The High C - making it sound easy(?)

[andrewliam123]

I think he sang it well tbh

[TheVengador60]

It is simply horrible,everything is horrible

The pronuntation,the high note is a cry like a wounded dog and in top of that hemoves around like a drunkar after a fight in the local bar.

[eddiesamuel1]

What do you guys think of MY High C?

[trlkly]

You guys are definitely both wrong. you can very well sing full voice on a high C. I've done it. There's no physical reason why it can't be done. It just involves a ton of breath pressure and is extremely loud. It isn't in "mix" if you can't sing it quietly.

[JussiPaul]

What is meant by taking a high C from the chest means that the chest mechanism (ie. the cord thickening mechanism) is still active. However the dominant mechanism for all high Cs is the falsetto mechanism (ie. the stretching mechanism) which starts to take over around middle C. There will be no break as the cords are stretched out gradually with chest mechanism still active as opposed to a break into pure falsetto where the chest mechanism lets go to allow total stretch without any thickening.

[Agorante]

@JussiPaul Arrant nonsense. You assume that because a term exists that it must mean something. This is an ancient error. Then you assert an couple unobserved physiological mechanisms. You are not contributing to the discussion. Please kill yourself.

[RicardoRivera82]

@Agorante JussiPaul is contributing to the discussion and you are shutting him down.

[Agorante]

@RicardoRivera82 I'm having fun. Don't be so uptight. I could block his messages (I think) if I really wanted to shut him down.

[RicardoRivera82]

@Agorante It's funny how you are the one that sounded uptight until you told me that I am being uptight.

[JoshuaMazur]

@Agorante Whoaaa. Thumbs Down bro.

[JussiPaul]

@Agorante Let me try to make it simple. There is no such thing as 'head' or 'chest' voice they are just terms that describe how the voice feels to the singer. To sing high the vocal folds need to thin out and lengthen. The easiest way to achieve this is falsetto. With time one can train the folds to thin out and lengthen without recourse to falsetto. I have a pupil (see my site) with a natural high C but without training he would sing with too much weight at the top and not enough at the bottom.

[Agorante]

@JussiPaul OK

[Rockyeeful]

How does he do that?!?!!

[yopoke190]

The high C from the chest is indeed an outdated term. In modern terms only a soprano can come close to a c5 from the chest. Given a tenors lowest note being c3, a c5 should be voluminous but still acceptable. Also a normal tenor should have slightly more ease if they've already reached their max modular notes at e5-f5.

[JWeb4U]

Uhhh are you CRAZY!? Singing a high C in pure chest is literally IMPOSSIBLE. Head voice and falsetto are two totally different things. Men who sing high C's and sound like they're "belting" or singing chest sound like that because they're singing in their head voice. Head voice is when the sound is resonating in your head... pretty self explanatory. You can still sing in your head without resorting to falsetto. Falsetto, the cord closure is different. Singing in chest that high is NOT possible

[Agorante]

@JWeb4U @JWeb4U Most commenters who make such dogmatic assertions on YouTube are private voice teachers trolling for gullible students. Read some musicology. The term High C from the Chest was first associated with Gilbert Duprez when he took over Arnold from Nouritt in Paris. Nouritt - the most famous tenor of the day - quit singing and went to Italy to learn how to produce this new sound. The term "chest voice"is a heuristic. As is the term "head voice". Obsolete terms akin to phlogiston.

[RicardoRivera82]

@Agorante Why don't you post a video of one of your students singing?

[Agorante]

@RicardoRivera82 Now you're getting really nasty. I am not a voice teacher. There are real voice teachers with credentials and academic positions at conservatories. But on YouTube we are plagued with self appointed experts trolling for gullible students.

I don't have any student videos but I do have videos of myself. Look for "Fra l'Ombre e Gl'orrori".

[JKFCUMLANDDOWNUNDER]

@JWeb4U It's actually a mix voice, a mixture of both head and chest.

[JWeb4U]

@JKFCUMLANDDOWNUNDER I don't think it's possible to mix a high C. Like I said, I'm not talking about mixing head and falsetto or chest and falsetto I'm talking using the males pure head voice (which if done right and not in falsetto sounds like 'belting'). Singing a high C is crazy hard and I couldn't imagine bringing even a little of my chest up that far. Notes like F sharp-B flat can be mixed but C seems crazy to bother mixing. There's not really a need to mix anyway that high up if done right

[AfroPoli]

Those who do not believe in a chest high C should listen to Achille Braschi and Gianni Raimondi.

