Cracks On Passaggio. Help!

timliu92

Hi All,

I am glad to have found this forum that is full of talented vocalists and singers all around the world, guided by a vocal coach that, in my opinion, is a huge monster of a singer. Since I just started in terms of following Ken's advice towards growing the bright sound in my voice, I have questions with regards to cracking. I seem to have difficulties in trying to sustain a G4 or G#4, which are basically the notes within my passaggio. I am able to hit them with my modal voice without straining, but I tend to end up having the notes crack or break on them. Are there any solutions to this issue?

Thanks All and God bless always!

Regards,
Timothy

highmtn

Ken teaches his students to stretch the chest voice. It is a process that you need guidance with, and it's essential that you follow all of his instructions to do so properly. It's something that is used to get you beyond that G4 barrier, and takes time and careful effort. It's certainly not easy, but with time, gets great results.

johnjohn

@ Bob: I've been having some issues in that area, (So? What's new?!) I hear you ask! Haha!
But seriously, from what my voice has been doing recently, it appears that my break point has moved up a note or two. Not entirely certain of this, but I've been finding G4/G#4 easier and easier to sing in pure chest voice.
However, the flip seems to come a little above those notes now, so there's a kind of a blip in my range, above which the really high notes are still there. Any thoughts on what might be going on?

Hope all's well.

Cheers,

John

highmtn

Hi, @johnjohn,

It's good to hear from you. I think all of the time you spent doing chest-stretching finally kicked in and made the G4/G#4 less of a stretch for you. During your rest time from your time off, your voice went ahead and took a vote from your body on G4/G#4 in chest voice, and it was a landslide. You were deemed READY, and You were voted Most Likely to Succeed at G4/G#4.

You will probably just need to ease into your normal workouts, and possibly re-learn to bridge in the G#4/A4 area. The bad news is that you will need to smooth this out for the present, connection-wise. The good news is that once you get past the G4/G#4 barrier, A4, Bb4, and B4 are relatively easier to stretch to. G4/G#4 are more of an seemingly insurmountable wall that dashes the hopes of many a singer. The road to C5 and C#5 is less steep than the Great Wall of G4/G#4.

What starts to happen as you add the A, Bb, B, C, and C#, you begin to realize that you can select to either sing these notes in chest or in head, and your voice will eventually start to blend there. That will give you even more freedom.

All the Best!

Bob