I don’t know how we’re just seeing this comment but YAY! Glad it helped! Was there a particular exercise that was most beneficial?

Great job!

Thanks so much Aaron! We always appreciate your questions! We definitely sustain the top when we do exercises - would you like us to include some of those in our next video? (I'll make sure Norman demonstrates if yes...LOL)

@@aarontenor Sounds good! I'll tell Norman! BTW hope to meet you one day!!!!!

Living Opera with Soula and Norman Living Opera with Soula and Norman My pleasure. Love ya’lls videos. That would be wonderful! Also, maybe some tips or advice about how much to do everyday (e.g. on a normal day while on vacation but wanting to keep things in shape and ready, the few days you might have between performances, on a day you didn’t sleep well, etc). Oh yeah, and does sex screw your voice up? Haha. Mario Del Monaco said it did but I don’t know. Haha.

Living Opera with Soula and Norman You too, Soula!!!

@@aarontenor LOLLLLL!!! Okay looks like we have SEVERAL videos to film to answer your question hahahahahaaaaa!!!!! We'll get to work on it!!!

DeductedFromMe thanks for your comment and thanks for subscribing! We need to think about this a bit more. We have 3 questions: is your voice more lyric or dramatic? (which can be more difficult to manage above F#!) Are there any arias that just “feel right” when you work on them? Would you mind telling us how old you are? If you don’t want to put all that info here feel free to send us a message on our Facebook page 👍🏻

@@LivingOpera Hi, thanks for the quick response. I'm 39. I'm probably somewhat of a dramatic tenor, though my prior technique was based on pushing, and now that I'm developing a technique not based on pushing, I've not regained my prior range or volume, so I can't' say positively what sort of tenor I might be. Honestly, there aren't any arias that feel just right; as the pitch ascends, I struggle not to tighten in my throat or have my larynx rise, no matter the context. I recognize that avoiding tension in one's throat is a universal issue; I'm focusing just on sirens and falsetto in the hopes that I can at least achieve high phonation, even if I can't sing full voice that high yet. So to be clear, when I siren, I am not trying to keep my full voice engaged; I am trying to engage my falsetto, but I feel I'm failing to do so. I feel that I should be able to falsetto noticeably higher than I can sing full voice, but I can't even falsetto over F#. Once I reach F#, I just can't seem to get around that cap on my voice without pushing or raising my larynx. I understand that we've never met and teaching voice by comments over KZfaq is impossible; I was just hoping you might have some more ideas/exercises about how to achieve the "light" mechanism I've read and heard so much about. As I said, when I siren upwards, I feel as if there's a cap on my voice and that I need somehow to engage a different mechanism in order to get past that cap, but I can't seem to figure out good exercises for experiencing what that different mechanism might feel like. I felt that focusing on falsetto would be a good way to at least experience high pitches without the weight, and I can add weight later, but I can't seem to find my falsetto voice. It makes total sense that the airflow/sound sensations would move up and back as I ascend, but I can't seem to concoct an exercise that helps me experience that sensation. Arg! Thanks for any thoughts, and thanks again for taking the time to make (and so engagingly edit) your videos and respond to comments!

DeductedFromMe I do have an idea! (This is Soula!) I’m going to shoot up upload a video with you in mind. It’ll just be 2 simple exercises and I’m pretty sure you’ll get past F# in them - I hope so at least. As a fellow dramatic voice I can totally empathize with what you’re going through 😩

@@LivingOpera Thank you!

DeductedFromMe you’re welcome!!! 👍🏻

Hi David, thanks for your comment! Coordinating the mix of chest and head voice is very challenging for tenors, so don't be too discouraged. It's really hard to achieve on your own. There is usually a feeling of "covering" around F or F# depending on what kind of tenor you are - which simply means there is a shift in the register where you start to use a bit more head voice. Without hearing you it's hard for me to give a complete answer, but I hope this helps! Have a great day!

@@LivingOpera Thanks a lot for your reply, very helpful advice. My shift is around G I believe, I'll continue working in order to coordinate both as a single register. Have a great day too, you guys.

@@Voorheesjason42 oh wow!!! G is high!!!! That's pretty amazing David! Do you sing a lot of Rossini and Bellini??

@@LivingOpera Thanks! Yeah, I love Rossini, Il Barbier di Siviglia in particular, but I'm not familiar with Bellini actually, I'm still pretty new to opera. I've discovered that I struggle less with arias that don't require really powerful high notes.

Definitely! Is there a particular language where that seems to happen more or is it more of a general issue? Thanks for subscribing!👏🏻💕

Living Opera with Soula and Norman it's more of a general issue, I think it's because I'm trying to make my voice sound more mature which just results in me covering my teeth and sounding muffled.

Gotcha! You’re not alone! Okay, we’ll do our best to help! One more question just so we can prepare better: how is your breath support? 😊😊

@@autumnpassion9066 ah okay, we understand! We'll put our thinking caps on and see if we can help!!!

Living Opera with Soula and Norman my breath support could be better,I know how to take in air but don't know if I'm correctly exhaling