Passagio or Breakpoint?
Posted by Jaime Vendera at February 27, 2008 12:15 PM
Jaime Vendera discusses his views on the passagio and break point.
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PASSAGIO OR BREAK POINT?
What is the passagio and what is the break point? These questions had always baffled me when first studying voice. Since becoming a vocal coach myself, I have been asked these same questions a kazillion times! “What is the difference in the passagio and breakpoint?” To me, they are interchangeable terms in a sense. When I first started taking lessons, all I heard was that I had an obvious “break point”, meaning a specific point in my voice relating to a certain pitch where I couldn’t sing any higher or else I’d crack and flip into falsetto. I heard break point over and over and over again because my voice cracked on an E above Middle C and everything else above I usually sang in a very brutal sounding scream/falsetto type tone. But that was because I was a child of the 80’s and pushing my voice to sing Bullet Boys. AC/DC. Def Leppard and Guns-n-Roses.
Singing in a bar band at 16 years old, four nights a week can be a little taxing on a youngster’s voice, especially an untrained one. So I sought out a vocal teacher. My first teacher made sure to let me know that I had a very noticeable break point at an E above Middle C and that I was naturally a bass and wouldn’t sing much higher in full voice. It was honestly very obvious because I would belt out everything in full voice to the E or F above Middle C, and then switch to a shouting type falsetto (in order to make it sound real) right above that point. She told me that I needed to learn to strengthen that break point and blend at that specific spot to develop my “passagio” in order to make the higher notes more pleasing to the ear. By developing my passagio, I would learn how to sing through that tough area into my higher notes. The upper notes I was told was my head voice…But, when first trying to develop my passagio, I was made to sing in a falsetto tone right above my break and try to blend my regular voice into this falsetto or what my teacher called my head voice. Man all of this was confusing.
Luckily for me, I’ve had many teachers along the way; most of them rock stars. So although early coaching left me a little scarred, feeling like I’d never master my voice, I have had a lot of good advice over the years to keep me striving for perfection. Not to say that my early coaching was bad coaching, but that it was just the wrong type of coaching for what I wanted to sing. My first teacher was trying to train a rock singer to use classical techniques.
In my own teaching, I acknowledge both the break point and passagio terms. However, I rarely the term “passagio” because, I believe the voice should flow throughout the range without attaching terms to the voice to create a mental picture of the changing of the voice from low to high. I understand there are register changes from low to high and there IS a switching of gears, but I just rather not be focused on that. I also tell my students that the goal is to eliminate the term “break point” from their category, once we strengthen that area. You see, to me, the break point is an area that is obviously there, but just needs strengthened to be overcome. It’s a changing in the gears of the voice that doesn’t have to be babied or hidden. It is just your weak spot. I believe the voice should be one fluid flawless instrument from bottom to top. Even now, my “break point” isn’t that noticeable any more. So, although I acknowledge these terms and their purpose, your goal should be to establish where your break point occurs in the beginning and eliminate it by exercise and daily use. If you want to call that area your “passagio” that is fine. But I’d rather see you focus on one voice and eliminate any signs of a vocal transition at that point so that there is no need to say “my passagio” or “my break point”.
Bottom line, don’t let these terms confuse or limit you. I eliminated these terms as pertaining to my voice, once I developed my Isolation Method and strengthened and smoothed out that area;) So if you come to me for training, or use my RAISE YOUR VOICE system, be prepared to let go of the passagio, eliminate your break point and ascend into the high notes with grace…in full voice, as one complete, fluid, flawless instrument!!!