Thank you guys SO much for the advice! :=) Vocal development can be so confusing since we cant actually see or touch our instruments directly, it's all mental imagery and terminology. This can get to be a quagmire of confusion as Jaime points out. I do have a natural way or tendencncy with the high notes. The first time I tried to song along to TNT's "Tell No Tales" (the song), I did it with no problem. Yes, it was falsetto BUT I just always oculd shoot up there and it's always been where Ive felt most confident. Now, I am feleing less confident about that area due to the fact that I want to go beyond the mix I always sing with and into a full voice coordination as Jaime speaks of. I believe it is almost the same as when Seth Riggs would say "lean into the tone Denis. Keep it in the same place but give it more." I really believe he was trying for the same thing but with different words. Again, with vocal confusion. LOL!
Also, CunoDante, who are you? How do you know who I am and that I was/ama student of Badiene's?? Im a little freaked out. LOL! Well, not really just mad curious. ;) Peace, love and high notes! :=)

Yours In Music,
Denis J. Lanza
Metal Tenor Vocalist

Hey, Dennis. I talked to you on the Yahoo group The Vocalist a few years ago. Also, Badiene told me that you trained with her when I brought up your name during one of our lessons. Anyway, I know a lot of people like to use subjective things and imagery when it comes to the voice since you can't actually see it, but I personally don't like that approach. When you look at things subjectively, you can't be 100% certain that everyone is going to feel everything the exact same way you do. For instance, Jaime said for LaBrie's tone, you need to think backer. Well, if I did that, it would throw me off. When I copy LaBrie's tone, it actually feels more forward -- this is relatively speaking when comparing it to my falsetto on the same note and the full voice notes that come before it. Some people feel it behind the eyes, others behind the bridge of the nose, some say they feel it on the upper teeth, etc. I prefer to focus on the actual muscles that you can feel and manipulate. No you can't feel the muscles of the cords themselves, but you can feel and manipulate the muscles that interact directly with the muscles of the cords. When I copy LaBrie's high notes, I just think of a thin cord coordination (meaning a "lighter" coordination or "less baggage" as Jaime said) and the narrowing of the aryepiglottis. I know all of this probably sounds technical and complicated, but in it's practical application, it's very simple to pick up on. For me, learning all the different ways I could manipulate my vocal tract was a life saver -- it opened up SOOO many new doors.

Cuno is right. The advice about going back for LaBrie voice ahs worked for 99% of the singers I've shown.But, as you know, we are physical, mental instruments. So what works for one person might not necessarily wirk for another. I get hundreds of questions via email, where people are like "but, Jaime, it is so much easier if I adjust this or that." Well, that's right. People must realize that I am not needed along every step of the way. If changing an adjustment to suit your voice works better than the basic groundwork I've layed, then you must take it upon yourself to make that change. As long as it doesn't hurt, you are fine. Also, funny you should mention Tell No Tales, because Harnell and I talked last week on the phone and I believe we were discussing the day he recorded that exact song ;)

JV

So how did you learn how to manipulate your vocal tract so much and what kinds fo exercises did you work on to do it? Were you studying with Badiene at the time or someone else? Who? Thanks! :)

Denis

Believe it or not, I actually taught myself how to do a lot of this stuff. Badiene helped out with some things, but a lot I just discovered on my own by imitating the tone of other singers and trying to apply all the science behind the voice to my singing. I had wierd lessons with Badiene. We didn't work on my voice much, lol. Instead, I would bring in clips of other singers and ask her to show me how they approached the note. She would explain it to me and show it to me in her own voice. She would show me different sounds side by side so that I could hear the difference. She would say "it's this one, not that one", and show me what she meant. She knows how to manipulate the vocal tract very well. Although she doesn't describe things in a technical manner using the scientific terms, she still knows how to do it. She showed me just how easy it was to go back and forth between different coordinations and the different properties each had. I just applied the science to it to figure out what I was actually doing in ways that I could remember.

Other singers (whether amateur of professional) are your best friends right now. Listen to as many singers and as many styles of music as you can. Note the similarities and differences between singers. Listen to the tones they use, and see if you can imitate. Listen to their vowels and in what ranges they use particular vowels and tonal colors. Compare your voice to theirs. That's how I ended up learning so much about my own voice and other people's voices. It didn't matter to me if it was a male or female singing, I would copy them. By copying sounds, you'll come to know all the different ways you can move the muscles in your throat and how these different movements will modify the sound. I actually figured out how to get my high notes by copying female belters in their upper ranges. I figured out low notes by listening to Josh Groban and opera singers. I figured out the middle by listening to certain opera singers and some female belters like Whitney Houston and Celine Dion and people that just in general sing well. I figured out how to power into my falsetto by imitating the way Badiene does her high B. Everything I know how to do, I learned through imitation and/or experimentation. Once you can copy sounds, you should play around with them to see exactly how much you can modify the sound -- meaning how much you can make it darker or brighter without losing the general quality. That will include raising the larynx, lowering the larynx, opening the mouth more as in a smile, keeping the corners of the mouth more relaxed, puckering the lips, etc. As you play around with sounds, you will notice some things leads to constriction and other things lead to interesting colors that you may not have thought of before.