| From: "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...> Date: Tue Jan 21, 2003 1:05 am Subject: [vocalist] Re: Cornelius Reid teaching ( Was Head voice from falsetto)
| Dear Taylor and Vocalisters:
Although you affirm my comments that Ried's definition of falsetto places it between the chest and head registers I must disagree with you on one very important point.
You state that Ried's use of falsetto is a matter of vocal function but you then define a vocal function that is not possible. When you state that Garcia and Ried "likened the falsetto sound quality to the low tones of a flute, rather breathy or hooty", you are defining the degree of closure or adduction of the vocal folds not the degree of activity of the thyro-arytenoid (TA) muscles.
If particular pitches are being produced in the middle range of the male voice their frequency of oscillation is controlled only by the degree of longitudinal tension in the vocal folds and this tension is a product of the lengthening of the vocal folds by the cricothyroid muscles and the resultant resistance to that lengthening by the thyroarytenoid or vocalis muscles. It is the antagonism between these muscles that produces the required vocal fold longitudinaltension necessary to create the desired frequency of oscillation. The fact that the vocal folds are not completely adducted does not remove the folds from the requirement of sustaining the longitudinal tension necessary for the frequency oscillation of the selected pitch.
Of course all historical practices in voice teaching or vocal production can be analyzed by recent understandings of vocal function. There will be instances in which our more complete understanding of vocal function will not yet define the "reason for being" of some historical practices but it is only a matter of time until those instance are more completely understood and defined.
There is no need to assume that a particular methodology will forever be outside the realm of analytical understanding except in the matter of human feelings and attitudes. Although I seriously question the efficacy of Reid's definition of falsetto and his use of his definition to develop the middle voice I have used his technique in my own teaching when I am unable to accommodate a students needs in other ways. In other words, his techniques DO work but his definition of why they work is, in my opinion, in serious error. -- Lloyd W. Hanson
|
| |