I think what is happening here is mostly a matter of development.
Some singers naturally use their head voice; many others, their chest voice. When singers who naturally sing in their chest voice start exploring their head voice, the sound is often breathy and light. I believe this is because the head voice isn't developed yet, and (perhaps) because the student is a little afraid of using this "new voice." When I started singing in my head voice, it was quite breathy and light. But as my voice developed, it became strong and supple. This is a typical experience, from what I have seen. So what we are referring to here as a "falsetto-like" sound, may in fact be nothing more than an immature head voice.
--- In vocalist-temporary@y..., Greypins@a... wrote: > 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 > >
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