Dear Lloyd and List:
--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...> wrote: > 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.
On the one hand, I personally feel quite supportive of Lloyd's statement, since I spent many years with no progress on my head voice hooting away in falsetto.
On the other hand, my recent set of lessons is making me question some assumptions I had... for now, let me just mention and cite an excerpt from the following article by Titze: http://www.ncvs.org/singers/use_low.pdf.
Titze writes, "Now, much debate has occurred among singing teachers about the use of falsetto register in training the high male voice...We can stop disagreeing on this point...A connected falsetto...is the only means of achieving the upper pitch range for some singers. But the most gifted singers may not need this lighter mechanism. Their vocal fold mucosa is thick enough and their thyroarytenoid muscle is strong enough that the full vocal fold (in thickness and depth) can be kept in vibration throughout the pitch range. For those singers who struggle...the lighter mechanism is a wise choice."
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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