Voice Pedagogy

ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Richard Miller

Falsetto and the Male High Voice
Scott McCoy, DMA
Written questions that teachers and
performers have submitted for discus-
sion at sessions devoted to systematic
voice technique are wide ranging, often
penetrating the very heart of voice ped-
agog.y. This column continues to exam-
ine some of them.
ISSU E
The subject of falsetto arouses
heated discussion among teachers of
singing. The following related ques-
tions often are asked:
Is falsetto any part of the scale that
is not fry or modal register? How is it
produced? Do females have a falsetto?
Can falsetto be incorporated into the
upper range extension of normal male
voice production, for use in public
performance of opera, oratorio, and
recital? Is falsetto identical to male
head voice? If so, why does the coun-
journal of Singing, May/June 2003
Volume 59, No. 5. pp. 405-408
Copyright 2003
National Association of Teachers of Singing
tertenor, whose production is built
largely on falsetto, not sound like a
tenor? What is reinforced falsetto, and
how is it accomplished? Do tenors use
more falsetto than do male low voices?
Does falsetto play a role in voice train-
ing, and if so, in what way? Do you
use falsetto not at all, occasionally, or
often, in your own teaching?
RESPONSE
It has been my privilege for the
past three years to teach courses in
the anatomy and physiology of
singing as part of the professional
development program sponsored by
the New York Singing Teachers
Association (NYSTA). Class mem-
bers include many established voice
professionals who have already accu-
mulated a wealth of knowledge, pri-
marily based on practical experience,
and who now seek formal training in
voice science to reinforce their teach-
ing methods. As we all know, any time
thirty singing teachers are put together
in the same room, livelyif not
heateddiscussions are likely to
ensue. This is certainly the case dur-
ing my courses for NYSTA. Few
issues, however, generate as much
interaction from divergent points of
view as the pedagogical use of falsetto
in the development of the male high
voice.
In my own teaching, falsetto has
been used, albeit sparingly, in three
ways. First, it can help to establish
appropriate vertical positioning of the
larynx. Beginning in falsetto, the stu-
dent sings an easy glissando descend-
ing into his full voice. Early attempts
at this exercise nearly always result
in cracking or yodeling, with a sud-
den leap of a sixth or octave at the
moment of register transition; how-
ever, when the singer learns to stabi-
lize his larynx in a relaxed, slightly
lowered position, a smooth transition
becomes possible. Unless the gentle-
man is training as a countertenor,
there is no artistic motive behind this
exercise. (Except for the occasional
special effect, I do not encourage the
public display of falsetto by operatic
tenors and baritones.) Rather, it is a
pedagogical tool that provides clear
aural feedback, through the presence
or absence of a voice break, about
optimal laryngeal position.
Second, falsetto occasionally is used
to help students find appropriate
vowel modification or "cover" through
the upper passaggio. The ease with
which falsetto tones are produced
allows the singer to concentrate on
vowel sounds and articulatory pos-
tures without the distraction of high
note phobia. The goal, once again, is
to find vowels and postures that opti-
mize full voice singing, not to pro-
duce falsetto tones that are acceptable
in performance. Finally, simple falsetto
exercises (for example, five note
ascending/descending scale patterns)
are used to gently stretch the vocal
ligament, which should ultimately
lead to easier production of higher
tones in the full voice.
In addition to the above techniques,
my colleagues from the NYSTA classes
often vigorously argue in support of
falsetto as a means to discover and
develop the hill male head voice, often
labeled the voce piena in testa. The
most frequent vocalise cited to this
end is a crescendo on a single tone,
MAY/JUNE 2003
405
Scott McCoy
within or above the passaggio, begin-
ning in falsetto and ending in full voice.
I confess to having virtually no prior
success using this method with either
myself or my students, and a brief
review of some of the standard peda-
gogical reference materials from the
past thirty yearsincluding Ware,
Doscher, McKinney, and Miller
reveals no unanimity of support for
the technique.
Some pedagogs [sic] favor the use of falsetto
voice to develop the full head voice, con-
tending that such an approach leads to
more ring and avoids the danger of an
overly dark and weighty sound. They
believe that young voices in particular
have difficulty vocalizing only in ascend-
ing patterns into the passaggio and above,
and that falsetto exercises develop strength
in the cricothyroid stretcher and prevent
the vocalis muscle from over-working.
Other teachers feel equally strongly that