[Agorante]

@AfroPoli Thanks for the Braschi video reference. Interesting voice. The "High C from the chest" isn't really open to dispute because it's a historical term used in the nineteenth century. The reference to the chest isn't anatomically meaningful. It's just a suggestive label. Before X-Ray machines no one knew very much about what was going on inside. Tenors would sing full voice up to about a G and would then make an adjustment. Donzelli didn't. It was termed "carrying up the chest".

[acitipo]

Bueno, esta opera es la mas dificil para los tenores ligeros, conozco tenores ligeros que aun despues de años no la cantan

[violetavalery]

what a boring aria my god...

[Agorante]

@violetavalery It isn't an aria. It's a scene starts with this tenor arioso that develops into a quintet. There are are some people who don't appreciate Rossini. The technical term for such people is ignorant fool.

[violetavalery]

@Agorante did I say I don't like Rossini? I just said this bored me, don't I have a right to get bored?

PS: the technical term for your comment is ¨fundamentalist intolerance of other people's opinions, perceptions, which don't have to be the same as yours.

[TheTomReid]

To everybody arguing as to what you can and can't reach in chest voice, there is no limit. As the human voice is a completely natural instrument, every voice is different and therefore there is no definite rule. It's true opera singers mix head and chest voice and consequently the high notes are almost entirely head voice but that doesn't mean nobody can reach a C in chest voice.

[Arfat]

I think when people talk about chest voice vs. head voice, they don't MEAN resonating in the chest. They mean using thick vocal chord coordination vs. light edge coordination with adduction (head voice), am i right?

[Agorante]

@Arfat Some mean exactly that. Their thinking is confused. If they are confused enough they open up their own studio and become a voice teacher.

[snoopyluvr123]

Considering that the male voices peaks at a B flat 5, with the extreme true tenors being able to pop out a B (natural) 5 in chest voice, a high C is ALWAYS in head voice. So, I agree with Arfat.

[jmkraus1756]

Sorry, but Gedda is only second class, listen to Alfredo Kraus singing the fisherman's aria, he easily hits the E!

[MrAndredekock]

Still the finest recorded high F is Gedda's from his full recording of the opera I Puritani with Beverly Sills, Louis Quilico and Paul Plishka.

[Agorante]

@MrAndredekock I you have this recording you should post it.

[MrAndredekock]

@Agorante Hi there! The recording is already here on YouTube. Just search for Nicolai Gedda, Credeasi misera, from Bellini's I Puritani and you will find it. Enjoy.

[Agorante]

@MrAndredekock - Thanks for the heads up. I never heard Gedda live. When he came to SF Opera he sang some awful dreck by Adam I think. Anyway his voice got harder and stiffer as he aged

I listened to the Gedda in the Puritani excerpt. I think that proves my point. The top C is pure chest. The F is something else (pick your own term). Obviously there are a host of counter tenors who sing higher than this but they sound more like women then men. Manly tone stops about at High D.

[bravocarreras]

Oh Please! What about the rest of the aria or song. Nobody talked about High Cs when I learned singing. I'm glad of course, I didn't want to turn into a man!

[Agorante]

F5 (the F above the tenor's High C) is called "The Palermo F" because Rubini sang one in a Puritani performance in Palermo, Sicily. Pavarotti sings one in a pure falsetto in his Puritani CD. Matteuzzi sings one in full voice but it's pretty ugly. In the seventies Suarez tried to sing one at SF Opera but cracked badly and was never asked back. Even the best high note tenors like Kunde and Florez don't sing High Fs. The highest non-falsetto note for any tenor is usually a D5.

[seektheforce]

@Agorante Lawrence Brownlee sings and amazing high F in full voice!!

[mcmusician1992]

hmm very interesting...

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

Killing himself over a C5? That's dumb. I can hit C5s all day long.

[Agorante]

@AtariMaxiToriyama

OK, let's hear it. Record and post yourself singing a High C. I'm a bass but I can sing the tenor's High C in falsetto. It sounds stupid of course. What is meant is the "High C from the chest". Donzelli was the first to manage a High B natural and then Duprez managed a High C. Most modern operatic tenors seldom try for a High C on stage.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@Agorante Somehow I doubt you're right. These are not high Cs in the "chest," they're actually in a dark mix voice. My mix is not nearly so dark because I'm not training to sing classically; therefore, I sound more like, say, the singer from Gamma Ray or Dragonforce. Still, it's quite strong.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@Agorante Sure thing. I actually have a video up of me hitting an F5 if you wanna take a look. And it's not actually from the chest, it's a mix voice.

