Dear Carl, Katherine, Lloyd, and List:
One more time - this discussion is not to question whether Reid is a good teacher or not - just trying to sort out some confusion in his writings.
--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, "Carl S. Rogers" <mikado3848@j...> wrote: > Dear Katherine and List, > > Although I have never been a student of Cornelius Reid, I have found his > rather encyclopedic "A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology" to be always > instructive and stimulating. In that volume there is an eight-page > article on "Falsetto" which I would recommend to all. Nowhere in the > eight pages does he use the word "between" with reference to falsetto.
Carl: I do not have that book. I do have two other books by Reid, and I referenced and gave exact quotes from "Bel Canto Principles...".
In brief, here is what the book says (my words, Reid's ideas):
There are two fundamental "components" to voice according to Reid : chest and falsetto. Reid explains that with development the "falsetto" forms a coordinate relationship with "chest" to produce a "feigned voice" which is positioned between "chest" (di petto) and "head" (di testa) - again see p. 103. In that sense, falsetto IS between chest and head.
The confusion lies because Reid is not consistent in some of his usage, and since "register" with Reid is sometimes a theoretical mechanism which I interpret as close to a theory of motor programs, and sometimes related to a more conventional notion of a configuration of the vocal instrument or a series of notes with a similar quality.
For the male voice, apparently Reid does not believe men sing in the equivalent of a woman's head voice, since on p.90 the male vocal range consists of chest plus the 'feigned voice' extending up to say high B5 for a baritone. That actually makes good sense to me - I and others have argued that a classical male singer's "head voice" (excepting countertenors...) is not the same as a classical female singer's "head voice".
For the female voice and higher male voices, the 'feigned voice' is shown by Reid extending up to say F5 (see. p. 89), and the female high voice - which is presumably head voice, is the range above F5 and is confusingly also termed by Reid as "pure falsetto".
There are several inconsistencies and issues with Reid's writing. Sometimes "pure falsetto" means a woman's "head voice" (or a man singing as a countertenor above the range of the "coordinated falsetto") and elsewhere (as Katherine mentioned) "pure falsetto" is a lower range breathy voice.
At any rate, Lloyd's summation is accurate that the lower breathy falsetto is viewed by Reid (per his writings) as a basis for developing the "coordinated falsetto" or "feigned voice" that is the bridge between chest and head.
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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