Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Adam D. Taylor" <gryphon@n...>
Date:  Mon Aug 28, 2000  4:10 pm
Subject:  Re: Falsetto, Head Voice, Counter-tenors, and me


Dear all:
Not being particularly well-read on the subject, I can speak only
from personal experience and opinion (as well as the odd semi-educated
guess). The following take into account that I am a tenor/bass-baritone
with a range from the low E/F (below bass staff) to the F/F#/G at the top
of the treble staff (actually, my voice teacher had me hitting the C two
octaves above middle C comfortably - it was more of a scream than a note
but it was there. I just wish I could remember how she did it).

Chest Voice: The most resonant notes I can hit. I feel the vibrations in
the middle of my chest
and the notes are rich and deep. I can produce a ton of beautiful
notes down there and not get strained. Sounds best as Sarastro, Rossini's
Figaro or Papageno. Ranges from the lowest note I can hit to about middle C
or D.

Head Voice: Blends with chest around C#/D. Not great for dynamic control
(mf and above)
or agility. I used to find myself avoiding head voice all the time
in favour of my slightly more agile falsetto but now I can extend it to the
A or a little higher. It has a quality that blends more naturally with my
chest voice so when I dip in and out, it's less noticeable. If I have to
sing up here too long (as in McGillivray's "Away from the Roll of the Sea"
or Martin's "The Awakening" for TTBB chorus) without a decent sized rest, I
get quite light-headed. If I sing particularly loudly (f-ff-fff), I can
make this sound very natural and can go quite high. Used best as Tamino,
Calaf, Ewart Dunlop (Music Man). I find that with this aspect of my voice,
I need short rests to switch between this and C.V. or I find myself
stretching H.V. down into the lower reaches of my range and C.V. creeping
up on the upper parts.

Falsetto: A part of my voice that enabled me to sing as an alto for the
first year of choir in
high school. Mrs. Ward set that straight after my Vocal Jazz
audition in Grade 10 by telling me I was a tenor. I still use falsetto
often for the absolute upper reaches. I have good enough control without
training on it and I'm sure that with training, I could do quite well. I
use this one for singing Cherubino (I still think there should be enough
countertenors that could do this role. Too many sopranos sound too
soprano-ish and hen-like. I have heard perhaps one good soprano try
Cherubino and I can't remember who it was. This one is also used for any
comic falsetto stuff that I do. For example, if I missed a bus, you could
find me walking along a bridge over the highway, attempting the Queen of
the Night (with the high bits down an octave). I can be quite light and
agile in falsetto but it looses a lot of my richness from C.V..

Counter-tenor: As best I can tell, a counter-tenor does not use falsetto.
He is a natural voice.
A friend of mine has a nephew that's a counter-tenor and his
teacher wants him to study professionally. The counter-tenor has the same
range (sort of) as a classical contralto/mezzo-soprano. Zbigniew Preisner
puts one or two in the male chorus in his "Requiem dla mojego przyaciela"
(Requiem for my Friend) (A very highly recommended CD).

Yours,
Adam Taylor
Canadian Sopraltenaritone
(Hopefully Adam Taylor, BMus in four years!)
http://www.crosswinds.net/~gryphonmusic

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