[Taenyr]

@Agorante The term "high C from the chest" is misleading. Chest voice is called that because it relies on chest resonance; head voice, similarly, is usually completely head resonance. They are both distinct from falsetto (and fry), of course, and so could be group together as the "modal voice" - but no tenor sings a high C from the chest. Put your hand on a tenor's chest when he sings an A4, even, and you will feel no (or almost no) vibration at all.

[Agorante]

@Taenyr - I use the term "High C from the chest" because that's the term used at the time. Most vocal terms used before modern times are ambiguous or flat out nonsense. We have X-Rays and other imaging techniques today. Previously vocal terms were based on subjective feelings. I used the vocal terms that are today's scientific mainstream consensus.

[Taenyr]

@Agorante Of course. =)

[richogem]

@Taenyr im now a baritone.

i can hit E#4 in my chest voice.

its only a matter of development, and i can do it for hours without being sore

or "out of fuel"

ofcourse in head voice i can reach much higher after warmup.

[richogem]

@Taenyr sorry, ment E#5.

[Taenyr]

@richogem Show us, then. Post a recording of yourself singing F5 in what you call "chest voice." I'm a baritone, and I can barely hit that in falsetto on most days.

[richogem]

@Taenyr trying to hit high notes that are out of your range with falsetto is just really wrong.

try head voice, and do i really need to do this? you are better off just trying to train your chest REGISTER into having bigger range instead of me trying to prove my word because you wont take it.

[Taenyr]

@richogem The reason I'm not inclined to take your word for it is that even the highest tenors do not sing in their chest voice past the high A (A4). Put your hand on the tenor's chest: you will feel nothing. All the resonance is in his head - hence the term "head voice." Hitting an F5 in chest voice is a high belt for women - and would be an incredible strain for the very highest tenors, if it were even possible. It would also, from my experience, sound thin, unsupported, and without "ring."

[Taenyr]

@richogem Hitting F5 in head voice is certainly possible for a man - but even the highest leggiero, or "Rossini" tenors have difficulty hitting that. I don't think Juan Diego Flores (a prominent professional Rossini tenor today) has ever gone above Eb5 in performance. I just can't believe you're a baritone and you can hit F5 in either chest voice or head voice. Falsetto? Sure. But there I agree with you - why strain the voice?

[richogem]

@Taenyr i do it basically in belt voice which is straining your chest register in a certain way to get it higher.

its very easy to do once you catch it... its just something you try until you get it and its yours.

i can record it if you really want to...

ofcourse i strain my voice more than i should when i hit that note... but i only do it when i do it in the sake of doing it (haha)

[Taenyr]

@richogem Ahh, okay. Belting is a vocal mechanism unto itself. You're right - I don't know how to do it. Are you sure you're not a tenor with a low range extension?

[richogem]

@Taenyr my speaking voice is E2 at most times...

so that means baritone? doesnt it?

[Taenyr]

@richogem As far as I know, that puts you solidly in the bass category - the midpoint of the standard tenor speaking voice is about D3, and the midpoint of the baritone speaking voice is about B2. The midpoint of the standard bass speaking voice - I thought - is about G2, then. You speak at E2? Really? How low can you sing?

[richogem]

@Taenyr i really only reach Db2, but my speaking voice is E2.

[Taenyr]

@richogem Db2-F5? That's some range you've got there...

[richogem]

@Taenyr wow i cant believe i typed E#5 :|

do you count only chest voice as vocal range?

[Taenyr]

@richogem See, I think we may mean different things when we say "chest voice" and "head voice". I count modal voice as "range" for a man - i.e. what you would use to sing a classical piece if you are not a countertenor (so, for example, no fry, no falsetto). Does that make things clearer?

[richogem]

@Taenyr i think "head voice" and "chest voice" are pretty sturdy terms and we both know what were talking about.

i reach Db2-F5 without fry and without head voice or falsetto as it is only chest and belt which is really basically strained chest. but i count head voice as well. i believe that once you can bridge the chest and head with mix or just make slide transition, the head voice will count as part of your range, ofcourse by then your head voice will sound very strong, so as your mix.

[Arfat]

@richogem there's no way you reach F5 in chest voice.

[richogem]

@Arfat well, im sorry you mislead yourself to believe things like that, eventually making yourself not being able to do that. i can do that.

[Arfat]

@richogem do you have a recording? I'd like to hear it.

[Arfat]

@Taenyr a lot of people lie on the internet. If there's no recording, don't believe outrageous claims.

