Transcending tone and the siren are all about taking your chest and headvoice and joining them together so you can sing with a mix. Transcending tone is the toughest exercise so don't be discouraged!

First of all, view your workout as a warm-up. If you're struggling and things aren't working. Rest 10-20 minutes and go at it again. You will be amazed at how your voice will improve from this, as you reach more "warmed up states". I can be recording vocals for 6 hours, take a 1 hour break and then my vocal control becomes amazingly better! It never stops getting warmed up to higher levels!

What you want to do is inhale into the belly and let the ribcage expand, tense the lower abs so you're supporting the note. As you ascend you need to rely on this support MORE so you'll lhave to tense harder.

Also, you'll need to darken the sound as you go higher, don't keep the vowel so bright. YAY will start darkening to more of a YEH around the F4 then a YUH at like the C5 (it's different for everyone).

Hold back the air. Remember the inhalation sensation. Don't get breathy! Higher notes are actually about less and less! Think less weight, less air, less push (more push in the support though). The more you tense in the stomach, the less tension you'll get in the throat. Always feel the sound in the soft palate. NEVER FEEL IT STUCK IN THE THROAT

If you do all this correctly, then as you go higher you will bridge out of the chest and into the head but still maintaining chest resonance MIXED into the head. This will give you the RANGE of headvoice but with that nice chesty sound. This is the mixed area!

How do you know if you do it wrong? When I first started I wasn't bridging, I was just pulling chest up really high and yelling.

POINTS TO REMEMBER:
- abdominal breath
- expanded ribs (keep them expanded for the duration of the note (if they go down you need to inhale again)
- start bright on the bottom, then darken the vowel as you go higher then brighten it again as you come down
- Hold back the air, don't push anywhere except from the support.

If you would like an in-depth video demonstrating all of that let me know. I could whip one up tomorrow for you.

Blessings,

Phil Moufarrege
http://www.grow-the-voice.com
http://www.youtube.com/philmoufarrege

Thanks for the detailed response Phil. I'm already trying to keep a mental check of most of these things but again I might be missing something. I am also now trying to darken the vowel when ascending, it does help with larynx position.

But what about this?

I just remembered something...Why do I often hear people say place the sound in the mask? Is this wrong?

The pushing down harder is only done as it is needed. Many people just push as hard as they can straight from the start - wasted energy and adding tension.

It's about MANAGING the air and pressure. as the note gets harder you may feel like you're "running out of support" so you'll need to match the intensity by keeping the ribs expanded and pushing down on the diaphram more to keep the tension out of the shoulders/neck. but this doesn't mean push more air out of the mouth. you want the least amount of air to pass accross the vocal folds.

It's all feeling based and is really quite simpler than it sounds. I feel keeping the ribs expanded, cutting back the air and darkening the vowel will solve your issue.

Placing the sound is different for different methods of singing. I'm only familiar with placing it in the soft palate like Jaime Vendera and Ken Tamplin recommend and I've never needed to change this as it works brilliantly!

blessings

Phil Moufarrege
http://www.grow-the-voice.com
http://www.youtube.com/philmoufarrege

I have seen confusion over the years and need to point something out- I do NOT teach a mixed voice approach, plain and simple. I am not anywhere near SLS. Don;t know enough about it, not interested in changing my approach. There is nothing wrong with that approach, but I simply prefer the real, kick-butt, full voice in your face tone as taught to me by Gillette and Sabine. So, the three isolation exercises are not to join "chest" and "head", they are to teach you that you have ONE voice from bottom to top and to make sure that one voice is seamless from bottom to top, and then if you wish, you can use falsetto, full voice or a blend of the two as many call "mix"or "middle" and by doing tons of transcending tone exercises you'll strengthen the voice to use whatever tone you prefer;)

Is it possible not to use mixed voice at all above some point? I know you don't mention anything about it in RYV but I just used the term in order to be better understood. Listeners might hear one voice but I am sure I am feeling when I'm shifting gears. Of course it's just terminology, the end result is the same however you call it.

"So, the three isolation exercises are not to join "chest" and "head""

Of course they are! maybe the way I wrote came off wrong to you or something.

