To: "vocalist" <vocalist>
Subject: Speaking/Singing voice ( ranting about countertenors)
Date sent: Sat, 5 Feb 2000 00:11:50 -0200
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Oda wrote:

While it is true most could hoot in falsetto and call themselves countertenors, they do not have a true countertenor instrument... The larynx may look the same, but neurological wiring is also a part of the full instrument.

I'm a tall, muscular guy with a small larynx . It's actually between the size of those of a man and a woman, what makes my singing voice go higher than the usual male voice. As a teenager I tried to compensate that by pulling it back to my throat, with terrible future ( present ) consequences
that I'm working on with a speech therapist. I'm doing exercises to push my voice forward in order to develop resonance. As I have a large frame my voice has a lot of room to resonate in, so my speaking voice is not woman-like. After this therapy, I'll probably start being labeled as a male alto,
or countertenor, instead of tenor as I used to be.

Concerning the difference btw head voice and falsetto, according to my speech therapist's book they're completely different. She refers to 3 registers ( I'll try to translate that, since it's in Portuguese),according to how stretched are the vocal cords and how tightened is their mucosa: basal (
the lower-pitched voice, similar to the creak of a door, used in some folkloric songs and in the Gyuto singing by Bhudist monks ), modal ( the speaking voice register, which may resonate in the chest or in the head ) and the elevated ( falsetto and whistle ). In the modal register your voice goes
higher as the vocal cords get more and more stretched and their mucosa less and less laxed. In the elevated register, the vc are stretched but the mucosa has little tension.

that's all I can say.
bye,
Caio