♬
Hi everybody!
My name is Justin Stoney and I'm the founder of
New York Vocal Coaching here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 26 of Voice Lessons To The World.
The show where we want to help you guys as singers
by answering your questions from all over.
And I'll give you a chance to ask questions later.
But our question for this week comes from Randall O. in Orlando, Florida.
And Randall writes, "Dear Justin, I have the 'baritone curse'. All my favorite singers
are tenors that sing pop rock and R&B.
But I'm a baritone. Am I doomed with the 'baritone curse',
or will I ever be able to sing high?"
That's a great question Randall and thank you so much for writing.
And that's very funny, the "baritone curse."
I like the way you say that.
And today we're going to talk about this curse
that you describe and see if we can dispel some of that
and give you some ideas and some options
so that you don't feel doomed and cursed for the rest of your life.
So let's dive right in.
"The Baritone Curse".
I think I know what you mean by that Randall,
but I'm going I'm going to just talk us through that.
First of all, a baritone,
a lot of people think that's somebody, you know with a low voice,
And it could be. It is.
However, just know, Randall and all, I haven't heard you Randall,
but a low speaking voice does not necessarily mean
that you're a baritone.
So if you have a low voice, if you have a low, baritone speaking voice,
that doesn't mean that you're a baritone.
There's plenty of guys with a low speaking voice,
who are actually tenors, and actually have a great high range.
And there's also baritones and basses that don't actually speak all that low.
A lot of times it does cross over.
But not necessarily.
So you may indeed have a low speaking voice,
and not be a baritone.
That's one thing to keep in mind.
Another thing is a lot of people have been told
that they're baritones.
Maybe you've sung in choir in the past and
you were put in the baritone section.
And that could have been due to blend.
But then you start to think to yourself,
"Well, I'm a baritone."
And you identify with that.
You identify with low notes, and with singing low,
and you think of your voice as low.
Voice teachers as well often classify they're singers as baritones,
and have them singing low repertoire,
and singing low and middle notes all the time.
Just because somebody has told you you're a
baritone in the past, doesn't necessarily mean that you are.
Personally, growing up I always sang baritone in choir,
I was trained as a singer as a baritone,
and I found out later that I was actually a tenor,
and had a real easy time getting up to high notes.
But all growing up and all through my teenage years
and even early twenties, I really didn't have a tenor range.
But I found out later that I was a tenor.
So just because people have told you that you're a baritone,
that also doesn't mean that you're "cursed" to be a baritone.
The next thing is, just because you have trouble with high notes,
doesn't mean you're a baritone.
A lot of people say,
"Well I just can't hit those high notes. I must be a baritone."
Even voice teachers will say,
"Well, you're not really getting up to these notes and
you're kind of strained up here. I bet you're a baritone."
Just keep in mind that a struggle with high notes
doesn't just mean that you're a baritone.
It's probably some sort of issue with your registration,
or an issue with your vocal mechanics.
It is something that can be changed.
And so, struggle with high notes does not equal baritone.
Next, opera versus contemporary Music.
Keep in mind, there's a lot of different voice types
that classical singers classify.
You could be a lyric baritone.
You could be a basso profundo,
you could be a dramatic tenor,
or a lyric tenor.
There's a lot of categories that really do matter for operatic music.
When you're on an operatic stage and you need to project
over an orchestra, your voice type actually has a lot of meaning.
But in contemporary music and pop and especially microphone singing,
those distinctions are really not important.
And it sounds like, Randall, you want to sing more pop, rock, and R&B.
So perhaps you've had some classical training,
and maybe in a classical setting you might be a baritone.
But somebody who's a baritone on an operatic stage
could indeed sing high in a pop setting.
There's a lot of reasons why that's true but just know
that a classical singer's distinction is not necessarily going to be
something that crosses over to contemporary and microphone singing.
Also, baritones sometimes are just guys who
have used their chest voice exclusively.
They only know how to sing in chest.
Or maybe just falsetto and chest voice.
But they haven't developed a lot of different registers.
They just sing one way all the time.
And that way tends to be chest voice.
Doesn't matter if you're a tenor or baritone,
if you're only singing in chest voice,
you're going to be something like a baritone,
no matter what your voice type is.
So those are the categories that I'm going to call,
"elements to having the baritone curse."
So I hope that makes sense for you, Randall.
And maybe you can identify with with some of those,
and baritones out there, maybe you can identify with some of those.
But now let's talk about breaking the "curse".
If you are "cursed," as a baritone,
here are some ideas for how you can maybe get through that.
First of all, like I say, within pop music everybody's a tenor.
Ok. So, again, voice types are real.
What you've got, is what you've got.
But, within pop music everybody can make
sounds that are something like what a tenor would make.
An authentic, high, chesty sounding note,
that can be done regardless of voice range.
