If you’ve ever found yourself hearing classical vocal terms like "tessitura," "mask," or "passaggio" and thought, “Wait… what does that even mean?”—you’re not alone. Lately, I’ve been hearing from a lot of contemporary singers who feel frustrated, confused, or even discouraged by traditional vocal terminology that gets tossed around without context.
In this episode of Vocal Tips in 10 with Amber Mogg Cathey, I’m breaking down some of the most commonly misunderstood classical technique terms and translating them into clear, usable language that actually applies to commercial styles like pop, R&B, folk, country, rock, and musical theatre.
If you're not in a conservatory program—and you're tired of feeling left out of the conversation—this one's for you.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
⏱️ Episode Breakdown
01:19 – Understanding Resonance in Singing
04:43 – Decoding Vocal Mask and Passaggio
07:59 – Exploring Vocal Range and Tessitura
08:40 – Clarifying Vocal Terms and Techniques
Stream it wherever you listen to podcasts or watch the episode on YouTube:
▶️ Spotify | Apple Podcasts | YouTube
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Hello singers, welcome to vocal tips in 10. Today I wanna talk about different terminology that you might hear as a singer, and really breaking down what it means because most singers I work with are not classically trained singers. If you are a classically trained singer, that's wonderful. And if you've gone to a classical conservatory or if you happen to be a coach or a teacher listening to this and you work at a classical conservatory, of course,
you are going to use classical proper quote-unquote vocal terms. But for so many contemporary commercial singers that are crazy talented but haven't been classically trained because why would they need to be classically trained to sing killer R &B music, killer country music, Killer pop music. It's not necessary. I also have found with a lot of singers not only is it not necessary, but stylistically it can really cause problems. So you hear these terms like, okay,
but are you resonating in your vocal mask? Watch out for your primo passaggio. And people are like, what are you talking about? So if you've heard these terms and you're wondering what they mean, let me break them down for you. And for some of you listening, this might be so basic for you, but I think for a lot of you, it's gonna be like,
Thank you for using, as a singer told me last week, plain terms, like speak to me in English, Amber,
So the first one I wanna talk about, because I say it all the time, and I just wanna make sure that any of you listening, know what it means, and that's when I say resonance, Where do you feel your vocal resonance? Let's really lock in that resonance, let's just talk about the word resonance.
Resonance means that buzz that we feel. That buzz that we feel from the sound wave. So when we sing, it's actual waves of sound that have varying levels and how we shape our mouth can really boost upper levels that really cuts through to the ears really quickly and more effectively. If we have lower levels that are really boosted that can get a little muddy. Everything in between. The actual resonance happens in your vocal tract. It's how you shape your vocal tract, which is the
that starts at your vocal folds and ends at your mouth. How we shape that, so very much our vowel, How we handle our consonants, what's happening inside of our mouth. How we shape the vocal tract is what affects our resonance. That's where resonance happens. But where we feel it many times is different than that. I might feel resonance in my nose and cheeks. And all that means is light buzz. And usually we feel resonance, we feel that buzz,
Where we have bony areas or cartilaginous areas, right? Stuff that the resonance can vibrate against. That's why if you were ever really congested and people who maybe don't feel resonant buzz normally are like, my gosh, like something is happening here. And it's because you got a bunch of gunk in your nasal passages and the sound wave is vibrating against that.
So all resonance means is the buzz that we feel from that sound wave vibrating off of some kind of bony or cartilage area, usually, hopefully in our face. I feel it sometimes like at the roof of my mouth, on my tongue, the back of my teeth. Now you might be like, well, I feel resonance if I put my hand on my chest right now because I'm speaking, which for me is very much and most of us very much grounded
in speech, I can feel buzz here, right? It's just a byproduct. Why do I feel it here? Because I got a lot of bone and cartilage here. So it gives something for that sound wave to vibrate against. So when we talk about resonance, we're talking about the quality of the sound and the more we can get nice buzz, whether you feel it or not. Some people, let me point out, don't feel it really at all. There's nothing wrong with you if you don't feel it. Quick side note, not everybody has the same kinesthetic, which just means like physical body awareness.
Some people are really aware of everything they feel in their body. I'm one of those people for better and also for worse. Let me tell you. I'll be like, no, no, no, it's my third toe, like right on the edge. I can tell you exactly where it is, which is good. And it's also like, you know, there's always something. So it's also can be overwhelming. And some people don't have really much body awareness at all. And that is okay. I also worked with the singer once who had sinus surgery and a lot of these little bones that make the nasal cavity vibrate.
have. So you might be a person that locks into resonance by how you hear it, right? And that's fine too. But resonance is just that buzz that we're talking about. That vibration of the sound wave that's shaped in the vocal tract That we can then feel in different parts of the body or we can hear. And then we can adjust the vocal tract accordingly to get the resonance feel and sound that we want. Another one I want to talk about I just heard somebody use
it last week. They were telling a bunch of singers, put it in your mask. Put it in your mask. Now, they were totally well intended. That's what they were taught. Again, I was taught that as well It was you need to resonate in your vocal mask amber. I knew what that meant because I'd had the training, but you say that to so many killer singers and they're going to be like, yeah, I don't know what to do, but I don't want to say anything because I don't want you to think that I'm like not good or not knowledgeable.
