Lloyd:
>Why is the natural upper register of the female voice "not considered appropriate to the pop style"? Could it be that pop music refuses to recognize the femaleness of the female voice and chooses, instead, to consider all voices "unisex"?<
Again, that's valid for female ROCK singers only, and mostly Anglo-Saxon ones. I can't think of a single contemporary female pop singer who doesn't sing high, except for female rock singers ( it's true that the most successful of the latter, Alanis Morissette (sp?), sings very high, but she makes sure to make it sound "rough" enough to avoid sounding like a little, delicate girl).
I think it has to do with Mike's wife's comments on hard rock. Rock ( mostly hard rock and heavy metal, as prog metal has more varied elements ) requires some "noise", some distortion, and the typical female head voice is its very opposite. It takes an Alanis or a Tina Turner to do it the way it's supposed to be done. It's gotta be high, but it's still gotta be tough!
On the other hand, I don't know many men who would enjoy listening to those romantic and dancing pop divas women, and also gay men, are so crazy about. They all sing very high.
And later:
>It is my impression from listening to male rock singers that they either do 'quasi' singing in their speaking voice (quasi, because they do not often attempt to complete the melodic structure of the song in this range) or they sing in their falsetto voice. I cannot remember the time I last heard a male rock singer use head voice.<
Then you should listen to Dream Theater, Angra, Helloween, Rhapsody, Gamma Ray, Stratovarius, ... They're definitely not in falsetto.
Best wishes,
Caio
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