Passaggio and Register in the Singing Voice

Timbre LingoEssays
Written By J Marchand Knight

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Passaggio refers to the transition or “break” between lower and higher vocal registers (often called “chest voice” and “head voice”), that singers may choose to enhance (as in yodel) or to smooth out (as in classical singing). Those registers differ according to which muscle groups are dominant in vocal production, with the lower range being controlled by the thyroarytenoid (TA) and vocalis muscles, and the higher range being handled by the cricothyroid (CT) muscles. We note that the terminology and classification for vocal registers are not universal (we find chest/mode1, mixed/middle, head/mode2, falsetto, flageolet/whistle, etc.), and that there would be passaggi between many of the identified sub-registers. 

You might not know it, but if you have ever heard someone yodel, then you are familiar with passaggio! Here are examples of two yodeling traditions (German and American):

Passaggio, an Italian word translating to passage or transition, is the bane of many a classical singer and the secret weapon of folk-inspired vocalists like Dolores O’Riordan, Jewel, and Sarah McLachlan. In English we often refer to this as “the break.” One of the main goals of classical vocal technique is smoothing out register breaks. This requires finesse, patience, and perseverance. It is a process that cannot be rushed because singing in the passaggio for extended periods of time can mentally and physically tax even experienced singers, causing serious vocal fatigue.

Here are a few examples of popular singers who sing through their breaks (or passaggi), capitalizing on the interesting timbral differences between the lower and heavier chest voice tones and the higher and lighter head voice tones. Their technique is closer to the way yodelers approach the passaggi than to the way classical singers do but note that both techniques can be done healthfully!

  • -American folk-pop singer Jewel yodeling.

  • -Canadian singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan performing Vox, one of her early releases, the ‘unintegrated’ chest and head tones can be heard clearly but without the distinctive cracks or stops present in yodeling.

  • -Dolores O’Riordan and The Cranberries performing their hit rock song Zombie, the chorus of which contains O’Riordan’s famous “voice crack” effects.

In order to understand passaggio, it is necessary to delve a bit into the controversial notion of registers in the singing voice. To put it simply, what is actually happening, from a point of view of vocal production, is a transition between the muscles controlling the fundamental frequency produced by the vocal folds. The vocal folds (oscillator) produce only a buzz, powered by the breath (compressor) and amplified in the vocal tract (resonator). Think of the vocal folds as an elastic band. When they are short and thick, they produce low notes and when they are long and thin, they produce high notes. The lower range is controlled by the thyroarytenoid (TA) and vocalis muscles, which essentially make up the vocal folds themselves. They shorten themselves by pulling their back end (anchored to the arytenoid cartilages) forward and creating slower vibrations, resulting in lower notes. To produce high notes, the cricothyroid (CT) muscles tilt the thyroid cartilage (at the front of the neck, where the laryngeal prominence, often referred to by the outdated term, Adam’s Apple, is found) forward while the arytenoids (in the back of the larynx) remain stable and hold the back of the vocal folds in place. This action stretches the vocal folds from the front end, resulting in longer, thinner folds, which produce faster vibrations and higher fundamental frequencies. When the vocalis muscle disengages completely, the vocal folds are said to become less stiff, resulting in a “lighter” production. Some singers and voice teachers will define the different parts of the range as registers. The registers are the chunks of a singer’s range separated by different muscle functions. The passaggio, then, is the passage or the pitches that fall between the registers.

 

Figure 1: View of the intrinsic laryngeal muscles which work antagonistically to help singers produce head voice pitches and chest voice pitches. [Source]

 
 

Figure 2: Action of the cricothyroid muscle, which stretches the vocal folds to produce higher pitches. [From: Doscher, Functional Unity of the Singing Voice, Page 40]

 

As most biological functions go, this is quite complex. To add to the complication, terminology for registers themselves is not semantically universal. Singers, voice pedagogues, speech-language pathologists, and scientists from different fields such as medicine and acoustics use different terminology to identify different conundrums of registration. The word register to a singing teacher (of a certain genre) might have a close association with physical sensation whereas to someone studying sound, it might refer only to an acoustic event. The main muscle switch over from TA-dominant function to CT-dominant function (or vice versa) happens somewhere around C4/256 Hz (middle C) for most people, regardless of gender and voice type. 