And you knowing these terms has nothing to do with being good or knowledgeable. So your vocal mask, it means your face guys. Like let's just like break it down. To resonate in your vocal mask is to feel vibration somewhere in your face. whether you feel it in your nose, your cheeks, the roof of your mouth.
your tongue, your teeth, wherever you feel that. Your vocal mask means your face. So when someone says to you, really want more resonance in the mask, they just mean have that sound, shape it where it can vibrate more forward, more quicker to the audience is all that means. Somewhere in your face is where you would feel it, or if you're not somebody that feels it, that's kind of your target. You're just thinking what I like to think of is out.
to the audience as quick as possible.
So another one that vocal coaches and voice teachers like to use a lot, It's passaggio, it's Italian for passage. Now again, if you are a classical singer who went to classical conservatory, of course you're gonna use those terms, that's what you're taught. And they are correct, but for so many non-classical singers, it's not helpful, So if you guys have heard, let's really,
you know, let's really work on that that primo passaggio. primo passaggio, first passage, which just means that kind of first main area in your voice that we all have where we feel that change in registration happens, So I can't take pure thick vocal folds, pure quote unquote chest voice.
up any higher in pitch, even though our vocal folds don't move up and down, and I need to start to integrate more of my quote unquote head voice. That is a passage. It's where that vocal break is, right? So primo means your main one for females that is typically around that A flat A, B flat B. For typical male singers, it's more around that E flat E F. So it's just the area of your break that can be tricky for so many of us. Secondo passaggio means your second passaggio. We also have
that kind of next area where we transition from being able to have a still a pretty powerful mixed voice to really needing to go into more of a pure upper-end quality and configuration,
So that's all that means. Passaggio are those breaks in your voice, those tricky areas where we're kind of moving from one function of the voice, one main register to another. And that's why I have a course called Erase Your Break, and that's why we work, to bridge those passages, to connect everything where those passages aren't really difficult, where we're just able to go top to bottom, and those break areas don't really exist.
That's all that means, guys. Your tessitura, fancy pants Italian word. for all of you who hear that and you're like, I don't know what my tessitura is. What is my tessitura? It mainly means your happy place, the range in your voice that you sound and feel the best in.
So we've got our vocal range, which just means how high can I go? What's the absolute highest? What's the absolute lowest? Your happy place is probably not your entire range. Most of us at the absolute ceiling don't want to live there. mean, our high, highest, Most of us at the absolute basement, our low, low, lowest, don't want to live there.
We like to live somewhere in the middle, and ideally, I like to make that middle, as big as possible. But that's all that tessitura means. We need to find the right tessitura for you. that's wonderful if you know that word, but for those of you who don't, there's nothing wrong with you. You aren't a lesser of a singer or a musician, right? Just means your happy place, the spot in your range where you feel and sound the best.
And let's translate some other technical terms that can be confusing, but are not all that difficult whenever you know exactly what they are. Phonation means sound creation. So we talk about, the larynx and our vocal folds are where we phonate. Phonation, that just means we create sound. Let's talk about mix voice, chest voice, head voice, belt. If those terms work for you, they work for my brain. I will be totally honest. They totally work for my
That's how I was taught and my brain goes, yeah, I know what those things are. I also find they are not helpful for so many singers because they think chest voice is like this. It is really thick and heavy and it doesn't have to be like that, right? All chest voice means is your lower range. It is where your vocal folds are thicker and shorter. They vibrate more slowly. It's generally a more powerful sound and I always like to tell people it's like your speech.
It's connected to speech. your head voice, that just means your upper range. And it was called that because we don't really feel it in the body anymore.
our vocal folds aren't thick anymore. They're thin. That's all the upper pitches are. The vocal folds get thinner, they elongate and they vibrate more quickly. So we feel it differently in our body.
What I would say with all terms, use what works for you. If the language works for you and it makes your brain go, yeah, makes singing feel easier and sound better, use it. If it doesn't work for you, if it feels limiting, if it feels confusing, chuck it in the bucket, friends.
You don't have to have fancy language to be a fantastic singer. I also would encourage you, if you don't know what it means, ask. Advocate for yourself.
I hope some of this was helpful guys, and I hope to see you in the next episode happy singing
