In a message dated 3/20/2002 5:19:38 PM Eastern Standard Time,
lloyd.hanson@n... writes:
> I am able to sing falsetto with my larynx in a normal position or
> even in a lowered position and then introduce medial compression and
> move gradually into my head voice. However, as a lyric tenor, I
> never sang in falsetto until about 20 years ago when I taught myself
> how to do it because I wanted to be able to demonstrate falsetto to
> my students.
>
lloyd,
your experience with falsetto is almost opposite to mine. for the
first few years of singing, i couldn't even sing the Eb above middle C.
whether or not i was aware which pitches i was singing, i would always crack
on the Eb. while it was tempting to assume that i was some kind of bass and
not a baritone, i was never convinced that my timbre could be considered any
kind of bass. from an operatic point of view, i think what is considered
acceptable as bass timbre is far more limited than what is allowed to be
considered baritone or tenor, especially tenor.
so perhaps, with our different experiences with falsetto, we also view
head voice differently. it is my guess, as you had only very limited, if
any, experience with falsetto until well into your singing life, that you
view falsetto as some kind of derailed head voice. i would also guess that,
because of your limited use of falsetto, head voice and chest voice appear
more distinctly from one another than they do to me.
i had a conversation about head voice and falsetto with randy the
other day (through the magic of aol's instant messenger). i asked him, if i
were singing in falsetto and managed to introduce medial compression to the
sound (via the use of the 'door creak'), would it then be head voice? he
said, depending on how complete the adduction was, more or less, yes, if i
understood him correctly. while i can accept the notion, it is foreign to
my experience with what i call head voice. what i would call head voice is
that which allows me to sing Eb and above. i would describe it as being
similar to the sound i make when i yawn (minus all that palate humping and
throat manipulation). to me, it feels more like an extension of the rest of
my voice (the voice i speak with, not falsetto) rather than a different
voice. falsetto feels like a different voice to me.
as you may know, i experiment with my voice a lot. one of the things
i experiment with is singing like a baby crying (waaaaaah). as the pitch
increases, my larynx tends to ride up, though not as far as one might assume
when doing this exercise. i can also sing a bit higher doing this than i
can when keeping my larynx stable or slightly lowered (titze says the
elevation of the larynx 'aids' medial compression making singing higher,
easier. in some cases, jo estill is in agreement with him). this too,
feels like an extension of my regular voice but, it does seem more related to
falsetto + 'door squeak, as well and, it is easier.
so, what do you make of all that?
mike
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