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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
 Posted - 08/19/2007 : 3:20:12 PM
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Aloha kakou,
I take voice lessons and just recently decided to split my practicing time between singing classical and opera, which I'm trained in, and ha'i. When I practice my ha'i, however, I just don't want to do the break and thus go from chest to head and vice versa too smoothly. Any suggestions you could give me so that I can figure out if I'm doing the break right or not? Mahalo nui loa in advance.
Aloha,
'Alika
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He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/19/2007 : 4:28:34 PM
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Hi 'Alika,
We've talked a little about this and so I have to rehash a few things.
I have found that singing along with CDs helps you learn where and how your voice breaks, as well as the keys in which you can sing. Yodeling, repetitive breaks, also helps you learn your break.
My vocal chords needs to be free of food and sweet drinks, too.
Once you know the way your break works, you can begin to emulate artists with similar qualities and practicing using their repertoire. Also, I find that singing with an 'ukulele lends itself to singing falsetto.
Jesse Tinsley |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 12:09:24 AM
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| Mahalo Jesse. May I come over to where you live and work on it with you? Haha! |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 05:56:47 AM
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That would be fun! But I find that everyone's voice breaks in a narrow range, so that our voices might not work together very well.
Jesse Tinsley |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 06:25:07 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hapakid
Once you know the way your break works, you can begin to emulate artists with similar qualities and practicing using their repertoire.
True. And that break is typically a perfect fifth - which is why you hear it in cadences at the end of verses (such as in the V/V - V - I chord sequence).
My only bit of advice is not to overuse the break. While the break is not a recent invention by any means, its overuse is and has been a conversation point among kupuna when they are criticizing the young lions of falsetto like Na Palapalai. If you listen to "old school" falsetto singers, you won't hear the break at all - ever. I am thinking of falsetto legends like Mahi Beamer, Bill Lincoln, John Watkins, Benny Kalama, Joe Keawe, and George Kainapau. Their style is characterized by finding a key where they could sing the entire song in falsetto without moving into their full voice. Contemporary Hawaiian falsetto singers who honor this tradition and use the break minimally include Tony Conjugacion and Kimo Alama Keaulana.
You can pretty much trace the beginning of the popularity of the break to the Ho`opi`i Brothers debut album in the mid-1970s and their yodeling extravaganza "Kupa Landing." It's beautiful and it revolutionized falsetto singing. But before that, you hardly heard the break at all.
The reason that some kupuna get bent out of shape over the break is really quite legitimate. We have said in this forum before that the most important aspect of Hawaiian mele is the story and the mana behind the words. When the break is overused, the vocalist is really just using the song as a vehicle for their own vocal gymnastics and disrespecting the composer's intent to simply tell a story. It is just my opinion, but the break should be saved for effect - to add emphasis or emotion.
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 12:45:42 PM
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Well actually, Auntie Genoa Keawe did it back then and still does today.
'Alika |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/20/2007 : 2:31:52 PM
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I think there are multiple genres of falsetto singing. My favorites include Joe Keawe, who did emphasize the break in songs like "Na Ka Pueo" and "Kaimanahila" where he added a sort of rhythmic yodel to the end of lines, or like Lena Machado, he would pick a key which allows the singer to constantly jump above and below the break, such as "Kauoha Mai." My favorite current performers include Na Palapalai, Pilioha and Atta Damasco.
The simplest delineation between styles, as Bill was describing, would be those who emphasize the break and those who make the transition from normal range to falsetto as smooth as possible. Yodeling probably belongs in its own category.
Jese Tinsley |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2007 : 06:59:15 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hapakid
I think there are multiple genres of falsetto singing. My favorites include Joe Keawe, who did emphasize the break in songs like "Na Ka Pueo" and "Kaimanahila" where he added a sort of rhythmic yodel to the end of lines, or like Lena Machado, he would pick a key which allows the singer to constantly jump above and below the break, such as "Kauoha Mai." My favorite current performers include Na Palapalai, Pilioha and Atta Damasco.
The simplest delineation between styles, as Bill was describing, would be those who emphasize the break and those who make the transition from normal range to falsetto as smooth as possible. Yodeling probably belongs in its own category.
Jese Tinsley
Why do you think that? Isn't yodeling the same type of thing?
'Alika |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2007 : 07:08:31 AM
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Yodeling is definitely part of Hawaiian falsetto singing, but it goes beyond ornamentation of a song to focus on the vocal athletics of the yodel, so I see as different from just emphasizing the ha'i. Yodeling is very helpful in learning how to break your voice. Good practice!
Jesse Tinsley |
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hwnmusiclives
`Olu`olu
USA
580 Posts |
Posted - 08/22/2007 : 07:12:00 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hawaiianmusicfan138
quote:
Originally posted by hapakid
Yodeling probably belongs in its own category.
Jesse Tinsley
Why do you think that? Isn't yodeling the same type of thing?
'Alika
Actually, I think Jesse is dead on. I equate "yodeling" with the excessive use of the break - as opposed to the tasteful and understated use of the break such as by Lena Machado and Joe Keawe. At the same time, yodeling - which is like using the break over and over again in rapid succession - is a skill set well beyond just using the break once or twice per verse.
Nobody does this yodeling thing like the Ho`opi`i Brothers, but Gary Haleamau is a close second. (He has a new CD coming out, I hear...)
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Join me for the history of Hawaiian music and its musicians at Ho`olohe Hou at www.hoolohehou.org. |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 12:15:25 PM
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| (sings like the commercials) YA-HOOOOOOOOOO! |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 10/21/2007 : 5:01:37 PM
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The Yahoo yodel is by Wylie Gustafson (www.wylieww.com) of Dusty, Washington, about 80 miles from my house. I've jammed with Wylie a couple times and he's great at cowboy style yodeling.
Jesse Tinsley
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wcerto
Ahonui
USA
5052 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 03:23:45 AM
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You should hear Gary Haleamau doing this as well. Hearing Gary yodeling was at my second ever show of live Hawaiian music...not only the yodeling, but I was watching his flying fingers on that guitar..WOW!
Almost like down home music. Get that Willie and Eric together and they just make me laugh...so full of energy and kolohe to boot. |
Me ke aloha
Malama pono,
Wanda |
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alika207
Ha`aha`a
USA
1260 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 04:19:30 AM
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quote:
Originally posted by hapakid
The Yahoo yodel is by Wylie Gustafson (www.wylieww.com) of Dusty, Washington, about 80 miles from my house. I've jammed with Wylie a couple times and he's great at cowboy style yodeling.
Jesse Tinsley
That's the sound I hear when new e-mails come in at my yahoo e-mail address! Love it! |
He kehau ho'oma'ema'e ke aloha.
'Alika / Polinahe |
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rendesvous1840
Ha`aha`a
USA
1055 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 11:59:55 AM
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Jesse, would that be as in Wylie & The Wild West? Sounds like a good jam buddy, if so.
Paul |
"A master banjo player isn't the person who can pick the most notes.It's the person who can touch the most hearts." Patrick Costello |
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hapakid
Luna Ho`omalu
USA
1533 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2007 : 1:37:23 PM
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My newspaper did a story about Wylie about ten years ago and I got to meet him. Later we jammed a couple times at the home of a friend. He's so busy anymore that he's hard to catch between tours.
When his yodel for Yahoo went into its national campaign several years ago, Wylie "renegotiated" his fee for that little jingle. He now has a huge horse arena on his ranch. He's dubbed it "the barn that Yahoo built."
Jesse Tinsley |
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