Where registers are identified in the literature referring to singing, three are consistently named: Chest (also called mode 1), mixed/middle, and head (also called mode 2). They were named for where singers felt the vibrations in their bodies while producing certain notes (and not due to their acoustic properties). Because the vocal folds do not actually move from the chest and head, some voice teachers began to use the terms mode 1 and mode 2 to refer to the main registers but many continue to use the older terms because most singers know them. Mixed/middle voice is still called mixed voice in the more modern “mode” nomenclature. Falsetto and/or flageolet (whistle register) are two additional registers which lie above the head voice. Not all singers have a usable falsetto or flageolet. Some people believe that falsetto is comparable to head voice because the ranges overlap, but that it is produced with no TA engagement, resulting in a very light or hollow sound, whereas true head voice has a bit of TA engagement, giving it more core. Some singers and teachers prefer not to use the term falsetto at all because it implies there is something false or fake about the sound or because of its highly gendered associations (generally this term is only applied to cis men singing in the treble range). Some voice pedagogues further divide the middle register into low-middle and high-middle. There would be passaggi between all the adjacent registers, but it must be stressed that not all experts agree on the number of registers, the range of each register across voice-types, the existence of registers at all, or on the nomenclature of the phenomenon! 

Recent thinking in classical singing has removed most references to registers (as well as placement) from parlance. Everything should feel the same throughout the range and have a consistent timbral quality: smoothing out the passaggi (and finding a central placement and not tampering with it) is an essential feature of the style.  This, conversely, is not the case in other singing styles such as gospel, folk, and yodeling. Finally, any breaks in the voice that are not around C4/256 Hz are sometimes referred to as acoustic breaks, and not muscular ones. For example, a soprano may experience a destabilization in subglottic pressure around G5 (784 Hz). Working in this range might require some adjustments in mouth/jaw position and a change in airflow, but unlike the break at C4/256 Hz, this break isn’t caused by a muscle switch over.

 

Figure 3: Richard Miller’s categorization of Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, and Contralto registers. [from Richard Miller Training Soprano Voices, Page 25]

 

So, to recap, passaggio is the bridge between low notes and high notes that is the actual voice break in yodeling. It happens due to different muscles controlling the production of high and low fundamental frequencies. This acoustic feature (a huge difference between the vocal timbre in high and low notes accompanied by an often audible “crack” as the singer moves from low to high or vice versa) is an essential part of yodeling. However, in classical singing technique, singers train to eliminate audible breaks and smooth out the transition between high notes and low notes, thus creating as unified a timbre as possible across the entire range. Registers in the singing voice are a controversial topic. They refer to chunks of the vocal range and were named for where singers felt the vibrations in their bodies while singing those chunks, thus the three main registers are named chest (mode 1), mixed/middle, and head (mode 2). Note that mixed voice does not have a mode name and is still called mixed in the modern mode nomenclature.

  • In this last musical example, operatic mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato performs Una voce poco fa, (Il baribiere di Sivilgia, Rossini) and demonstrates the smoother transitions from chest register to head register, typical of classical vocal technique.

REFERENCES

  • David, Marilee. The New Voice Pedagogy. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1995.

  • Doscher, Barbara M. The Functional Unity of the Singing Voice, 2nd Edition. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1994.

  • Marcobh1982. (25 September 2010). Jewel - Yodel (live) [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/HqNe5Ugs0Qk

  • Miller, Richard. Training Soprano Voices. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.

  • Miller, Richard. Solutions for Singers. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.

  •  Moseswong12. (26 April 2015). Joyce DiDonato Una voce poco fa [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/F0VxUR98uAw?t=282

  • MrGimli2. (Jul 15, 2013). Franzl Lang Yodeling [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/8_UnANdDqJc

  • NEA ZIXNH. (8 February 2014). The Cranberries - Zombie 1999 Live Video [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MuhFxaT7zo

  • Samokc61. (10 February 2012). Margo Smith Tennessee Yodel [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/zoVOSXdLssQ

  • Sundberg, Johan. The Science of the Singing Voice. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press, 1987.

  • Teachmeanatomy.com: https://teachmeanatomy.info/neck/viscera/larynx/muscles/

  • Titze, Ingo R. Principles of Voice Production. Iowa: National Center for Voice and Speech, 2000.

  • Valeri3505. (6 August 2010). SARAH McLACHLAN ~ VOX(Cdn version).avi [Video]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/9nM_NGOTaCs

J Marchand Knight
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