Michael and Vocalisters:
Thanks Mike for your summary of a large part of what has been written
on this thread and its application to your own singing and your
observations of others.
My experience supports yours about the need for countertenors to
switch into another "mode", as it were, of vocal production in the
range from about G4 and higher. The classical singing technique does
not make this switch but rather sings a production which is is more
similar in sound and sensation throughout the voice. The head voice
"feel" for the classical singer is marked by increased breath
pressure, not increased breath flow, and a sense of cover or rounding
of the vowels to assist the vocal folds by providing a change in
acoustic supra-glottal pressure on the folds. Tenorinos or extremely
high tenor voices are able to continue with this same production
above C5 to about A5 at the extreme but the quality of sound is very
similar to their A3, two octaves below. However, in each of these
cases the function of the vocal folds is that of head voice
(ligament/mucosal). Tenors are very aware that this vocal quality
and feel is different from their chest voice even if it resembles it
in many ways. And most tenors require concentrated practice to learn
to bridge the area (passaggio) between the chest and head voice so
that their audiences are unaware of the changes that take place in
this part of the vocal range..
The thicker and heavier the tenor voice the more he is able to give
that heft and thick quality to his head voice. The fact that his
vocal ligaments and mucosal membranes are of greater mass than those
of a high lyric tenor gives his voice this potential quality. By
comparison, the high lyric tenor's vocal folds will function in the
same manner but the resultant sound will be less weighty and more
feminine in quality even if it is still true head voice.
One of the difficulties of evaluating vocal function by sound is that
voices with major differences in inherent qualities are often
compared and assumptions are made that are not accurate. It is
common for someone to assume that the high lyric tenor is singing in
a kind of falsetto because the quality of his head voice is so
different from that of the more dramatic voice.
Falsetto can be sung with a bit more closure which will produce a
tone that is a bit more rich in partials. This is sometimes called
"supported" falsetto because there is more sense of the beginnings of
subglottal pressure in this kind of falsetto and there is an
increased potential for dynamic changes in the tone. However, even
in this adjustment of the falsetto function there is little
longitudinal tension in the vocal folds compared to the longitudinal
tension that occurs in true head voice.
Falsetto with its normal configuration has a rather substantial space
between the vocal folds and sung in this manner has the usual
somewhat breathy tone that is lacking in overtone richness and is
less capable of dynamic change.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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