[Taenyr]

@Arfat Where I'm from, it's called "being diplomatic." I don't know if he can do it or not, but I have no evidence either way, so why pick a fight?

[richogem]

@Taenyr /watch?v=gVQ9XNO7Qxs

[Arfat]

@richogem that is NOT chest voice, and if you're showing that as evidence that you can go to F5 cause he can go to C6, you're delusional. The top note is clearly headvoice. Of course, many people can go up that high belting/screaming in headvoice. Nothing special.

[richogem]

@Arfat well, first of all, i never said it was chest voice. appearantly, you think im a moron, so you just make me say things i didnt even say to make me look stupid, then call me delusional. what pissed me off the most is that you said its nothing special.

if you can do that, post a video of you doing that.

i can record later today.

[waterturki]

@Taenyr Chest resonance and head resonance should be always there regardless how low or how high the tenor sings unless they sing falsetto. Caruso once said, "My whole body vibrates when I sing."

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama If you can you must come and audition for us immediately. I work at the opera and finding tenors who can sing multiple quality high C's in one performance are very hard to find :P

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 ?? I'm serious! High C is not difficult to hit, and I can hit it all day. I'm only several months into training, though, and have a HORRIBLE throat problem. Even so, I can still do it. And like I said, I don't have an operatic sound.

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama You are either singing with your falsetto, or talking about another note. Singing high C's "all day long" with you chest voice is virtually impossible.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 No one sings high Cs with his chest voice, at all. (Ask Bon Jovi why not) They sing them with their mix. And they do it all day long, if their technique is good.

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama A fantastic tenor sings his high C's with his chest voice. A good tenor sings them with his falsetto but makes sure nobody notices it. A bad tenor can't sing high C's.

And please, I work at the casting office of an opera house, I will not ask Bon Jovi for advice...

[Dragonianfire]

@AtariMaxiToriyama Not ALL tenors sing their high C's in crossover, just most. there are some people out there who just have exceptionally high lying voices.

And actually, I don't like the term 'chest voice', it gives the wrong impression, the term 'full voice' is far better suited, in my opinion.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@Dragonianfire The problem with just saying "full voice" is that it is not very specific-- or perhaps it is too specific.

If you are singing in full voice, then you COULD be singing in chest, mix, or head voice. That's why we use all three terms.

[jayySC2]

@AtariMaxiToriyama True statement here.

That's why Bon Jovi's range went from 4 octaves to 2 and a half in less than a summer.

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama I just watched your F5 video... With all do respect, but we were talking about singing high C's, not screaming them... When you advance in your training, you'll see that singing takes a lot of technique and you won't be able to hit high notes easily.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 I'm not screaming. I just happen to be loud. I can hit the same note softly. Why are you so determined to prove that it's difficult? The whole POINT of proper singing technique is to make it easy. That's why that call it "Speech-level-singing". You sing the way you speak, with no strain. I can't cover my voice as well as an opera singer, but when I hit a C5, it's just as legitimate. Check out this video for some interesting information:

watch?v=Ow4VnbIezF4

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama lol. There is a difference between loud singing and screaming, and what you did was screaming. By the way, you didn't even "hit" the note, you slided towards it. If you are really able to sing it, you should be able to sing it without glissando.

I didn't watch your other videos yet, so I can't say if you have a good voice or not. Maybe you do. But if you're ever taking part in X-factor or something, don't use that "high C" or you're out in a second.

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 Well, we've come to an impasse: Either I'm mistaken or lying, and I'm screaming, or you're mistaken or lying, and I'm not screaming. Unless one of us can provide evidence that the other is wrong, then this argument will go nowhere.

Also, you can't say that because I slid to it that I didn't hit it. I slid to it because I don't have excellent pitch and, thus, couldn't just sing the note directly. (Although if I heard the note first, I could copy it, thus hitting it) Don't be cavil.

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama Just watched the vid you recommended. Like I said: trying to sing high notes with your head voice but not being able to sounds like screaming. I don't know this guy, but he still screams when demonstrating his head voice. Sing like that at one of our auditions and you're out.

Listen to this if you want to hear a real high C :)

watch?v=bUbA5y1hnFg

(I know, there's cracks in the recording, but what a voice!)

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 This guy is an opera singer. I'm not. Even Pavarotti said that one could sing notes without covering them and it could still be beautiful, "But" he said, "it will never be a true operatic voice."

Yes, his technique is excellent and his voice is beautiful, but covering one's voice is not the only legitimate way to sing.

