The Passage (Passaggio)

In ascending a vocal scale from the lower register, a singer will reach a specific note on which the vocal musculature as a unit needs to make significant muscular adjustments in order for a singer’s voice to continue to sing comfortably and musically. This area of muscular adjustment is often called the passage or, in Italian, the passaggio. The passage is the connecting adjustment area between registers, and as such, it needs to be performed so both registers blend together as smoothly as possible. Once a singer masters “making the passaggio,” this transition will become a natural element of his vocal technique. Please note that making a passaggio into higher registers does not include projecting your voice upward and forward into the nasal cavities or into the so-called mask (the mask is a fiction, at any rate); but requires that you always build your voice from the back of your throat. In the Catona Voice Building System, the passaggio areas receive focused attention. It’s also important to note that passaggio adjustments occur on a specific note with respect to vocal category when a singer is undergoing voice building; but during singing, passaggio adjustments may and often do vary depending on musical genre, personal style, and artistic choices.

The break is a confusing concept, so we must be careful what we mean by it. When a singer moves his or her voice from the lower range up through the middle range to the high notes, there is increased muscular stress that is placed on the vocal musculature. At specific points in a singer's range, the muscular stress becomes so great that the voice loses its natural, easy production. In order to maintain vocal comfort in singing, as well as retain the voice's natural musical quality, the vocal muscles needs to make shifts at these points, and by so doing, vocal tension is reduced, and a singer can move into middle and high notes comfortably and musically. The places where these muscular shifts occur many people call a break. I call it the passage or, in Italian, passaggio.

The male and female voices differ strongly when they reach the places in their ranges where these shifts occur. With the female voice, there is often a clicking-like sound that indicates that the shift has taken place. With men, their voices acquire a yelling quality when they reach the area of their range where a shift needs to occur.

The transition area for female voice is most noticeable because the quality of her voice changes—from the lower tonality that we typically associate with her speaking voice, to one that resembles the sound of a female opera singer—high, without lower speaking voice resonance.

With the male voice, the passaggio transition area is not distinguished by such a radical tonal change, although the ah, oh, and eh, vowels sounds can take on a characteristic middle register timbre (in some instances, the voice production may sound “operatic”).

It’s also important to note that artistic judgments, or even genres of music, sometimes make it improper to make a passage. In rock and pop music, for instance, a yelling-like quality is what is often expected. And it’s often the case that making a passage creates an operatic-like vocal quality, a timbre that is certainly out of place in most, if not all, of today’s commercial music.

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