Mary Beth:
Glad to be of some help. I am much like you in that I also need to be able
visualize as much as possible how something works. The 3D thing.
My most recent resources have been my visits to a few voice labs during my
sabbatical about 2 years ago and my study of Ingo Titze's book.
Would it be asking too much to have you send the posting I am including below to
the Vocalist. I am unable to post anything on this list for reasons I do not
understand and I would like to be a part of the discussion.
It is helpful to keep in mind that the action of the vocal folds determines the
sonic
spectrum of the phonated sound. If the folds are thick, somewhat shortened, and
internally tense as is found in chest voice, a greater mass of the vocal fold is
oscillating during phonation. That is, the various defined areas of the vocal
folds are
all in some degree of oscillation. This includes the mucosal membrane, the
vocal
ligament, and the thyro-arytenoid muscles, sometimes called the vocalis muscle.
If the vocal folds are elongated they become less bulky and thinner. As this
occurs,
the vocalis muscle must gradually release its tension against the stretch of the
crico-thyroid muscles. As this release is accomplished, the vocal ligament must
assume more and more of the longitudinal tension support of the vocal folds in
lieu of
the loss of the vocalis muscles activity. In this condition, the mucosal
membrane and
the vocal ligaments are in oscillation. This is commonly called the middle
voice or, by
some, the mixed voice.
Once the vocal ligament becomes the primary support for the vocal folds it is no
longer a primary oscillating portion of the phonated sound. When this condition
is
achieved the primary oscillating portion of the vocal folds is the mucosal
membrane.
This condition is most often called head voice or high voice.
An altogether different condition occurs with falsetto. In falsetto the vocal
folds do not adduct or approximate as completely as in normal voice. More air
is passed over the vocal folds with a resultant breathy quality that is
characteristic of falsetto voice. Because the vocal folds do not completely
adduct there is less breath pressure below the folds, commonly called
sub-glottal pressure. Although the mucosal area is still the primary
oscillating portion of the vocal folds it is doing so without the complete
closure of the vocal folds and the resultant sound does not achieve the richness
of quality that is possible in head voice when there is complete closing and
complete opening of the folds. Without complete closure or adducting, a
fundamental and only a few overtones are produced as the air "leaks" past the
vocal fold membranes and achieves only partial oscillation.
It is possible for any voice to create this quality by simply increasing the
breath flow
past the vocal folds. The difference between men and women in achieving this
falsetto
voice is that many men, especially the lower voices, can produce ONLY this
voice
in their upper ranges. This is because only in their upper extremes are the
vocal folds
sufficiently lengthened so that they can achieve the partial closure of long
vocal
folds necessary for falsetto voice.
Confusion exists when male voices are able to phonate in head voice into the
highest parts of their ranges and these ranges coincide with the lower female
ranges, and when they can do this with a quality that is much richer than
falsetto. In reality these singers are capable of, or have learned to extend
their head voice configuration. Vocal folds are fully adducted, the vocal
ligament sustains the longitudinal tension of the vocal folds, and the mucosal
membrane is the primary oscillatory portion of the vocal folds. Because the
resultant sound in some ways resembles the quality of falsetto and because the
pitch of such phonations is above the normal range a conclusion is made that the
singer is using falsetto voice. Such is not the case.
Many counter-tenors are capable of producing this extension of the head voice
configuration. Others achieve a similar quality through the use of the falsetto
configuration. The difference is in the functional operation of the vocal folds
themselves. As less adducted vocal folds phonated with increased breath
emission
(falsetto voice) are gradually completely adducted, the breath emission is
reduced
because the vocal folds become more efficient in obtaining complete closure and
developing greater sub-glottal breath pressure. Once this condition is
achieved, the
singer has migrated from falsetto into true head voice. Many singers can teach
themselves to do this, especially lyric tenors.
Then later:
In both of these quotes you have assumed that the length of the vocal fold is
shortented by the terms used. However, another interpretation is that both
writers are considering the edges of the vocal folds. Tht is, the fee borders
are the mucosal membranes, not a shortened form of the vocal folds. When
Brodnitz speaks of magins he means the edges of the vocal folds, not a shortened
margin of the length of the vocal fold.
My earlier e-mail to you is a summary of the more recent research done by Ingo
Titze
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86004
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