Dear Listers:
There IS a "mix-falsetto" thing! William Vennard (voice teacher of Marilyn Horne) and Weldon Whitlock (voice teacher whose career paralleled that of Vennard on the "bel canto" side of vocal pedagogy) did not always agree on everything, but both of these wonderful pedagogues taught what they referred to as "yawn-sign".
This technique is demonstrated by Vennard in a collection of lps with a booklet of text that was published by Carl Fischer entitled "Developing Voices". To hear this you will have to hit a music library that has been around awhile. Vennard works with a soprano, a mezzo-soprano (said to have been Marilyn Horne, but I'm not 100% sure of that), a tenor and a bass. Each voice does the yawn-sigh thing. It starts in a heady/falsetto-y tone and goes right down into the lower register of the singer's voice. Once you get the hang of it, you've pretty much got the idea!
Personally, I'd try this out in a lesson with my teacher. That "extra set of ears" we pay to keep us in check will be able to help to get the most out of it. As far as I know, this isn't on cd. Most likely you'll have to listen on an old turntable in a college library, but it is worth the trouble. One challenge with the set is that the soprano is using the technique to get more lower register! Sopranos who wanted to work more on top could get the general idea from listening to the mezzo-soprano sing the exercise. To my ear, the tenor is a lyric tenor. Hearing the tenor and bass do the exercise is a neat thing for all male voices as well.
Vennard was a glorious teacher. It is interesting to be able to evesdrop on his studio by way of these recordings.
Hope that helps!
Ed
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