This is how I sing:

watch?v=E5FCPwXERL0M

Many gospel singers use this technique, and no one has ever said THEY cannot sing!

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama Using a technique and using it with a good result are two different things... Someone can sing with a perfect "operatic" technique but still sound like shit singing Verdi.

These posts date from months ago, so I don't remember exactly what it was about and I can't watch videos for the moment (my sound card is broken). But if I said that the guy in the video was screaming and not singing I must have had my reasons.

PS most gospel singers scream, not sing...

[trlkly]

@fluffytom82 That last thing you said makes me seriously doubt your credentials. Most gospel singers use belting voice. The screamers are rare. There is a specific sound that is made that is not at all healthy, but it's not actually a part of the singing voice, and it is completely absent on the actual held notes. It is a vocal effect.

Actually, I guess it makes me believe your credentials, since there is this big anti-belting school in American bel canto singing.

[fluffytom82]

@trlkly Well, I admit I have been trained in classical music, specifically baroque. I am not american and I don't have a "tradition" of listening to Gospel music, nor do I have any experience with it. The closest thing are movies like Disney's Hercules or Sister Act or documentaries on "new messiahs".

If it pleases you, I will make a small nuance and change my statement in "to my untrained ear in this domain of music, it sounds like gospel singers scream in stead of sing" :)

[Agorante]

@fluffytom82 I don't quite understand why you are hesitant to use the term screaming. Rock singers have called what they do screaming for decades. There is a web (YouTube?) site that teachs rock screaming. Some Gospel groups are rock influenced so a screaming technique would be used. Of course screaming or shouting hurts your cords. Harry Belafonte for example got nodes early

[fluffytom82]

@Agorante Ok, but the discussion was this AtariMaxi-guy saying that singing a high C is not that difficult and that he could sing 50 of them without problem. I replied to him that he was screaming, not singing.

And I see your point about rock and gospel, but we are still talking about opera. If you sing one note - not even a high C - as Rose or Osbourne in my opera house, you're out in a second. Even if they are the best in their "style".

[Agorante]

@fluffytom82 You have your own Opera House? My compliments. My great and good friend Marvin had his own opera house. He converted an old school house into a combination personal home and a public opera house. The Green Room connected to the living area on one side and the auditorium on the other.

[fluffytom82]

@Agorante *lol* I just work there, but the space in these comments is limited so I put "my opera house" in stead of "the opera house where I work at" because that's shorter :)

[AtariMaxiToriyama]

@fluffytom82 Ah hah, and now the whole argument has become futile.

You basically believe that, unless one sings operatically, then he is not singing, he's screaming.

I disagree.

End of discussion, really.

[fluffytom82]

@AtariMaxiToriyama I didn't say that. Many singers sing beautifully, but are not opera singers. I'm just saying that the guy in de video is screaming, not singing, and that some styles of music, like gospel and heavy metal, are more like screaming than singing.

The guy in the video pretended "singing a high C at the opera" is easy, but he failed miserably.

[wattever333]

didn't Nourit commit suiccide because he was no longer in demand? because he could only sing high notes in falsetto?

[wattever333]

@wattever333 his high notes remind me a bit of Kraus.

William Tell is a killer opera. At the end of the show, everyone in the audience died of old age.

[ageofmyths2]

I wanted to ask something i'm a senior in high school and I just started singing( for arts credits) and my range in full voice extends to a C but someone told me that because I'm 17 my voice will never get much higher. is this true

[Agorante]

@ageofmyths2

No. When I was your age I couldn't sing above middle C. I went to the library and looked for roles that had no high notes. As I remember the part of Tireseas in Oedipus Rex only goes up to a C. Later I sang a couple Monteverdi roles that also had no high notes. But it was foolishness. By the time I was thirty I had all the high notes I ever wanted. Just practice.

[parkerbrothersmusic]

I can get from G2 (I can get to C2 but it's not usable) to E6 (head voice - sounds too girly to really use) But In my full voice the highest note I've hit so far is this C (in this video) ... I've never had vocal lessons :/ - I'm only seventeen though. You think I should get them? And... what's passagio and all this?

[Agorante]

@parkerbrothersmusic @parkerbrothersmusic Thre are three mode in the male voice : falsetto, modal, and fry. Fry is creaky voice. Falsetto is girly voice. Modal is further devided into an upper and lower sections sometimes called chest and head. These are separated by the passagio. Basses have only a few notes above their passagio. Thenors have more.Much vocal instruction concerns blending the two. Some never can and are said to have a hole in their voice.

