Singers, if you are anything like me, you have adopted the philosophy that to be a true vocalist means to hunger for a knowledge of your instrument, a knowledge of how it functions and how to work with it in a healthy and effective way. The process seems unending, despite little breakthroughs along the way and simple discoveries that seem to create an epiphany. So it is unsettling to be happily singing along on your merry way—feeling in good voice, free, and connected—when all of a sudden you reach an area of your voice where you feel none of those things.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to your passaggio.
Understanding the Passaggio
The passaggio—“passage” in Italian—often becomes a challenging and unwelcome encounter of varying degrees for many singers in their training and throughout their careers. Understanding what the passaggio is and how it works can assist a vocalist greatly in knowing how to approach it and sing through it correctly.
“By classical definition, the passaggio is the transition between two major qualities of sound in the voice,” says Arthur Levy, an acclaimed voice teacher from the Manhattan School of Music who also runs a private studio with a large professional student base. “It relates to the coordination between the intersection of the ring and approximation of the chest register with the warm and round sound of the head register. It is often problematic for singers because the balance of sound within a given voice and the basic center of gravity differs from voice to voice and sometimes, secondarily, from role to role.”
Many factors typically lead vocalists to challenges in singing through the passaggio, but Levy theorizes that there is a pre-passaggio that often makes singers mistakenly think shallow or lateral, which determines how the voice balances in the passaggio.
“Very often singers misunderstand the use of the middle voice approaching the passaggio,” Levy says. “Under-supporting and over-supporting, or over-bright or over-dark singing, can lead to instability and tension in the voice. Often, it’s how a singer approaches the notes before the passaggio that make it a non-issue or a major issue.”
The passaggio in a singer’s voice can vary depending upon the individual voice and voice type and can include more than one breaking point in a singer’s range between two to three different registers: the chest voice, the head voice, the mixed voice (which some define as a combination of the head and chest registers), and the falsetto in the male voice or flageolet (also known as the whistle) register in the female voice.
Pedagogues have defined two major lift points for singers both female or male, known as the primo passaggio and the secondo passaggio. These occur at different notes on the scale, depending on the voice category. For lower voices (bass, baritone, mezzo, etc.), the lift points are one to two steps lower than for higher voices (tenor, soprano, etc.). Richard Miller in his book Structures of Singing gives detailed charts of typical passaggio points for all voice types in both men and women.
The most important passaggios to observe and acknowledge among male voices are the upper passaggios, says Levy. For mezzos, dramatic sopranos, and contraltos, the lower passaggios leading to the chest voice can be problematic. Other areas of concern in the upper passaggio of the female voice can include a misalignment—when too much lift occurs, causing a hyperextension of the soft palate—or an unnecessary pushing forward of the vowel or the air. Levy notes, however, that this often differs between individual singers.
“By and large, each voice has a different sense of balance, orientation, tension, and expectation of sound,” Levy says. “As a rule, the warmth and the coordinative element of the head voice are what links registers in all voices. This often determines the smoothness of the passaggio.”
Troubleshooting the Passaggio
The passaggio is often interpreted as problematic for singers of all levels and can take anywhere from five minutes to five years or more to overcome and correct. If you find yourself currently in midair, in the midst of confronting this hurdle, fear not. You are not flying solo.
“Many singers have problems with the passaggio, especially in getting into the top voice,” says Gregory Lamar, a renowned voice teacher with studios in New York City, Berlin, Cologne, and Vienna, and students performing in major venues worldwide. “When a singer does not have that important balance in the right breath compression, [and the right] vibration of the cords and vowels, these areas are highlighted in one’s vocal delivery. Working for a certain seamlessness helps to take the spotlight away. The ultimate goal is to smooth out these areas of transition, creating evenness throughout the vocal range. One strives to hear comments such as, ‘Ah, the voice was even from top to bottom.’”
So, how can you achieve such seamlessness?
Practice, patience, and persistence should be your guide, says voice teacher Jane Randolph of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, adding that it’s just another potential growing pain in the life of an aspiring vocalist.
“The passaggio is a marked change in the voice and is something singers need to be aware of in a balanced way,” she says. “Singers can get crazy over it. It’s a very individual thing singers need to respect and continue to work through until that sense of weakness in the voice disappears and is no longer perceived as an obstruction. But this takes time.”
Randolph describes the passaggio as a kind of wall for the singer.
“In the singer’s point-of-view, it is often seen as something to push through,” she says. “You don’t want to barrel through it too quickly, but rather nudge it open by continuing to sing in the middle range correctly, with the right air pressure, support, open space, and flexibility. It’s getting to that perfect breath and attack, and having that middle sit just right. If the vocalist doesn’t sing easily through the passaggio or take the time to get the voice sitting correctly enough in the beginning of their training, it can lead to greater problems later on.”