I know very, very low basses and baritones who
naturally would be basses and baritones,
especially in a classical setting,
who can sing with a really high extension
that works great for pop rock, even for musical theater as well.
The key to this though is going to be developing a good mix.
And you might need a good voice teacher in your area
to help you to do this.
But developing a mix, is finding a registration
that's between chest voice and your falsetto or head voice.
There are ways to blend those two things
that will take the weight out of your strong chest voice,
and allow you to extend your range higher and higher
in a healthy way, and in a way that sounds, like I say, strong.
It's not chest voice, but it will sound like chest voice.
So even the lowest singers when they develop a great mix,
and a great head voice, will be able to sing like a tenor,
really, really high, especially within the context of contemporary music.
Now, another tip for breaking that curse,
and I've said this in the past, don't neglect your falsetto.
Don't neglect your head voice.
It's not probably the mix you're looking for, Randall,
but you can't neglect the high stuff and expect to get the mix.
You've got to get way up there in falsetto.
You've got to do your trills.
You've got to do your breath support exercises.
You have to do your things like we've talked
about with filters in the past.
Things that facilitate your flexibility.
You've got to have a lot of that kind of work.
Not just strength work, if you want to get up into the mix,
and if you want to be something like a tenor,
or you want to discover that you really, really are a tenor,
and have been a tenor all along.
Another thing is, don't sing your middle voice too loudly, or too fully.
If you're pushing your chest voice through your middle,
if you're getting too loud, if you're getting too strong,
if you're getting too chesty right through your middle and upper-middle voice,
you're probably not going to have the high notes.
Your voice is getting too strong, right there in the middle,
and it won't be able to hang on to all that weight.
And it's going to block you from being whatever
tenor you have wanted to be.
Next, is make sure that you use nasal resonance.
Some, "mmm" in your sound going through
that middle and upper-middle voice.
If you wait until you get to your
high notes to use your upper resonators,
you're never going to get to the high notes.
You need to bring those down into your middle, too.
That's one tip I can give you right now about
how to get that mix to go higher
and how to access those high notes.
Don't neglect that nasal resonance.
And then, also, baritones are used to singing and speaking, like I say,
pretty full, and pretty thick.
But one of the vocal cord coordinations that is going
to be necessary for you to get up into the tenor range,
is allowing your voice to be a little bit more, "wussy".
And sometimes a little bit more breathy.
You need to have these coordinations, too.
The opposite of baritone land, is something like this.
And while you won't sing that way all the time,
if you aren't experimenting as a pop singer with some
of the lighter and breathier sounds, you're also not going to be able to have
an easier time up in those tenor notes.
So allow for wussiness, allow for breathiness,
as one of your coordinations.
Next, I just want to say this, Randall, and all who suffer from a baritone curse,
being a baritone is not so bad.
I mean, come on, the world needs more baritones, right?
Everybody's singing high these days.
So, Randall, I know you want to be a tenor.
And probably so many guys out there watching this,
you want to be a tenor.
But maybe being a baritone is not such a bad thing after all.
You can cultivate your low register, your middle register.
You can have a strong chest voice in a nice rich baritone sound.
That might not be the worst thing.
If you have a glorious baritone voice and it's a true baritone voice,
it doesn't love to get up to the high notes.
You might just be better off, honestly, not being afraid of who you are
and cultivating that sound, something a little bit lower
than we're used to hearing.
When everybody's doing it one way, it's okay to do it another way.
You might be better off not trying to just hit high notes all the time.
Everybody's singing high notes.
Not everybody has to just be singing high notes all day.
Honestly, it gets a little tiring for the ear in pop music these days.
Don't you think?
When everybody's just belting high all the time,
it'd be nice actually to have a few more true baritones out there
in the pop, rock, R&B world, singing a little bit more mellow,
a little bit more rich and deep.
It's not such a bad thing.
So listen, if you want high notes,
there's definitely ways to get it.
If you want to be a tenor in pop rock music,
know that it's not something that's impossible.
You can absolutely do it.
But also, don't be afraid to be a baritone.
It's not such a bad thing.
So, whether you decide to break the curse or not is up to you.
But know it can be broken.
But also know, it's not so bad to be a baritone.
So I hope that's been helpful for you guys today as singers.
If you have questions that you'd like to see us answer on the show
you can send an email to: Questions@VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com [♪]
And we just encourage you not to lose that joy, don't lose that passion. [♪]
Don't let anybody curse your voice. [♪]
Not yourself, not anybody else. [♪]
Know that you can break whatever curse and move ahead with your voice [♪]
if you practice, and if you find a great voice teacher in your area. [♪]
If you guys are in New York City, [♪]
You can check us out at: www.NewYorkVocalCoaching.com [♪]
And if you like these videos you can visit:
www.VoiceLessonsToTheWorld.com [♪]
I'm Justin Stoney. [♪]
We'll see you next time. [♪]
♬