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Now listen to the similarity as our singer sings from
the A natural below middle C, to the A natural above middle C, and then
to the B flat into the second bridge, alternating between the A and the
B flat. Listen to the lift in resonance the B flat achieves
- play
example: 22
(Real Player) Play
example: 22 (Mp3 format) Do
you hear the similarity in the intervals between the F and the F sharp,
and the A and the B flat? If more men were aware of this phenomenon, there
would be many more tenors in our singing world. Now
the question of head voice or falsetto. We are often asked if they are
the same. The answer is no, they are much different. When a man sings
in his head voice, his vocal cords are closed and his tone is pure. He
can sing this way at any dynamic level he chooses. The confusion between
falsetto and head voice is because head voice can be sung very softly,
with an almost falsetto-like quality. The difference, however, is that
when a man sings in falsetto, his vocal cords are not closed all the way.
This makes the tone airy and very limiting. We refer to this as a "disconnected"
sound. We refer to head voice as a "connected" sound, quite
simply, because it is smoothly connected with the chest voice. There are
no breaks because the cords are closed in chest voice, and they remain
closed as they make their adjustments through the bridges into head voice.
Falsetto, on the other hand, is disconnected from the chest voice and
the head voice because the vocal cords are not closed. Listen to a demonstration
of head voice, sung softly, on a B flat above middle C. This is in the
second bridge -play
example: 23 (Real Player) Play
example: 23 (Mp3 format) We hope this has been helpful. For more detailed information, please check out our CD, available in the Studio Outreach section. If you have questions about vibrato, please refer to the
voice lesson: women,
for an explanation and some examples.
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