You are most welcome! And congratulations on being accepted to Juilliard. That's so exciting! I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to start this series. It will also, realistically, take me months to finish it, but I'll do my very best.

singwisevocals Thank you! The journey was hard until this point, enjoyable, and just beginning. I'm excited for what is next. I figured you were busy and might get around to this topic eventually. I'm excited for the tenor topic :)

You know what 'they' say: Anything that's worthwhile in life requires work. (I might focus on the soprano voice next, then the tenor voice, but that's not set in stone.)

My Falsetto register runs from about B4 to about A5- (give or take!) Up to about F5 / G5- (again, give or take), for the sake of comfort. I've got a very soft, light, thin quality to my Falsetto register. Would I be the equivalent of a female Alto or a Mezzo-soprano, please?

I think it altogether depends on factors other than vocal range. I always say that vocal range alone can be very deceptive. For example, although I can sing well into the soprano range - to Bb6 (in whistle voice above D6) - with comfort and ease, that doesn't necessarily make me a soprano. I also have to look at the timbre of my voice, my vocal weight, and my tessitura. For me, with years of training, the lyric mezzo-soprano tessitura is most suitable to and sustainable (in the long-term) for my voice. In your case, you'd need to look at your lower range, as well, and find your lowest well-produced pitches and assess how comfortable you are singing within the chest register. Then, look at your higher range and ask yourself if you're most comfortable singing there, whether or not you're singing with good coordination (i.e., sufficient vocal effort or compression at the glottal level, a balance between the breath pressures and glottal resistance), and whether or not you're comfortable singing up there merely because you're not using enough vocal effort. (Falsetto - that is, phonation with a slight gap in the glottis or a very short closed quotient - tends to be lighter and more effortless than 'full' voice singing, so many find they can feel a 'release' when singing in falsetto in the upper range.) I guess the important questions for me are whether or not your'e singing in falsetto or head voice, and if you're singing in full head voice, whether or not that's where your voice naturally wants to do the bulk of it's singing.

Hello sir. Humble greetings to you, I'm a counter tenor singer, but very amature, so I desire to have a voice coach

You're very welcome! Ian is so incredibly knowledgeable.

Thanks so much for sharing your own perspective on this topic! Yes, I wanted to have Ian bust the myth that countertenors are primarily falsettists. As I stated in my question, I think that many are either ignorant of the exact physiological mechanism used by countertenors in the higher range or they simply use different nomenclature. (Many call all sounds made in the upper range 'falsetto.') I'll check out your channel in a bit.

I envy you! I'd love to be able to make it up into the Soprano range, but I've never got there yet! o.o

And for the record, I agree that Countertenors and Falsettists are two entirely different things. I've heard that singing in the Countertenor range feels pretty much as natural to a Countertenor as it'd feel for a Tenor to sing in the Tenor range, or a Bari to sing in the Baritone range, and so on and so forth, whereas, us Falsettists make a conscious effort to sing the way that we sing. I think that's the difference, as far as I can tell.

Thank you for your lovely comment!

I'm so glad you're liking these interviews!

You're welcome, Bob.

I'm glad you've found it to be useful content across all voices types. I agree that there is wisdom to be gained in Ian's teaching for all singers.

You're very welcome. Thanks for watching and commenting.

Yes, defining our voice types in contemporary commercial styles of singing is a bit challenging. However, I earnestly believe that our bodies will tell us when we're singing the right repertoire and in the right keys.

Thanks for sharing your story! The good news is that there is a whole new 'specialization' in teaching transgender speakers and singers. There is much research and discussion, including workshops for teachers wanting to work with such singers. If you are looking for a teacher who has personal experience and who also works with transgender singers, please let me know and I'll give you her contact information.

singwisevocals yes please! I would love that!

Chris, it's so good to hear from you! It's been a while, but I haven't forgotten you. I hope you're well. Thanks for sharing your own personal insights and experience. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. It was such a pleasure talking to Ian.

I came back for another listen. I wanted to say that a lot of my vocal teachers had an issue with training my voice. I was like the bagel in a bucket of grits! So now I am confused again. First formant second harmonic? How do formants relate to harmonics? I like to learn to do whistle tone. That is one area that I have not been able to get to easily. Only one time I got to G6 but that was still head voice, but with a head cold! I heard that one needs to use an open throat method but I can only get really high but with inhalare la voce. But that technique messes me up vocally.

Chris Sparks Hi Chris, how are things going (it’s ken from the old email list the countertenors)? Sounds like your still singing.

Hi Ken! Yes I still sing but only at karaoke. Nothing classical as most don't like to hear classical music.

Chris Sparks After 7 years of trying to sing tenor in my church choir, I switched to singing with the altos because it’s what I did all the time I wasn’t singing with the choir, so the technique just felt more natural to me. I’m still getting used to being the only guy in the alto section, but very glad I took a stand with the director - my throat/voice is glad too J. I assume you’re still singing high? If you don’t mind my asking, how do those at Karaoke react to your high voice. Are you entirely comfortable with the reaction?

