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From:  "Tako Oda <toda@m...
Date:  Tue Jan 21, 2003  6:01 pm
Subject:  Re: unusual question

GWendel Yee <gwyee@r...> wrote:
> I wonder if countertenor methodology, appropriately modified,
> would be of help?

It might not even have to be modified - there are quite a few
countertenors out there that are starting out with a high, light root
voice. I don't imagine it's all that different... Unless this person
has had her vocal folds surgically altered, her singing apparatus is
still that of a man.

The truth is, my teachers have treated my voice like a woman's and it
works out just fine. Perhaps the physiology is not identical between
countertenors and women, but the concepts/methods of approaching the
passagii are.

There is a history of crossing cultures between transvestism and
countertenoring: La Gran Scena of NY, Chinese and Japanese opera and
Boy George (!). There are some countertenors that practically "pass"
without trying, like Yoshikazu Mera when he's got all that make-up
on :-P

Tako Oda,
Countertenor




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