IN DEPTH VOCAL ANALYSIS LONG-DETAILED THREAD: (This video was not made for competition purposes, so please avoid comparing and mentioning other artists not included in the video. This is not a competition.) Sarah’s voice has been known to be very emotive and immensely distinct. It is easily recognizable when you hear her song on radios. Her tone varies in color due to the fact that she experiments with various placements and mixing. During her debut years (14-16y/o), her chest voice was evidently higher and lighter. She could hit the high notes in a chest-dominant mix effortlessly with lower vocal placement (“Forever’s Not Enough”, “If Only”). Her low notes were also underdeveloped too. Her mids were kinda thin and just compensated with overdropping of the larynx to mimic the fullness of Whitney’s tone (a technique that Charice also did to thicken her midbelts due a naturally higher and lighter tessitura). Her speaking voice was also remarkably higher despite speaking in a loud & pure chest voice then. Part of the lightness of her singing voice came from her young age (just like Ella Nympha during her younger years), and also a part of it came from her very petite figure then (just like Beyonce in her early teenage “petite” frame). She was also not yet that technically conscious because she could easily belt out high notes with her naturally lighter juvenile voice. But as she entered adulthood and also started growing physically (in size), her voice started to naturally deepen drastically. It was very noticeable in her 2006-2008 performances and interviews how much her voice has deepened in just 2-3 years after her debut years. Her speaking voice in moderate volume developed so much fullness, volume and weight. Her low notes started to kick in naturally. However, she started to struggle a lot in terms of belting because she was still using the same ratio of mixing, placement, and projection despite the extreme change in her vocal weight and tessitura. As a result, her mids started to gain more natural thickness in a more neutral placement, but her upperbelts started getting squeezed and aided with overraising her larynx. This was because she still was not aware that she needs to mix the developed weight in her chest voice with her head voice even more, and that she already needed to place her voice higher to be able to support it easier. Her tessitura dropped at least 1.5-2 “WHOLE” tones. She struggled to sing her older hits from 2006-mid 2010. She was either singing them in lower keys or was really struggling and straining to hit the upperbelts in the original key. Her voice in this era was noticeably dark and heavy in general, and she had a hard time manipulating her tone to a lighter color in songs that require more feminine tone. In 2011, she went to Los Angeles to study advanced voice lessons. In these said lessons, she has finally found her limitations and the proper kinds of mixing and placements appropriate for her current tessitura. Since then, she started improving year by year. She started mixing more and has started placing her voice higher than she used to in her vocal tract. She has also started using her mask cavity to extend her range and reach the higher notes more comfortably. She also uses her mask cavity along with her mix to lighten her timbre whenever she wants and needs to. Aside from that, she also started speaking in a softer almost whispery and "headily placed" manner, which gives an illusion that her chest voice is actually a lot lighter than what it truly is, probably to preserve her voice. In 2012, she started shifting into a lighter, whispery & heady mixed ala-Mariah/Regine sound (“If”, “Imagine”) with less belting. Since then, it already became an official part of her style in her albums and in concerts. She made this mixing sound so natural that it even came to the point that some people think it is her natural tone because she has perfected this mix and placement so well that you sometimes can’t tell she’s just mixing, playing with her larynx position, and utilizing her mask . This technique also became a huge advantage for her to preserve her voice even more. Every year since 2011, her improvements have been really noticeable. Today, she can sing the songs she was struggling to sing during 2006-2010, and it was because of her newly learned alternative techniques. Her stamina has also improved. I featured her best live vocals in her “1 year and half” This 15 Me world tour in my channel, and you would see there that she was able to sing songs outside her natural comfort range without even developing damage and hoarseness in her vocals. Her “support in different placements and registers” has vastly improved due to her improvement in mixing and placement. She has learned to accept and respect her limitations. She no longer forces techniques that would not work on her current voice. Particularly, she no longer combines a type of mixing and a placement she knows she can’t support in her current comfort range. In her upperbelting range specifically, when she wants an open sound, she’s going to use a heady mix to be able to support it easier. But if she wants to lift her chest voice up to the higher notes, she would carefully place it higher, in her mask, so she could support the developed weight in it easier. She no longer lets herself reach the point of choking and squeezing (with over raising of the larynx) from forcing her current chest voice to go where it no longer wants to go. She now makes sure that she uses the right mixing and the placement she can support and control. Her current techniques are now more sustainable and realistic to her current deeper tessitura. CONTINUATION BELOW…
I. LOW NOTES Low notes are one of Sarah’s natural strengths as a vocalist. Her current tessitura is at least 1.5-2 whole tones lower than the typical natural tessitura of high-pitched contemporary sopranos (without manufacturing their sound) in the local mainstream industry. She does not overdrop her larynx in the low notes to the point that it already sounds unnatural, hollow, and randomly disconnected from her general tone. She bases the dynamics of her low notes from the general tone she uses in whatever song she’s singing. If she starts the song with a highly placed light & airy tone, she’s also going to hit the low notes with the softest tone as possible and the most neutral placement she can even if it won’t showcase the volume/richness of her low notes that much. If she starts a song with a chestier Beyonce-like tone, then it would be the time when she would hit the low notes with such body, bass and volume. She always makes sure that the tone that she uses is connected throughout the entire song. If ever there are tonal changes in 1 song, she always makes it sure that the changes would be gradual and accompanied by dynamic changes as well. Her current undeniable skills in low notes have been praised by vocal coach Yazik and Mr. Ogie Alcasid. Her lows have fullness that do not sound hollow, and they're so connected to her modal tone that you would hear them gradually fade out in an organized descending manner as she goes lower. She never sang low notes just for the sake of proving she can reach low. 2nd octave notes - definitely not a true part of her natural singing range. This is just an accessory to her vocal profile. Notes in this area are just accidentally hit with a vocal fry register or through unsupported speaking/rapping, and not really an intentional showcase of her supported lower singing range. B2-D3- She can go way down to these notes, but it’s not a natural part of her comfort range anymore. She still does not excessively drop her larynx in this area probably to still sound more natural and connected to her entire range. This could actually still have more volume and bass if she drops her larynx a bit more, and exert much more effort in projecting the sound (just like what Beyonce did in years 2006-2011 to manufacture more volume in these notes). Her larynx still seems to be too neutral in C3. She actually seems too chill and relaxed trying to hit these notes. LOL. The only problem tho if she ever overdrops her larynx is that it would no longer sound natural and connected to her modal tone. It might also distract her emotional interpretation/storytelling of the song which is a more substantial part of her singing. Her current technique in these notes is already fine tho since she rarely sings in this area. As a matter of fact, being able to go this low is also just an accessory to her vocal profile. It’s not like she’s gonna sing verses in this range. She’s not a baritone afterall. LOL. But still, props to her for accidentally being able to go this low without being intentionally showy and overly conscious about how low she can go. Eb3-G#3- This is her current natural comfort zone in low notes in her healthiest vocal state. (The voice has the tendency to be lower when it's hoarse and overused. Our natural comfort zone is our comfort zone when our voice is well rested and not hoarse). The natural fullness that you hear is also because of her lower tessitura and not because she just developed this part of her range. There is still slight lowering of the larynx (which is normal for female singers unless a contralto), but she still never overdrops her larynx in this area. This area is very congruent to her general modal tone. Her low notes really sound natural and very bassy in this area. The depth and volume are very connected to the color of her entire range and does not sound random and sudden. It does not really sound like she’s making a lot of effort to deepen her tone. The ease is so natural that the femininity in her tone is still there despite singing this deep and low. Her low notes in this area also have a very Jazzy/Soulful quality similar to Beyonce’s low notes before pregnancy. In some notes, her voice even sounds very mature and bassy like Karen Carpenter’s (“Kiss me Kiss Me”, “Rain”). The depth is so connected to her modal tone that it won’t distract you from her storytelling and song interpretation. It’s not just the low notes but also the entire low phrases she’s singing that sound very fluid, dynamic and harmonious in this area. Her agility and dynamics are also still intact in this spot (“My Love”, “Greatest Performance of My Life”, “Were You There”). She can effortlessly bring the fullness and the bass of her voice down to Eb3, and could still sound natural and connected.
