On Wed, 6 Sep 2000, Patricia M Smith wrote: > Then what about countertenors who either switch voice parts after a > significant number of years of training as a 2nd tenor or baritione or > men who switch between baritone/bass & countertenor (ie some of the > singers in Chanticleer)?
It doesn't have to be one or the other, it can be both. For instance, Mehta was a famous boy soprano who studied baritone after his voice changed, but realized his "real" voice was his countertenor. Scholl has used his baritone on occasion, but he maintains that his countertenor is his better voice, the one he's had since childhood.
Speaking for myself, I came back to singing in my upper voice after 5 years training my "normal" voice. The whole time, I still had the soprano extension (easy D6), and used it occasionally singing "extended voice" rep. I remember having the distinct sense that is was exactly the same register I had used as a boy.
Oddly, I had to develop a whole new register to bridge my "speaking register" and "soprano extension". Something Peter Giles calls the pharyngeal voice developed. A misleading term, to be sure, but distinct from my boy voice. Most CTs use it in the D4-B4 range. The boy soprano voice just doesn't have enough body in that range.
Tako
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