In a message dated 4/3/2002 9:56:47 PM Central Standard Time,
lloyd.hanson@n... writes:
> Stevie Wonder is also, for me, an example of one who sings well in
> the "supported falsetto". Although he is adapt at making the change
> from call voice into falsetto, it is still a kind of falsetto and
> not a true head voice. Head voice does not need to sound like
> Pavarotti; there are many qualities of it but I have not, to my
> knowledge, encountered any that resemble falsetto significantly. I
> have notice that Stevie Wonder is also very careful to make his
> change from call voice into falsetto within a leap in the vocal line
> and tends to create songs that allow this kind of leap. Again,
> nothing unusual in this nor pejorative; many opera arias were written
> to enhance the strengths of a particular singer. I do not wish to
> enter into a discussion of likes or dislikes, only an attempt to
> define what is meant by head voice.
>
Lloyd,
Stevie Wonder over the last few years has lowered the position of his head
and chin significantly. Seth Riggs worked with him on that quite a bit and
Mr. Wonder was totally unaware of the fact that he was doing that before. If
you watch him when he speaks he tends to move his head around a lot (and into
an upward position) also. Why? He's blind. If you watch other blind
performers (Bocelli's head position looks unaligned to me also), Jose
Feliciano, and Ray Charles, they all do peculiar things when they sing.
They're called blindisms.
As far as Stevie Wonder singing in supported falsetto, I'd need examples from
you. I don't hear that at all. It's head voice with a different coupling
with the vocal tract. The natural versus unnatural aspect you threw out
doesn't ring true with me. Mr. Wonder's singing has been very cultivated
over the years, yet it doesn't sound like it. The point of his technique is
to deliver the text without distortions to the vowels. To do this, he does
modify them quite a bit (for example if you hear him sing baby in the
passagio, there's a lot /i/ mixed in with the /e/). I also do not hear the
lowered velum (which would introduce nasality) that you describe.
Most of his music lies in the mix and above. I have a hard time believing he
would still have a voice after all of these years if he were indeed pulling
pure chest and singing on the call of the voice. Have you ever tried to sing
one his songs the way your describing it is done? I don't think any of us
could do it that way; we'd be dead meat.
I too don't want to talk about likes and dislikes. I like a lot of different
genres of music and the vast majority of my performance experience is
classically based. I do believe that the mix and head voice can take on
different sonic qualities based on laryngeal position and the way it couples
with the resonators.
Randy Buescher
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