II. MID-BELTS - Midbelts are now her blossoming area since she reached adulthood. G4-G#4 - where her voice start to develop natural beltiness (need to belt) and robustness, but still often hit with a lowered larynx (like Shirley Bassey’s technique) to even sound more belty and thicker. She can actually sound belty and rich starting from E4 (“Misteryo” in UNIFIED Concert). I just started with G4 because the video would be too long if I still included her E4s-F#4s. Her blossoming area using natural techniques is not in this area tho. A4-C5 - This area is her current NATURAL blossoming area in her entire range. This is where you would hear her vibrato, resonance, and power best. Most notes are hit with raised soft palate and strong support on chest dominant mix. In this area, you would also hear noticeable round and full mezzo-like resonance and robustness/punchiness resembling the quality of young Shirley Bassey’s and prime Beyonce’s midbelts. She also has the tendency to sound “Sharon-Cuneta”-like in this area when even more chesty. She occasionally showcases an old-school, operatic, tenor-like vibrato in this range too. Most of the midbelts in this area (featured in the video) are sung in a neutral placement using an open throat technique. The fullness that you hear in her current midbelts are no longer a result of stylistic overdropping of the larynx w/ lowered vocal placement nor is it from over widening of the mouth to produce a dark tone as most contemporary sopranos (with lighter and higher tessitura) do to achieve darker mids since upperbelts are their real natural blossoming area (ex. Charice, Demi Lovato). It's like the fullness of a lighter "lyric soprano's" chest-dominant midbelts in a "lowered laryngeal position and vocal placement" is now equal to Sarah's current chest-dominant mix in a neutral larynx and a higher placement. Sarah's midbelts when placed lower and larynx is dropped is already extra deep in quality like Cece Winan's and Toni Braxton's (see the climax of her cover of "How Could An Angel Break My Heart). The fullness that you hear in her current midbelts are already due to the natural weight that developed in her voice as her tessitura drastically dropped 1.5 to 2 whole tones when she reached adulthood. This is also the developed weight that she struggled a LOT with in the upperbelts during her late teenage years to her early 20s. This is now her blossoming area in a neutral placement and even in her healthiest vocal state (icydk, the voice actually has the tendency to sound fuller and heavier when there is rasp developed from overuse). The lows and mids can also be extra darker and thicker when the voice is hoarse and overused. Her current chest tone, in general, is still velvety smooth and creamy yet the fullness in her lows and mids are still noticeably present. C5 - the top of her comfort/relaxed range in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix (according to vocal coach Yazik). Notes higher than C5, if hit using an open-throat, chesty mix are already hit with extra support and physical effort. But due to persistent training, she has now learned and adapted various alternative kinds of mixing and placements appropriate for her current tessitura to still be able to support and belt out notes higher than C5. Without these alternative techniques tho, the weight of her current chest voice is still not as comfortable being lifted up in her upper range as it was during her debut years. C#5 - can still be hit and supported in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix but with extra physical labor already. It is healthier and less energy consuming when she is using a balanced mixing and a higher/headier placement and resonation. This is probably the top of her current midbelts where she can still sing in an open-throat chest dominant mix in a neutral placement. D5- can still be supported in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix, but even requires more effort. If using a chest-dominant mix in this note, it’s healthier and easier to support when she’s placing it on her mask. It’s even easier to support when more balancedly mixed and masked. Currently, D5 is actually the start of her upperbelts already. It no longer sounds like a midbelt in her current voice. The placement of the note in her vocal tract is already too high (heady) actually for it to still be a midbelt. Her voice in this area along with her Eb5s share some similar characteristics with Beyonce’s D5-Eb5s before pregnancy. Her current D5’s in “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” already sound like her E5’s-F5’s during “The Next One” (2008-2009) era. Her mixing and placement are also very diverse in this note. She can sound chesty and open. She can also sound light and more contained (when masked), and she can sound intensely soulful (when using extra amount of chest and aggression).
III. UPPER BELTS Unlike typical local female singers, Sarah’s current upperbelts already start at around D5 to Eb5. Eb5 - definitely an upperbelt for her voice already. Mostly hit in a nasal-dominant, mask placement with a balanced mixing. Safest to place in mask if chest voice will still be lifted up to this area. She can support her chest dominant mix as long as it is masked. For supporting a more open sound, head dominant mix or a slightly masked balanced mixing should be used. Her growls also sound most powerful and soulful in this area up to F#5. This is where her Beyonce and Celine similarities meet halfway. E5 - where her mask starts to work well with her chest tone. The quality of her masked tone in this area is not as compressed as it is in her D5s-Ebs and also not as piercing as it is in her F5s-F#5s. This is a “money note” in her upperbelts if you are more into a more feminine sound. It sounds best and most distinctive in a more solid and punchy chest dominant mix, but extra strong support is needed. It’s still healthiest and easier to support when using a balanced to heady mix in a heady placement. All notes are masked or half-masked. Her heady mix in this note sounds like a balanced mix of a contemporary light lyric soprano due to the natural fullness of her head voice and her strong diaphragmatic support. F5 - another “money note” in her upperbelts. If you are a fan of Celine’s PIERCING nasal-dominant, masked upperbelts and Whitney’s solid Punchy upperbelts, then you would like this note better than her E5s. It has a bell-glass like piercing quality to it. Her balanced mixing in upperbelts sounds best and most creamy in this note. F#5 - not her most comfortable area in a chesty to balanced mixing, but definitely the most explosive note in her belting range. This needs to be consistently placed in mask tho to be supported if using a chesty to balanced mixing. Can be resonated openly using a head-dominant mix. Her vibrato in this area has a heavy soulful touch. Her growls also sound best up to this note. G5 - can still be supported using a masked chesty to balanced mixing, but still healthiest and more comfortable in a head dominant mix. The masked balanced mix resembles Lara Fabian and Celine’s masked G5s and more chesty mix (when she was younger) resembles the thickness of Whitney Houston’s G5s. Her head dominant mix is still healthiest in this area. It is also rich in quality (Earth Song, Tayo) due to the natural thickness of her head voice and her thick vibrato that came from her strong diaphragmatic support on her mix. G#5 - this is clearly out of her chest comfort range, but she still ocassionally pushes her voice to the limit due to adrenaline when hyped by the crowd/deep emotional connection to the song. Mostly hit with a head-dominant mix. Her heady mix in this area is also thick due to her strong diaphragmatic support. She can also support this note in a chest-dominant to balanced mixing, but in a mask placement already (‘Di na Muli). This is the end of her support in chest-dominant/balanced mix. It only shows how strong her support muscles are. A5 - the top of her real belting range. Notes in this area are all head dominant to masked/resonated head voice. The quality is already very thin and heady. But props to her for being able to reach this high with a lower tessitura. She can also growl this high which is amazing. She may still be able to belt/mix higher notes for more than 1 second, but the quality would already be very heady and thin. This is the top of her support in heady mix. I can compare her current mixing, placement, and supporting abilities with prime Beyonce before pregnancy. Both of them have lower adult tessituras, but still managed to lighten their voices and sing outside of their comfort zones through utilizing their mixing, mask placement, and strong support muscles. It's also the reason why Sarah is the only local singer who can REALLY emulate Beyonce's voice. They have similar tessituras during Beyonce's prime pre-conception. That's why Beyonce's nasal placement/resonation can also be applied to her voice and the fullness & depth will still be there too just like Beyonce's. In reality, many other local singers are also influenced by Beyonce. It's not just Sarah, but they just can not really mimic Beyonce's tone even when they're already trying to do a vocal impression of her. They can just mimic Beyonce's runs, but they can not mimic her tone because their tessituras are lot higher than Beyonce's. It is really hard to mimic Beyonce's "masked, nasally resonated (highly placed) but deep at the same time" tone if you have a higher tessitura because in order for you to mimic the depth of her tone, you need to position your larynx lower and place your voice lower in your vocal tract. It's actually easier for them to copy Whitney and Christina's tones when they lower their larynx and vocal placement because these two singers are not nasal. Mask (nasal) placement is a "high placement" that gives your voice a lighter tone quality, so you can't really place your voice in your mask if you want to darken your tone. It's always lowering the larynx and lowering the placement that would help you darken and thicken your tone. For her exclusive open belting range, click on this link: czcams.com/video/pPXuzpvg5O0/video.html
IV. HEAD VOICE - this is her most “beautiful” register. Her head voice is rich and full due to the natural depth in her current voice. It also sounds very flavored and tasteful. She can already sound colorful in notes as low as G4, and starting from C#5 we can already hear the richness of her head voice. Her head voice is a mixture of a soulful and an operatic sound. It is full of dynamics and musicality. Her agility in head voice is also very consistent. G4-C5 - the thickness is not there yet, but the color, dynamics and tastefulness are already encompassing. C#5 - F#5 - This is where the thickness and richness start to kick in. Her dynamics and agility are also best in this area. The quality is very creamy and soulful. G5-G#5 - This area has a Soulful and Gospel quality to it. A5-C6 - This is the only operatic area of her entire range. The sound is strong and stable. C#6-D6 - where her head voice starts to thin out. It used to be thicker during her younger years tho. It’s still well supported and can still be riffed although not as fast as she can in the lower part of her head voice Eb6-F6 - the quality is already thin like a flageolet, but she surprisingly still supported the F6 in “The Voice”. In conclusion, her chest voice sounds best from Eb3 in low notes to C5 in a chest dominant mix. Her balanced mixing, on the other hand, sounds best at C#5 to F#5(masked). Her head dominant mixing sounds best at G5-A5. Her head voice sounds best at Bb4-D6, and her flageolet sounds best at Eb6-F6. In her own right, Sarah is really one of the best vocalists we have in the Philippines right now. She might not be the conventional type of singer/belter that we are used to hearing in the Philippines, but she has her own fair share of her own unique strengths. Not all female singers, especially locally, have strong head voice, naturally full midbelts, full low notes, soulful growls, colorful tone and dynamics, diverse mixing ability, agility on head voice, agility on low notes, agility on a heavy chesty mix, versatility, wide artistry and musicality. Her upperbelts, although done with alternative techniques are still very unique and distinct in the Philippines. Her tone is very distinct and recognizable. She is an example of a vocalist who humbly accepts and respects her limitations, and utilizes what she’s only gifted with. There are singers who have higher tessitura and can effortlessly sing higher, but it’s still amazing that she still pushes herself to her limits and reached notes outside her comfort zone through smart alternative techniques. At the end of the day, there really is no need to compare different artists against each other. They all have their own different strengths and weaknesses. They all have different voices, styles, vision, and focuses. It’s not like they all have the same exact instrument, and are all following a single pattern of techniques and styles. Constantly pitting them against each other is pointless. It’s just plain negativity. It only satisfies the egos of their fans, but it would not make any of them better than the other in reality. Let’s just focus on what we really like and what we really enjoy, and stop pitting women against each other. Have a good day! P.S. I re-measured some notes that I included in the past vocal range video that I made because I measured some of them with my guitar and some with the piano. My guitar was actually tuned in a lower key, so some notes were measured higher than their real measurement.
