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"Normal" range and falsetto

20K views 26 replies 14 participants last post by  xjian77 
#1 · (Edited)
Does your natural, modal voice range (bass, baritone, tenor) affect significantly your range in falsetto? Are there for example any countertenors who can sing in the soprano range but have bass as their normal range?
 
#5 ·
that brings up an interesting question. Anyone can produce a tone that is that high, but it comes with the right training.
For let's say, a bass that has large laryngeal cartilidge and vocal folds. It takes much more chest compression, almost physically impossible, to open the vocal folds that are extremely adducted.
The cricoid muscles can be trained to adduct the vocal folds at very high pressure, and -----tension and mass are directly proportional to frequency.
I'm glad you got me thinking about this question.
 
#6 ·
Truth be told, falsetto is normal range! there is nothing abnormal about it except the name. It is really a misnomer. Falsetto gets it's name from the false vocal chords that hang losely above the normal vocal chords. It was once thought that these produced the upper tones of the male voice but investigation has proven that to be wrong. Falsetto comes from the same set of vocal chords. The difference is the mucsles being used to apply tension to them. In a really good tenor voice, you should hear no difference in timbre as he goes into his upper range. That is called a "blended" voice where both sets of muscles work together, the upper leading the way with support form the chest register. This is a voice that has been properly developed. The only difference, say between Frankie Valley and Poverati is one of delveloped vocal muscles. They both sing in the same range! The norm for a voice developed this way is about three to three and a half octives. A well deveoped male voice will have the capability to sing any male part in the chorus and even alto at times.
 
#10 ·
In a really good tenor voice, you should hear no difference in timbre as he goes into his upper range. That is called a "blended" voice where both sets of muscles work together, the upper leading the way with support form the chest register. This is a voice that has been properly developed.
This is correct. A good, well-developed tenor voice can move between ranges seamlessly.
 
#7 ·
Are you basically saying that there's no such thing as falsetto really? It just that in the upper range, timbre changes easily (but not necessarily if the vocalist is skilled) to something that we often usually "falsetto", but there's no precise difference in terms of technique with falsetto and so-called "normal" singing voice?
 
#8 ·
In a word, yes. There are two type of singers, one registor or two registor. The average pop singer is a one registor singer with a very limited range. For the normal guy, it takes paitence and years of practice to blend both registors together. There are however folks that just naturally sing with both registors. One name that comes to mind is Jose Cura. His high C sounds completley baritone but you can't sing a C without engaging the head registor. It takes alot of work but is well worth the effort to sing with a blended voice!
 
#16 ·
I need some term clarification. What is a head voice? is it similar to falsetto?

question 2, is 'chest voice' an acceptable term to address all the 'classical' voice (sopran,alto,tenor,bass etc.). what is the term to address the pop/rock/voice?what a proper term to address voice of Michael Jackson, W.Houston, Axl Rose (GnR) voice?

thanks.
 
#17 ·
I need some term clarification. What is a head voice? is it similar to falsetto?
it's a way to describe the mix voice, but it's usually used to give young kids an idea of how much air they need and the placement.

question 2, is 'chest voice' an acceptable term to address all the 'classical' voice (sopran,alto,tenor,bass etc.).
imo: no. it's technically correct because classical singers train to have a flawless seam between the different parts of the voice -- however most of the singing is done in the "head voice"

what is the term to address the pop/rock/voice?what a proper term to address voice of Michael Jackson, W.Houston, Axl Rose (GnR) voice?
thanks.
there are a few different types of pop singers; the most common being a style known as "belting" (think almost any rock singer, or pop for that matter) and then there are falsetto singers (see the beegee's and other groups from that era). then you have (my person favorite): screamo and hardcore singers :p
 
#21 ·
Falsetto (Italian diminutive of falso, "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part. Commonly cited in the context of singing, falsetto, a characteristic of phonation by both men and women, is also one of four main spoken vocal registers recognized by speech pathology.

