Here's an interesting article from the great state of Texas. sigh
http://aolsvc.news.aol.com/news/article ... 0000000001
Counter the Countertenor in Texas
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Be kind. No government, state, or local politics allowed. Admin has final decision for any/all removed posts.
Be kind. No government, state, or local politics allowed. Admin has final decision for any/all removed posts.
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Ace
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Chuck(G)
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finnbogi
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A little (or possibly not that little) whisky can also help you to reach down there. I can't sing low C without my single-malt.Chuck(G) wrote:Start smoking 2-4 packs a day and by the time you're 40, you'll have a great bass baritone and truly awe-inspiring cough.tuba4sissies wrote:i wish to have a bass singing voice when i grow older. as of now mines pretty low for a 14 year old. probaly a solid baritone area.
As for men singing women's parts (and vice versa), they do have a different colour of tone but usually conductors don't mind that. I've sung with guys singing soprano and alto and girls singing tenor and even bass (actuallly, just once - she usually sang tenor but had a bad cold that day).
In particular, mixing countertenors and altos can produce a very pleasant sound, at least in a small choir.
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Tabor
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Wow, this is strange on several levels.
The countertenor's popularity is linked to the castratti. Neither Alto nor Soprano is a traditionally a female voice part, but a male voice part whose name evolved during the reign of the castratti in opera. (hence the masculine ending o: SOPRANO and not SOPRANA, and ALTO but not ALTA) They were so popular, that they became the singers for church and were traditionally the melismatic parts used throughout most of the common practice music...even after the church "banned" the practice.
The next silly thing is that polyps will generally only occur if there is ongoing misuse of the voice or there is some other physical underlying problem (specific to a particular person). If the misuse is happening at a lower range, then it is probably happening to a greater extent in the falsetto range, where the number of cycles per second is much higher.
It wouldn't be singing in the normal male range that caused problems, but poor vocal production in general while singing in any a specific range unless there is some individual medical phonation problem. If this were the case, every male singer would get polyps and be unable to continue singing! It is normal for singers who are specialized falsettists to be less talented singers in any other range, and that is one of the reasons, along with the ability to get work and a specific talent for singing in the falsetto range, that motivates a singer to specialize.
That being said, if he is working with a professional voice teacher and if he is clearly good enough to win on the merits of his singing and if he has a doctor who specializes in the larynx and/or related junk working with him...I don't see why Texas needs to be looking at kids pants to see what choral part they should sing in some high school "all state" choir.
The countertenor's popularity is linked to the castratti. Neither Alto nor Soprano is a traditionally a female voice part, but a male voice part whose name evolved during the reign of the castratti in opera. (hence the masculine ending o: SOPRANO and not SOPRANA, and ALTO but not ALTA) They were so popular, that they became the singers for church and were traditionally the melismatic parts used throughout most of the common practice music...even after the church "banned" the practice.
The next silly thing is that polyps will generally only occur if there is ongoing misuse of the voice or there is some other physical underlying problem (specific to a particular person). If the misuse is happening at a lower range, then it is probably happening to a greater extent in the falsetto range, where the number of cycles per second is much higher.
It wouldn't be singing in the normal male range that caused problems, but poor vocal production in general while singing in any a specific range unless there is some individual medical phonation problem. If this were the case, every male singer would get polyps and be unable to continue singing! It is normal for singers who are specialized falsettists to be less talented singers in any other range, and that is one of the reasons, along with the ability to get work and a specific talent for singing in the falsetto range, that motivates a singer to specialize.
That being said, if he is working with a professional voice teacher and if he is clearly good enough to win on the merits of his singing and if he has a doctor who specializes in the larynx and/or related junk working with him...I don't see why Texas needs to be looking at kids pants to see what choral part they should sing in some high school "all state" choir.
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TexasBassBone
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michael
I can't believe this is Michael, he is our 2nd french horn player in my youth orchestra in Fort Worth.I just read this, I didn't know anything about this because im currently at the Sewanee music festival in Sewanee Tenn.Im going to make a couple of calls, and see whats going to happen.