*LONG IMPORTANT THREAD ABOUT SUPPORT AND STRAINING: I’ve finally taken online formal lessons earlier this year that focus on placement and mixing to improve my own singing as I am aging and for me to be more knowledgeable about the technical aspect of singing because I've actually been more of a stylistic kind of singer in my younger years that prioritize vocal artistry/creativity more than technicalities. Anyway, I actually thought placement and mixing were just the same, but they actually are not. Mixing is more of combining your chest and your head voice while placement is where you place the voice for sound resonation/projection. Diaphragmatic support is also a part of the lesson. And just to correct a very common MISCONCEPTION in the internet, support is NOT exclusive to an effortless “widely open-throat, widely opened mouth, lowly placed, CHEST DOMINANT MIX always with vibrato”. PLEASE DO NOT GENERALIZE THE TERM SUPPORT INTO THIS SINGLE, COLLECTIVE, AND SIMPLIFIED DEFINITION. Support is NOT exclusive to a chest-dominant/balanced mix. The statements “she can only support up to (insert note)” is very VAGUE, and most of the time only applies to those who do not have a concept of mixing, placement, and supported head voice. ICYDK, you can also support a head-dominant mix. Support does not stop in a chesty placed upperbelt. You can also support a voice placed and resonated mainly in your mask. You can support a properly placed growl. You can support your head voice. You support mixing and placements according to your tessitura. You can support a note as long as there is enough space in your throat for the air to pass through. Support is NOT exclusive to a widely open-throat chest dominant belt in a wide mouth opening. And also, support does not always come with vibrato. You can choose to put vibrato or not put vibrato in a supported note. To be able to produce a good natural vibrato, yes, you need support and an open enough vocal tract. But not putting a vibrato in your belt/mix is still an option you can make. No vibrato is not an automatic sign of an unsupported note. FYI. The concept of diaphragmatic support "alone" is still an isolated concept from the ideal open-throat technique in classical singing, ideal mouth opening, vocal placement/resonation, mixing, and vibrato. All of these things can not be generalized into a simplified collective concept because the effects of each of these things on supporting vary according to the note and to the tessitura of the singer. Support, alone, is simply SUPPORTING THE FUNCTION of your diaphragm (an INVOLUNTARY MUSCLE found under the lungs that automatically pushes air to the lungs everytime we breath, speak, and sing). We can not directly control the contraction of the diaphragm since it’s an involuntary muscle. When someone says, “She does not sing from her diaphragm”, that person does not know what he/she is talking about because every sound and air that comes out of our mouth is involuntary from the diaphragm. We can only control the muscles connected to it called the support muscles. Support actually means SUPPORTING THE DIAPHRAGM in pushing air with your support muscles and NOT contracting the DIAPHRAGM ITSELF to support the vocal cords. When we support, we support the contraction of the diaphragm using our back, rib-cage, abdominal, butt and thoracic muscles to regulate the air/voice that we release. We support so we don’t run out of breath, maintain the tonality of our voice, and to avoid choking/straining our cords. Musculoskeletal movements in our cervical and cephalic cavity (head and neck) are also not directly connected to and not collective with the concept of “Diaphragmatic Support” alone. Although they have various indirect effects on the overall passage of your support, they still can not be generalized with the entire concept of supporting alone.
An occasional slight tongue “retraction” to occasionally add extra thickness to some registers of your tone is also not an automatic indicator of an “unsupported” note, and not an automatic sign of damaging tension. Shirley Bassey, Celine Dion and Charice Pempengco did this for years in their careers (in different placements and mixing) and never damaged their vocals because of great support and PROPER VOCAL PLACEMENT (higher placement and ligther mix as you ascend). You have a safe choice whether to retract or flatten your tongue if you want to modify your tone as long as your placement is also safe and comfortable enough, and you are supporting with the right set of muscles appropriate to your mixing or your placement. Tongue retraction is not an automatic indicator of an unsupported (blocked support) note. It is a safe technique as long as: 1. Your support is strong enough to lift your mix up to avoid trapping the pressure in your throat, and you are using the right set of support muscles according to the note, your tessitura, your mix, and your placement. 2. Your mix is placed “HIGH ENOUGH”, so there is still enough space in the throat to avoid blocking the support and building a damaging tension down your larynx which can result to vocal strain (a muscular damage that would result to nodules which should be accompanied by vocal ROUGHNESS and RASP). If your mixing is still chesty to balanced, you should place/resonate your mix higher as you ascend in your range. And as you place your voice higher, you should tilt your head forward, so your voice projection would follow the direction of your head. Low placement = head upwards, High placement = head forward. Tongue retraction is actually more than 50% of Celine's vocal trademark, but she still never damaged her vocals through years of singing and belting with her tongue retracted (muffled vowels) because she is using strong support, proper placement and proper mixing. When she does this in higher notes, she places her voice high in a "nasal dominant mask placement ", that's why her belts sound piercing and nasal at the same time. Flattened tongue is a part of the ideal “open throat technique” in classical singing which is always needed when you are singing in classical techniques/placements. But outside classical singing, slight retraction of the tongue WON'T ALWAYS block your support AS LONG AS you place your mix high enough and you tilt your head forward to create an enough space in your throat for the pressure from your diaphragmatic support to still pass through. Diaphragmatic support again is the act of supporting the diaphragm in pushing air to the lungs using muscles connected to the diaphragm which are found in our back, abdomen, chest, ribs, and butt. Your tongue is not included in your support muscles too. Your support muscles are only the muscles connected to your diaphragm. BLOCKED SUPPORT is different from NOT SUPPORTING. You can't really use your tongue to support your diaphragm, but retracting your tongue can block the pressure from your support if done with a mixing and a placement that is too low for a note according to your tessitura. Anyway, tongue retraction alone can never be used as an automatic indicator of not supporting a note because "not supporting" means you did not utilize your support muscles in singing the note at all, and tongue retraction would not always result to a blocked support too. As long as there is enough space in your throat and your placement is right, the air can still pass through it even with tongue retraction. Diaphragmatic support “alone” is still an isolated concept from the ideal open throat technique in classical music, and the effects of "musculoskeletal movements in your mouth and throat" on your support also vary according to your choice of placement and mixing. That's why singers like Sarah and Beyonce can also growl whenever they want without damaging their vocals. The effects of the movements in your mouth and your throat should NEVER be generalized with all notes. Another thing you need to know is that your mouth and throat does not need to be 100% widely open all the time for the support to pass through. You only need ENOUGH SPACE for the air to pass through. "Slight" throat compression in higher notes is fine as long as there is STILL enough space for the air to pass through and your placement/resonation is high too. A little compression of the larynx, which is a MUST in POP BELTING to pull your chesty/balanced mix up, can actually still have enough space for the air pressure from your diaphragmatic support to pass through as long as you are also placing your voice high enough and your throat is still not squeezing. Your support would only be blocked if the throat compression is already too narrow due to not enough mixing or a placement that is too low for a high note/belt according to your tessitura. In fact, you can even hum with a closed mouth and still apply breath support on your note by contracting your support muscles found in your “abdomino-thoracic” region AS LONG AS there is enough space in your throat and your mixing + placement is correct for the note according to your tessitura. That’s how separated the physics of diaphragmatic support is with the physics of every movement in your cervical and cephalic region (tongue, throat, mouth). Tongue movements, mouth opening, and larynx positioning can't always be generalized and used as automatic indicators of not supporting a note because their effects on your support are complex and vary in different notes, placements, mixing, and volumes. It should NEVER be generalized in all cases. A real “straining” note is a note hit with a forced and squeezed, overly raised larynx due to poor mixing and a placement that is too low for the note you are trying to belt (according to your tessitura). The voice becomes harder to support when your mixing does not match your placement in relation to your tessitura. If you push your chest voice with a low placement in a note outside your tessitura, your larynx will be over-raised and they would CLOSE. This will be the time when the pressure from your diaphragmatic support would be blocked by the closure of your overly raised larynx. This is what we call STRAINING. A strained (blocked support) belt sounds dry with no air, thin, squeezed, and choked. It sounds like Britney’s trademark voice but in a “belt”. Real straining will immediately bruise the vocal folds especially if done repeatedly in concerts and gigs. A strained/bruised vocal muscle will also show symptoms of reduced stamina and most especially RASP and ROUGHNESS which are obviously not present in Sarah’s current CLEAR vocals. Vocal strain can NEVER appear without HOARSENESS and DECREASE in overall RANGE.
