Dear Mark and Vocalisters:
My comment had to do with falsetto. Falsetto is usually defined as that vocal quality which is produced by the male voice well above his usual chest voice range which, for lack of a better description of sound, imitates a female voice in the same range. Few singers are abole to produce a wide dynamic range in falsetto, usually not more than mp to f. Most male falsetto appears a few notes above the highest possible notes of the chest voice and the singer experiences a release of some of the breath pressure which has increased as the chest voice is sung higher and higher. It is most common that a break or absence of notes will occur between the top of the chest voice and the appearance of falsetto. This is the necessary vocal break for yodelling.
Head voice has a quality that is somewhat similar to the vocal quality of the middle of the chest voice. It is a full voice that has a ring to its quality and is easily heard over a full orchestra and is capable of a complete dynamic range from pp to ff. Most singers experience a definite sense of subglottal pressure which is absent in falsetto. A smooth transition from falsetto to head voice and head voice to falsetto is most difficult and not possible for many lower male voices. It is not uncommon for tenors to be able to achieve this feat because their upper chest voice occurs in the same range as the lower portion of the falsetto. Tenors are often able to move from chest voice directly into head voice with only a slight clumsiness in the transition area (passaggio) which, typically is from E4 to G4. A leggaro tenor will typically have this passaggio in the F#4 to A4 range.
Falsetto is not used in legitimate operatic or classical singing except for some comic effects. Head voice is. -- Lloyd W. Hanson
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