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From:  Dean FH Macy <deanmacy@a...>
Date:  Sat Oct 19, 2002  11:58 pm
Subject:  Re: Falsettofrom Lloyd W. Hanson DMA to Mary Beth.....

Gag! Oops! TILT!

>>Hi Mary~
>>
>>Your teacher is most inaccurate, because the term falsetto ONLY applies to
men!
>>
Ahem, this is a reprint of Lloyd Hansen's excellent tretsie from two
years ado on Female Falsetto. Vocalisters take note-

"It is helpful to keep in mind that the action of the vocal folds
determines the sonic spectrum of the phonated sound. If the folds are
thick, somewhat shortened, and internally tense as is found in chest
voice, a greater mass of the vocal fold is oscillating during phonation.
That is, the various defined areas of the vocal folds are all in some
degree of oscillation. This includes the mucosal membrane, the vocal
ligament, and the thyro-arytenoid muscles, sometimes
called the vocalis muscle.

If the vocal folds are elongated they become less bulky and thinner. As
this occurs, the vocalis muscle must gradually release its tension
against the stretch of the crico-thyroid muscles.
As this release is accomplished, the vocal ligament must assume more and
more of the longitudinal tension support of the vocal folds in lieu of
the loss of the vocalis muscles activity. In this condition, the mucosal
membrane and the vocal ligaments are in oscillation.

This is commonly called the middle voice or, by some, the mixed voice.

Once the vocal ligament becomes the primary support for the vocal folds
it is no longer a primary oscillating portion of the phonated sound.
When this condition is achieved the primary oscillating portion of the
vocal folds is the mucosal membrane.

This condition is most often called head voice or high voice.

An altogether different condition occurs with falsetto. In falsetto the
vocal folds do not adduct or approximate as completely as in normal
voice. More air is passed over the vocal folds with a resultant breathy
quality that is characteristic of falsetto voice. Because the vocal
folds do not complete-ly adduct there is less breath pressure below the
folds, commonly called sub-glottal pressure. Although the mucosal area
is still the primary oscillating portion of the vocal folds it is doing
so without the complete closure of the vocal folds and the resultant
sound does not achieve the richness of quality that is possible in head
voice when there is complete closing and complete opening of the folds.
Without complete closure or adducting, a fundamental and only a few
overtones are produced as the air "leaks" past the vocal fold
membranes and achieves only partial oscillation.

It is possible for any voice to create this quality by simply increasing
the breath flow past the vocal folds. The difference between men and
women in achieving this falsetto voice is that
many men, especially the lower voices, can produce ONLY this voice in
their upper ranges.
This is because only in their upper extremes are the vocal folds
sufficiently lengthened so that they can achieve the partial closure of
long vocal folds necessary for falsetto voice.

Confusion exists when male voices are able to phonate in head voice into
the highest parts of their ranges and these ranges coincide with the
lower female ranges, and when they can do
this with a quality that is much richer than falsetto. In reality these
singers are capable of, or have learned to extend their head voice
configuration. Vocal folds are fully adducted,
the vocal ligament sustains the longitudinal tension of the vocal folds,
and the mucosal membrane is the primary oscillatory portion of the vocal
folds. Because the resultant sound in some ways resembles the quality of
falsetto and because the pitch of such phonations is above the normal
range a conclusion is made that the singer is using falsetto voice.

Such is not the case.

Many counter-tenors are capable of producing this extension of the head
voiceconfiguration. Others achieve a similar quality through the use of
the falsetto configuration. The difference is in the functional
operation of the vocal folds themselves. As less adducted vocal folds
phonated with increased breath emission (falsetto voice) are gradually
completely adducted, the breath emission is reduced because the vocal
folds become more efficient in obtaining complete closure and developing
greater sub-glottal breath pressure. Once this condition is achieved,
the singer has migrated from falsetto into true head voice. Many singers
can teach themselves to do this, especially lyric tenors.

Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86004"

And my 2 cents. I have worked with little kids for a long, long time
and most of the dollar musical words after all this time have been
purged from my system. Don't condemn a teacher because of his lack of
vocabulary.

Dean FH Macy

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  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
20589 Re: Falsettofrom Lloyd W. Hanson DMA to Mary Beth.....buzzcen@a... buzzcen2000 Sun  10/20/2002  
20598 Re: Falsettofrom Lloyd W. Hanson DMA to Mary Beth.....vintageconnection vintageconnection Mon  10/21/2002  
20605 Re: FalsettoErica Zweig peekskillny1588 Mon  10/21/2002  
20606 Re: FalsettoGreypins@a... greypins Mon  10/21/2002  
20619 Re: FalsettoErica Zweig peekskillny1588 Mon  10/21/2002  
20607 Re: Falsettobuzzcen@a... buzzcen2000 Mon  10/21/2002  
20620 Re: FalsettoErica Zweig peekskillny1588 Mon  10/21/2002  
20622 Re: FalsettoGreypins@a... greypins Mon  10/21/2002  
20626 Re: FalsettoErica Zweig peekskillny1588 Mon  10/21/2002  

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