Another important thing to point out is that a nasal dominant, mask-placement is not the same as the "squeezed" high-larynx technique/straining. Sarah did the straining/squeezing high larynx from years 2006-2010 (Eternal Flame, I Want to Spend My Life Time Loving You), and changed her general upperbelting technique to a higher mask-dominant placement after her voice lessons in the states in 2011 (I Put a Spell On You, “Ikaw” with Regine). Both techniques will produce a thin and a compressed sound, but a "squeezed" high larynx belt would sound choked, throaty, and dry. It is due to poor mixing and a placement that is too low for the note (accdng. to your tessitura) that’s why the larynx already squeezed/did all the work to lift the chest voice up. The thin quality of a nasal-dominant mask placed voice, on the other hand, has more air, is more stable, and sustainable. The larynx in this placement is only slightly raised and compressed, but there' is still enough space for the air to pass through. It sounds like Regine Velasquez' trademark D5 note in "Ikaw". It can also sound piercing and more resonant when tongue is a bit retracted and mouth is shaped in an inverted triangle (Celine Dion). Again, slight tongue retraction is safe as long as there is enough support, and the voice is mixed enough and placed HIGH enough. It would even help in pushing your mix upwards to transfer all the pressure from your throat to your mask area (Celine Dion). Mask placement is a higher & healthier placement especially for singers with lower tessitura. Slightly raising the larynx when belting is also actually a MUST in POP singing. Because in pop singing, you pull your chest voice up to notes E5-G#5 in such a belty/shouty manner unlike in classical music where you use a soft heady mix or your head voice to hit these notes. In reality, you can't really pull your chest voice up that high without raising your larynx even if you are a soprano. Yes, support is needed too, but support alone is not enough to pull a chesty/balanced mix up to notes E5 and above. Slightly raising the larynx is normal when belting in pop singing as long as there is still enough space in your throat for your supported mix to pass through. And for the "enough space" to still exist, you should mix the voice enough and place it high enough. If you raise your larynx when you belt and you don't adjust your either your mixing or your placement, then that would be the time when your larynx would be overly raised, and squeezing/straining would happen. You can still support your voice as you resonate it through your mask with minimal raising of larynx as long as there is enough space in your larynx for the pressure from your support to pass through, (with or without vibrato). Please take note of that. Weight and power are also not equal to tension. Not everyone has a light and floaty soprano voice when they open their throat to project their chesty mix. A lifted heavy chesty-mix with more effortful diaphragmatic/physical support due to a fuller & heavier chest tone (lower tessitura) is also not equal to straining and damaging tension. Just like how Lady Gaga and Whitney's midbelts are still considered resonant and supported even though they don't sound "floaty". The body can also look a bit forceful, but it does not mean your "vocal cords" are forceful too. You really need extra and stronger physical support from your body if you really want to lift the weight of your chest-dominant mix up without damaging your voice especially if you have a tessitura lower than normal. You support with your body, so there is less work in your vocal cords. It’s really really energy consuming PHYSICALLY, but it’s not equivalent to “straining” the vocal cords. Support does not always mean “relaxed” and “chill” body state. Forceful support muscles are not equal to “forceful laryngeal closure”. The heavier the mix is, the more PHYSICAL support is needed. Straining is squeezing the cords, and would result to signs and symptoms of HOARSENESS, RASP, and UNINTENTIONAL CRACKS. No bruised and damaged vocals is still completely smooth and increasing in range as years go by.
Just because most local female belters sing their upperbelts in a lung busting, lowly placed, widely open mouth and throat, chest-dominant mix, does not mean all female singers should sing the same exact notes with the same exact mixing, placement, and effort. Supporting, mixing and placement vary according to your tessitura. Forcing someone to combine a mixing and placement not appropriate for her tessitura, just because it’s what other singers with lighter and higher tessitura do, is a complete act of ignorance. Pushing your chest voice in a placement outside your comfort zone is what’s truly damaging and straining. Pls. avoid generalizing and misusing the terms and phrases “DAMAGED VOCALS", "CAN ONLY SUPPORT UP TO", and "STRAINING” if you do not fully understand the entire COMPLEX concept of what you are saying just to drag someone down. Supporting in relation to larynx positioning, mouth opening, and vocal placement is a complex concept that should not be generalized in all situations. If you really do not like someone, just leave them alone then. You are not forced to like them. Just focus on your favorites, and stop making your lives miserable. Stop comparing singers with different voices, styles, tones, and TESSITURAS just for the sake of comparing them. It’s completely pointless. Just be happy with the strengths of your favorites. Celebrate their success without comparing them to other people. Stop making everything a competition.
Grabe talaga resonant niya sa mid belts, more than the range what sets her apart from her colleagues in the industry are her tone and "superstar aura".
I love her low notes. Her Eb3-F#3s sound so rich and natural. Her midbelts are obviously her strongest asset. The depth and fullness are just natural. Her upperbelts sound really unique even though she's using alternative techniques, and her head voice is heavenly. I love how you included the interview clip in the end. It proves all of your analysis. She's so humble about her capabilities too. She just told the reporter it's true what her haters say she can't belt out anymore the same way she could before. She did not even get scared or defensive for 1 second hahaha I love her. No ego 😍
I love how Sarah knows her limits but still gives us amazing performances. She knows, we know, that she can no longer sing like before but some people can’t accept it and use it to insult her, what they don’t know is that Sarah’s musicality is far better than other Filipino singers, it’s not all about hitting the highest and longest note. Sarah has a different style, a completely different genre, that she can no longer be compared to old and new singers in the Philippines, her knowledge, experience, and vulnerability as an artist are her advantage among the rest.
Very informative about using mix on belting technique si Sarah lng talaga may iba-ibang technique na ganon maraming bala kakaibang vocal range Kakaibang content may halong informative technique Hail to our Queen... #Asia's Popstar Royalty # Queen of Musical Genre # Sarah G.G.😍😍😍
ang ganda talaga ng low notes nya. hindi ko naririnig yung ibang pinay singers masyado maging ganyan kabuo at natural tunog sa low notes kahit palalimin nila boses nila. iba eh. siguro dahil nga mas mababa yung boses ni sarah kaya mas natural at buo. iba eh. malagong yung tunog.
San po 27:39 matagal ko na hinahanap yung I look to you version nya same country po same tour. Na delete na ata, yun para sakin pinaka magaling nya na version ng I look to you. Puno ng growls
Haters be like: Hahaha di mo na kaya bumirit nang gaya nung dati! 😂 😂 (waiting sa defensive reaction ni sg, ready sa next attack) Sarah: Hindi na naman talaga. Yung sobra? Kung paano ako bumirit noon? Hindi na talaga. 🙂 Haters: 😮........hindi sya nainis? 😠 Sarah: andun pa rin naman. di na lang yung sagad sagad dahil para sakin di magandang pakinggan. meron lang talagang mga bli-ness na singers na mas matataas boses 🙂 Haters: 😠 😠 😠 Sarah: sige una na ako. bake pa ako ng cake para kay matt. bye 😘 (sabay hiatus ng isang taon) Haters: 😡 😡 😡 bete bete se lenget. temeen keselenen me. stenelk me ne nemen kese se sg. 😂 #certifiedhater #marites #malingbakod #guiltyuntilproveninnocent #charot
Exclamation is not part of vocal range unless she will sustain it or create ornamentation like stacatto since it is a vocal technique that is sung and sustain.
IN DEPTH VOCAL ANALYSIS LONG-DETAILED THREAD:
(This video was not made for competition purposes, so please avoid comparing and mentioning other artists not included in the video. This is not a competition.)
Sarah’s voice has been known to be very emotive and immensely distinct. It is easily recognizable when you hear her song on radios. Her tone varies in color due to the fact that she experiments with various placements and mixing.
During her debut years (14-16y/o), her chest voice was evidently higher and lighter. She could hit the high notes in a chest-dominant mix effortlessly with lower vocal placement (“Forever’s Not Enough”, “If Only”). Her low notes were also underdeveloped too. Her mids were kinda thin and just compensated with overdropping of the larynx to mimic the fullness of Whitney’s tone (a technique that Charice also did to thicken her midbelts due a naturally higher and lighter tessitura). Her speaking voice was also remarkably higher despite speaking in a loud & pure chest voice then. Part of the lightness of her singing voice came from her young age (just like Ella Nympha during her younger years), and also a part of it came from her very petite figure then (just like Beyonce in her early teenage “petite” frame). She was also not yet that technically conscious because she could easily belt out high notes with her naturally lighter juvenile voice.