the falsetto has no relation to the full head
voice and that its use as a training device
leads to a thin, overly-bright sound. The
decision must be left to individual teach-
ers and their particular methodology)
Nonetheless, the fact that this method
continues to be employed by respected
and successful teachers motivates me
to additional research and experi-
mentation. My explorations in this
area have been greatly facilitated by
access to advanced voice analysis in-
strumentation, including acoustic spec-
trography and electroglottography
(EGG), found in the Presser Music
Center Voice Laboratory at Westmin-
ster Choir College of Rider University.
According to the advocates of this
technique, it works best when exer-
cises are begun using a reinforced
falsetto. The question therefore arises,
what exactly is a reinforced falsetto?
It is clear in the literature that seman-
tic issues abound in the description
of voice registers. Garcia's historic
use of the term falsetto, for example,
extended to all of the higher tones in
both male and female voices. More
recent pedagogues, such as James
McKinney, attribute falsetto only to
male voices, describing it as "breathy
and flutelike," to be used in male
choirs, yodeling, and for comic ef-
fects. 2 If the community of teachers
and singers cannot agree on a generic
definition of falsetto, how are we to
understand the further refinement of
the term reinforced falsetto?
To me, the term had connoted one
of two things: either the sound pro-
duced by countertenors whose modal
voices lie in the baritone range; or the
loud, clear falsetto timbre employed
by men to impersonate the sound of
women's voices, as exemplified by
members of the New York opera
troupe called La Gran Scena. Few
men, however, can produce a seam-
less crescendo from falsetto to full
voice using either of these vocal tim-
bres. I therefore asked two members
of my NYSTA class who are propo-
nents of this technique for a demon-
stration, one of whom is a gifted
countertenor and capable imperson-
ator of female opera singers. The
sound I heard was not the reinforced
falsetto I had imagined or expected;
instead, it closely resembled the mezza
voce (half voice) or vocejinta (feigned
voice) timbre sometimes heard dur-
ing pianissimo operatic singing.
The physiological and acoustical
foundations of falsetto singing have
been well established by voice scien-
tists. As compared to modal (chest)
register, falsetto is characterized by
reduced closed quotient (the per-
centage of time the vocal folds are
closed versus open during sound pro-
duction, measurable through elec-
troglottography), smaller contact area
between the vibrating vocal folds, lack
of a vertical phase difference between
the bottom and top of the folds dur-
ing oscillation, fewer high frequency
harmonics in the sound spectrum, and
dominance of the cricothyroid mus-
cles in pitch control.
If reinforced falsetto is indeed dif-
ferent from ordinary falsetto, the dif-
ferences should be measurable in the
voice laboratory. To that end, I exam-
ined two tenor voices using EGG and
spectral analysis, a light lyric tenor in
his mid-twenties and a lyrico spinto
tenor with twenty-five years of pro-
fessional singing experience. Each test
subject sang a series of examples that
included sustained tones in quiet, loud,
and reinforced falsetto (or mezza 1 . 0 cC ) ,
and crescendos to full voice, begin-
ning in normal and reinforced falsetto.
As shown in Figure 1, the reinforced
variant showed higher closed quo-
tients and increased acoustic energy in
high frequency harmonics, indicating
a closer relationship to modal voice.
Both tenors were able to produce a
seamless crescendo out of the rein-
forced sound; however, neither was
able to crescendo from the normal
falsetto without a voice break. Figure
2 shows two attempts at this exercise.
These preliminary results clearly
show acoustic and physiological dif-
ferences between normal and rein-
forced falsetto. The reinforced variant
more closely resembles the full voice
through higher closed quotients and
increased intensity in high frequency
sound components. Since it is known
that the speed and duration of glot-
tal closure directly impact the acoustic
spectrum of the sound produced,' it is
reasonable to speculate that the oscil-
latory pattern of the vocal folds dur-
ing reinforced falsetto also more
closely resembles that of the full voice,
including a degree of vertical phase
difference, which may in turn account
for the greater ease with which a
seamless crescendo can be produced.
Few teachers and students have
ready access to a well equipped voice
406
JOURNAl. OF SINGING
Reinforced
'
f a ls et t o (Tenor A)
402 Hz (approximately (34)
Clos ed quot ient , 53%
k L t w h I : ,
.
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, V
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Norma l fa ls et t o (Tenor A )
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Clos ed quobent 46%

