h S t h

T t T
l is
There seems to be some debate about the merits of bridging the vocal registers

c a
early vs bridging late. So let’s have a better understanding of what this really
means and why it is important. Referring to vocal register bridging in the context
of time, “late” & “early” only tells a small part of the story and really has a lot to

V o
be desired in helping students to understand what is really going on. It in fact,
misses the more important point students of singing really need to understand

i o
in order to remove the confusion that is being created in the market place
regarding this issue.

e w u d e
t
There is a question that needs to be asked to begin this discussion and that is,

h
“what is late and what is early”? What is early or late is the engagement of

S
the intrinsic musculature involved in maintaining a full, connected voice

Th
T t
in the head voice, specifically, the muscles required to maintain vocal fold
closure above modal voice or M1. Those muscles include the cricothyroid,

is
interarytenoids and vocalis, all used to help lengthen the vocal folds and aid in

a l
vocal fold adduction, assisting in the increase in vocal pitch. Maintaining
engagement of this primary modal voice/M1 (chest voice) musculature when
ascending in pitch, leads to great endurance, agility and strong belting

o c
capabilities. Simply put, these are the primary muscles that help you to extend
your chest voice higher to sound more chesty on higher frequencies when
singing. So the issue really boils down to how much musculature you

V i o
decide, as an artist, to engage or maintain through the vocal registers. If
you engage more M1 musculature through the vocal registers, you are

w u d
bridging “late”, if you are engaging less, you are bridging
“early”. Sometimes these two different approaches to register bridging are also

e u
h t
referred to as, “bottom-up” training and “top-down” training when discussing
training techniques that either encourage more M1 strengthening or more M2

S
(head voice) coordination work. With the TVS Methodology, both “bottom-up”
S t
T t
and “top-down” techniques are taught.

t
l is l
A critical lesson to learn from this is that both “bottom-up” and “top-down”
is
training techniques are important for singers to train. Students need to train the

c a c a
body to be able to engage the intrinsic musculature of the voice with many
different levels of musculature to enable their voices to have many different

o o
sound colors to use as artists.

V V
Although there are other training programs that would focus on one or the other,
at TVS, we insist that you understand and train to do both so that you can have

w w
more stylistic options and colors to use as a vocal artist. More importantly, for
beginners who have yet to build a foundation that includes rehabilitating the

h e h e h e
T T T
 h S t h
T t T
l is
voice from the fatigue of bad speaking habits, learning how to produce a well

c a
balanced and tuned onset, learning how to maintain a consistent embouchure,
building strength to adduct the vocal folds properly (compression), learning a
little bit about how to use singing vowels to help you bridge and finally, simply

V o
learning how to bridge smoothy all together, without this foundation in
place, “late” or “bottom-up” training techniques are likely going to just
increase your problems.

i o
w d
Refer to The Foundation Building Routines and the specialized onsets in this

e u e
t
training program to get a good understanding of what onsets and vowels are

h
preferred for “bottom-up” training and which are preferred for “top-down”

S
training. For now, here is a short list of the TVS specialized onsets grouped into

Th
T t
two groups; coordination onsets and resistance onsets. Notice the Quack &
Release Onset (*) fits into either group. It is both about coordination and formant

is
tuning, but if you need to work on compression, it would be used for resistance
training.

a l
o c
The TVS Specialized Onsets
The Coordination & Tuning Group
V
“Early Bridging” Onsets / “Top-Down” Onsets
i o
e w
PULSE & RELEASE ONSET

u d u
h S t S t
T TRACK & RELEASE ONSET

t t
l is l is
*QUACK & RELEASE ONSET

c a c a
V o
WIND & RELEASE ONSET

V o
e w e w e
Th Th Th
 h S t h
T t T
MESSA DI VOCE ONSET
l is
c a
o
The Resistance Training Group:

V
“Late Bridging” Onsets / “Bottom-Up” Onsets
i o
w
*QUACK & RELEASE ONSET

e u d e
h S t h
T
DAMPEN & RELEASE ONSET

t T
l is
a
ATTACK & RELEASE ONSET

o c
CONTRACT & RELEASE ONSET

V i o
e w u d
You cannot take a casual attitude about your onsets. They can, and will, make
or break your training success with TVS techniques (or any vocal technique
u
h S t
methodology for that matter). Be prepared to become an expert at
calibrating and tuning onsets and understanding why and how we use

S t
T
them to build strength, coordinate, trouble-shoot singing problems and
sing better.

is t is t
a l a l
o c o c
V V
e w e w e
Th Th Th