Robert Lunte : Training To Bridge : "Lift Up / Pull Back"
Bridging the Passagio requires a lift of the soft palate. Robert Lunte trains "Lift Up / Pull Back" to new students to build this coordination and get familiar with the sensation of bridging.
"Lift Up / Pull Back" is a simple technique that will help the vocalist to train a coordination with the levator veli palatini, which is the tiny muscle that contracts to elevate the soft palate. In order to achieve a seamless bridge through the Passagio without experiencing a "yodel" or break in the voice, the modern vocalist needs to be able to shift muscle coordination from the Thyroarytenoids (TA's) to the Cricothyroids (CT's) muscles to elongate the vocal folds, resulting in maintaining vocal fold closure when in the head voice. The sound column also has to be able to reach the heady resonators, thus a lift of the soft palate will greatly assist the complex maneuver of Passagio bridging. This exercise is not the end solution. It is only an interim step that trains coordination and "sensation" for the new student.
You will want to train this maneuver enough so that you can gradually speed up the siren without your voice "breaking". This will mean your body is beginning to adopt a new "attractor state" and can transfer contractions from the TA's to the CT's and lift the soft palate quickly. The faster the maneuver, the bigger the illusion to the listener. I hope this helps!
Respectfully,
Comments
nice one, Rob.
Zeta email -
Dig it man!
Andrew Southworth email -
This makes sense :)
Chen Sun email - www.webandnet.com
You produce excellent videos, Robert. Great camerawork, and your method of explanation is outstanding.
Kevin email - www.imarockaholic.com
Robert,
In watching your "passagio" video clip I realized that I figured out the "lift up, pull back" technique early on in my self-training back in the mid-80's simply by trying to replicate Geoff Tate on Queensryche's "The Warning" LP. It was basically the only way to copy Geoff's sirens. I've had many teachers over the years and NONE of them taught me that particular technique to bridge the passagio. They taught other exercises to bridge the mixes but never your unique way and in a "laymans explanation". Nice and simple. Great work!
Kevin