Hi Nicolás, I actually did note the sopranist as a category separate from the three types of "countertenors" that I mentioned. I'll gently suggest that you note that all voices have primary laryngeal shifts. That's just how the voice is constructed. Children do. Female singers do. A sopranist does as well. My experience with these singers is not that they lack the lower range. Rather, they do not develop their lower range. When these singes come to my studio, we work on balancing the entire voice, not just the higher range. I would take nothing away from any one person's point of view about the countertenor voice. One of the fascinating things about it is that so many different types of bodies sing this rep. Our classifications of them are blunt because they have to be. However, the voice does behave in a pretty predictable manner regardless of whether it is a child, an adult, a female, a male, a male with a hormone issue. The singing voice we confront is always the combination of these basic rules plus training. I think we have to open ourselves to seeing the distinction between what we encounter and what the voice is capable of. My personal perspective (based on a good deal of experience, but open for revision with new info) is that the distinction between "true countertenors" and "falsettists" is an illogical construct. Not germane to your comment but it illustrates the divide between how people train the voice (over long periods of time that would make it tough to change tack), and what the voice is.

Thanks so much for weighing in on this, Ian. I appreciate your vast knowledge about and experience in training the singing voice.

I think Countertenor-soprano would have a lighter timbre due to their voice mostly being in falsetto. The part where the timbre of countertenor is warmer is mostly in the range C4-A4 because that would be in chest voice of the man

Michael Nguyen D. That’s ain’t true dear

You're welcome! I'm so glad it was helpful.

@@singwisevocals It definitely was. It's given me an insight into the differences between legit Countertenors and Falsettists, such as meself. Theirs is a legit voice, whereas, mine, on the other hand's just put-on for fancy effect.

@@singwisevocals Not that that's in any way, shape or form, a bad thing. It just is what it is.

You meant head voice, not falsetto.

Hello @uchennaechebelem7227,some people also told me that i'm a sopranist,my speaking voice is also high but do not sound like a woman but rather like ateenager and i'm 34 years old,there's several videos of me in my youtube page when i show my high notes if you care to watch.

Real countertenors like tenor altino Dont need falsetto they have a large tessitura in the mezzo soprano or soprano.

It's in the works! Contralto is a rarer voice type, so it's not as easy to find a good candidate for this kind of interview, but I know someone at the University of Toronto who works with a contralto who also teaches. I'll get in touch with her again.

Brilliant! I can't wait!

This is fantastic! I love that voice type and I look forward to seeing your video.It can be so difficult to distinguish contraltos from mezzos. Very clear-cut for some singers, not so evident for others. I know the tessitura range is not all and some emphasis seems to be put more on the colour to distinguish the two types, but it would be nice to know exactly the characteristics of the contralto voice colour compared to those of the mezzo voice. So I hope your video will shed a light!

I'll be sure to include this question (what distinguishes a contralto from a mezzo-soprano) in the interview.

Thanks! I will help me know where I stand myself! Most people label me as a contralto, but I want to be sure.

Pop singer

This is a question that I think requires a long, slightly convoluted answer...!! I think the English choral tradition didn't necessarily provide their male altos in church/cathedral/college choirs with very good technique, so they tended to sound rather 'soft-centred'. Plus the resonance in chapels and churches allowed them to 'get away with' not really working at projecting the sound efficiently. Having said that, there are certainly countertenors in the UK that sing in a full-throated, more mezzo-ish way. Listen to Michael Chance in full flow, for example. More recent would be Timothy Travers-Brown, or Hugh Cutting for an even more recent example.

actually yes! most countertenors are baritones/tenors in their modal voice, but decided to train their falsetto as their main singing voice.

@@tuan4482 Many thanks for this comment. I wonder whether all baritones could, therefore, train to develop a reasonable countertenor range, notwithstanding the undoubted talents of the most adept and successful exponents?

Yeah, Alex Newell is an example of a real countertenor soprano singing pop music

Eric Forrester work on your Cricothyroid dominant registers, work on your flexibility or simply work on your head voice, falsetto, and flageolet.

Lip trills 15 mins daily

He was a lyrical tenor

David Daniels. (The names of the singers and songs should be beneath all the clips.)

@@singwisevocals thanks!

I think so. He certainly has a well-developed countertenor range, technique, and sound.

Dimash is not a countertenor 😊 but he has a huge range

his voice is actually well explainable. Im thinking I should explain it on KZfaq, but another part of me doesnt think I should. Im an opera singer as well.

same

44:40

find a different choir?

sing alto. i have a friend who does that in mixed choir. In all boy's choir he sang tenor 1.

Ask your teacher if he or she will let ya at least try out with the female Soprano or Alto group- (wherever ya feel most comfortable!) I'm a Falsettist and my choir teacher's always allowed me to sing with our Soprano group.

Ali Traore Have you heard Dimash kudaibergen

Can you give me a brief description of what Dimash is doing?

No countertenors such as tenor altino have a androgynous timbre and an sing without using falsetto they have hit puberty .they have androgynous (masculine and feminine)timbre that matches

Listen to Alex Newell and understand how powerful a countertenor is

i think Handel and Purcell both enjoyed singing in the alto range, they wrote a lot of pieces for it

It feels very nice in terms of physical vibration. The repertoire is beautiful. You can 'exploit' resonances in buildings in a way you can't in your modal register. There's a psychological pleasure - you access bits of yourself and of other people when you sing as a countertenor. You're a part of a very very very long history of high male voice singing across different genres...

No. There are a good many heterosexual countertenors singing professionally or at an amateur level. A lot of men use falsetto/high to very high registers across pop, folk, classical music genres.