| | From: "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...>
Date: Fri Feb 7, 2003 2:33 am
Subject: [vocalist] Re: Pavarotti Mezzo Falso
| Dear John and Vocalisters:
The way the vocal folds function in each register is the key to
understanding register differences and, more importantly, how to help
singers learn to use and manipulate register phenomena.
Women's voices do not have a falsetto because their shorter vocal
folds do not produce a falsetto tone when they are lengthened and
abbducted (not closed). Because men's vocal folds are longer, they
do produce a tone in this position and that tone is falsetto.
The high female voice is produced using a very different formation of
the vocal folds than that of the male falsetto. The difficulties
they have connecting their high voice with their chest voice requires
that they transcend TWO passaggio areas, one just above the top of
their chest voice (about D4 to G4) and one at the bottom of their
high voice (about D5 to G5). In effect, their middle or mixed voice
is more than an octave long and they must develop that area with
adjustments and balances between their upper chest voice and their
lower high voice.
By contrast, the male chest voice is very long, from the lowest notes
of the a particular male voice to the beginning of the first and only
passaggio area. The male passaggio is from about Bb3 (just below
middle C) to about G4 (just above middle C) depending on the voice
type. Basses typically have a passaggio from about Bb3 to D4,
Baritones from about C#4 to E4, tenors from about Eb4 to G4. Each
voice is slightly different within this general area but the point is
that this is the only passaggio with no middle voice to be found
between high and low passaggios as in the female voice.
The male high voice, usually called head voice, is a logical
extension of the chest voice except the cricothyroid muscles have
become active with a resultant lengthening and thinning of the vocal
folds and a substantial increase in their longitudinal tension.
Falsetto function resembles this head voice conformation only in the
lengthening of the folds but the lack of medial closure or abbduction
in falsetto prevents any oscillation of the vocalis muscles
(thyroarytenoids) with a subsequent oscillation of only the mucosal
membrane. This gives the falsetto an almost out of body, ethereal
quality or, as some have described it, a woman's voice as imitated by
an man. This is a less complex tone consisting of fundamental and
only a few harmonics.
Whenever the elongated vocal folds have sufficient medial pressure
via proper adduction more than just the mucosal membrane is set in
oscillation; the outermost portion of the vocalis muscles
(thyroarytenoids) are also involved in the oscillation. Because of
the the medial tension which provides a more complete air seal at the
glottis, sub-glottal breath pressure is increased. The vocal fold
oscillation is more complete and under breath pressure and the
resultant tone is as rich in harmonics as the lower chest voice.
The reason that falsetto has not been traditionally used as the
"gateway" to learning to sing in head voice is because it is
different from head voice in this most important functional operation
described above. Although it would appear that the only change
needed to move from falsetto to head voice would be the closing or
adducting of the vocal folds, the fact of the matter is that this a
most difficult act because it requires the coordination of not only
the thyroarytenoid and their antagonistic cricothyroid muscles but
also the coordination of all of the adduction/abbduction muscles
(cricoarytenoids, lateral cricoarytenoids, and interarytenoids). It
is much easier to learn the difficult enough process of gradually
transferring the contracting energy of the thyroarytenoid muscles,
which is found in chest voice, to the lengthening effect of the
cricothyroid muscles which is found in head voice. This transition
is necessary if the male singer is to learn to manage his passaggio
and he has a mere fourth in pitch range to accomplish this act.
I have found in over 40 years of teaching male voices that it is very
uncommon for a singer to successfully use falsetto as a method of
learning to use head voice. In fact, falsetto usually becomes a kind
of high voice crutch that the singers musculature coordination will
revert to automatically, pre-empting his attempts to make the
coordinations necessary to move from chest voice to head voice. I do
not recommend it.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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