How Can I Access The Whistle Register?

Question

OK call me crazy I know I am.But I would love to access the whistle register in my vioce.What kind of vocal exercises can I do?Would vocal lessons help me access it.

Answer 1

A lot of experienced and professional vocalists have mentioned that singing in whistle register is not quite something you can practice and get right and then you are labelled a 'whistle register singer'. It is believed that only a few coloratura sopranos and and other sopranos(like spinto) who can hit notes in the seventh octave are the real whistle register singers. Many see it as a rare gift.

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Countless singers and teachers are looking for ways to open the upper register of the voice. Some understand this process with positive results. Sometimes without knowing it, others teach damaging techniques that might seem to get positive results at the time but lead to eventual vocal damage. This article is designed to clarify healthy and unhealthy approaches to what many call whistle register, a term sometimes used representing both male and female falsetto. What are the advantages and dangers of teaching this vocal concept over time? Are there extreme considerations a teacher should observe? What are the warning signs of vocal damage on the horizon? Finally, what can be done to repair the damage if the false cord function is employed in the upper range of the voice? Does the instructor understand the damaging result of using the false cords? All of these questions are critical to the well-being of the singer and they are critical to the process of learning about healthy teaching of the upper voice. Sadly, the truth is that often the well being of the singer is overlooked to protect delicate egos. This needs to change as our understanding of the world of voice science grows and as we learn more and more about the vocal mechanism.

False Cord Function: Case Study: Dramatic Soprano

Several years ago I was contacted by a very talented dramatic soprano for vocal study. When she began to understand the Lindquest vocalizes, we were able to expand her upper range. However, her previous teacher had been working with what he thought was the female falsetto. In actuality he had trained her entire upper range on the false cord function. This singer had studied this incorrect technique for 6 years and by that time the damage had been done. Every time she would try and go to a higher note at any dynamic level, the voice would jump an octave higher than she intended. This would happen from around high A-flat and above. Of course this completely ruined her high register and it was impossible for her to perform standard repertoire. In desperation this singer had moved down to dramatic mezzo roles and even then she had minimal success. The false cord function would take the form of a high squeak tone and usually the voice would jump the interval of at least a sixth to an octave higher than the singer intended, ruining her ability to match pitch in the upper range. I have had 3 cases of this kind of vocal abuse in my teaching career and this kind of dysfunctional instruction is still going on because of basic ignorance about the vocal mechanism. The false cord function becomes active when a singer goes to the high range and allows hardly any breath through the cords. There is such a squeeze at the vocal folds that the false cords (Tissue directly above the true folds.) employ resulting in a high-pitched squeaking sound. If false cord function is developed, it can take years of study to rehabilitate the upper range and sometimes the damage is permanent. The neurological message is so strong for the false cord function to come into play that the singer is faced with an involuntary function over which he or she has no control. Virginia Botkin often spoke of these phenomena when I studied with her and had her teach in my New York Studio. She often warned against this damaging technique, which was practiced in some voice studios.

Case Study: Lyric Soprano

The main reason that I am writing this article is that recently a 25-year-old lyric soprano came to my New York Studio for an evaluation. At the insistence of her college teacher in the Midwest, she moved to the Northeast to continue her vocal study with a male colleague. Not only was this singer’s new teacher vocally abusive because of his teaching of the false cord function, but he was also making inappropriate sexual comments in the voice studio. (This is psychological and sexual abuse clear and simply beyond the vocal abuse. Legal action should be taken in such a case.)

By the time I worked with this young singer, the false cords or squeak tone would abruptly come into her upper range involuntarily without warning. This function would take over as low as high A-flat and this was destroying healthy function in her upper register. When I heard this vocal abuse, my reaction was extreme and I could not believe that a teacher would remain so completely ignorant about the false cord function and the resulting long-term damage. I immediately worked with this young soprano on lip and tongue trills to engage the lower body (her support had been taught backwards as well). It was an intense session because I was determined to reverse the damage that had been done to this singer. With hard work and intense concentration she was able to vocalize to the high C without the false cord function by the end of the first hour. By the end of her second lesson, she could sing the E-flat above high C. Fortunately, this young soprano suspected that the instruction was abusive and came to me at the perfect time before this teacher had the opportunity and time to damage her voice permanently. Many singers are not so lucky and it takes years of hard work to reverse the damage. In some cases the damage is irreversible.

Case Study: False Cord Function and Incorrect Fach

About 2 years ago a young singer came to my New York Studio singing with tremendous throat pressure. In her previous study, she had been taught to over-compress the breath; a type of over-support making it impossible for the breath to move healthily or for the tongue pressure to release. After about 3 months of study, I decided to vocalize this singer in the lower register to study timbre, quality, and registration. As she vocalized lower, she sounded exactly like a mezzo-soprano even though she had been taught as a soprano throughout her university training. This singer was experiencing great difficulty getting into the upper register without tremendous push of breath pressure. If she did not a large amount of breath pressure, the false cord function would come into the upper register. Of course this function is of no use because it never blends with the other registers. In fact, in this singer’s case, the false cord function had made it impossible for her to sing high with any degree of vocal freedom or control of pitch.

After working in the lower and middle range for a period of approximately 8 months, the false cord function disappeared from the high range. This reflects a concept about which many professional singers speak. “If the middle voice is exercised properly, then the high range will come in from the release of the throat.” I would not venture to say that this is always true, but sometimes it is. The mezzo-soprano described in this case study now sings healthily with a dark and ringing quality that is quite exceptional. She can now access her high range without the false cord function and with great vocal freedom. Her history reminded me of my own: singing tenor for years with a squeezed throat in the upper range without any awareness that I was actually a lower voiced singer. (See article on Vocal Fach.)

False Cord Function: Dramatic Tenor Singing Lyric Tenor

Another singer comes to mind in thinking about the false cord function and the damage that can be incurred. A dramatic tenor came to my New York Studio and he had been trained as a light lyric tenor. He had also been vocalized on the false cord function in the falsetto mechanism. The side effects were obvious; his throat was completely closed in the upper passaggio and upper register of his changed voice and he was suffering from singing with far too much breath pressure. This was due directly to the false cord training in the falsetto that had developed tremendous pressure on the throat. Also, this singer was over-blowing his cords in the middle register and over-squeezing his cords in the upper register: a double abuse. The resulting damage took the form of nodules that over time and with healthy vocalization disappeared. One negative result of a singer being trained in too light a fach is the over-compression of the breath in the upper register. This is a side effect of a high laryngeal position. Larger-voiced singers who are young in their development do not know how to sing softly and remain connected to the body. Most dramatic tenors are larger-bodied persons. If they are encouraged to over-compress the breath in singing through using a squeeze on the throat, then the result is that the singer is constantly singing on a gag reflex. This places tremendous pressure on the vocal cords. It also limits freedom and range in the upper register. The recuperative time period for this singer was approximately 2 years.

Characteristics of Healthy Falsetto: Copertura Function

What are the characteristics of the true healthy falsetto and how does it enhance the full voice? I remember when I worked with Alan Lindquist that he would work an exercise that employed this part of the voice and then he would apply the benefits to full voiced singing. Richard Miller calls this throat protection copertura in his books. After working with Lindquest, the benefits of performing this exercise were obvious and were directly related to the fact that the function was similar to full voiced singing: not too little and not too much air through the vocal cords. It also exercised the thin edges of the vocal cords that allowed the singer to release weight in the voice without squeezing at the glottis. Lindquest was s