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S , c t njin( B) 5 k h z I EGG( 8) 9 m s , To * 62 9 m e C Q O 1 6. C L 0 3
Voci Ve t . 2 85
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t he left s how t he a cous t ic s pect rum, deoms t ra t ing decrea s ed energy in t he high fre-
quency ha rmonics for norma l fa ls et t o. EGG t ra ces s how a higher clos ed quot ient
a nd fa s t er glot t a l clos ing ra t e for t he reinforced fa ls et t o.
Tenor B: Cres cendo from norma l

fa ls et t o t o full voice
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Tenor A. Crescendo from reinforced
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Figure 2. Cres cendo from norma l a nd reinforced fa ls et t o. A voice brea k is vis ible in
t he s pect rogra m of Tenor B (lyrico s pint o v oice).
- Voi ce P e d a gogy
la bora t ory t o explore t hes e differences
in regis t ra t ion. Ma ny t hings ca n be
a ccomplis hed, however, t hrough
s ound a nd s ens a t ion a lone Phys ica lly,
t he reinforced fa ls et t o is likely t o dis -
t inguis h it s elf t hrough a low, rela xed
la ryngea l pos it ion a s oppos ed t o t he
la ryngea l eleva t ion oft en s een wit h
t ra dit iona l fa ls et t o. The t imbre is a ls o
different , wit h t he reinforced s ound
more clos ely res embling t he qua lit y
of t he legit ima t e, a lbeit quiet , oper-
a t ic hea d voice, including a churoscuro
t imbre a nd t he pres ence of high fre-
quency ha rmonic overt ones . The t rue
t es t , however, lies in t he a bilit y t o
cres cendo. Us ing norma l fa ls et t o, it
is pos s ible t o ma ke a fa irly s t rong
cres cendo; t he res ult ing s ound, how-
ever, rema ins in fa ls et t o a nd ma y
clos ely res emble t he t imbre of a
woma n' s voice (unles s it is deliber-
a t ely moved int o t he full voice, which
is us ua lly a ccompa nied by a n obvi-
ous brea k). By cont ra s t , t he cres cendo
from t he reinforced fa ls et t o moves
t ra ns pa rent ly int o t he full voice.
Reinforced fa ls et t o is proba bly not
t he pa na cea ma ny of us ha ve a wa it ed
t o help every ma le s t udent ga in ea s y
a cces s t o his upper regis t er. A s we a ll
know, t he qua lit y of fa ls et t o va ries
grea t ly from s inger t o s inger. I n s ome
it is s t rong a nd elega nt (which might
lea d t o t he a rt is t ic choice t o t ra in a s a
count ert enor); in ot hers it is wea k,
brea t hy, or a bs ent a lt oget her. For t hos e
who a re bles s ed wit h a fa cile fa ls et t o
a nd t he a bilit y t o s elect bet ween it s
norma l a nd reinforced va ria nt s it
ma y indeed s erve a s a pa t hwa y t o t he
t op. I t will cert a inly receive furt her
explora t ion in my own voice s t udio.
NOTES
1. Ba rba ra M. Dos cher, The Functional
Unitij of the Singing Voice (Met uchen,
NJ: The Sca recrow Pres s , 1988), 150.
2. Ja mes C. McKinney, The Diagnosis and
Correction of Vocal Faults (Na s hville,
TN: Genevox Mus ic Group, 1994), 101.
3. Dona ld G. Miller, "Regis t ers in Singing:
Empirica l a nd Sys t ema t ic St udies in
t he Theory of t he Singing Voice"
(Groningen, Net herla nds : The Uni-
vers it y of Groningen, 2000), 167.
4. Joha n Sundberg, The Science of the
Singing Voice (Deka lb, I L: Nort hern
I llinois Univers it y Pres s , 1987), 79.
Scott McCo,y is director of the Presser Music
Center Voice Laborator,j and
Professor
of
MA Y/1 t J NE 20034 0 7

Scott McCoy
ing classes in voice anatomy, physiology, A long-time member ofNATS, McCoy cur- Voice and Pedagogy at Westminster Choir
College ofRider University. He has authored
or coauthored several articles related to
journals, and presented portions of his
multi-media voice science and pedagogy
textbook, Your Voice: An Inside View, at
the 2002 NATS National Convention.
Deeply committed to education, McCoy is
founding faculty member in the New Y ork
Singing Teachers Association (NY STA)
professional development program, teach -
and acoustic analysis.
Jo date, ne has performed more tnan two
dozen leading operatic roles and over sixty
concert and oratorio solo roles with profrs-
sional music organizations in the United
States and abroad. In addition, he is a spe-
cialist in the song cycles of Schubert and
Schumann, frequently concertizing with
pianists Claude C,ymmnan andj.J. Penna.
rently serves the organization as Vice Pres-
ident for Workshops and as a member of
the Editorial Board ofthejournal of Sing-
ing. Prior tojoining the Westminster faculty
in 1997, he was chair of Voice and Opera
at the University of Iowa. When not teach-
ing, singing, or writing, he might beJbund
working on one of his vintage British sports
cars, including a 1952 MG-TD anda 1970
Jaguar XKE.
singing that have appeared in prestigious McCoy maintains an active si ngi ng career.
The National Association of Teachers of Singing, Inc.
announces a
Call for Performances of Vocal Chamber Music
for the
48
1h
National Convention in New Orleans
July 8-12, 2004
The 48" National NATS Convention wi//feature vocal chamber music representative of all voice types
and instrument groups. Total performance time Jor each piece selected, including an y explanatory com-
ments, will he twenty minutes. Selected performers will chose*hy acommittee employing a blind
review process.- -
If y ou are interesled !ffJWrJVming a composition for voice and insrrunu'nt(s), including chamber en-
sembles, at the New Orleans NATS convention in 2004 please submit the following materials:
1. A recent recording (CI) or cassette) of the clected composition by the submitting performers.
The performance. including a briel lecture presentation, should not exceed twent y minutes.
2. A brief ahstrcr describing the.pie'e and the instrumentation.
3. Brief biogrhies of the pezfovnierc amid/or ensemble.
Please send y our submission or an' quesdbiisfu the address !ow.
Submission Deadline: June 1, 2003
Schar mal Schr ock, Pr ogr am Chair man

85) 549-236
SLU Box 10815

s s chr ock@ s e lu . e d u
Sou the as te r n Lou is iana Unive r s ity
Hammond , LA 70402
408
JOURNAl. OF SINGING