[parkerbrothersmusic]

@Agorante Thanks a bunch!

[EidahageFeroe]

@parkerbrothersmusic Passagio is the bottom of the start of your 'head range'. If you sing in your head voice, but use the right lower abdominal support, fine breath blow and full ressonance (for opera right from soft to hard pallet), you will get a mix in your passagio. It stops you from stretching that lower voice all the way up - that's why good tenors always make it seem easy.

[EidahageFeroe]

@EidahageFeroe woops, I just mean the 'bottom' of your head range. That part of the head voice that gets 'whispy' or shrill around E/F/G

[keepabreasttoday]

Im trying to figure out what note clean vocalist does in the band a skylit drive. He does it most of the time so if anyone could check it out and tell me that would be great.

[doddleoddle]

Do male opera singers sing in their chest voice? JEEEZE, they must REALLY strain O_o I <3 mix voice ;] <3

[restlesspride666]

High C's are nothing to me. Then again I'm a freak. Lol. Amazingly A's and B's are harder though.

[Agorante]

@restlesspride666

Your situation is more common than you might think. The modal male voice is at least two voices - one above the break and one below. Your upper voice - the "covered" voice - goes high enough but it apparently starts too high. Optimally your covered voice should start at the passagio (around F#) and go all the way to the top. Your covered voice seems to start at A or B. You seem to have a "hole" in the middle. Some teachers can help.

[restlesspride666]

@Agorante It depends on how I approach it. I tend to open up in the back more around those high areas. I can sing an A without headvoice. I approach it somewhat "soft" but I add a lot of resonance by opening up and pushing the sound "down" so to say with diaphram emphasis.

My passaggio points are at F4 and Ab4, varing respectively by a semitone up or down depending on the approach. I would really like a voice teacher but i doubt anyone would really see much in my voice in the case of Opera.

[restlesspride666]

@restlesspride666 I mean Bb4*

[Wally773MTG]

@restlesspride666 right, the a's and b's are at the top end of your passagio and the c is above it. Its the same reason why I (as a baritone) struggle singing through Eb/ Enatural to F. I can sing g's and a's MUCH easier if I don't walk up stepwise. Thats one of the great cruxes of singing right there, learning how to navigate the passagio with a consistent sound. Thats also why it is said that opera stars get paid for their high notes, because it takes a lot of work to sing them beautifully ha!

[hillbillytenorino]

I see you, too have read "The Great Tenor Tragedy." Great book.

[Agorante]

@hillbillytenorino

Sir, you credit me with learning I do not possess. As a bass I always felt sorry for tenors. I considered being a tenor just a case of testosterone insufficiency.

[grinvaldsjanis]

@Agorante insufficiency is because we are using it properly having plenty of sex :)

[hillbillytenorino]

@hillbillytenorino

Oh, in that case please read it. By Henry Pleasants, I believe. Glad to know you feel sorry for us, and you should. Having to constantly sing in the cracks of the voice is not too fun. As far as testosterone, you're wrong there. I think it's just body shape, size, and height. Plenty of short, little tenors have facial hair!

[Agorante]

@hillbillytenorino

Gee, can't take a joke.

BTW I'm 6'5" and just under 300 lbs. There might just be something to your size and height notion. Last year when I was doing Bartolo our Figaro was taller than I am. When I did Fasolt our Fafner was also taller.

I've read Henry Pleasants' account of Nouritt in another of his books. The Great Singers? I knew he had expanded it to book length but didn't know the title.

[delosreyesgavikanes]

Unfortunatelly there are many voice teachers who call themself MASTER TEACHERS and their experience is singing in chorus, and my question is if they areso Masters, how come could only sing in choirs ??????????????????

[Agorante]

@delosreyesgavikanes

I don't know. My supposition is that chorus singers and solo singers should sing the same way. If you sing as best you can and if your voice is big, resonant and attractive you become a soloist. Otherwise you sing in the chorus. Personality matters too. I don't think any voice teacher can make a chorus level singer into a soloist. I could be wrong however.

[ciociosan]

Sorry, who is this wonderful tenor?

[Agorante]

@ciociosan

Sorry, don't know.

[goofyguy1987]

Not sure if u have heard of david phelps. His high c's are very powerful. A good one to hear is from the song Sinner Saved By Grace and wait until 5:37.

[Agorante]

@goofyguy1987

Nope. Never heard of him. Thanks.

[seektheforce]

@goofyguy1987 David Phelps wouldn't last 5 minutes on an opera stage.

