"Because the vocal tract is flexible", no, sorry to say, that doesn't mean
the human voice is "positionned to be not just one instrument, like the
violin, or the clarinet". Come on, it would be too good to be true !
I shall rather liken this seemingly highly praised "flexibility", as long
as pitch is concerned, to the tuning possibilities of most brass- and
woodwinds, according to the fitting together of the various tubes these
very instruments consist of. Or even to a guitar "fret barring device"
(sorry for my wanting terminology)
In terms of timbre on the other hand, applying various techniques to any
brass, wood or string instrument resulting in different tone qualities, as
far as "growling" a sax, or "distorting" a guitar, is by no means the sole
privilege of the human voice.
If both range and timbre are preliminary to defining any instrument, the
many variations, say, the male human voice displays among individuals may
be comparable to, say for argument sake, the saxophone family of
instruments : namely, one male singer would thus be a "tenor in B flat"
(Pavarotti?), another one a "barytone in A" (Placido Domingo?) , or even an
"alto in D flat" (Alfredo Krauss ?). For starters, such an unorthodox
approach might as well account for the fact that, in an Opera passage where
both a "tenor" and a "barytone" join at the same height, the average
listener can nevertheless tell which is which.
Furthermore, sustaining the comparison is, if not thoroughly valid, at
least productive, regarding the countless range and register discrepancies
between Tom, Dick and Harry : why is it no two tenors' passagios are alike
? One struggling from D onwards to enter high range (perhaps amazingly
enough pretty stretched out, though), while the other easely sings "chest"
up to F sharp ? So what if taking a closer look at the way the octave
mechanism functions on a simple flute, or clarinet, turns out to be not too
wide off the mark, after all ? And as to the questionable actual lower
register extension, well... I'd rather not dash too many wishful thinkers'
hopes.
Perhaps growing aware of one of the simplest characteristics of the
instrument one was born with, that is, the switch points (chiefly problem
notes, possibly the so-called passagios), rather than a straight
(all-too-often both biassed and clumsy) range exploring, could shed a new
light on its proper use. It cannot but occur to many a listener how purer,
richer, brighter, those few notes setting the whole body of a given wind
instrument into vibration do sound , as a plain "open" C (that is, an
absolute B flat) on a tenor saxophone, blatantly contrasting with the bunch
of more "muffled" ones (like the stopped tones of a french horn, of a
somewhat darker quality, and as such more limiting).
So this was my first contribution to Vocalist, in the hope my fueling the
controversy may not go unnoticed !
Best wishes to All of You.
Bart
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