But as she entered adulthood and also started growing physically (in size), her voice started to naturally deepen drastically. It was very noticeable in her 2006-2008 performances and interviews how much her voice has deepened in just 2-3 years after her debut years. Her speaking voice in moderate volume developed so much fullness, volume and weight. Her low notes started to kick in naturally. However, she started to struggle a lot in terms of belting because she was still using the same ratio of mixing, placement, and projection despite the extreme change in her vocal weight and tessitura. As a result, her mids started to gain more natural thickness in a more neutral placement, but her upperbelts started getting squeezed and aided with overraising her larynx. This was because she still was not aware that she needs to mix the developed weight in her chest voice with her head voice even more, and that she already needed to place her voice higher to be able to support it easier. Her tessitura dropped at least 1.5-2 “WHOLE” tones. She struggled to sing her older hits from 2006-mid 2010. She was either singing them in lower keys or was really struggling and straining to hit the upperbelts in the original key. Her voice in this era was noticeably dark and heavy in general, and she had a hard time manipulating her tone to a lighter color in songs that require more feminine tone. In 2011, she went to Los Angeles to study advanced voice lessons. In these said lessons, she has finally found her limitations and the proper kinds of mixing and placements appropriate for her current tessitura. Since then, she started improving year by year. She started mixing more and has started placing her voice higher than she used to in her vocal tract. She has also started using her mask cavity to extend her range and reach the higher notes more comfortably. She also uses her mask cavity along with her mix to lighten her timbre whenever she wants and needs to. Aside from that, she also started speaking in a softer almost whispery and "headily placed" manner, which gives an illusion that her chest voice is actually a lot lighter than what it truly is, probably to preserve her voice. In 2012, she started shifting into a lighter, whispery & heady mixed ala-Mariah/Regine sound (“If”, “Imagine”) with less belting. Since then, it already became an official part of her style in her albums and in concerts. She made this mixing sound so natural that it even came to the point that some people think it is her natural tone because she has perfected this mix and placement so well that you sometimes can’t tell she’s just mixing, playing with her larynx position, and utilizing her mask . This technique also became a huge advantage for her to preserve her voice even more. Every year since 2011, her improvements have been really noticeable. Today, she can sing the songs she was struggling to sing during 2006-2010, and it was because of her newly learned alternative techniques. Her stamina has also improved. I featured her best live vocals in her “1 year and half” This 15 Me world tour in my channel, and you would see there that she was able to sing songs outside her natural comfort range without even developing damage and hoarseness in her vocals. Her “support in different placements and registers” has vastly improved due to her improvement in mixing and placement.
She has learned to accept and respect her limitations. She no longer forces techniques that would not work on her current voice. Particularly, she no longer combines a type of mixing and a placement she knows she can’t support in her current comfort range. In her upperbelting range specifically, when she wants an open sound, she’s going to use a heady mix to be able to support it easier. But if she wants to lift her chest voice up to the higher notes, she would carefully place it higher, in her mask, so she could support the developed weight in it easier. She no longer lets herself reach the point of choking and squeezing (with over raising of the larynx) from forcing her current chest voice to go where it no longer wants to go. She now makes sure that she uses the right mixing and the placement she can support and control. Her current techniques are now more sustainable and realistic to her current deeper tessitura.
CONTINUATION BELOW…
I. LOW NOTES
Low notes are one of Sarah’s natural strengths as a vocalist. Her current tessitura is at least 1.5-2 whole tones lower than the typical natural tessitura of high-pitched contemporary sopranos (without manufacturing their sound) in the local mainstream industry.
She does not overdrop her larynx in the low notes to the point that it already sounds unnatural, hollow, and randomly disconnected from her general tone. She bases the dynamics of her low notes from the general tone she uses in whatever song she’s singing. If she starts the song with a highly placed light & airy tone, she’s also going to hit the low notes with the softest tone as possible and the most neutral placement she can even if it won’t showcase the volume/richness of her low notes that much. If she starts a song with a chestier Beyonce-like tone, then it would be the time when she would hit the low notes with such body, bass and volume. She always makes sure that the tone that she uses is connected throughout the entire song. If ever there are tonal changes in 1 song, she always makes it sure that the changes would be gradual and accompanied by dynamic changes as well.
Her current undeniable skills in low notes have been praised by vocal coach Yazik and Mr. Ogie Alcasid. Her lows have fullness that do not sound hollow, and they're so connected to her modal tone that you would hear them gradually fade out in an organized descending manner as she goes lower. She never sang low notes just for the sake of proving she can reach low.
2nd octave notes - definitely not a true part of her natural singing range. This is just an accessory to her vocal profile. Notes in this area are just accidentally hit with a vocal fry register or through unsupported speaking/rapping, and not really an intentional showcase of her supported lower singing range.
B2-D3- She can go way down to these notes, but it’s not a natural part of her comfort range anymore. She still does not excessively drop her larynx in this area probably to still sound more natural and connected to her entire range. This could actually still have more volume and bass if she drops her larynx a bit more, and exert much more effort in projecting the sound (just like what Beyonce did in years 2006-2011 to manufacture more volume in these notes). Her larynx still seems to be too neutral in C3. She actually seems too chill and relaxed trying to hit these notes. LOL. The only problem tho if she ever overdrops her larynx is that it would no longer sound natural and connected to her modal tone. It might also distract her emotional interpretation/storytelling of the song which is a more substantial part of her singing. Her current technique in these notes is already fine tho since she rarely sings in this area. As a matter of fact, being able to go this low is also just an accessory to her vocal profile. It’s not like she’s gonna sing verses in this range. She’s not a baritone afterall. LOL. But still, props to her for accidentally being able to go this low without being intentionally showy and overly conscious about how low she can go.
Eb3-G#3- This is her current natural comfort zone in low notes in her healthiest vocal state. (The voice has the tendency to be lower when it's hoarse and overused. Our natural comfort zone is our comfort zone when our voice is well rested and not hoarse). The natural fullness that you hear is also because of her lower tessitura and not because she just developed this part of her range. There is still slight lowering of the larynx (which is normal for female singers unless a contralto), but she still never overdrops her larynx in this area. This area is very congruent to her general modal tone. Her low notes really sound natural and very bassy in this area. The depth and volume are very connected to the color of her entire range and does not sound random and sudden. It does not really sound like she’s making a lot of effort to deepen her tone. The ease is so natural that the femininity in her tone is still there despite singing this deep and low. Her low notes in this area also have a very Jazzy/Soulful quality similar to Beyonce’s low notes before pregnancy. In some notes, her voice even sounds very mature and bassy like Karen Carpenter’s (“Kiss me Kiss Me”, “Rain”). The depth is so connected to her modal tone that it won’t distract you from her storytelling and song interpretation. It’s not just the low notes but also the entire low phrases she’s singing that sound very fluid, dynamic and harmonious in this area. Her agility and dynamics are also still intact in this spot (“My Love”, “Greatest Performance of My Life”, “Were You There”). She can effortlessly bring the fullness and the bass of her voice down to Eb3, and could still sound natural and connected.
II. MID-BELTS - Midbelts are now her blossoming area since she reached adulthood.
G4-G#4 - where her voice start to develop natural beltiness (need to belt) and robustness, but still often hit with a lowered larynx (like Shirley Bassey’s technique) to even sound more belty and thicker. She can actually sound belty and rich starting from E4 (“Misteryo” in UNIFIED Concert). I just started with G4 because the video would be too long if I still included her E4s-F#4s. Her blossoming area using natural techniques is not in this area tho.
A4-C5 - This area is her current NATURAL blossoming area in her entire range. This is where you would hear her vibrato, resonance, and power best. Most notes are hit with raised soft palate and strong support on chest dominant mix. In this area, you would also hear noticeable round and full mezzo-like resonance and robustness/punchiness resembling the quality of young Shirley Bassey’s and prime Beyonce’s midbelts. She also has the tendency to sound “Sharon-Cuneta”-like in this area when even more chesty. She occasionally showcases an old-school, operatic, tenor-like vibrato in this range too.
Most of the midbelts in this area (featured in the video) are sung in a neutral placement using an open throat technique. The fullness that you hear in her current midbelts are no longer a result of stylistic overdropping of the larynx w/ lowered vocal placement nor is it from over widening of the mouth to produce a dark tone as most contemporary sopranos (with lighter and higher tessitura) do to achieve darker mids since upperbelts are their real natural blossoming area (ex. Charice, Demi Lovato). It's like the fullness of a lighter "lyric soprano's" chest-dominant midbelts in a "lowered laryngeal position and vocal placement" is now equal to Sarah's current chest-dominant mix in a neutral larynx and a higher placement. Sarah's midbelts when placed lower and larynx is dropped is already extra deep in quality like Cece Winan's and Toni Braxton's (see the climax of her cover of "How Could An Angel Break My Heart). The fullness that you hear in her current midbelts are already due to the natural weight that developed in her voice as her tessitura drastically dropped 1.5 to 2 whole tones when she reached adulthood. This is also the developed weight that she struggled a LOT with in the upperbelts during her late teenage years to her early 20s. This is now her blossoming area in a neutral placement and even in her healthiest vocal state (icydk, the voice actually has the tendency to sound fuller and heavier when there is rasp developed from overuse). The lows and mids can also be extra darker and thicker when the voice is hoarse and overused. Her current chest tone, in general, is still velvety smooth and creamy yet the fullness in her lows and mids are still noticeably present.
