Vocalist.org archive


From:  David Cox <davidcox@c...>
Date:  Wed Jun 7, 2000  1:01 am
Subject:  Re: [vocalist-temporary] female falsetto (was: countertenors etc.)




Isabelle Bracamonte wrote:

> Like all sopranos, I can take my head voice down into
> the "chesty" area (below middle C), although it
> becomes pretty inaudible below an A (the famous "Deh
> vieni" A).

Isabelle,

Lloyd Hanson wrote a very comprehensive description of vocal fold function
recently. To paraphrase very roughly, he differentiated between thick folds
and thin folds with adduction, and thin folds without adduction. These are
what are commonly described respectively as chest voice, head voice and
falsetto .It is possible to sing high in the range with thick folds
(although this is not easy), or low in the range with thin folds (commonly
called carrying the head voice down - I think). Likewise it is possible to
carry the falsetto quality down.

A major difference between thin folds with adduction (head voice?) and thin
folds without adduction (falsetto) is that as the pitch decreases the former
retains its presence while the latter becomes inaudible and extremely
inefficient in breath control. So I find I can start high in 'head' voice
and go right to the bottom of my range, ending up with a very light clear
sound. If I start in falsetto (which at the top sounds somewhat similar)
then the voice loses presence and ultimately disappears before the bottom of
my range.

From this I suspect that when your 'head voice' disappears low down, you
are actually getting into falsetto at some stage in the procedings. This
seems to be a not uncommon difficulty for women faced with arias that
suddenly descend below the stave.

Cheers

David


--
David Cox
South Australia



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