The falsetto voice-with its characteristic breathy, flute-like sound relatively free of overtones-is more limited than its modal counterpart in both dynamic variation and tone quality.[1] The term falsetto is most often used in the context of singing to refer to a type of vocal phonation that enables the singer to sing notes beyond the vocal range of the normal or modal voice.[2]

Keep in mind that Falsetto is usually common in the lower voice ranges such as alto, bass, baritone and tenor as a general rule. The Soprano range on the other hand normally has a high range.:)
 
#19 ·
ahh i see. (it's a debate) a lot of people dont believe that the female voice can produce a true falsetto. from what i can tell, the lady in the video just correctly placed her soft pallet to allow the resonance to move from the back of the throat (chest voice) into the proper placement.

Falsetto is created when the edges of the vocal chords are engaged, not the full chords, which makes it seem like a second, or "false" pare of chords. guys have falsetto because their vocal folds are thicker = they have more of the flimsy edge that creates the falsetto.
 
#23 ·
ahh i see. (it's a debate) a lot of people dont believe that the female voice can produce a true falsetto. from what i can tell, the lady in the video just correctly placed her soft pallet to allow the resonance to move from the back of the throat (chest voice) into the proper placement.

Falsetto is created when the edges of the vocal chords are engaged, not the full chords, which makes it seem like a second, or "false" pare of chords. guys have falsetto because their vocal folds are thicker = they have more of the flimsy edge that creates the falsetto.
Usually it is the alto, tenor-excluding (counter-tenor-male soprano), baritone and base who all have to rely on falsetto for hitting notes above their ranges but the counter-tenor and soprano's naturally have this ability as a general rule.:)
 
#20 ·
To answer your questions, no falsetto will not ever be affected because the voice range is bass, baritone or tenor if the technique is there but often what happens with singers who lack formal classical vocal training is the lack of understanding of how to transverse the pesagio then again trans versing into the Tessitura which classical vocalists are taught how to do. The term Counter Tenor is a fancy term for a male soprano, many counter tenors have no problems hitting a four octave range above middle C as well as below middle
C. Keep in mind that if a male is a Counter Tenor while he can easily transverse all of the octave ranges within the Tenor/soprano range he never will be a bass and is physically incapable of singing bass if he is a true Counter Tenor or Tenor.:)
 
#26 ·
What do you mean exactly by a true countertenor? As far as I'm aware pretty much every professional countertenor around today is a bass/baritone employing false cord production, in other words, what most people would incorrectly identify as falsetto. Scholl, Daniels, Kowalski et al. It's no accident that they are all natural bass/baritones as they have the length of vocal cord required to have a good range using the edges of the vocal folds. The following is a good article on countertenor vocal production:

http://blog.counterpointspublishing.com/2011/04/countertenor-technique-an-introduction-to-concepts/

Unless you're someone like Radu Marian or Michael Maniaci you will use what is incorrectly called falsetto to hit notes in the mezzo/soprano range. I guess you mean by a true countertenor anyone who has some kind of hormonal or endocrinological condition that has prevented the affect of puberty on the male voice. These guys are very rare and as I've said there's only 2 of them that I am aware that publicly perform.
 
#24 ·
this post interests me because today I auditioned (after several years of not singing with a chorale) for the El Paso Conservatory of Music. As I vocalized I could sense the jump into falsetto voice and felt a total loss of control! I just feel so much more comfortable singing in my own range. What are some exercises I can do to project with confidence at the upper register?
 
#25 ·
For me (a tenor), venturing into the high range from the passagio I can get 3 types of sounds:

1. A thin, soft and breathy sound generated from lots of air travelling through the folds, what most would call falsetto
2. A light, focused and projected sound - is what Richard Miller (author of the book "Training Tenor Voices") calls a "reinforced falsetto" or "white head voice". You get this from better approximation of the vocal folds and supported stream of air
3. A more manly sound which blends with chest voice - get this from adding chest connection

Usually lower voiced male parts (basses and baritones) have a more extended falsetto due to the vocal cords

hope this helps?
 
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