Leslie Jones wrote:
> Ah, but voices come in all makes and models, to continue the analogy.
Hear hear! It certainly would make life easier if everyone's voices were
the same, but they're not. I suspect those of us who assume the "one
voice" model of singing have a automatic transmissions. I urge you
fortunate people to consider the possibility that some of your students
may have stick shifts.
There are those of us who can *always* tell when they are making a
transition regardless of what the audience hears. "On-the-fence" voices
such as contraltos and chesty countertenors are particularly likely (in my
narrow experience... they are rare) to be aware of such changes since
their voices by definition must span open chest and light head (not to be
confused with tenor's "heavy" head voice).
When I talk about this registral event, I'm not talking about one based on
harmonic phenomena (like a clarinet shifting up to the next overtone, or a
soprano having to modify her vowel formants to sit below the fundamental,
or a "covering" baritone). I'm talking about an actual change in laryngeal
function. Some do it naturally and smoothly. Others have a gear change and
always will, but keep the resonance consistent so it is almost inaudible
to the listener.
I don't think it's a coincidence that Leslie and I both pipe up everytime
this subject comes up on vocalist! :-)
Tako
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