• About WordPress
    • WordPress.org
    • Documentation
    • Support
    • Feedback
  • Log In
  • SSL
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • About
    • Jeanie LoVetri Bio
    • Benefits
    • Origins of Somatic Voicework™
    • Testimonials
    • Core Principles
    • Strategies
  • News
    • Articles
  • Workshops
  • Institute
  • Photos
  • Join Us!
  • Members
    • Login
    • Edit Profile
    • SVWTA Member Directory
    • Archives
    • Members’ Links
    • Add Listing
    • Teacher Locator Help
  • Find a Teacher
  • Contact

Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method Teachers' Association

Brightness versus Nasality

December 6, 2006 By Jeannette LoVetri

I can usually tell when I am listening to someone singing CCM who has had only classical training, as there are “telltale signs” in the singing. One of the most blatant is nasality. So many teachers think that making a nasal sound is an end in itself, a destination, and a stepping stone to belting. Wrong. Nasality is a disposal by-product (as William Vennard says) that helps firm up the laryngeal and pharyngeal musculature to make the voice more professional. Teachers who confuse nasality with brightness (ping, ring, point, focus) are doing their students a real disservice, as it makes them sound unnecessarily ugly and it makes it difficult for the student to change vocal qualities since nasality causes tenseness in the tongue and soft palate to be increased.

A bright sound is the result of chest register. (What? Isn’t brightness part of head register?) No, warmth and relaxation (yawn sigh) are part of head register and make the voice appealing and pleasant. Brightness or “sparkle” or whatever other of the many words you want to give this quality, brings out the high frequencies in the vocal tone (the “squillo” in Italian, or the “crying baby” here). It doesn’t make the voice sound nicer but it allows it to be heard easily. (We hear those baby cry frequencies around 3000 hz better than we hear the lower frequencies…..evolution, I suppose. Cavemom could always hear the baby crying, even when she was out with the hunters looking for dinner). If you sing with an active, full chest register quality, even when you go back up to your high notes, they will have more sparkle, regardless of whether or not that’s what you want. Try it and see for yourself. Chest register alone is enough to make the sound bright. To add nasality on top of that is overkill. Making a head register dominant sound nasal will cut down on the “open” feeling, camoflaging the “classical” quality, but it is just that…camoflage, not the real deal. It doesn’t substitute for chest register. Lack of clarity about the functions we are discussing here can cause a singer to be really confused.

AND, in a young singer, particularly a female, who grew up singing in mix, all sounds are some form of mix. What that means is that such a singer can sing a “heady-mix” and a “chesty-mix” but NOT a true isolated head tone or a true isolated chest tone. These young woman think they are in head when they are not. They confuse mix with head because it is the only configuration the throat can do. If classical training is put into such a system, the vowel sounds will never, ever sit in the right place and the resonance will never really be adequate to classical repertoire. Such students will manipulate the voice to try to create “forward” resonance, again by going toward nasality, and that just makes matters worse. If you don’t fix the imbalance before you do the material, you tie up the throat, confuse the singer, skew the singer’s perception of what she hears and feels and spend a lot of time “creating effects” instead of dealing with causes.

Nasality is useful, but it is important to understand what it does and does not accomplish and what it inhibits. Don’t get sucked into confusion about its functions.

Filed Under: Jeanie's Blog, Uncategorized

Primary Sidebar

Video: Jeanie LoVetri Sings in Various Styles



Click here for More Videos and Comments.

Authentic “Crossover” Singing: Maria Damore, Rachel Williams

https://vimeo.com/780734282?loop=0

Testimonials

  • Somatic Voicework™ Testimonials
    “I have worked with Jeanie LoVetri and Somatic Voicework™ for twenty years and have found her method to be incredibly efficient and scientifically sound. I have been able to consciously work on technique while continuing to develop my artistry and my personal style. I credit Jeannie with the freedom I feel when I sing.” Luciana Souza, ...
More

SOMATIC VOICEWORK™ TEACHERS

Somatic Voicework™ teachers believe that the body and the voice are not limited and that it is possible to train anyone who wishes to sing in a variety of styles in a healthy and responsible manner. They are caring, excellence-driven, live in the USA and 10 foreign countries, and have varied backgrounds in:

Jazz ~ Musical Theatre ~ Pop/Rock ~ Classical ~ Gospel ~ Choral ~ World Music

Many hold masters and doctoral degrees and are in positions of responsibility in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) at local, state, and regional levels.

Many are heads of departments in voice at universities and conservatories, published authors of books, research papers and pedagogy articles in voice and music journals.

Many are acknowledged professionally as singers, having performed in major venues in all styles of music all over the world.

Find a Somatic Voicework™ teacher today!

Copyright © 2023 · Somatic Voicework· Log in

Change Location
Find awesome listings near you!