Italy has a rich tradition of singing. Many great singers are Italian, like Luciano Pavarotti. Andrea Bocelli, Enrico Caruso, and many others. One of the great Italian singers is Franco Corelli, a tenor. He had a very specific way of supporting high notes.
When you sing, you need to use breath support. Especially the higher notes need good support. The diaphragm has a key role in providing proper support. Your diaphragm is linked to your abdominal muscles but is also attached to the muscles in your lower back.
Franco Corelli used his lower back muscles to increase breath support by leaning backwards on the highest notes. By leaning backwards, you will need to engage the muscles in your back to keep your balance. By doing so, you will automatically activate your diaphragm as well, resulting in a very steady breath support.
In this video you can see Franco Corelli leaning backwards on diffirent occasions.
If you are having difficulty singing your high notes, try Franco Corelli’s method. It might do the trick!
English classical singer Barbara Bonney also uses Corelli’s method, as does ThomasHampson. They all make sure they stand on their heels to engage their back muscles. There is a great video on Youtube about Barbara Bonney teaching a student about this technique. Unfortunately the video cannot be embedden in this article but if you click on the link below, you will find it on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LItAq8CFVpI