[Agorante]

This excerpt is interesting also because it illustrates the passagio. This tenor has a nice sweet and resonant lower voice. When he assays the high Cs however he covers and that upper "head" voice doesn't match very well with the lower "chest" voice. It's good to cover but there is the danger that above the break the voice will sound like somebody else's voice. Most tenors try to match the two voices (Di Stefano just avoided covering altogether) but this tenor seems to emphasize the break.

[mistatomsom]

@Agorante

he's not covering anything. It's just a natural way of sounding the high note. What are you talking about???

[Agorante]

@mistatomsom The terminology is not completely satisfactory. But there is no doubt that his tenor is covering. All this means is that the singer adjusts his vocal mechanism. Good and/or lucky tenors can make their lower register sound like their higher register. Most singers do this naturally. As a phrase ascends you start to feel strangled. Then you drop the larynx a bit more and the "placement" goes back. Notes in the passagio can be sung either way.That's what takes the instruction.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Agorante - 100% true. Notes in the passagio can either be covered or allowed to sound natural. "Covering" is more a "laryngeal dump" to darken the sound of inherently lighter notes of the upper register so they match the heavier chest notes. But one can easily forgo covering and allow the voice to get light but still stay connected. This is called "adducting".

[Agorante]

@RocktheStageNYC This guy is another voice teacher. This one specializes on rock music vocals. There is a professional organization for voice teachers called "The National Association of Teachers of Singing". I doubt if this guy is a member. His advice ansd analysis sound like garbage to me. But make up your own mind.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Agorante - and precisely what did I write that is incorrect (garbage in your words)? Anyone who knows proper, intrinsic vocal technique knows what I wrote is 100% correct.

Who cares if I specialize in Rock vocals. I was taught by a professional opera tenor in my 20's and are well versed in Bel Canto technique.

oh and I was a member of NATS from 2001-2008

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Agorante - and another thing - your are a bass so you would have very little experience in the adduction process or any really heavy covering of notes. Bass voice are "heavy" by design (short vocal cords) and therefore do not wander to often into the passagio areas of E4-F#4 where covering or adduction would take place.

I don't mean to sound coy or start an argument but what I wrote deals more with baritones and tenors voices.

[Agorante]

@RocktheStageNYC

I hope others read your posts so as to become sensitized to the problem of charlatans like yourself. The field of "voice teachers" is filled with self proclaimed experts who lack even the most rudimentary knowledge of vocal anatomy.

My advice to young vocalists is - beware of trendy independents. Most big colleges and universities have music departments and can get you connected with reputable vocal coaches. There are professional associations too. Shop around.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Agorante - Yes I hope they do too so they can realize that you're just a shill for University training. Which is the biggest scam in pedagogy history. Pedagogy that is still in the dark ages. I have been studying vocal technique since 1992 pal and have authored and lectured on the subject.

The crooks are teachers with "university degrees" who spew outdated dogma with no real world experience. They're all over NYC. Their students have to come to me to fix the nonsense they were taught.

[Agorante]

@RocktheStageNYC

I'm not your pal. This will be your last posting here. This is not the place for advertising your business.

Shilling for University training? What a bizarre charge. I taught for many years but not voice or music - math and computer science mostly. I don't actually know of any college, university or conservatory voice teachers who are particularly good but at least they're safe. They are unlikely to do any harm whereas an ignoramus like you - who knows?

[Blackwargreymon]

@Agorante don't waste your time with this poor guy... some time ago I did the same thing... but this uneducated charlatan doesn't know how to understand human language. Rockthestage..... hahaha... what a (really bad) joke!

[Agorante]

@Blackwargreymon

Thank you for your remarks and advice. There's another even more bizarre voice teacher (?) who has been hounding me with ads for his business elsewhere.

I'm working on a new web site for small opera companies and schools. I think I'll add some material on how to choose a voice teacher or at least avaoid the very questionable ones.

[RocktheStageNYC]

@Agorante - continued. Yes I specialize in contemporary singing but I was stemmed in the classics and sang "Una furtiva lagrima" and "Gran Dio" in concert when I was 26. Associations and Universities are generally populated by professors looking to pat each other on the back about their education. NO diploma will ever substitute real world experience on the stage.

Its unfortunate I have singers who have gone to coaches with Masters Degrees who only ended up frustrated and confused by them.

[KPA555]

I don't know who @xxxslayerxxx666 is but apparently they did not pay attention in whatever vocal class they were in. Ask a professional about this since you have it completely backward.