C5 - the top of her comfort/relaxed range in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix (according to vocal coach Yazik). Notes higher than C5, if hit using an open-throat, chesty mix are already hit with extra support and physical effort.
But due to persistent training, she has now learned and adapted various alternative kinds of mixing and placements appropriate for her current tessitura to still be able to support and belt out notes higher than C5. Without these alternative techniques tho, the weight of her current chest voice is still not as comfortable being lifted up in her upper range as it was during her debut years.
C#5 - can still be hit and supported in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix but with extra physical labor already. It is healthier and less energy consuming when she is using a balanced mixing and a higher/headier placement and resonation. This is probably the top of her current midbelts where she can still sing in an open-throat chest dominant mix in a neutral placement.
D5- can still be supported in an open-throat, chest-dominant mix, but even requires more effort. If using a chest-dominant mix in this note, it’s healthier and easier to support when she’s placing it on her mask. It’s even easier to support when more balancedly mixed and masked. Currently, D5 is actually the start of her upperbelts already. It no longer sounds like a midbelt in her current voice. The placement of the note in her vocal tract is already too high (heady) actually for it to still be a midbelt. Her voice in this area along with her Eb5s share some similar characteristics with Beyonce’s D5-Eb5s before pregnancy. Her current D5’s in “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” already sound like her E5’s-F5’s during “The Next One” (2008-2009) era. Her mixing and placement are also very diverse in this note. She can sound chesty and open. She can also sound light and more contained (when masked), and she can sound intensely soulful (when using extra amount of chest and aggression).
III. UPPER BELTS
Unlike typical local female singers, Sarah’s current upperbelts already start at around D5 to Eb5.
Eb5 - definitely an upperbelt for her voice already. Mostly hit in a nasal-dominant, mask placement with a balanced mixing. Safest to place in mask if chest voice will still be lifted up to this area. She can support her chest dominant mix as long as it is masked. For supporting a more open sound, head dominant mix or a slightly masked balanced mixing should be used. Her growls also sound most powerful and soulful in this area up to F#5. This is where her Beyonce and Celine similarities meet halfway.
E5 - where her mask starts to work well with her chest tone. The quality of her masked tone in this area is not as compressed as it is in her D5s-Ebs and also not as piercing as it is in her F5s-F#5s. This is a “money note” in her upperbelts if you are more into a more feminine sound. It sounds best and most distinctive in a more solid and punchy chest dominant mix, but extra strong support is needed. It’s still healthiest and easier to support when using a balanced to heady mix in a heady placement. All notes are masked or half-masked. Her heady mix in this note sounds like a balanced mix of a contemporary light lyric soprano due to the natural fullness of her head voice and her strong diaphragmatic support.
F5 - another “money note” in her upperbelts. If you are a fan of Celine’s PIERCING nasal-dominant, masked upperbelts and Whitney’s solid Punchy upperbelts, then you would like this note better than her E5s. It has a bell-glass like piercing quality to it. Her balanced mixing in upperbelts sounds best and most creamy in this note.
F#5 - not her most comfortable area in a chesty to balanced mixing, but definitely the most explosive note in her belting range. This needs to be consistently placed in mask tho to be supported if using a chesty to balanced mixing. Can be resonated openly using a head-dominant mix. Her vibrato in this area has a heavy soulful touch. Her growls also sound best up to this note.
G5 - can still be supported using a masked chesty to balanced mixing, but still healthiest and more comfortable in a head dominant mix. The masked balanced mix resembles Lara Fabian and Celine’s masked G5s and more chesty mix (when she was younger) resembles the thickness of Whitney Houston’s G5s. Her head dominant mix is still healthiest in this area. It is also rich in quality (Earth Song, Tayo) due to the natural thickness of her head voice and her thick vibrato that came from her strong diaphragmatic support on her mix.
G#5 - this is clearly out of her chest comfort range, but she still ocassionally pushes her voice to the limit due to adrenaline when hyped by the crowd/deep emotional connection to the song. Mostly hit with a head-dominant mix. Her heady mix in this area is also thick due to her strong diaphragmatic support. She can also support this note in a chest-dominant to balanced mixing, but in a mask placement already (‘Di na Muli). This is the end of her support in chest-dominant/balanced mix. It only shows how strong her support muscles are.
A5 - the top of her real belting range. Notes in this area are all head dominant to masked/resonated head voice. The quality is already very thin and heady. But props to her for being able to reach this high with a lower tessitura. She can also growl this high which is amazing. She may still be able to belt/mix higher notes for more than 1 second, but the quality would already be very heady and thin. This is the top of her support in heady mix.
I can compare her current mixing, placement, and supporting abilities with prime Beyonce before pregnancy. Both of them have lower adult tessituras, but still managed to lighten their voices and sing outside of their comfort zones through utilizing their mixing, mask placement, and strong support muscles. It's also the reason why Sarah is the only local singer who can REALLY emulate Beyonce's voice. They have similar tessituras during Beyonce's prime pre-conception. That's why Beyonce's nasal placement/resonation can also be applied to her voice and the fullness & depth will still be there too just like Beyonce's. In reality, many other local singers are also influenced by Beyonce. It's not just Sarah, but they just can not really mimic Beyonce's tone even when they're already trying to do a vocal impression of her. They can just mimic Beyonce's runs, but they can not mimic her tone because their tessituras are lot higher than Beyonce's. It is really hard to mimic Beyonce's "masked, nasally resonated (highly placed) but deep at the same time" tone if you have a higher tessitura because in order for you to mimic the depth of her tone, you need to position your larynx lower and place your voice lower in your vocal tract. It's actually easier for them to copy Whitney and Christina's tones when they lower their larynx and vocal placement because these two singers are not nasal. Mask (nasal) placement is a "high placement" that gives your voice a lighter tone quality, so you can't really place your voice in your mask if you want to darken your tone. It's always lowering the larynx and lowering the placement that would help you darken and thicken your tone.
For her exclusive open belting range, click on this link: czcams.com/video/pPXuzpvg5O0/video.html
IV. HEAD VOICE - this is her most “beautiful” register. Her head voice is rich and full due to the natural depth in her current voice. It also sounds very flavored and tasteful. She can already sound colorful in notes as low as G4, and starting from C#5 we can already hear the richness of her head voice. Her head voice is a mixture of a soulful and an operatic sound. It is full of dynamics and musicality. Her agility in head voice is also very consistent.
G4-C5 - the thickness is not there yet, but the color, dynamics and tastefulness are already encompassing.
C#5 - F#5 - This is where the thickness and richness start to kick in. Her dynamics and agility are also best in this area. The quality is very creamy and soulful.
G5-G#5 - This area has a Soulful and Gospel quality to it.
A5-C6 - This is the only operatic area of her entire range. The sound is strong and stable.
C#6-D6 - where her head voice starts to thin out. It used to be thicker during her younger years tho. It’s still well supported and can still be riffed although not as fast as she can in the lower part of her head voice
Eb6-F6 - the quality is already thin like a flageolet, but she surprisingly still supported the F6 in “The Voice”.
In conclusion, her chest voice sounds best from Eb3 in low notes to C5 in a chest dominant mix. Her balanced mixing, on the other hand, sounds best at C#5 to F#5(masked). Her head dominant mixing sounds best at G5-A5. Her head voice sounds best at Bb4-D6, and her flageolet sounds best at Eb6-F6.
In her own right, Sarah is really one of the best vocalists we have in the Philippines right now. She might not be the conventional type of singer/belter that we are used to hearing in the Philippines, but she has her own fair share of her own unique strengths. Not all female singers, especially locally, have strong head voice, naturally full midbelts, full low notes, soulful growls, colorful tone and dynamics, diverse mixing ability, agility on head voice, agility on low notes, agility on a heavy chesty mix, versatility, wide artistry and musicality. Her upperbelts, although done with alternative techniques are still very unique and distinct in the Philippines. Her tone is very distinct and recognizable. She is an example of a vocalist who humbly accepts and respects her limitations, and utilizes what she’s only gifted with. There are singers who have higher tessitura and can effortlessly sing higher, but it’s still amazing that she still pushes herself to her limits and reached notes outside her comfort zone through smart alternative techniques. At the end of the day, there really is no need to compare different artists against each other. They all have their own different strengths and weaknesses. They all have different voices, styles, vision, and focuses. It’s not like they all have the same exact instrument, and are all following a single pattern of techniques and styles. Constantly pitting them against each other is pointless. It’s just plain negativity. It only satisfies the egos of their fans, but it would not make any of them better than the other in reality.
Let’s just focus on what we really like and what we really enjoy, and stop pitting women against each other. Have a good day!
P.S. I re-measured some notes that I included in the past vocal range video that I made because I measured some of them with my guitar and some with the piano. My guitar was actually tuned in a lower key, so some notes were measured higher than their real measurement.
