lloyd,
great explaination (your best, i think). it explains in great detail, what has always felt like a 'stretching', to me, when heading towards and getting into 'head' voice. the labels of 'chest' and 'head' have bothered me for quite sometime as, they describe the resultant sensations of an action, or actions, rather than describing what is actually happening. i also think that these two labels have more to do with register changes than to what is happening in the folds. even if the vibrational pattern of the folds changes as one sings from low to high, or vice versa, that change is still the result of what is happening rather than a cause.
the paper towel trick that we both use, probably works because it keeps the singer from sabotaging the stretching of the folds. we all know singers start doing stupid things whenever something sounds odd or different to them. the perception of a sudden register change does not mean that there was an accompanying sudden change in the folds. the action of the vocal folds is not always mirrored by the action of the sounds they produce.
as i understand the problem described by gwendel, it sounds like he is trying to sing low notes with too thin a guaging of his vocal folds, based on his sensations of resonance. if the size and guage of his vocal folds require a certain thickness in order to produce a pitch with any kind of volume, past a point, he will no longer experience the sensations he experiences as 'head'. someone with a much lower voice (longer vocal folds) will experience sensations of the 'head' register lower than those with higher voices.
so gwendel, given the above, it is my opinion that you would be best off going into what you perceive as 'chest' for your low notes and then adjusting the resonance (vowel) to fit in with the rest of your singing.
mike
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