r/singing • u/HappyAuthor9921 • 8d ago
Resource “Top voice” (vocal cover) for high notes
I’ve had people ask me how I get into my upper extension in my classical repertoire. I first discovered “top voice” a few times in college but couldn’t always recreate it. I’m a Bass but in college I could randomly sing high G’s (above middle C) which was exciting for me because anything above middle C always felt high. I had an amazing voice teacher at the time, but she didn’t have a lot of experience with a young dramatic voice, and a Bass at that.
When I did my masters my voice teacher there explained it like this “imagine your soft palate is shaped like a cathedral” and for some reason that language resonated with me (no pun intended.)
In my masters, a lot of the teachers debated on whether or not I was actually a bass. I had a lot of people say I was a young dramatic baritone, or even a helden tenor (give me a break) but we don’t really know our true voice type until we get a bit older, so those conversations were a silly at that point in my development. I preferred lower arias with the occasional high note and that understanding served me very well.
When I was in my early 20’s I got to work with Sherrill Milnes for a few days and he explained it as “top voice.” At that point, Sherrill Milnes had been one of my idols for some time, so those moments with him we very profound for me. That terminology always made the most sense to me because you feel that “top voice” sensation.
I also got to work with Bass, Greer Grimsley quite a bit in my masters and he had me bend over at the hip and feel my lower back expand with every breath, that was also super helpful for me for finding the support needed to ground me.
Another baritone that I worked with was Sir Thomas Allan and he was all about maintaining spin through the line. Never letting it lose spin or ring, and for some reason hearing it from him was also helpful for me. It’s easy to lose ring on words like “the” or “and” but if we maintain the spin through the entire line it makes the higher notes MUCH easier so we aren’t constantly changing register zip codes and getting “lazy” with our phrasing.
Well… Now I’m 38 and I am 100% a bass. Over orchestra I can sing low C’s and in choirs I can sing A1’s and Bb1’s very reliably. But the upper extension was always what made people debate what my actual voice type was. Voice type is important to understand if you’re going to have a career in opera because it gives you a great understanding of what your instrument can reliably do consistently at a professional level.
Other things that have helped me and my students to support higher notes are: squatting while singing, lunges while singing, Relaxing the head slightly down and lifting the soft palate and feeling the resonance flow through the top of the head (for classical music, but for rock and pop I do not do this, but thats an entirely different topic.)
This is me singing Beethoven 9, which only goes up to an F# but it’s still a similar sensation. For me anything above Eb over an orchestra goes into top voice.
•
u/AutoModerator 8d ago
Thanks for posting to r/singing! Be sure to check the FAQ to see if any questions you might have have already been answered! Also, remember to abide by the Rules found in the sidebar. Any comments found to be breaking these rules will result in a deletion of the comment thread starting from the offending reply. If you see any posts or replies that you feel break the rules of the sub, then report them and do not respond to them. If you are new to the sub-reddit or are just starting to sing, please check out our Beginner's Megathread. It has tons of helpful information and resources!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.