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From: Tako Oda
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Speaking/Singing Voice (ranting about countertenors :)
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

Reply to Axwell-at-aol.com:
< voice in puberty. I believe that true countertenor brains never lost the
ability to use the upper extension of the head voice mechanism, hence
the graceful lowering of voice.>>
>
> Do you believe that the countertenor has less testosterone than the average
> male ? Would that account for the graceful lowering ?
> What is the difference in the wiring ?

I doubt that it is just about testosterone *level*. I've seen some hairy
countertenors! :) Castrati sometimes lost their upper extension during
puberty despite the lack of testicular testosterone, while some intact
men mysteriously keep theirs. So it's not just about testosterone level,
it's also about how the body *responds* to the hormone.

One thing that is very interesting to me is how many famous
countertenors there are of Asian ancestry (Randall Wong, Brian Asawa,
Yoshikazu Meru, David Lee). There seems to be a hyper-representation of
countertenor voices among classical male singers with Asian roots.

Asian males rarely have chest hair (I personally can't even grow a
beard!) That is obviously genetic. Perhaps change in voice (another
secondary sexual characteristic) manifests itself differently in many
Asian men? Of course, the willingness to sing countertenor may be
culturally defined as well...

I'd be curious to know if women who undergo sex-change with hormone
therapy (to lower their voices) also lose their upper extensions. I wish
I knew more about the "neurological re-wiring" behind the voice change,
but I don't! In the past, I've found a few web links on the subject
using the keywords "endocrynological castrato" and "Kallmann's
Syndrome".

Tako Oda
Graduate Student in Composition
Mills College Music Department
http://www.mills.edu/PEOPLE/gr.pages/toda.public.html/music/singer.html