| | From: "Michael <chosdad@y...
Date: Sun Feb 9, 2003 8:34 am
Subject: [vocalist] Vibrational Modes, was Re: Pavarotti Mezzo Falso
| Dear Lloyd and List:
Thanks for your response, and for your clear explanation for all of
the "closed quotient" and other terms in my message. I have a few
comments below, and have placed 4 short sound clips in the file
section that I hope you and others will listen to and offer comments.
*** FINDING A PARTICULAR MESSAGE ***
If one refers say to a past message in the Vocalist-temporary list by
number, such as say post 7630, one can view the message by entering
the following url into the "address" portion of a browser window:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
Similarly, the other message I referenced can be found at:
| http://groups.yahoo.com/group/
*** THEORY OF A SINGLE VIBRATIONAL MODE ***
Lloyd, you quoted from my message saying:
>
> You wrote:
> >Classically trained men (not countertenors) sing in only a single
> >vibrational mode, whereas classically trained women sing in two
> >vibrational modes.
But, you left out the previous sentence from my post:
"and Wim offered up
several interesting points that you seemingly did not address: "
In other words, I was summarizing Wim's posts.
You further wrote,
> I am confused about why you think men sing in a single vibrational
> mode.
I have not directly reviewed the papers nor the data and studies that
Wim was citing. I am not confident that I am right. However, I
think Wim was quite clear that in his view of the papers and data
that he had read, the conclusion was that men sing in a single
vibrational mode - and that to me makes sense when I think of the way
I have learned to extend my "chest" voice up to the range of about
Bb4 or so (above middle C). I am certainly not taking my "chest"
voice up, and yet when I do what my (past) teachers have generally
asked I do not have the experience of "switching" to a different
voice.
However, non-classical singers, and countertenors, may "switch" to a
different voice, and it makes sense to me that the voice that
is "switched" to is the second, lighter vibrational mode. Do these
singers "switch" to falsetto? Perhaps, but I have examples where the
voice is non-breathy, resonant, and so on.
*** BARBERSHOP SOUND CLIPS ***
I have place 4 short clips into the file section that illustrate
different tenor vocal strategies - 3 clips feature my favorite
barbershop tenor, Kent Martin, and the fourth features Drew Kirkman
of Michigan Jake. FWIW, I recognize that these men do not approach
the ideal of say a Jussi Bjoerling.
Clip "Good Ole Days"
Here, the tenor sings a high Bb that sounds very "chesty". Although
many barbershop tenors are not necessarily true tenors, Kent is a
true tenor with a "naturally" high voice, but that high note is not
his chest voice. Yet with such a sound, one can understand why there
is often the mistaken notion that a full-voice upper range is
sometimes called "chest voice." It would not surprise me if a note
sung like this were found to be in the same "vibrational pattern" as
chest voice (as Wim believes), even though the folds have lengthened
and thinned.
Clip "We Three"
Here Kent starts ("we three") in a light head voice, comes
down to chest, goes through his passagio to a G4 (living in a memory)
and then he clearly goes to falsetto (A4 - my echo) - the falsetto is
breathy and has lost the resonance that he had elsewhere. The use of
falsetto is deliberate and for stylistic reasons, I believe.
Clip "Smilin Through"
Here I'm not sure - but I think this is a lighter vibrational
mode - the high B lacks the "chestiness" of the high Bb in the Good
Ole Days, but the tone is still resonant, and there is a steady
vibrato. Notice that he maintains the light tone as he comes down to
the G4, but it is not breathy.
Clip "Pretty Little Horses"
I thought this was a very pretty tag, and I consider the top voice
(Drew Kirkman) to be using a light head voice.
I'm curious what you and others think of these clips.
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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