How to sing mix, or how to sing with a mix is a very common question. Inside this video,
I'll define and demonstrate mix. Warning: normally I try to avoid this, but in this
video I get a little 'geeky' about singing. (Vocal geek) Hi, I'm Chuck Gilmore with Power
To Sing. How to sing in a mix. Well, what is a mix? A mix is a mixture or blend of at
least two things. When singing, you're in a mix if you have a mixture of chest voice
and head voice. Ah-ah-ah. If you sing only with chest voice, you have no mix. Ahhhh.
If you start in chest and sing higher and break or flip into falsetto, you have no mix.
Ah-ah-ah.....because you've lost the connection to your chest voice. If, when singing, you
bring falsetto down into the area of the chest voice that is supposed to be chest, there
is no mix. It's only falsetto. Ah-ah-ah. A mix can only exist if the vocal cords remain
connected. If your vocal cords break into falsetto and you do not reconnect, you have
no mix. It's only falsetto. Ah-ah-ah. Mix is made with connected vocal cords and a blend
of chest resonance and head resonance. Now, where is mix in the voice? There are several
schools of thought about when and where you're in mix. Some define mix as only occurring
in the vocal bridges, passaggi. When singing in chest voice, as you sing higher, and while
keeping the vocal cords together, the resonance begins to move higher from your chest into
your head cavities. The resonance splits so there's a mixture, or a mix of both chest
and head resonance. This split occurs in the bridge or passaggi. After getting through
the first bridge the singer encounters a second bridge and then a third bridge. For women,
there are even more bridges. With each bridge, there is a blend of overtones from the register
below and the register above. Lower overtones damping, or dropping out and higher overtones
coming in. As a result of this process, many believe that mix is only occurring in the
actual bridges. Some believe if the vocal cords remain connected while the resonance
has split into both chest and head cavities that mix is always present, both in and in
between the bridges. In other words, everything is mix. At this point in my singing and teaching,
I think it's a combination of these two. Pavarotti is reported to have said that singing was
like a repeating figure 8. Seth Riggs concluded, and I believe like Seth, that Pavarotti was
describing the repeated narrowing into the bridge and the opening into the new register
and so on upward. In my opinion, if the vocal cords remain connected, there's always some
chest residue, even if it's very slight. So even in the highest head voice, if the cords
have remained connected, that seems like mix to me, even if it's 100 to 1, it's still a
mix. At a certain point, if the cords remain connected, does it really matter if we say
it's mix or connected super head voice? The problem is, what happens to mix when you sing
down below the first bridge into chest? Well, you could definitely bring mix down into the
chest register. So, I understand how that can be mix, but in most voices, you can only
do that so long before the chest voice takes over. How, then, can that be a mix? A third
concept that has helpful for me, is 'maintaining the vertical".(Vocal Geek) This is mentioned
in the book, "The Voice of the Mind', by E. Herbert-Caesari. Imagine a vertical sound
beam started by the vocal cords and shooting upward into the mouth. In head voice, this
resonating sound beam, if it maintains the vertical direction, will angle slightly backward
and penetrate into the head cavities above the mouth. Ahhh. Ah-ah-ah. In chest, there
is still a vertical sound beam, but it begins to angle slightly forward and engage the hard
palette. In my opinion, to lose the vertical while in chest voice, is to grab the vocal
cord, squeeze and close the throat and jam the sound beam down into the throat. Ah-ah-ah.Ahhh.
The tone can barely escape and has no roundness, no fullness and no appeal. To me, this is
not mix. Maintaining the vertical, even if completely in the lower chest voice, creates
an upward lift in the tone. The sound beam resonates on the hard palette appropriately.
This seems to recruit more than just chest voice by adding a rounder, fuller tone, as
if some head overtones were being activated. Even if it's 100 to 1, there's still a quality
of mix. NO-No-No-no-no. Noooo. Noooo. Nooo. Noooo. Nooo. Nooo. Noooo. In my opinion, maintaining
the vertical is how you maintain a mix even in the lower notes of the chest voice. It
helps to understand that my vocal type tends to be pull chest-high larynx. The exercises
for this vocal type help develop my ability to sing with a mixed voice, or sing in a mix.
Do you know your vocal type- what you tend to do when you sing? Visit PowerToSing.com
and take the Vocal Test, which I call the Power Test. Take the quiz and discover your
vocal type. Then, visit the Knowledge Center and watch the videos about your vocal type
and download the exercises designed to help you get closer to mix. I'm Chuck Gilmore with
Power to Sing. You can sing higher with beauty, confidence and power. I'll see you inside
the next video. Some believe if the vocal cords remain connected while the resonance
has split into the chest and head cavities that mix is always present, both in and in
between the...in the bridge and in between...both in the bridge and in between the bridges......ha,
ha...yeah...that was easy for you to say!
Subtitles by the Amara.org community