In a message dated 9/8/00 6:24:36 PM Eastern Daylight Time, toda@m...
writes:
<< I agree. The notion that chest-head are on a continuum and that the singer
should not feel a discrete transition between the two registers is only
valid for the tenor head voice. <<snip>>
I *always* know which of the two registers I am in, unless I am singing
ppp. I can be in chest with heady quality or head with chesty quality, but
it's still one or the other. Ladies (esp contraltos and mezzos), is this
true for you too? Can you consciously decide where to switch? >>
No, I really do feel it as a continuum. The choice that I make is how
heavy or how light to make the mixture to make a song balance correctly. Or,
to put it into the terms you used, how much of a heady or chesty quality to
use. And the choice depends not only on tessitura, but also on the dramatic
quality of the song in question. For example, I recently did the alto solos
in the Bach B Minor Mass. In the "Qui Sedes", I chose a lighter mix, partly
because the aria sits a little on the high side, but also because of the
tempo and the coloratura. In the "Agnus Dei", I used a heavier quality
because of the dramatic demands of the aria. The aria is also written in a
way that allows a heavier mix - it moves more slowly, and the highest notes
in the piece are well within a comfortable range for a heavier mix. But I
never felt a conscious shift between head and chest in either piece.
Lee Morgan
Mezzo soprano
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