Date sent: Fri, 4 Feb 2000 18:34:16 EST
Subject: Re: Speaking/Singing Voice (ranting about countertenors :) Part II
To: vocalist
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

In a message dated 2/4/00 12:21:58 PM Pacific Standard Time, TakoOda-at-aol.com
writes:

<< While it is true most could hoot in falsetto
and call themselves countertenors, they do not have a true countertenor
instrument... The larynx may look the same, but neurological wiring is
also a part of the full instrument. >>

What is the difference in the wiring ?

< voice in puberty. I believe that true countertenor brains never lost the
ability to use the upper extension of the head voice mechanism, hence
the graceful lowering of voice.>>

Do you believe that the countertenor has less testosterone than the average
male ? Would that account for the graceful lowering ?

<>

The castrati would have lost most of their testosterone, at least that which
came from their testacles. I once knew a boy of nineteen whose body still
hadn't reached puberty. He spoke and sang like a girl.