Nicolas,
I believe in this falsetto method. The idea here is to work on bringing your falsetto DOWN and developing "strength" in some areas of the falsetto range that initially feel very weak, breathy, and unusable.
First use single note exercises starting at the G or A above middle C in falsetto and go down as low as possible. The idea is to eventually overlap your entire range with the falsetto controlled voice.
Then take five note descending scales starting on the G or A above middle C then working down the scale as mentioned above.
Then take single notes and use crescendo and diminuendo exercises. Hopefully, you will eventually begin to crescendo the note to such a degree that you sense a timbre shift. This is when the chest voice is actually being added to the tone (but in a different way than "switching" to the chest voice).
Then try crescendoing and diminuendoing on the top note of the five- note descending scale, but singing the four remaining notes in a softer, more falsetto-based manner.
Eventually, with this method you can "transform" your voice where if "feels" like you are creating all your tones in the same manner. This takes many years of work, however.
That is the basic philosophy of the "falsetto-based" approach. Look in music libraries in your area and see if there are any publications by "Anthony Frisell." "The Tenor Voice," "The Baritone Voice," and "The Soprano Voice" all document these ideas pretty well.
To adopt this approach you have to be working on blending the falsetto quality with you chest-voice quality. Therefore, working on the "soprano-like" quality of your falsetto isn't really that helpful.
Also, another comment: I find that people have vastly different ideas on what "falsetto" is. The more blended the registers become, the easier it is to be confused as to what is what. I hypothesize that the singers with better blended registers to begin with are the ones that stress avoiding the falsetto the most. This is because their own voices blended into a useful mixture with little or no effort. "Falsetto" then becomes "hard to find." This is just an idea I have that isn't really supported by anything - therefore I believe it strongly!
Lastly, listen to the end of "Some Enchanted Evening" sung by Ezio Pinza. What is he doing? Listen to almost anything by Gigli. What is he doing? How are those really soft high tones being produced by Thomas Hampson?
John Moody
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