Dear Michael, John and Vocalisters:
Manual Garcia, Cornelius Ried and, to some extent Anthony Frisell
describe a form of falsetto that is not within the accepted
definition of that form of voice. They describe falsetto as a voice
range BETWEEN chest voice and head voice whereas the most accepted
definition of falsetto, both historically and in modern usage, is a
voice range that occurs in the SAME range as the head voice and is a
phenomenon found only or primarily in the male voice. Outside of the
three men mentioned above, there is almost no mention of the idea
that falsetto is an occurrence in the female voice.
Falsetto is an alternate conformation of the vocal mechanism in the
vocal range that normally produces head voice. In falsetto the vocal
folds are in similar conformation to head voice but, because the
folds are not completely closed (adducted) only the very edges of the
folds (mucosal membrane) oscillate. The resultant tone is weak in
upper partials and, because of the lack of adduction, has a breathy
component. But its range is almost exactly the same as the male head
voice.
The difficulty in attempting to use falsetto as a means of developing
the head voice is that closing the vocal folds (adducting) is not the
only change of function that must occur. The vocal folds themselves
must alter their pattern of oscillation from the simple vibration of
the mucosal membrane to a vibration that must include a portion of
the vocal ligament and, if the transition is attempted low enough, a
portion of the vocalis muscle itself. Whenever the vocal folds
change their pattern of oscillation a concurrent change in tone is
detected. Also, the change of pattern usually occurs within a few
oscillations of the vocal folds and this quick change will be heard
as a vocal break. Such breaks are the foundation of yodeling and
yodelers choose to create a configuration of the vocal mechanism that
encourages these sudden changes in vocal fold oscillation patterns.
But yodeling is not an accepted technique in traditional or classical
singing.
Garcia, Ried and Frisell suggest that their form of falsetto should
be developed at a lower pitch level (between chest and head voice
with overlaps in each direction) and, once achieved, should then be
transformed into the commonly accepted passaggio or mixed voice. In
other words, it is their suggestion that their form of falsetto is a
device to achieve a successful passaggio between chest voice and head
voice. Without going into the efficacy of this approach it is very
clear that their definition of falsetto has contributed greatly to
the confusion about falsetto and, for that reason, their definition
should always be kept clear in any discussion of this subject.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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