The tenor voice - Dealing with the high notes

Hello everyone:

Today I want to specifically talk about the high range on the tenor voices. Many tenors face a lot of difficulties when they have to sing repeatedly on the highest  part of their vocal range. For tenors who haven't developed the high notes or don't have those high pitches, singing high notes can be frustrating, overwhelming and very intimidating. 

This situation results on insecurities, low self esteem as a singer, shame and even psychological disturbances simply because tenors are required to sing a solid high C5, and in some cases a high C#5 or even a high D5. 

In the past, before the Bel Canto era, tenors were not required to sing those high notes. All the difficult arias before the Bel Canto style were written for the Castrati . In fact, many opera experts agree that the Castrati arias are the most difficult to sing due to the vocal extension, fioratura  and the length of the roles. To many hours of singing difficult vocal passages!

Here is an example of a castrato's aria:

After the decline of the Castrati and the blossom of the Bel Canto style, the tenor voice begun to have a starring role in the new Opera productions. The new repertory for tenors demanded a very flexible voice, a pure sound and most importantly the ease to sing high notes without  pushing the instrument   over the limit to create the illusion of an effortless sound.

The tenors on the Bel Canto era learned a technique using the head voice to sing these high notes without harming the instrument. This technique is well known as "covering" the sound - "coprire" or "chiaroscuro" in Italian and is also known as a "vowel modification".  This technique is achieved by mixing or blending the chest and  head voice together to create a high note that sounds full but feels completely free. Developing this technique will take time and a great effort from the singer, mostly if it's voice is not naturally high or if the singer's voice is not flexible enough naturally.  Many people confuse the concept of singing with mixing voice with pure head voice or falsetto. At the early stages working with this technique the singer's voice will sound weak, it will crack on the transition areas, mostly between the middle and high range (F4, F#4 and G4) where the bigger transition is and it will certainly sound as a falsetto or pure head voice. With time and practice the high notes will develop into a solid sound, the cracking sound will be completely gone and the singer will be able to sing up and down with the same color and power through the whole vocal range.

Luciano Pavarotti talks about covering the sound on the following video: 

Seth Riggs - The famous vocal coach of many pop stars also talks about this technique. In fact, before Seth Riggs was famous he worked as a vocal teacher in Los Angeles California training classical singers. In the following video he explains clearly how to sing using the covering sound, he called it chiaroscuro:

This is the technique many teachers don't know or don't understand completely. Just a few teachers continue teaching this technique that might take time for the male singers to learn, understand and  apply, but once the singer understands it and learns it,  singing high notes will be like a walk in the park! 

Juan Diego Flores singing A mes amis... the famous aria from Donizzetti's La fille du regiment. In this aria the tenor has to sing 9 high C5. Impossible to sing without mixing the voice adequately. 

I am offering voice lessons on Google helpouts!

Hello everyone!

I am very excited to announce that Google approved me to offer voice lessons through Google helpouts. This is a very innovative way to teach using google hang outs. If you are away from the Phoenix area, or even out of the U. S. you can take voice lessons with me through this application. I am posting the link for my Google helpouts profile below the video. 

Watch the video and click on the link below! 

Click on the link below  to go to my Google Helpouts profile:

Voice lessons and coaching for classical singers

Start Singing Now - theonlinevoicestudio is ​an online business that offers voice lessons and vocal coaching on live video conferences on Skype. We work with classical and pop singers and train them into a healthy way of  singing. We retrain the vocal mechanism to make it work efficiently,  giving the singer a way  to sing effortlessly, with power, flexibility and  beauty. This is only achieved when the singer finds a perfect balance between the muscle movement and the flow of air, allowing the vocal mechanism to work with the less amount of tension possible. The singer will find that perfect balance by learning to use the voice correctly, relaxing the muscles in the right places, allowing the flow of air to go directly to the resonance areas. Singing this way, singers will develop the volume, stamina, flexibility, beauty, strength and endurance they all need to sing for long periods of time without causing vocal damage and keeping the voice healthy for years to come. 

For information about the voice lessons on Skype please visit our website: 

Startsingingnow - theonlinevoicestudio

Should I warm up my voice before singing?

Many times I have came across this questions.

The answer is YES!

The voice instrument  is composed by muscles, tissues, cavities, nerves etc. Like any athlete who needs to warm up his/her body before a practice or a competition, singers must follow a routine of simple vocalizations to prepare the muscles that will be involved in the singing process.

It is recommended for singers to start slowly right in the middle of the voice's range. Humming is a great way to start. Then going slowly from the humming to the lip trill, always making sure that the vocal cords are engaged with a deep breathing and good support for the air to pass smoothly to the resonance cavities without compromising the muscles on the upper body but most importantly the muscles around your throat. 

Always look for a nice, even and light sound at the beginning of the warm ups and build your sound  from there. When you feel your voice is ready, start introducing vowel sounds to your vocalization. Taking this step will depends from how your voice feels at that specific moment. Some days the voice won't need that much to warm up and you can go into singing open vowel sounds after 5 minutes. Other days your voice may take longer to warm up. This can be frustrating, mostly if you need to be ready for a vocal coaching or a concert or if you don't have time to warm up and you feel your voice is not responding quickly enough. 

In cases like this the best thing you can do is going up and down slowly using the lip trill and rolling your tongue making sure you engage the whole vocal range but not pushing the sound. Then go to the open vowel sounds starting  with the eeh sound making sure you take the air flow to your resonance cavities (the mask). 

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Start Singing Now - theonlinevoicestudio is ​an online business that offers voice lessons and vocal coaching on live video conferences on Skype. We work with classical and pop singers and train them into a healthy way of  singing. We retrain the vocal mechanism to make it work efficiently,  giving the singer a way  to sing effortlessly, with power, flexibility and  beauty. This is only achieved when the singer finds a perfect balance between the muscle movement and the flow of air, allowing the vocal mechanism to work with the less amount of tension possible. The singer will find that perfect balance by learning to use the voice correctly, relaxing the muscles in the right places, allowing the flow of air to go directly to the resonance areas. Singing this way, singers will develop the volume, stamina, flexibility, beauty, strength and endurance they all need to sing for long periods of time without causing vocal damage and keeping the voice healthy for years to come. 

For information about the voice lessons on Skype please visit our website: 

Startsingingnow - theonlinevoicestudio