"they are to teach you that you have ONE voice from bottom to top and to make sure that one voice is seamless from bottom to top"

That's preciesly what joining "chest and head" means...mixing smoothly into your head resonance with chest in there so it doesn't sound weak and puny. the voice thins and at some point there's ONLY head resonance going on. with proper training we're able to get more chest resonance and carry it up longer and longer before it thins and goes away into pure head voice.


"and then if you wish, you can use falsetto, full voice or a blend of the two as many call "mix"or "middle" "
how is full voice different from "mix or middle"? Full voice is simply singing in your chest and smoothly bridging into your headvoice. Mix voice is simply that area where the two resonances are passing between each other. where you have an equal amount of chest and head resonance at the same time. Singing with more volume will push this mixing area away longer, and singing softer will bring it closer. Transcending tone teaches us to be able to manipulate this.


if having a "seamless" voice *ISN'T* about getting your chest and head resonance to mix nicely then the note above the passagio would be a puny and weak headvoice tone like all beginners start out with.

""So, the three isolation exercises are not to join "chest" and "head"""

So how can you sing full voice if the passagio/break area isn't joined seamlessly? How can you have a full voice when there's no chest resonance mixing in with head? you say it's not about joining chest and head but then say it is in the next paragraph.

If there's no mix of chest and head hten when you just go up to the top it'll be a puny weak sounding headvoice.

Of course your exercises build the ability to mix chest resonance into the head resonance otherwise no one would do them!



Blessings,

Phil
http://www.grow-the-voice.com
http://www.youtube.com/philmoufarrege

Hahaha, we can have this debate over and over and it's fine to see it the way you want. The exercises I've chosen to use are to make one voice bottom to top. If it makes you feel better to use the terminology of chest bridging to head, that is fine. But, what I've seen from the hundreds of not thousands of singers I've trained since 1996 is that the "bridge" seems to go away. Then, they don't care about "chest" or "head", they just sing and know they suddenly have higher and lower notes. This is the same as when Jim Gillette had me doing Vocal Power scales. He never said, "okay, here comes the bridge, time to blend" or "Okay, let's switch from chest to head" he just said, "shut up and do the exercises and your voice will get higher and higher." Still, I have no big problem with your definitions, but I do not tell my students that it's time to mix the sound. For me, that "mix" is half way between the transcending tone exercise. I know where you're coming from with the chest and head resonance thing and you re correct, but again, I just do not approach it that way. Why? because when I hear Brett or Roger demonstrate a scale into the upper register it does have a nice, pleasing blended tone, but I generally take it beyond that blended tone on Sirens, so I know it's not the same mixed or middle voice sound I hear from SLS teachers. And, for the record, I have no problem with SLS. I don't know enough about it, but I have heard some amazing singers who use that approach. In the end, who really cares. If you help your student and they sound wonderful, that's all that matters;)

PS- Force, yes please use whatever terms help you. For me, if you look in the book and see the picture where I show falsetto through mix into full on a scale of 1-10, that's how I approach it. But, you must use what terms/visualizations/explanations that help you grow as a singer, regardless of the terms, exercises, teacher, etc. Phil has some great thoughts, and I am not arguing with him at all, as we're friends:) But, I just needed to clarify how I personally approach it. Does it make it correct? Not for everyone, which is why there are thousands of vocal coaches, guitar teachers, etc, to help different people learn in different ways. I am one of those coaches who just isn't into bashing every other methodology because different people respond better to different training. My friend Myles Kennedy studied Bel Canto with Ron Anderson and he has an amazing voice. Would I try to change his approach because I don't teach Bel Canto? Absolutely not, Myles is doing amazing! So, in the end, use what works for you:)

Again going back to the importance of creating that space for the larynx to pull the vocal cords and tilt back and forth according to pitch. If you don't have the required space created by a relaxed open throat, you will feel the bridge because the constrictors in the larynx pulling the cords gets stuck. When the larynx has room to move the resonance mixes itself up naturally between what you refer to as chest voice and the clear break where head starts to become ONE voice as Jaime describes it. Effortless singing starts :)