Hi sir. Pls do another updated vocal range of SG (2024)
*LONG IMPORTANT THREAD ABOUT SUPPORT AND STRAINING:
I’ve finally taken online formal lessons earlier this year that focus on placement and mixing to improve my own singing as I am aging and for me to be more knowledgeable about the technical aspect of singing because I've actually been more of a stylistic kind of singer in my younger years that prioritize vocal artistry/creativity more than technicalities.
Anyway, I actually thought placement and mixing were just the same, but they actually are not. Mixing is more of combining your chest and your head voice while placement is where you place the voice for sound resonation/projection. Diaphragmatic support is also a part of the lesson. And just to correct a very common MISCONCEPTION in the internet, support is NOT exclusive to an effortless “widely open-throat, widely opened mouth, lowly placed, CHEST DOMINANT MIX always with vibrato”. PLEASE DO NOT GENERALIZE THE TERM SUPPORT INTO THIS SINGLE, COLLECTIVE, AND SIMPLIFIED DEFINITION.
Support is NOT exclusive to a chest-dominant/balanced mix. The statements “she can only support up to (insert note)” is very VAGUE, and most of the time only applies to those who do not have a concept of mixing, placement, and supported head voice. ICYDK, you can also support a head-dominant mix. Support does not stop in a chesty placed upperbelt. You can also support a voice placed and resonated mainly in your mask. You can support a properly placed growl. You can support your head voice. You support mixing and placements according to your tessitura. You can support a note as long as there is enough space in your throat for the air to pass through. Support is NOT exclusive to a widely open-throat chest dominant belt in a wide mouth opening. And also, support does not always come with vibrato. You can choose to put vibrato or not put vibrato in a supported note. To be able to produce a good natural vibrato, yes, you need support and an open enough vocal tract. But not putting a vibrato in your belt/mix is still an option you can make. No vibrato is not an automatic sign of an unsupported note. FYI.
The concept of diaphragmatic support "alone" is still an isolated concept from the ideal open-throat technique in classical singing, ideal mouth opening, vocal placement/resonation, mixing, and vibrato. All of these things can not be generalized into a simplified collective concept because the effects of each of these things on supporting vary according to the note and to the tessitura of the singer. Support, alone, is simply SUPPORTING THE FUNCTION of your diaphragm (an INVOLUNTARY MUSCLE found under the lungs that automatically pushes air to the lungs everytime we breath, speak, and sing). We can not directly control the contraction of the diaphragm since it’s an involuntary muscle. When someone says, “She does not sing from her diaphragm”, that person does not know what he/she is talking about because every sound and air that comes out of our mouth is involuntary from the diaphragm. We can only control the muscles connected to it called the support muscles. Support actually means SUPPORTING THE DIAPHRAGM in pushing air with your support muscles and NOT contracting the DIAPHRAGM ITSELF to support the vocal cords. When we support, we support the contraction of the diaphragm using our back, rib-cage, abdominal, butt and thoracic muscles to regulate the air/voice that we release. We support so we don’t run out of breath, maintain the tonality of our voice, and to avoid choking/straining our cords. Musculoskeletal movements in our cervical and cephalic cavity (head and neck) are also not directly connected to and not collective with the concept of “Diaphragmatic Support” alone. Although they have various indirect effects on the overall passage of your support, they still can not be generalized with the entire concept of supporting alone.
An occasional slight tongue “retraction” to occasionally add extra thickness to some registers of your tone is also not an automatic indicator of an “unsupported” note, and not an automatic sign of damaging tension. Shirley Bassey, Celine Dion and Charice Pempengco did this for years in their careers (in different placements and mixing) and never damaged their vocals because of great support and PROPER VOCAL PLACEMENT (higher placement and ligther mix as you ascend). You have a safe choice whether to retract or flatten your tongue if you want to modify your tone as long as your placement is also safe and comfortable enough, and you are supporting with the right set of muscles appropriate to your mixing or your placement. Tongue retraction is not an automatic indicator of an unsupported (blocked support) note. It is a safe technique as long as:
1. Your support is strong enough to lift your mix up to avoid trapping the pressure in your throat, and you are using the right set of support muscles according to the note, your tessitura, your mix, and your placement.
2. Your mix is placed “HIGH ENOUGH”, so there is still enough space in the throat to avoid blocking the support and building a damaging tension down your larynx which can result to vocal strain (a muscular damage that would result to nodules which should be accompanied by vocal ROUGHNESS and RASP). If your mixing is still chesty to balanced, you should place/resonate your mix higher as you ascend in your range. And as you place your voice higher, you should tilt your head forward, so your voice projection would follow the direction of your head. Low placement = head upwards, High placement = head forward.
Tongue retraction is actually more than 50% of Celine's vocal trademark, but she still never damaged her vocals through years of singing and belting with her tongue retracted (muffled vowels) because she is using strong support, proper placement and proper mixing. When she does this in higher notes, she places her voice high in a "nasal dominant mask placement ", that's why her belts sound piercing and nasal at the same time.
Flattened tongue is a part of the ideal “open throat technique” in classical singing which is always needed when you are singing in classical techniques/placements. But outside classical singing, slight retraction of the tongue WON'T ALWAYS block your support AS LONG AS you place your mix high enough and you tilt your head forward to create an enough space in your throat for the pressure from your diaphragmatic support to still pass through. Diaphragmatic support again is the act of supporting the diaphragm in pushing air to the lungs using muscles connected to the diaphragm which are found in our back, abdomen, chest, ribs, and butt. Your tongue is not included in your support muscles too. Your support muscles are only the muscles connected to your diaphragm. BLOCKED SUPPORT is different from NOT SUPPORTING. You can't really use your tongue to support your diaphragm, but retracting your tongue can block the pressure from your support if done with a mixing and a placement that is too low for a note according to your tessitura. Anyway, tongue retraction alone can never be used as an automatic indicator of not supporting a note because "not supporting" means you did not utilize your support muscles in singing the note at all, and tongue retraction would not always result to a blocked support too. As long as there is enough space in your throat and your placement is right, the air can still pass through it even with tongue retraction. Diaphragmatic support “alone” is still an isolated concept from the ideal open throat technique in classical music, and the effects of "musculoskeletal movements in your mouth and throat" on your support also vary according to your choice of placement and mixing. That's why singers like Sarah and Beyonce can also growl whenever they want without damaging their vocals. The effects of the movements in your mouth and your throat should NEVER be generalized with all notes. Another thing you need to know is that your mouth and throat does not need to be 100% widely open all the time for the support to pass through. You only need ENOUGH SPACE for the air to pass through. "Slight" throat compression in higher notes is fine as long as there is STILL enough space for the air to pass through and your placement/resonation is high too.
A little compression of the larynx, which is a MUST in POP BELTING to pull your chesty/balanced mix up, can actually still have enough space for the air pressure from your diaphragmatic support to pass through as long as you are also placing your voice high enough and your throat is still not squeezing. Your support would only be blocked if the throat compression is already too narrow due to not enough mixing or a placement that is too low for a high note/belt according to your tessitura.
In fact, you can even hum with a closed mouth and still apply breath support on your note by contracting your support muscles found in your “abdomino-thoracic” region AS LONG AS there is enough space in your throat and your mixing + placement is correct for the note according to your tessitura. That’s how separated the physics of diaphragmatic support is with the physics of every movement in your cervical and cephalic region (tongue, throat, mouth). Tongue movements, mouth opening, and larynx positioning can't always be generalized and used as automatic indicators of not supporting a note because their effects on your support are complex and vary in different notes, placements, mixing, and volumes. It should NEVER be generalized in all cases.
A real “straining” note is a note hit with a forced and squeezed, overly raised larynx due to poor mixing and a placement that is too low for the note you are trying to belt (according to your tessitura). The voice becomes harder to support when your mixing does not match your placement in relation to your tessitura. If you push your chest voice with a low placement in a note outside your tessitura, your larynx will be over-raised and they would CLOSE. This will be the time when the pressure from your diaphragmatic support would be blocked by the closure of your overly raised larynx. This is what we call STRAINING. A strained (blocked support) belt sounds dry with no air, thin, squeezed, and choked. It sounds like Britney’s trademark voice but in a “belt”. Real straining will immediately bruise the vocal folds especially if done repeatedly in concerts and gigs. A strained/bruised vocal muscle will also show symptoms of reduced stamina and most especially RASP and ROUGHNESS which are obviously not present in Sarah’s current CLEAR vocals. Vocal strain can NEVER appear without HOARSENESS and DECREASE in overall RANGE.
