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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
 Posted - 02/19/2005 : 10:03:12 PM
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I know a few TPers sing falsetto and others have experience in vocal performance. Does anyone have tips on how to prepare your voice to sing falsetto? Has anyone found ways to make your voice break predictably and smoothly? Any tips on choosing a chord to sing in based on the break in the voice?
I would appreciate any tips.
Jesse Tinsley
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David
Akahai
92 Posts |
Posted - 02/19/2005 : 11:29:44 PM
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Hey Jesse, I was thinking the same thing a while ago, and found this site on yodeling. It's mainly alpine, but the same skills learned. They have 10 levels of courses, available in audio .mp3, .wav, and .aiff formats. No guarantee this will turn you into a Dennis Pavao (rip), Gary Haleamau, or the new undiscovered Ho'opi'i brother , but it's certainly a great way to learn those breaks. This music is my favorite. I'll be interested in responses.
http://www.yodelcourse.com/default.htm |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 03:41:34 AM
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| I've wondered if falsetto singing can be learned? I'll take a look at that link but I think I am beyond help (sounds like small animal being torchured.) |
Andy |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 08:31:11 AM
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Thanks for the link, David. I'll check it out.
I asked Richard Ho'opi'i about it after a concert last summer and he said that "anyone can learn to do it." But that's hard to believe.
I think that everyone has a falsetto range, but training it can take a lot of practice (in a sound-proof room). The unpredictability of the break is why most of us don't do it very often.
Some songs lend themselves to an easier break because of the melody, such as "I Kona". But others are harder, for me, like "Ke Ala O Ka Rose".
My voice breaks best in the morning when I get up, the hour when most of us sound "croaky." But it also warms up if I sing loud and hard, in the normal range, for an hour or so. And it also can break better, strangely, when I'm thirsty and my throat is parched. Hmmm.
Has anyone here been to one of the workshops given by Amy Gilliom?
Jesse Tinsley
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hwnslacker
Lokahi
USA
295 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 08:35:01 AM
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Hey Jesse!
I've never told anyone this before but while in college, I took an interest in falsetto..mainly because of Led and Gary (Haleamau), so I took a lesson from a Hawaiian guy that gave voice lessons..I took one lesson and thought that this was useless!!
I'm not a falsetto singer, (well..ok, I'm a closet falsetto singer) Listening to the music and different styles of falsetto is what I would do, along with applying what I learned and practicing in the shower!..(btw I was on the yodeling site for about 40min..I'm up to level 5! what a fun site! Thanks David!)
You have a nice foundation for falsetto when I heard you in Seattle, also the buzz the next day was that "Did you here that guy sing falsetto?" Keep up the good work and ofcourse the more you do it the better you will sound, make sure you make it a point to record yourself once in awhile, nobody want to hear animals being tortured..right Andy!
Good luck, hey going back to Seattle August, Portland in June..hope to see you there!
Aloha!
Patrick
www.patricklandeza.com |
Edited by - hwnslacker on 02/20/2005 08:38:37 AM |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 10:11:50 AM
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I guess that Sarah should really write this, but she is working (yeah, all weekend) and doesn't have time to check in and post. So, I'll try to add my recollections of what she did and the problems she has with falsetto.
She did the yodel course - she still has video and audio tapes - but they didn't help her much. The first problem is that she can't get the *obvious* break between chest voice and head voice. That may sound to some like a technique issue; maybe it is and can be learned, I don't know. She can only glide smoothly between them (chest and head), so that you can't tell she is doing falsetto - it sounds simply like a range extension. The second problem is one of range. She is an alto, which is low for a woman and, more troublesome, is in between common ranges for which songs are written. So, songs tuned for males (usually baritones) are too low and songs tuned for the more common female mezzos and sopranos are too high. A third issue is moving air, which is a problem for anybody singing and playing a guitar - especially while sitting down. You have to move a lot of air (no throat constriction) singing falsetto and you need strong abdominal muscles. OTW, it sounds harsh and reedy. Dennis Pavao had the physique for that smoothness.
I don't think her problems are unique; everybody who sings has a different range and starting point. She has been working on extending range, really working - it is a very hard job. And, arranging the music for the guitar is a complicated excercise in tuning choice and accompaniement arrangement. I am working on that part right now; it is not simply transposing and is really a challenge. So, these issues might be affecting lots of people.
...Reid
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 3:29:55 PM
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Thanks, Patrick, and to everyone who added thoughts. I sang a couple songs the first morning of Patrick's Hawaiian Music Institute in Seattle, but I had driven six hours through a blizzard to get there while consciously not singing along with my CD player (that's hard!) to save my voice for the kanikapila.
Falsetto, to me, is one of a few Hawaiian music idioms that you can truly call unique, like the basic slack keysound. It can be melancholy, playful or sacred. So I'd like to find the formula for vocal preparation so I can pull it out when I want it. Right now, it's like an old car with electical problems: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
Reid, I think that some voices don't break noticeably, so their falsetto becomes imperceptible, like Uluwehi Guererro. Haunani Kahalewai was a deep alto who could move into falsetto range, but her voice didn't break. Emphasizing the break, like yodeling, is only one kind of falsetto.