[wepopalot]

sounds like he's straining to me. The baritone is wonderful.

[arisathanactor]

best technique ever!

[LoboAscuridad]

How can you tell if someone's going off pitch?

[xxxslayerxxx666]

@LoboAscuridad well if you have a piano you can hit any note and try to go in sync with it....the way you can train yourself is by connecting with your inner ear, if you are off, your inner ear will here the differing wavelengths, so it will sound like a pulse, you want to get it to where both wavelengths are exactly the same so that there is no wave interference, which would cause no disruption between the 2 notes.

[xxxslayerxxx666]

@LoboAscuridad tuning a guitar works the same way, if you tried tuning the e string(when it's tuned to d) and you try matching it to the a string(if you don't know how to tune, the best method is by playing a natural harmonic on the 5th fret of the e string and then hit the 7th harmonic on the a string) when you are a whole note off the pulsating is very rapid, you would want to tune it up until you hear the pulsating slow down to a stop,the inner ear vibration should be felt under your earlobe.

[LoboAscuridad]

@xxxslayerxxx666 haha ok...don't understand much..i don't play guitar lol

[xxxslayerxxx666]

@LoboAscuridad ohh, well i just mentioned guitar so that you could get used to how the vibration feels in your body when notes of slightly off, then you can train your inner ear to feel those vibrations...but if you already know what i'm talking about then you should have no problem matching notes on a piano, that's why when vocalists are trying to learn new notes and expand their range they tilt their head and put their hand over their ear....their trying to listen for that pulse.

[xxxslayerxxx666]

@xxxslayerxxx666 but remember, you DON"T want to hear the pulse, the pulse is there just to tell you how off you are, when 2 pitches are perfectly identical they fit together perfectly like a puzzle piece, so there would be no interference, meaning absolutely no difference in pitch, and 0 pulses...well it's damn near impossible to be that precise!

[mucchr]

Hört sich wie erwin stephan an.

[acitipo]

Veo que el tenor no ha hacho el re sobre agudo natural, entiendo que no todos pueden cantar esta nota, pero tenemos que saber que Guillermo Tell es la opera mas dificil para cualquier tenor ligero,

[gutoguidoegreg]

Não é por causa das notas agudas que as óperas de Rossini são difíceis para os tenores, é por causa da burrice de ter de cantá-las todas "de peito" - pressão do público, da mídia, do ego, etc. De fato, essas notas deveriam ser cantadas em falsetto, como o eram no tempo de Rossini.

[Vendimi3]

Fisichella indeed was one of the best arnold in opera history - very underrated - : this video doesn't really make him justice.

[redhead529]

He keeps going off pitch.

[Thriller94]

no he doesn't dude.. the quality is really bad that's why because I hear it too, it's just bad quality.

[redhead529]

Thriller94, Sorry, off pitch.

[corelli2]

@redhead529 sorry, your friend has a bad ear. there's absolutely nothing off pitch. the recording quality isn't the best, but even that could not mask pitch problems. His pitch is spot on.

[redhead529]

Thriller94, Well, dude, I've had someone else (who has a very good ear for music) listen to this, and she says it's off pitch, too.

[Thriller94]

@redhead529 oh I see.. it just sounds kinda right to me... I don't know

[ciociosan]

so who is this tenor?

[sebastien1chartry]

Yes

[maia0009]

The great Joseph Castejja! "Nobody" talks about him!!!

[acitipo]

Guillermo Tell, es la opera mas dificil para un tenor por las notas extremadamente agudas y sobre agudas.

En esta aria el tenor se comio el re4, que hace Kraus y Pavarotti en sus buenos tiempos, a JDF aun no lo he escuchado en esta Opera, pero por el registro que tiene, no debe ser dificil para el.

[wattever333]

so who are we seeing here at the beginning? the fisherman or arnold? who sings the fisherman? who is this baritone? more info please.

[Gustavocasanovatenor]

bravi,grande voce

[Lovelytenor1]

Remember, Pavarotti said that if it were not for his one lucky break we never would have heard of him. Can you imagine????

[carclamcc]

This shows you how unfair agents and the public are towards great little-known singers. They seem to wat a show with popular names. Fisichella is a great tenor. Let us be fair.

[XPRT10R]

He sounds like he's singing in mock-french and not in italian! Is this the Zurich production from '92 conducted by Santi?

[FuntageCrew]

this should definitely have more views. very talented singers that should be known more.

[rgraz1022]

I liked it too

[jmilla5]

Good singers, they should have future. Congratulations Agorante.