Another important thing to point out is that a nasal dominant, mask-placement is not the same as the "squeezed" high-larynx technique/straining. Sarah did the straining/squeezing high larynx from years 2006-2010 (Eternal Flame, I Want to Spend My Life Time Loving You), and changed her general upperbelting technique to a higher mask-dominant placement after her voice lessons in the states in 2011 (I Put a Spell On You, “Ikaw” with Regine). Both techniques will produce a thin and a compressed sound, but a "squeezed" high larynx belt would sound choked, throaty, and dry. It is due to poor mixing and a placement that is too low for the note (accdng. to your tessitura) that’s why the larynx already squeezed/did all the work to lift the chest voice up. The thin quality of a nasal-dominant mask placed voice, on the other hand, has more air, is more stable, and sustainable. The larynx in this placement is only slightly raised and compressed, but there' is still enough space for the air to pass through. It sounds like Regine Velasquez' trademark D5 note in "Ikaw". It can also sound piercing and more resonant when tongue is a bit retracted and mouth is shaped in an inverted triangle (Celine Dion). Again, slight tongue retraction is safe as long as there is enough support, and the voice is mixed enough and placed HIGH enough. It would even help in pushing your mix upwards to transfer all the pressure from your throat to your mask area (Celine Dion). Mask placement is a higher & healthier placement especially for singers with lower tessitura.
Slightly raising the larynx when belting is also actually a MUST in POP singing. Because in pop singing, you pull your chest voice up to notes E5-G#5 in such a belty/shouty manner unlike in classical music where you use a soft heady mix or your head voice to hit these notes. In reality, you can't really pull your chest voice up that high without raising your larynx even if you are a soprano. Yes, support is needed too, but support alone is not enough to pull a chesty/balanced mix up to notes E5 and above. Slightly raising the larynx is normal when belting in pop singing as long as there is still enough space in your throat for your supported mix to pass through. And for the "enough space" to still exist, you should mix the voice enough and place it high enough. If you raise your larynx when you belt and you don't adjust your either your mixing or your placement, then that would be the time when your larynx would be overly raised, and squeezing/straining would happen. You can still support your voice as you resonate it through your mask with minimal raising of larynx as long as there is enough space in your larynx for the pressure from your support to pass through, (with or without vibrato). Please take note of that.
Weight and power are also not equal to tension. Not everyone has a light and floaty soprano voice when they open their throat to project their chesty mix. A lifted heavy chesty-mix with more effortful diaphragmatic/physical support due to a fuller & heavier chest tone (lower tessitura) is also not equal to straining and damaging tension. Just like how Lady Gaga and Whitney's midbelts are still considered resonant and supported even though they don't sound "floaty". The body can also look a bit forceful, but it does not mean your "vocal cords" are forceful too. You really need extra and stronger physical support from your body if you really want to lift the weight of your chest-dominant mix up without damaging your voice especially if you have a tessitura lower than normal. You support with your body, so there is less work in your vocal cords. It’s really really energy consuming PHYSICALLY, but it’s not equivalent to “straining” the vocal cords. Support does not always mean “relaxed” and “chill” body state. Forceful support muscles are not equal to “forceful laryngeal closure”. The heavier the mix is, the more PHYSICAL support is needed. Straining is squeezing the cords, and would result to signs and symptoms of HOARSENESS, RASP, and UNINTENTIONAL CRACKS. No bruised and damaged vocals is still completely smooth and increasing in range as years go by.
Just because most local female belters sing their upperbelts in a lung busting, lowly placed, widely open mouth and throat, chest-dominant mix, does not mean all female singers should sing the same exact notes with the same exact mixing, placement, and effort. Supporting, mixing and placement vary according to your tessitura. Forcing someone to combine a mixing and placement not appropriate for her tessitura, just because it’s what other singers with lighter and higher tessitura do, is a complete act of ignorance. Pushing your chest voice in a placement outside your comfort zone is what’s truly damaging and straining.
Pls. avoid generalizing and misusing the terms and phrases “DAMAGED VOCALS", "CAN ONLY SUPPORT UP TO", and "STRAINING” if you do not fully understand the entire COMPLEX concept of what you are saying just to drag someone down. Supporting in relation to larynx positioning, mouth opening, and vocal placement is a complex concept that should not be generalized in all situations.
If you really do not like someone, just leave them alone then. You are not forced to like them. Just focus on your favorites, and stop making your lives miserable. Stop comparing singers with different voices, styles, tones, and TESSITURAS just for the sake of comparing them. It’s completely pointless. Just be happy with the strengths of your favorites. Celebrate their success without comparing them to other people. Stop making everything a competition.
Grabe talaga resonant niya sa mid belts, more than the range what sets her apart from her colleagues in the industry are her tone and "superstar aura".
Sobrang taas ng respeto ko sayo sir. 🙏
Salamat sa pag pa patunay na sa talento ng isang Sarah G... Godbless you
Sarah is just so unique and artistic. I really love her as a whole. She can't be the best belter, but she can be the best singer.
I love her low notes. Her Eb3-F#3s sound so rich and natural. Her midbelts are obviously her strongest asset. The depth and fullness are just natural. Her upperbelts sound really unique even though she's using alternative techniques, and her head voice is heavenly. I love how you included the interview clip in the end. It proves all of your analysis. She's so humble about her capabilities too. She just told the reporter it's true what her haters say she can't belt out anymore the same way she could before. She did not even get scared or defensive for 1 second hahaha I love her. No ego 😍
I love how Sarah knows her limits but still gives us amazing performances. She knows, we know, that she can no longer sing like before but some people can’t accept it and use it to insult her, what they don’t know is that Sarah’s musicality is far better than other Filipino singers, it’s not all about hitting the highest and longest note. Sarah has a different style, a completely different genre, that she can no longer be compared to old and new singers in the Philippines, her knowledge, experience, and vulnerability as an artist are her advantage among the rest.
I’ve always loved Sarah’s low notes, it’s full of depth and sounds so resonant. Thanks for this compilation :-)
Pag dating talaga ng 4 hanggang pataas, yumayanig na boses ni Sarah G. She starts to slay 😍❤️❤️❤️
Her low notes are to die for. Soulful, deep, resonant. Ang ganda lang. Yung low notes niya sa Bakit Nga Ba Mahal Kita ang ganda din nun
Very informative about using mix on belting technique si Sarah lng talaga may iba-ibang technique na ganon maraming bala kakaibang vocal range Kakaibang content may halong informative technique Hail to our Queen...
#Asia's Popstar Royalty
# Queen of Musical Genre
# Sarah G.G.😍😍😍
34:45 wow 🤩 the swag
I'm shocked by that too 😍
She reminds me of Beyoncé
Thank you for this video.
yung midbelt at headvoice nya din talaga ang paborito ko. sarah has great knowledge on technique nga daw sabi ni yazik.
she is really great. powerful layered voice
Sa Tiktok talaga now maraming nanonood. What if you venture there?
ang ganda talaga ng low notes nya. hindi ko naririnig yung ibang pinay singers masyado maging ganyan kabuo at natural tunog sa low notes kahit palalimin nila boses nila. iba eh. siguro dahil nga mas mababa yung boses ni sarah kaya mas natural at buo. iba eh. malagong yung tunog.
thank you sir for this video...galing ni sarah sa low notes nya...sarap sa tenga pakinggan
you're welcome. thank you for watching!
Thank you for this video. I really love her.
Only sarah g can do that very low nitew here in philippines.. wla pko narinig na iba na biritera na kaya ung ganyan kababa at kabuo..
Wala yung F#5 sa Araneta ng I have nothing. Maganda un
San po 27:39 matagal ko na hinahanap yung I look to you version nya same country po same tour. Na delete na ata, yun para sakin pinaka magaling nya na version ng I look to you. Puno ng growls
THANK YOU SIR FOR THIS. ❤️
lagi ko nalilimutan kung gaano kataas ang kaya abutin ni sg kaya lagi ako nabibigla. di kasi sya masyado palabirit din.
Salamat po.
Link ng And I Am Telling You sa SG Live please 🥺
Sa ASAP um
Ayowwwwwn updatedd naaaaa ❤️❤️
Haters be like: Hahaha di mo na kaya bumirit nang gaya nung dati! 😂 😂 (waiting sa defensive reaction ni sg, ready sa next attack)
Sarah: Hindi na naman talaga. Yung sobra? Kung paano ako bumirit noon? Hindi na talaga. 🙂
Haters: 😮........hindi sya nainis? 😠
Sarah: andun pa rin naman. di na lang yung sagad sagad dahil para sakin di magandang pakinggan. meron lang talagang mga bli-ness na singers na mas matataas boses 🙂
Haters: 😠 😠 😠
Sarah: sige una na ako. bake pa ako ng cake para kay matt. bye 😘 (sabay hiatus ng isang taon)
Haters: 😡 😡 😡
bete bete se lenget. temeen keselenen me. stenelk me ne nemen kese se sg. 😂
#certifiedhater #marites #malingbakod #guiltyuntilproveninnocent #charot
D#6 po ba is the same with Eb6 po? 😊
👍
😍😍😍😍😍
Kaya nya po kaya magwhistle? 😊
naisip ko rin yan. pero hindi na nya kailangan yun. ibigay na natin sa iba. may sariling strength naman si sarah na kanya.
Kaya din nyang mag whistle,my napanuod ako dati na perf.nya nag- whistle cia,di ko lng matandaan yung song
❤️❤️❤️
Sana po sinama mo po yung G#6 na exclamation nya sa "We Found Love" sa Perfect 10 concert po nya hehe
Exclamation is not part of vocal range unless she will sustain it or create ornamentation like stacatto since it is a vocal technique that is sung and sustain.
1st sir!!!
SG ☺