Mezza di voce/"transcending tone" exercise

Any of you do this? I could use a little help.

It's basically this:

1) start a tone in head voice/falsetto

2) gradually increase volume

3) allow chest resonance into the tone

4) at the outset, you're effectively singing in middle voice (i.e. using the "purity" of the head voice with the resonance/oomph of the chest voice).

5) reverse so that you end on a light falsetto note

This exercise is supposed to be THE BEST for perfecting middle voice because it goes through all the physical sensations of head/chest/transitional resonance.

It's recommended that baritones start this exercise on the "ooo" or the "eee" vowel at G above middle C (i.e. G4).

This is one tricky thing!!!!!!!!

Whenever I do it, I experience lots of breaks when I bring the chest resonance into the picture, and if by some chance I do do it, it turns out when I bring the chest into the picture, I'm eliminating the head voice register, which is not what's supposed to happen.

Bel canto style this exercise is called messa di voce, Vendera has chosed a "new age" term for it: "transcending tone."

Kevin Richards has a video on it. I don't think Mr Richards performance is too good (or even correct, since it sounds like he's eliminating the head voice purity when he brings in the chest resonance), but Pavarotti's performance (occurs in the last 2/3 of the clip) is right on (at least for the reverse messa di voce).

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I've tried this, and failed miserably. It's one or the other, falsetto or chest. For a moment, I think I'm getting it but then I realize I just crossed to my chest.

this is the holy grail of mix voice exercises

Thanks for posting this. I've always thought that mezza di voce is a powerful exercise, but I thought of it strictly in dynamic terms--not in terms of shifting registers. This new twist (for me) is interesting.

Do you know of a video (outside of Pavarotti) that presents the exercise correctly? Kevin Richards may not be perfect, but he's still pretty good.

Kevin does a good job going from pianissmo to forte, but from forte to pianissmo is pretty bad because he just switches registers without blending the registers and using mix voice.

I spent a long long time looking for other messa di voce videos, and there are only 3 on the net.

This guy does it starting at around 1:30. I think this is the best vid of the three in terms of demonstration, but has nothing in terms of technique.

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Here's Vendera demonstrating it for all of 3 seconds at 2:02-2:05

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Here's a good example. A short clip from an interview in the 80's.

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LOL

woman: "Someone told me that 'messa di voce' doesn't exist in the old Italian language"

Pavorotti: "She's right"

woman: "So what's it called then?"

Pavorotti: "Messa di voce"

anyway, any pros over here have suggestions on the blending aspects? vendera says that this is where the so-called "zipping up" of the vocal cords occurs, but I don't notice any zipping happening.

What, so you're just supposed to pick any note but start in a falsetto type voice, and then increase the volume?

I can do this but I can't add any chest feeling still. I'm too high.

If I go lower, then it's not falsetto where it starts, it's just soft. DAMMIT!

This is interesting! I tried it, it feels like a middle voice, yet a little head voice sounding, so I have no idea whether it's correct

These vids make it look sssooo easy when it's so much harder. But I'm adding this to my daily warm up repertoire!

I HAVE no daily warm up repertoire! lol At least you have one!!

I found I felt falsetto transition to head voice, but not chest.

This is interesting! I tried it, it feels like a middle voice, yet a little head voice sounding, so I have no idea whether it's correct

This is exactly what you're supposed to end with at the finale of the crescendo: a "perfectly tuned" middle voice. You can then adjust the register resonance to make it either more chesty or more heady.

well i practiced this one a lot today going down a descending scale from g4 to middle C.

all i sound like is a pimply-faced teenager going thru puberty with my voice cracking.

good thing no one was here.

this link isn't too helpful for me but maybe for someone else: http://voicecouncil.com/forum/topic/408/how-to-use-half-full-voicehalf-falsetto/

Andy, the guy in the 2nd video sitting next to the piano responded to my comments on the youtube video:

Will have to try this out. Good stuff.

HOW do you get the buzzing in your chest though, in the first place!? lol

I can't do it either way without a bad dip in pitch at my break.

thats because you're not blending the registers, you're just switching from head/falsetto to chest registers. you've got to blend them.

the next step after you have the pitch dip is the voice crack. You should feel your voice crack like a kid going through puberty. After that you can work on the musculature to smooth out those cracks.

that's just chest resonance. when you put your hand on your chest, do you feel vibrations when you're singing in chest?

Actually I hear the same kind of dip at 3:17 in the video you posted.

use the pavorotti one (that one also has females doing it to) as your guide, not the kevin richards one.

Nope. I feel nothing below the very bottom of my throat.

This exercise is the mother of all exercises...and a b*tch to do correctly! It's one of the main 3 exercises in Jamie Vendera's "Raise Your Voice" system. I actually had a Skype lesson w/Jamie yesterday, very cool dude.

I feel like I'm kinda shouting a bit when I try to mix in chest. It gets a little strained and I can feel the little vocal agility I have being cuffed and shackled into an almost vegetable state.

that's because you're belting, not shouting.

what happened in the lesson with Vendera? Did you guys go over the messa di voce? Did he provide any tips? Did Vendera tell you anything that lit a lightbulb for you during the lesson?

Are there any other exercises that help find the mix since I'm just belting on this one.