I should clarify what my concept of a whistle register
is.
From what I understand (and I don't have this ability
or register or whatever it is, so this is what I've
heard from friends and biographies), most sopranos can
produce notes around a high C (and up into D, E, and F
-- sometimes G, like Natalie Dessay) in both
full-voiced head tone and falsetto. But some sopranos
have a totally different-feeling type of production,
that gives them the high A, B, and C-above-high-C.
From what I know of their descriptions, it's a sudden
shift into a different placement, and the notes fly
out with no strain. One friend described it as gear
shifting -- you're singing along in chest voice, and
around an A4 or B4 it's too high to sing without
strain -- so you shift into head voice, and around a
D6 or E6 it's too high to sing without high-larynx
strain -- so you shift into whistle, and it's free and
easy until you run off the piano. I'm calling
C4=middle and C6=soprano high C.
The other friend who can sing these freaky notes
discovered this register when, trying to sing a high E
at the end of the Bell Song, she missed the note
completely and found herself singing the A above that,
totally accidentally.
There are many sopranos who simply have a high top,
and can sing high F's and G's in their normal
(although they may shift concepts and placement around
a bit) head voice -- but it's still head voice, and
the production isn't radically different.
So, to my definition, "freaky-high whistle register"
is a totally different way of using the voice, as
different from head voice as the flip-falsetto is. So
you couldn't, for example, hit your B above high C in
whistle, then swell it into head voice.
But then, I don't have these notes, so I can't say for
sure. Are there any Vocalisters with a high A or B
who can provide a better description of what it feels
like?
Isabelle B.
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Isabelle Bracamonte
San Francisco, CA
ibracamonte@y...
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