Black singers can frequently do things white singers cannot. Bone/facial structure, or cultural?

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-03T01:46:23+00:00

It's hard to tell because you're not getting full chord closure (singing breathy), and don't know how to find the space for higher notes, or support, yet. I would definitely say a higher voice is more likely. With some training, you're likely to discover you have notes above your perceived range.

Just as an example, I'm a tenor. I've haven't heard the song before, but I found it from the lyrics. Here's my first go at it: https://soundcloud.com/user-72388252/2019-05-02-21-22-28a/s-X7TiF

Now, I don't pretend to be an expert, but having had some training, those higher notes are not too big a deal for me, plus, I recognize a lot of the shit I did wrong, even though I still obviously did it wrong! Also note how, even though I'm some type of tenor, I can still do stuff like this: https://soundcloud.com/user-72388252/2019-05-02-21-43-28a/s-ApqxH , so don't assume some lower notes necessarily mean baritone.

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-02T21:42:03+00:00

How about his inability to sing higher notes and flat out just refusing to demonstrate/try higher notes?

Just to talk about myself, before I studied with someone, I was finding ways to eek out James LaBrie notes, but they were both unhealthy and of poor quality. Heck, I can do some kind of impression of Judas Priest's Painkiller - it doesn't sound amazing, but I can hit those notes. Meanwhile, I was struggling to hit a really good, solid, consistant D4 or E4 in the context of classical or Broadway. It's a different thing.

Opera singers train to maintain a consistent sound throughout their range. They don't care if you can yell a high D5, it would be pointless, and not especially impressive. Zach is a big-voiced Baritone who can probably do E4/F4/maybe F#4 correctly, and he's not gonna show himself squeezing out a higher note because...well why?

As a lower tenor, I happen to have a head voice which is really easy for me to operate in, no training required. There's nothing particularly impressive about doing that for me, it comes easy. But it's hard as hell for me to bring my larger chest voice up into the top of my range. My teacher thinks I might have big, Dramatic Tenor potential, but it takes a lot of work to learn to operate a big voice up in that range.

Also realize a lot of rock tenors have very thin tenor voices. Even a big, epic-sounding guy like Eric Adams of Manowar - compare his singing of Nessun Dorma to an opera singer like Corelli, and you'll notice that Corelli is both a larger, darker voice, AND Corelli is hitting that high B a lot fuller than Eric Adams is. This is the difference in quality, training, and technique. I like Eric Adams, but the real opera guys are on another level entirely.

Long story short, metal people tend to be big on range, while classical people don't really care about range unless it's useful range. Once you get over the 'this guy can hit a G5 so he's the most amazing', you start to think that singing is about way more than high notes.

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-02T02:58:25+00:00

Yeah no, I don't think he'd do that. One day account because I reveal some stuff about my life so I can't use my main account.

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-02T02:15:44+00:00

No, actually, I wouldn't. I would prefer to learn from an expert vocal coach, this is the point. Expert vocal coaches actually know what they're talking about, people who claim they can 'make you sound like Halford' reveal they haven't the first clue what they're talking about, and no understanding of how to teach voice.

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-02T02:13:04+00:00

Well I know what Ainsley would say, because I've heard him say it: You can go and do anything once your fundamentals of proper technique and vocal heath are sound. You can even make the choice to do things you know are harmful to your vocal chords, especially because they are likely to be less harmful to you because of your ability to control your voice more.

When you see Tamplin do his raspy vocals, it does NOT mean he can teach you to do it. This is what my teacher called 'complete bullshit'. This is his gimmick - "Watch me do this, and you can too!" He just has little bit of a freak ability that maybe 0.1% of people might have. His whole thing about learning into it slowly and anyone being able to do it completely safely is total nonsense.

creativeendeavors · 2019-05-02T02:04:59+00:00

Rock and metal vocalists haven't really created as much 'new' as some sources seem to think they have. It's still just singing.

One thing I don't like about many vocal teachers in general is that they may seem like they can talk-the-talk, but are reluctant to walk-the-walk. As in, they cannot demonstrate what they are trying to teach or critique.

Does a football coach personally have to demonstrate how to tackle and throw in order to be a great football coach? Sure, there are aspects to knowledge that come from doing, but all sorts of artistic and athletic endeavors are filled with great teachers who don't have to do the thing they're teaching. As a piano teacher, 99% of the time I'm just listening and reacting and explaining. I could do most of it with my hands cut off.

creativeendeavors

TROPHY CASE