| | 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
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