12.13.11 Adammadness! Day 2

Yes, agree with you aralid!
Either there is a big performance, which that week could only be XF. OR, radio has committed to playing the crap out of it right off the bat. And It. Is. That. Good! Any sales from the Holiday gift cards will be a bonus. If it was released after the New Year, there'd be zero chance of holiday gift card sales!

Adam's voice is a puzzle, even for the experts. Head voice, mixed register, chest voice, falsetto???? Hard to tell. He uses everything in his arsenal (thanks, Paula) so seamlessly. I guess it all comes back to his quote, "But, does it SOUND good?"

You have your speaking voice and your singing voice. For most people (non-trained singers) those are the same. The "note" resonates and rolls around in your chest cavity. As you sing a scale, starting down low and walking up the notes, you will reach a point where you are having to really push the air thru your vocal cords to hit the note. Your face may turn red, and your veins may protrude in your neck. That is the top of your chest voice, the voice you normally speak with.

But, you can switch where the note resonates from your chest to your skull with training and practice. This allows you to continue on up the scale for another maybe 5 or 6 notes (or, in Adam's case another octave or more). That is called "head voice." It has a different texture or tone because of where the note is bouncing around the small passages of your sinus and vibrating your skull bones, as opposed to bouncing around in the large chest cavity. If you listen to most singers sing a scale you can tell at what note they do this flip. That is called the place where your voice "breaks", or in formal terms, the passaggio.

In many singers, the head voice is rather thin, or rather piercing. Some well-trained singers are able to position the note to get maximum resonance in the head, producing a fuller, more ringing, clear tone. A perfect example of that is TOMT, live. That final "neeeeeeEEEED" starts light and soft, and then gradually intensifies into this strong, bell-like tone, only to back away from it and end softly. That takes incredible technique. Yay, Adam.

But, that is not all, folks. Adam has learned to access the resonance in his head when he sings lower notes in chest voice. That is what gives his voice the sparkling happy sound on those notes. Conversely, he is also able to use the resonance in his chest when singing in head voice on the high notes. That is what gives those notes such power and richness instead of the piercing tone That technique is very advanced. Even many well-trained singers cannot do that effectively and with such control.

It is also why his voice is so hard to categorize. Head? Chest? Yes. Both. Switching back and forth effortlessly, or blending them together. Break/change in tone from low to high? Yes, but only when he wants you to hear it, like on Mad World "very nerERRRvous". At other times, you cannot hear that shift at all. Seamless. Again, not many other singers do it as well as Adam.

Bottom line: But, does it sound good? ABSOLUTELY.

Interesting, but I'd have to disagree! This is the low harmony of Sure Fire Winners



It lasts for just two bars and has some good low B's, especially for a higher tenor like Adam. Though it's in a harmony, so I wonder how good is it really? ??? I saw a live vocal range video on youtube where Adam hit a good B during Fever though! That is without a doubt within his comfortable range if he can comfortably sing it live

I know the same cartoon in a different context:





There are a million of these. Here's a couple of examples:




and the funniest one: