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in reply to Georgiana Brummell

Here is a video about fake versus real BelCanto singing. It is well and truly beyond the scope of my limited knowledge. I'm also a lot better with male singers and contraltos rather than suppranos, so I'll just leave this to the experts and those who are much farther along the path than I.

youtube.com/watch?v=tTIRC4Q0es…

in reply to Georgiana Brummell

Okay. I just watched the video and paid close attention to some cognates. Between that and the lessons from Madam Clara, I think I know what he is saying and demonstrating. The first example, in which he sings softly and sweetly, doesn't require heavy use of the diaphragm. The second, in which he sings very strongly, does require the diaphragm to be engaged. This is probably when Madam Clara would advise using the breath-lock etc, so the singer could store breath and only take small ones when necessary. I'm not sure if that is what he would do, but he was definitely using his full diaphragm. I actually tried it myself and laughed aloud, because the results were quite obvious! My voice completely changed and became much louder.. I also developed a slight vibrato, which surprised me.
in reply to Georgiana Brummell

Okay. I just watched the video and paid close attention to some cognates. Between that and the lessons from Madam Clara, I think I know what he is saying and demonstrating. The first example, in which he sings softly and sweetly, doesn't require heavy use of the diaphragm. The second, in which he sings very strongly, does require the diaphragm to be engaged. This is probably when Madam Clara would advise using the breath-lock etc, so the singer could store breath and only take small ones when necessary. I'm not sure if that is what he would do, but he was definitely using his full diaphragm. I actually tried it myself and laughed aloud, because the results were quite obvious! My voice completely changed and became much louder.. I also developed a slight vibrato, which surprised me.