Any other advice would be appreciated.
Jesse Tinsley
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MahinaM
Lokahi
USA
389 Posts |
Posted - 02/20/2005 : 7:06:21 PM
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Thank you all for these posts everyone! This is what I've been trying to work on as well (mostly in my car driving up and down I-5 where nobody can hear me). I will check the website to see how far I get myself! Jesse...you sang so beautifully in Seattle, and have the foundation for falsetto singing, like Patrick mentioned. If I could come anywhere close, I would be happy!
Maggie |
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Pops
Lokahi
USA
387 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 07:36:49 AM
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| Falsetto singing can be learned but like anything else to get good at it you have to practice. One of the primary things I've learned as a singer is not to be afraid to open up your voice and go full throttle. From my own experience if you really go for the volume you'll find that there are a lot of layers and doors open for you. Experiment and you'll find that you can probably hit a lot more notes than you thought possibile. Once you learn not be me afraid to open up it's a lot easier to concentrate on those areas or ranges that you enjoy. |
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Mainkaukau
Lokahi
USA
245 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 08:26:11 AM
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| Try falsettoing in different keys. I usually "choke" in the key of G. Now the key of A, I choke a little less. Kalena kai and Ikona are my favorite try to falsetto tunes. |
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Sarah
`Olu`olu
571 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 4:29:29 PM
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Aloha kakou,
Not being afraid, like Pops said, is a real important part. Hand in hand with that is being more relaxed than you ever though imaginable. Don't *try* for any note, just *think* it, and let it emerge. Your body knows more than you do! It's the weirdest feeling to have a really high note emerge without feeling any "effort" - that's part of the goal. I just mention it because too many people, including me, unconsciously strain and squeeze to get out a high note, and that just works against you.
At the same time as relaxing, the air pressure has to be higher when you sing a high note. The control of this air pressure takes practice, strength, and experience. Much better if you start when you are a keiki... *sigh*
BTW, I also witnessed a young man singing falsetto with Kevin and Ikaika years ago, and he sat bolt upright on his stool to sing as he played (bass, I think). I was impressed by his super-straight posture. Has to be, if you're going to have room inside for the "bellows" to function when you are sitting down.
Oh, and Jesse, I think you have to locate your natural break first, and then plan your songs (tunings) around that. As I understand it, one's break is not very flexible or moveable, and so it kind of sets the range. (Dunno if that helps or not.)
Having said those few things that I've learned, I'll go back into my practice hole now.... 
Aloha,
Sarah |
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Bwop
Lokahi
USA
244 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 6:17:39 PM
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Aloha,
Well, Melinda and I went to Kindy Sproats' Falsetto/Story Telling contest a few years back. When we asked around about "who can sing falsetto", one Auntie tells us right away, "it's a geneetic thing, only Hawai'ians can do it...", but then Kindy gets up and says, "Yeah, anyone can sing falsetto. I listen to what the young people are doing, and I never critisize. I might say, 'That's not the way I'd do it', but I always listen with fresh ears". 'Nuff said? |
Bwop |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 8:04:11 PM
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It's amazing how many closet falsetto singers there are on TP! Don't we all sound great, at least once in awhile, in our car singing along with (favorite falsetto singer here) on CD? Why can't we do it when we're at a kanikapila?
Wylie Gustafson, the cowboy yodeler, told me that "you just gotta open up the sluices and let it all hang out."
Sarah, I have noticed that at the break of the voice, you have to increase wind power by double or more, but sometimes it's easier than others and I'm trying to find out why. And it seems like the part of the vocal chords that produces the falsetto sound has to be prepared/exercised/clean before it comes out easily.
Also, it seems like it's easier to break the voice when it involves a jump upward at the fifth or sixth interval (often tonic>sixth>fifth, such at in "Wailana"), rather than some smaller interval. A common yodel, especially at the end of the verse is (in G) D up to A back down to C up to F# then G. That jump from the C to the F# is difficult because you're stopping at the seventh before moving to the tonic. It's always easier to hit the the tonic or fifth because you're hearing that in the music. The first/fifth yodel is common in Hawaiian music, too, but much harder is the fourth-seventh yodel, which Uncle Joe Keawe did so well on songs like "Na Ka Pueo". In Palolo's version of "Na Ka Pueo", Chino Montero nails it at the end so smoothly you'd think he was playing it on a keyboard.
Thanks for all the suggestions. Apologies if my music theory explanation makes no sense. Jesse Tinsley |
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David
Akahai
92 Posts |
Posted - 02/21/2005 : 10:48:18 PM
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| I think the description of opened sluices and the death rattle of a small tortured animal are pretty good. Anyway, I can give myself chickenskin, when I'm not scaring myself. |
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