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From:  Greypins@a...
Date:  Thu Mar 14, 2002  5:17 pm
Subject:  Re: [vocalist] fry, modal and falsetto

In a message dated 3/14/2002 11:05:11 AM Eastern Standard Time,
bjjocelyn@p... writes:

> So come to think of it, this Art of Singing and Ringing (true ?) musn't be
> too unnatural to the human race...

and david grogan wrote:

<< I must not have been paying very close attention to this
thread. I have not seen anyone say that singing comes from a different
voice. I have read people saying that it requires a different usage. I
certainly did not mean to imply that it is a different voice. >>

david and bart,

david, i believe it was reg who compared the difference between
talking and singing to the difference between whistling and chewing (haydn
said it best "factum non est pictum!"). of a more serious mind, lloyd
believes (i think) that, because the vibrational pattern in the folds is
different for 'chest voice' and 'head voice', they should be considered
different voices.

bart, as you say, singing is not that unnatural an act. alfred
wolfsohn and later, roy hart, made a study of the voice and it's
possibilities for expression beyond speech. i think they believed that the
use of speech may, in some ways, limit the use of the voice and that the
voice can find its way back to its full range of expression by breeching
these limits. breeching the limits does not, however, destroy language.
the boundaries that define language, are imagined.

sadly, too many classical singers limit their study of the voice to
only classical singing. often, these same singers view their speaking as a
constant threat to their art (gossiping in the green room being an
exception). those classical singers who do consider other vocal music,
often do so with prejudice (maybe that can't be helped). particular to the
classical mindset is an exceptional willingness to compartmentalize,
attempting to isolate most usages into a neatly defined view. (i'm sure
there are many exceptions to my notion.) the drawback to this type of
thinking is that it eliminates the linear connection between speech and the
most extremely different uses of the voice, which means, every new usage for
the voice has to be made from scratch rendering all previous knowledge of the
workings of the machine, unusable.

as example, that linear connection i spoke of above is in evidence in
william pearson's performance of henze's 'el cimmaron' (you might have to hit
a great library for that one). natacha atlas demonstrates how moaning and
singing can be one and the same. tony bennett goes so easily from speaking
to singing (if he were asked if he were a baritone or a tenor, i bet he would
say "i don't know. i'm just a singer."). so, perhaps i am wrong to even
make a distinction between fry, modal and falsetto.

mike











  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
17992 Re: fry, modal and falsettoDavid   Thu  3/14/2002  

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