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From:  Greypins@a...
Date:  Sun Oct 20, 2002  12:35 am
Subject:  falsetto or, whatever the hell you want to call it

in working with female singers who sing pop music, i have come to
realize that what female classical singers call 'head voice', is a different
animal from what male classical singers call 'head voice'. female pop
singers run into a wall around the Bb above middle C. if they are going to
sing above that, they either have to shove their chest voices higher, flip
into something that is eerily reminiscent of a male voice flipping into
falsetto or, do something different. when such a female singer extends
their range above that Bb in a manner similar to a male classical singer,
they produce a very different sound from that which female classical singers
claim to be 'head voice'. the sound they produce is similar to what males
do when singing in 'head voice', the difference being analogous to the
difference between a cello and a violin.

the sounds made by the majority of female classical singers, are
closer in timbre to a counter-tenor like david daniels than they are to a pop
singers like aretha franklin, christina aguilera, eva cassidy, etc. as the
design of a female's vocal folds are the same as those of the male's,
operating under the same principles, one could easily suspect that sounds
that are similar are produced in a similar fashion (one could be less certain
if we were comparing male singers to parrots or minah birds). if we call
the sounds that mr. daniels makes 'falsetto', we have to call those sounds
that a female makes which are similar, 'falsetto' as well.

amusing anecdote (PG13 - read at your own risk): a few years ago, a
new student came to me and, at her first lesson, as many do, she expressed a
concern over being unable to sing anything that went above a certain note.
i told her "well, you probably just need to learn to sing in 'head voice' for
those higher notes." excitedly, she exclaimed "oh! you mean fellatio?"
blushing, i said "i think you mean 'falsetto'." i never saw her again.

mike







  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
20601 Re: falsetto or, whatever the hell you want to call itvintageconnection vintageconnection Mon  10/21/2002  
20602 Re: falsetto or, whatever the hell you want to call itGreypins@a... greypins Mon  10/21/2002  
20621 Re: falsetto or, whatever the hell you want to call itDomisosing@a...   Mon  10/21/2002  
20634 Re: falsetto or, whatever the hell you want to call itCarol Johnson singer49cjohnson2000 Tue  10/22/2002  

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