of course, seemingly gets darker only psycologicaly...

[francotenelli]

watch my "science of singing" where I demonstrate the difference

[maestraconway]

francotenelli: I probably do have some old understanding of what covered sound is, which you seem to suggest is the right one when you cite Caruso and Gigli.

How do you explain Pavarotti explanation of covered voice then? He didn't talk about "open-throat appogio". He said when you cover the voice, the vocal chords are in a position of rest. That is in conflict with your "well supported" theory.

I look forward to your answer.

Respectfully,

Maestra Conway

[francotenelli]

maestraconway: I know Pavarotti's explenation:)

You migh like to see "covered sound confusion is over" and may find some answeres to that confusion

Best regards:

Franco Tenelli

[signorinaermione]

Rocky will make any masterclass in Italy or Europe? We need him!!!

[signorinaermione]

Wonderful. I'm with Licorne... Anyone can kindly traslate in italia, espanol, français or write what Rocky say in english? Thanks!

[armidalicorne]

Rocky make masterclasses in Europeand in and USA. Es todo lo que puedo decir. Ciao signorinaermione !!!

[LICORNE31]

Que pena que no puedo comprender todo lo que dice, difficil para mi, quien podriatraducir por favor !!!

[aspsingr]

Holy shit a scale up to a sustain e natural. Thats a voice thats hooked up from top to bottom

[jowox]

yes an E5!

from when was this?

[leadoffeohippus]

Jowox, do you have perfect pitch?

[moo7chi7ld]

the first scale was up to f ,the second to e, wasnt it? Notice how his voice brightens again after the non existant passaggio.

[ciociosan]

i would love to get a lesson with him. i wonder how.

[jayboytheplayboy]

Fascinating!

[sevoflurane]

Thank you Emilio! This is most interesting!!!!!