Dear Carl, Katherine, Lloyd, and List:
One more time - this discussion is not to question whether Reid is a
good teacher or not - just trying to sort out some confusion in his
writings.
--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, "Carl S. Rogers"
<mikado3848@j...> wrote:
> Dear Katherine and List,
>
> Although I have never been a student of Cornelius Reid, I have
found his
> rather encyclopedic "A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology" to be always
> instructive and stimulating. In that volume there is an eight-page
> article on "Falsetto" which I would recommend to all. Nowhere in
the
> eight pages does he use the word "between" with reference to
falsetto.
Carl: I do not have that book. I do have two other books by Reid,
and I referenced and gave exact quotes from "Bel Canto Principles...".
In brief, here is what the book says (my words, Reid's ideas):
There are two fundamental "components" to voice according to Reid :
chest and falsetto. Reid explains that with development
the "falsetto" forms a coordinate relationship with "chest" to
produce a "feigned voice" which is positioned between "chest" (di
petto) and "head" (di testa) - again see p. 103. In that sense,
falsetto IS between chest and head.
The confusion lies because Reid is not consistent in some of his
usage, and since "register" with Reid is sometimes a theoretical
mechanism which I interpret as close to a theory of motor programs,
and sometimes related to a more conventional notion of a
configuration of the vocal instrument or a series of notes with a
similar quality.
For the male voice, apparently Reid does not believe men sing in the
equivalent of a woman's head voice, since on p.90 the male vocal
range consists of chest plus the 'feigned voice' extending up to say
high B5 for a baritone. That actually makes good sense to me - I and
others have argued that a classical male singer's "head voice"
(excepting countertenors...) is not the same as a classical female
singer's "head voice".
For the female voice and higher male voices, the 'feigned voice' is
shown by Reid extending up to say F5 (see. p. 89), and the female
high voice - which is presumably head voice, is the range above F5
and is confusingly also termed by Reid as "pure falsetto".
There are several inconsistencies and issues with Reid's writing.
Sometimes "pure falsetto" means a woman's "head voice" (or a man
singing as a countertenor above the range of the "coordinated
falsetto") and elsewhere (as Katherine mentioned) "pure falsetto" is
a lower range breathy voice.
At any rate, Lloyd's summation is accurate that the lower breathy
falsetto is viewed by Reid (per his writings) as a basis for
developing the "coordinated falsetto" or "feigned voice" that is the
bridge between chest and head.
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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