The anatomy of the singer is also one of the most important things to consider when troubleshooting an individual’s passaggio, says Randolph.
“You don’t want too narrow of a space, or too much space or spread of the sound,” she says. “It’s important that the middle stay very vertical. Each singer will sense how much space is needed. You also don’t want too much pressure behind the sound, forcing it. Otherwise, vocal strain, fatigue, unstable vibrato, and pitch problems can result.”
Some of the problems within the passaggio can also be attributed to the challenge of allowing the throat to remain open during ascending or descending passages, while maintaining clarity of diction, say several other sources. In his book, Singing: The Mechanism and the Technic [sic], William Vennard describes the larynx as moving in a pivoting motion as the singer ascends into the head voice. As the larynx does this, he says, the acoustical properties alter, creating natural vowel modification and passaggio release. Other vocal professionals, however, advocate that singers intentionally modify the vowels through the passaggio and in the head voice to keep the throat open and to make themselves more understandable than if they try to maintain a pure vowel in the upper range.
“Authentic resonance comes from an open pharynx or elongated vocal tract,” suggests New York City voice teacher David L. Jones, in an article about the passaggio. “If one does not address passaggio or vowel modification, there cannot be free sound, and the throat must close.”
Others suggest the key to understanding the passaggio is a combination of vocal elements, including breath support, pressure, space, vocal placement, and vowel modification that need to be balanced to sing successfully through the passaggio.
“It’s really a combination of technical factors, including the space in the oral cavity and throat, along with proper ear training,” says Ruth Falcon, a voice teacher from the Mannes College of Music in New York City. “Singing is an ear-to-body coordination, just as ball sports are eye to body. The passaggio is the most crucial part of voice training. It is important to work students into this part of the voice gradually. In my case, I will only give my students repertoire that will help build them into that part of the voice, rather than songs of too high a tessitura that will only be stressful and cause additional tension.”
Falcon says that both singing sustained tones in the passaggio and moving through the registers smoothly are important, creating the proper balance of the instrument. “[Singers] must have an understanding of registration and vowel modification,” she says. “They must learn which tones are the correct ones to choose and to what extent the vowel changes character. They must do exercises that include all vowels to feel the relationship of the space. It’s a mastery of physical technique and inner tonal desire, which must be developed. Without this understanding a singer does not have the ability to make artistic choices. For the serious singer, there can be no great results without the willingness to put in the time and effort to understanding and eventual mastery.”
Exercises for the Passaggio
Vocal professionals have varying views on why this area is so problematic for so many singers. Some say it shouldn’t be problematic.
“As long as the singer never leaves the position of the mask, there should never be any problems,” says Virginia Zeani, who, at 82, has enjoyed a lengthy career as both a professional vocalist and highly sought-after teacher. “If a singer is singing naturally, all sound should be placed at the same point. Each and every note should enjoy the exact same placement.”
Zeani suggests that all issues surrounding the passaggio are a direct result of a singer’s vocal position in the mask, or the point of resonation in the vocal mechanism.
“The sound is dependent on the placement of the voice,” she says.
Zeani recommends students focus on proper breath support, as well as practicing simple exercises on ascending and descending “oo” vowels, as this creates a natural, narrow and heightened space for vocal placement in the larynx and the mask.
Other vocal professionals suggest similar theories and exercises, but warn of placing too much vocal emphasis on the mask when dealing with the passaggio. They say
singers should understand and balance the different registrations of the voice.
Trish McCaffrey maintains a private vocal studio in New York City and teaches on the faculties of the Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music, the Curtis Institute of Music, Lidal North, the International Institute of Vocal Arts, the Intermezzo Foundation, and the VoicExperience at Disney. She says that the more aware a student is of the passaggio and of different registrations within their voice, the less of an obstacle it is for them to overcome, nor should it become a bigger issue for either gender.
“Students who don’t have a good understanding of the passaggio will often let the top spread, will lose air, and will have no bottom of their voice to connect to because they are only thinking in terms of space,” McCaffrey says. “Many singers think that the voice should get bigger and bigger as they ascend. They need to be aware that the goal of the passaggio is to keep it slim and slender.”
McCaffrey recommends exercises such as sirens, glissandos, lip trills, and, in particular, chromatic scales on changing vowels to keep the notes and the vowel placement very close together so that the singer can transition easily in the passaggio.
Most importantly, voice teachers recommend that students struggling with passaggio practice the virtue of patience, and not give up.
“It’s a process that, if understood, will result in correct and successful singing,” McCaffrey says. “It won’t be as much of an issue.”
Stay tuned for our next article in the Vocal Pedagogy series: achieving proper breath support.
