| Vocal Tip of the Month! |
| Your
facial features define characteristics of your voice. Your
head is the
main resonance box of your instrument. It is therefore
primordial to focus
the vibrations of your voice forward and high up in your face to
produce a rich
tone. Italians understood that principle and popularized the
famous Bel
Canto singing technique. Bel Canto originated in Italy
during the
sixteenth century. Bel Canto or "Beautiful Singing" focuses
on
placing the resonance of the voice in the mask to achieve a continuous
tone and
admirable timbre and colour. My speaking
voice approach is somewhat
inspired by Bel Canto. Even if you can't sing in tune you
must know
that the singing voice and the speaking voice are the same.
After all,
you own only one set of vocal cords, don't you?! To project
your speaking
voice effortlessly, it must resonate in the mask. We call the
mask the
area of your face around your nose and cheeks and just above the eyes;
in other
words the sinus cavities. Raise the pitch of your voice
slightly and
feel the buzzing happening when your voice is correctly focused in that
area. |
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Interesting
Facts
The
expression "the mask" comes from the renaissance period when men
and woman wore costumes and fancy masks to masquerade balls in Europe.
These masks generally covered the area of the face where we
want resonances to be focused, hence the reference to "singing
in
the mask". Click on the links below to listen to famous singers that
are keeping the Bel Canto tradition alive:
Andrea
Bocelli and Sarah Brightman
Josh Groban
Joan
Sutherland
Luciano
Pavarotti
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| What's Happening? |
I
would like to welcome every one to visit my website again and download
my FREE and EASY voice warm-up exercises. These are
specifically
designed to naturally place the voice in the
mask
and help you achieve beauty and power all at once. If you
have
any questions as to how to do the exercises, please do not hesitate to e-mail me or initiate a
thread on my Message
Board.
There hasn't been any activity on it since I started my
website
and I would like to encourage you to go ahead and start a discussion
topic! It's there for you; use it!
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Relevant
Links
Voice
Yourself in the Classroom
Valerie Bastien
The Voice
Connection |
| Inspiring Quotes and Stories... |
Tune
yourself to your voice to achieve harmony. Music is life.
It begins in the mother's womb as a baby listens to the
calming
sound of its mother's heartbeat. When
the baby is born, its first cry confirms it's breathing and alive,
hopefully healthy. The power of vibrations is surprisingly
unknown
and underestimated. Every being and object on earth is made
of
molecules and therefore vibrates. Every thought, every move, every
sound is vibration. Thus, your voice (inner voice or spoken)
is
your greatest asset.
Choose your thoughts and words carefully and you will
discover
the tremendous potential and the power it gives you and the people
around you. That is the best kept and the greatest secret of
all
time!
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