--- In vocalist-temporary@yahoogroups.com, "Michael <chosdad@y...>" <chosdad@y...> wrote: > Dear List: > > For those who are tired of the subject, please skip. > > Otherwise, one more time: from Reid's "Bel Canto..." > > On p. 103, in a section titled "The 'Feigned' Voice", Reid > writes, "...the 'feigned' voice appeared and was cultivated after the > falsetto had reached an advanced stage of development. ...The > position of the 'feigned' voice between the registers di petto and di > testa subsequently gave rise to the suggestion...that these tones > comprise a third register, sometimes called the 'middle'." > > Again "di petto" is chest voice, and "di testa" is head voice, and > the coordinated falsetto is BETWEEN the two. > > On p. 89 there is a diagram and the feigned voice is shown (FOR BOTH > SEXES) as the range from A3 (below middle C) to F5 (above tenor high > C) > > The range above F5 is confusingly labelled by Reid as pure falsetto, > but elsewhere is described as head voice.
Michael,
I think you are leaving out an IMPORTANT assumption in Reid's writing. The "di testa" is NOT head voice. Reid clearly states it is "FALSETTO." I think this is pretty clear in the Bel Canto book. The "feigned voice," on the other hand is a combination between the actions of both the "di testa" and the "di petto" voice. This is the classic definition of "head voice."
The way I read this portion of the Reid book is that with use and exercise the falsetto will develop qualities associated with the chest voice in the area of overlap. Since the singer "feels" like he or she is still singing with the falsetto muscular controls and yet the sound "sounds" related to the chest voice, the term "feigned voice" arose. This is "feigning" chest voice.
Also in my view-point the diagram on p. 89 clearly indicates "pure falsetto" and "unco-ordinated chest register" on either side of E4, whereas the "feigned voice" straddles the area and indicates a muscular condition in which both registrational elements occur. Feigned voice is NOT falsetto. It is probably more closely related to what we refer to as "head voice" in that elements of both registers are present in the tone.
By the way, I really like the direction Reid seems to be going in this book. It makes sense to me - however, it appears to me that LATER he changed the direction in the "Free Voice" and other later books. In "Bel Canto" Reid seems to be making a case for developing a singing voice through overlapping the falsetto voice down and using messa di voce exercises to encourage the "combining" of the two registers. Then in the "Free voice" he seems to be making the case for doing much work with the "uncoordinated chest voice" - and I don't understand how he came up with this idea after writing the "bel canto" book. This is why I like the ideas of Frisell better - yet I think the two ideas are philosophically related.
When I have heard complaints about the Reid system they have been that the chest voice is stressed too much. Here again, this seems odd since in the bel canto book Reid seems to clearly be advocating that the falsetto voice will develop into a usable "feigned voice" in the area of overlap with use and specific exercises.
John
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