On Sun, 25 Jun 2000, Alain Zürcher wrote:
> 1) The so-called "head voice" of a tenor - though one also talks of "ut de
> poitrine" ("chest high C"?), which is confusing...
> This register is an upper extension of the "mode 1" or "heavy mechanism",
> mixed with some characteristics of the "mode 2" or "light mechanism", but
> mainly using covering (couverture, copertura...) to extend the heavy
> mechanism. It stops indeed a 4th or a 5th above the "second passage", or
> "top of the passage zone".
Dear Alain,
Thank you ever so much! Your explanation has been an epiphany. I always
*thought* there was something strange about calling the upper tenor
range head voice - the same as what women use. They are very different
modes of phonation. This is very in line with my own experience - I can
use both modes (mode 1 only up to a certain point, of course) and the
sensations are quite distinct.
Most post-Wagnerian tenors never leave mode 1 unless for special effect.
I guess when it gets interesting is when you find tenors who change to
mode 2 after about G4 and therefore can continue on to F5 or so. Some
are not even aware of the transition (I wish I was so lucky!) The
arpeggio that I posted two weeks ago follows this "Irish tenor"
strategy, I think. Unfortunately, this is almost a lost art - it's too
bad, some Rossini tenor careers would last so much longer otherwise ;-)
The important thing to remember, I guess, is that with a true
countertenor, this mode 2 is not falsetto, and is therefore capable of
all that a woman can do with it...
> 2) The "mode 2" or "light mechanism" itself. Mine goes up one octave above
> my second passage, but I have encountered singers with very different
> extensions.
This is the case with me... When I liberate mode two from one (by using
a more traditionally feminine registration scheme rather than a
masculine one), mode two can be taken more than an octave above my
second passagio. When I try to preserve the "masculine" sound, however,
I cannot sing above a G5.
Thanks again!
-Tako
|
|  |
