In a message dated 11/15/2002 10:22:29 PM Central Standard Time,
lloyd.hanson@n... writes:
> Randy has clearly said many times that the problem with classically
> trained singers is their error in carrying the head voice down too
> low and that this is damaging to the voice. Yet it these very
> classically trained singers who are able to be heard over an
> orchestra without the aid of amplification. I doubt the same
> un-amplified carrying power is available to any but a very few Pop
> singers who carry their chest voice much higher regardless of how
> well they make the transition into head voice at their upper range.
What I've said is that pure head brought down too low loses power because it
basically becomes falsetto in nature and many times induces a condition
called muscle tension dysphonia. A very low mix (which involves chest)
carries very well but requires a modification of the vocal tract very low in
the voice which distorts the vowels and is totally unacceptable in
nonclassical singing. Frankly, the longer chest register with a speech like
quality in classical singing also which is why I like Dawn Upshaw too much.
But, not all operaphiles like that and they attach the terms vulgar,
masculine, and crude to it which are not statements about function but value
judgments and sexist ones at that. The muddy, contrived sound at the bottom
of the female operatic voice is why few of them find mainstream acceptance
today. Most opera singers that are well known to a wider public are men on
the whole.
The lower mix is (with chest mixed in) is not unhealthy a pure head voice
brought down too low is. I just don't find the lower mix very useful across
a broader spectrum of music. Sadly, most voice teachers suck ... they don't
realize that legit singing involves some chest on the bottom and produce
women with no mixture at all at the bottom, just a weak voice that mirrors
male falsetto, involves a lot of air passing over the folds and produces
unproductive muscular relationships between adductors and abductors.
Randy Buescher
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