The Blessed Mix

The Blessed Mix

There is a fine, fine line between the chest voice and the head voice. There is a fine, fine line between the bottom and the top. And, so many singers want to find that sacred blessed spot, that sweet mixed up place…. the mix voice… the blend tones, as some refer to them.  The mix voice is achieving the energy of chest voice while maintaining the range of head voice. The goal of a mix voice is to produce a more seamless transition between chest voice and head voice while singing in the chest-head passaggio/transition area of one’s full range OR to maintain a stylistic choice for a piece.

            

             So, how do you start? Well, I have several suggestions: 

•    Find a good instructor who understands mixing, understands singer anatomy and health issues (because this is not always an easy task) and, even better, find an instructor who can produce a good mix themselves as a model for you to hear. 
•   Listen to good mixers!  If you have a sound you are going for in your voice range, listen to those singers. It’s always good to have a good model. But be reasonable, you aren’t going to sound just like Christina Aguilera, Whitney Houston, or Christin Chenoweth, most likely… and if you do… uh.. get an agent asap!     
•  Be careful when you are trying it out! Take it easy!  Mixing should not be a lesson in forceful power, straining or pushing the vocal mechanism. That is NOT the point of mixing. Mixing is a way to distribute the load on the vocal mechanism, not make it harder. It’s a trick of the trade, people. And, trust me; there IS a way to screw it up. You can hurt yourself if you repeatedly push too hard or create tension.  Again… refer to no. 1 on this list. This is not to say you can’t experiment with what your voice can do! That’s how we learn!

Academia.

I have a bone to pick with academia. A college education, in my mind, should prepare a student for the real world... a market.. a job. I think that many arts degrees don't fulfil that obligation. I read a statistic that over 70% of music majors don't make a living using their degree earned skills. In fact, that population is making the bulk of their daily living doing something completely unrelated.
Shouldn't it concern universities and colleges that they are offering degree programs that are putting young people in debt for education that is not utilized to even pay off the debt, let alone make a profit for the purpose of living?
What really gets my goat is that there is promise for teaching young people who decide to go into arts fields how to survive using their art...it's just NOT being done. What kills me is that there is no practical thought process being passed down along with the passion for art. What irritates me is this ancient attitude of "die for your art". (Which is totally ridiculous.)

After experiencing the typical "struggling artist" bit myself (and, no, it is not some kind of initiation), I have come to the realization that the reasons I struggled were 1) I believed that talent was all I needed and 2) my instructors didn't tell me I should believe anything else.

I'm here to tell you young people... you need something else than just talent and just ambition. You can't live on ambition and spagettios for very long. Take it from me. You need marketable skills. By this I mean, skills that will keep you working...somewhere.. anywhere.. while you try to become rich and famous. Does that mean that you have to get a business degree that you don't want? Maybe. Does that mean you should double major or take a minor? Maybe. Does that mean that you should take a medical billing course or a CNA course at the local technical school during summer... perhaps. See, those things make you a marketable worker immediately... your talent makes you an artist. You don't even really need the university degree to get the "artist" title. But, you might need a certification to teach school or do medical billing or be a nurse in order to eat.

Now, as for you, academia.... get with the program and teach kids how to make a real living using their talent. Teach them about unions and church jobs and contracts. Teach them about buying their own benefits and making/producing their own music to sell for commercial use. Teach them about working in combos and booking small gigs. Teach them how to produce marketing materials and use social networking to promote themselves cheaply or free. Teach them how to make money so they can finance their own art instead of starve for it.

Thank you and goodnight.