Dear Ed and Vocalisters:
You speak of singing in falsetto do demonstrate to your children's
choir. This is a useful way for a male director to sing in the range
of he children's voice, save his own voice, and create a tonal
quality to which the children can relate.
But classical singing whether it be opera or recital does not use
falsetto except for special effects. It is a major mistake to assume
that the male "uppper register" is simply a more "supported" form of
falsetto. The male upper register or head voice or whatever name one
wishes to give it, is a different configuration of the vocal folds
that can sustain very strong breath pressure and produces a vocal
quality that includes much of the quality of the male chest voice but
is not an extension of the that chest voice. The male "high voice"
(there, another name for that region!) such as found in all male
voice types will confuse the listener who is unable to produce these
tones himself. A few months back there were members of this list who
were sure that Pavarotti's high Cs were sung in falsetto! His is an
excellent example of male high voice or head voice or upper register.
As are the high Gs of Samuel Ramey, etc, etc.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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