With all due respect to all of you, and most especially to Mr Hanson, for whom I have had great regard back to the old Vocalist, Cornelius Reid does not teach that falsetto is "between" head and chest. I think you need to read again. I studied with Cornelius for nearly 12 years. Although I should be smart enough not to try to speak for the "guru", I will take this on anyway.
Cornelius teaches two registers, lower (chest) and upper (falsetto). He teaches that both men and women possess two registers and that the vocal mechanism is asexual, i.e., operates identically for both sexes. The chest voice never needs much definition, We all know what it sounds like, coarse and loud. The "pure" (in quotes because we never get anything in the vocal mechanism entirely pure) chest voice runs from F below low C downwards. The "pure" falsetto has a basic range of B-flat to B-flat(crossing middle C), give or take a note or two. Its character is breathy, without vibrato, and short-lived (about 3-4 seconds) due to the fact that the vocal folds are open and do not resist the outflow of air from the lungs. In the female voice, the falsetto is relatively quiet. In the male voice, it is loud and reminds me of nothing so much as a factory whistle which is how I describe it to my students. It is vitally important to develop both registers to maximum health because each represents a part of the muscular action involved with singing. The arytenoids (as we know)are responsible for closing the vocal chords. When used in relatively pure action, we get "chest voice". The crico-thyroid group is responsible for opening the folds and for stretching them to change pitch. When used in relatively pure form,without the closing action of the arytenoids, we get falsetto. So both must be exercised and in good trim in order for the vocal mechanism to adjust properly for each and every pitch, volume level and vowel within its range.
Head voice, then, is the healthy properly produced vocal sound made by a combination of muscular activity from both muscle groups. Developing a strong and powerful falsetto is a vital step toward finding the strong and powerful head voice. I think it is so very important that people do not misunderstand the nature of the falsetto. I have been following this and a previous discussion in which several people referred to falsetto in terms that suggest a sweet, small, delicate sound of some sort. If that is what one believes it is, it is easy to understand why that person would fail to see the connection between this and a powerful head voice and so misunderstand Reid's teaching.
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