To bridge or not to bridge? The Mix - Part 1 - by Mary Beth Felker
Mary Beth discusses the Mix
The notion that the "mix" is something that must be learned for most people is really false. The "mix", in reality, is something that occurs on every note within one’s range. For example, the pitch lower than the one you are singing is "thicker” or “chestier" than the current one, and the pitch above the one you are singing is "thinner” or “headier" than the current one as well. In fact, I hate to even think of pitches as up and down or higher and lower since in reality the vocal folds stretch on the horizontal not the vertical. A better way to think of the pitch making process is thick-to-thin. In fact, I like to think of pitch changes in the context of a pyramid. Fat and wide on the bottom and thin and intense on the top. (Yes, for you techies, I know that this is an oversimplification of the vocal process.) However, the name mix-bridging-passagio has come to describe the resonant and physical changes that occur at certain points in the singing range. Learning to not fight, anticipate, or create the sensations associated with this change is paramount to healthy singing. If the singer will allow the resonation to shift on its own, and instead focus on repeating the sound/word they are given - without changing the shape, volume or outward tension - the pitches will be easy and accessible throughout their entire range. No kidding! It's much easier to focus on saying, "Go, Go, Go" exactly the same way, than to worry about how one must change, narrow, place or shift the word on every pitch. Your brain and your body already know how to create sound; it doesn’t need to you interfere with it much in the same manner that you don’t think about the process of speaking when you talk – you instead focus on what and how you want to express yourself and magically your brain and body make the appropriate adjustments. Basically, if you initiate the beginning pitch correctly, and do nothing to interfere with the process, you're set. Conversely, if you initiate the tone in an unbalanced manner, it will be very difficult to become balanced mid-stream, or mid-phrase. There are some minor adjustments that occur at the extreme of one’s range, but generally, not through the mix or first bridge unless you react and fight the natural process. Once in awhile it becomes necessary to adjust the way one says a word or vowel as you experience these resonation shifts. This is mostly done to counteract the tendency of many singers to widen the vowels in reaction to the resonation shifting and bring them back to a normal pronunciation. But, if you don't react or try to shift the resonation yourself, you typically won’t have to modify. Narrowing of the vowels is a corrective tool used to get one back to normal function, not necessarily a technical necessity. Disclaimer: In the head voice (3rd bridge and above) the high, front vowels will need some modifying due to resonance coupling, but that can be done easily by slightly dropping the jaw on forward vowels and slightly closing for back ones. Until that bridge, maintaining the normal speech production of the word should be sufficient.FAQ on the Voice: Download this article here
Topic: The Mix - part 1
Q: To bridge or not to bridge….that is the question.
(This article is taken from a posting I made awhile ago on a different forum. For this discussion on Voice Council, I think it’s important to note that there are many different ways of describing the passagio, bridge, break, mix, modes, colors or transitions –these are merely different words to describe the function. Though there are many stylistic overlays a singer can impose on the voice, there is an absolute physiological change that happens within the vocal structure as one sings different pitches. The singer experiences these physical changes as different sensations and sounds. This is where much confusion occurs in teaching and pedagogy. Some teach the process others teach the result: the how vs. the what. Learning how to allow this natural process to happen, without interfering or manipulating it, is paramount to building a foundation of vocal freedom outside of any musical genre. In other words, in order to stray far a field stylistically, one must know what and where home base is to return to.)
Soon to come: The beauty of mix - where do the bridges occur for most voices?
To learn more about Mary Beth Felker and the Voice Project, go to www.thevoiceproject.com