The term
falsetto (
Italian diminutive of
falso, "false") refers to 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 cords, in whole or in part. Though frequently used in reference to a particular type of vocal production in singing, falsetto vocal production also occurs within speech and is one of the four main vocal registers identified within
speech pathology. The characteristic sound of falsetto is inherently breathy and flute-like, with few
overtones present. The falsetto voice is more limited in dynamic variation and tone quality than the modal voice in both speaking and singing. Both men and women can
phonate in the falsetto register.
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.
[THE NEW GROVE Dictionary of MUSIC & MUSICIANS. Edited by Stanley Sadie, Volume 6. Edmund to Fryklund. ISBN 1-56159-174-2, Copyright Macmillan 1980.]Physiological process
The essential difference between the
modal register or normal voice and falsetto register lies in the amount and type of
vocal cord involvement: in falsetto, only the ligamentous edges of the
vocal folds enter into vibration, while the main body of each fold is more or less relaxed; in
modal voice, the wavelike motion involves the whole vocal cord, with the
glottis opening at the bottom first and then at the top.
When the transition from modal voice to falsetto takes place, the main body of each vocal cord or the
vocalis muscle relaxes its resistance to the pull of the
cricothyroid muscles enough for the vocal ligaments to be stretched still further.
describes this process as follows:
“With the vocalis muscles relaxed it is possible for the
cricothyroids to place great longitudinal tension upon the
vocal ligaments. The tension can be increased in order to raise the
pitch even after the maximum length of the cords has been reached. This makes the
vocal folds thin so that there is negligible vertical phase difference. The vocalis muscles fall to the sides of the
larynx and the vibration take place almost entirely in the ligaments.”
In the modal register, the
vocal folds (when viewed with a stroboscope) are seen to contact with each other completely during each vibration, closing the gap between them fully, if just for a very short time. This closure cuts off the escaping air. When the air pressure in the
trachea rises as a result of this closure, the folds are blown apart, while the vocal processes of the
arytenoid cartilages remain in
apposition. This creates an oval shaped gap between the folds and some air escapes, lowering the pressure inside the trachea. Rhythmic repetition of this movement, a certain number of times a second, creates a pitched note.
In falsetto, however, the vocal folds are seen to be blown apart and in untrained falsetto singers a permanent oval orifice is left in the middle between the edges of the two folds through which a certain volume of air escapes continuously as long as the
register is engaged (the singer is singing using the voice). In skilled
countertenors, however, the mucous membrane of the vocal folds contact with each other completely during each vibration cycle. The arytenoid cartilages are held in firm apposition in this voice register also. The length or size of the oval orifice or separation between the folds can vary, but it is known to get bigger in size as the pressure of air pushed out is increased.
The folds are made up of elastic and fatty tissue. The folds are covered on the surface by
laryngeal mucous membrane which is supported deeper down underneath by the innermost fibres of the
thyroarytenoid muscle. In falsetto the extreme membranous edges, i.e. the edges furthest away from the middle of the gap between the folds, appear to be the only parts vibrating. The mass corresponding to the innermost part of the thyro-arytenoid muscle remains still and motionless.
Some singers feel a sense of muscular relief, when they change from the modal register to the falsetto register.
Research has revealed that not all speakers and singers produce falsetto in exactly the same way. Some speakers and singers leave the cartilaginous portion of the glottis open (sometimes called
mutational chink), and only the front two-thirds of the vocal ligaments enter the vibration. The resulting sound, which is typical of many adolescents, may be pure and flutelike, but is usually soft and anemic in quality. In others, the full length of the glottis opens and closes in each cycle. In still others, a phenomenon known as
damping appears, with the amount of glottal opening becoming less and less as the pitch rises, until only a tiny slit appears on the highest pitches. The mutational chink type of falsetto is considered inefficient and weak, but there is little information available about the relative strengths and weaknesses of the other two types.
Female falsetto
The issue of the
female falsetto voice has been met with some controversy, especially among
vocal pedagogists. Many books on the art of
singing completely ignore this issue, simply gloss over it, or insist that women do not have falsetto. This controversy, however, does not exist within the
speech pathology community and arguments against the existence of female falsetto do not align with current physiological evidence. Motion picture and video studies of
laryngeal action reveal that women can and do produce falsetto, and
electromyographic studies by several leading speech pathologists and vocal pedagogists provide further confirmation.
One possible explanation for this failure to recognize the female falsetto is the fact that the difference in timbre and dynamic level between the modal and falsetto registers often is not as pronounced in female voices as it is in male voices. This is due in part to the difference in the length and mass of the
vocal folds and to the difference in frequency ranges.
It is an established fact that women have a falsetto register and that many young female singers substitute falsetto for the upper portion of the
modal voice.
Some vocal pedagogists believe that this failure to recognize the female falsetto voice has led to the misidentification of young
contraltos and
mezzo-sopranos as
sopranos, as it is easier for these lower voice types to sing in the soprano
tessitura using their falsetto register.
Musical history
Use of falsetto voice in western music is very old. Its origins are difficult to trace because of ambiguities in terminology. In a book by GB Mancini, called
Pensieri e riflessioni written in 1774, falsetto is equated with 'voce di testa' (translated as 'head voice'). Possibly when 13th century writers distinguished between chest,
throat and head registers (pectoris, guttoris, capitis) they meant capitis to refer to what would be later called falsetto.
By the 16th century the term falsetto was common in Italy. The physician, Giovanni Camillo Maffei, in his book
Discorso della voce e del modo d'apparare di cantar di garganta in 1562, explained that when a bass singer sang in the soprano range, the voice was called 'falsetto'.
The falsetto register is used by male
countertenors to sing in the
alto and occasionally the
soprano range, and was before women sang in
choirs. Falsetto is occasionally used by
early music specialists today, and regularly in British cathedral choirs by men who sing the alto line.
In
opera, it is believed that the
chest voice, middle voice and
head voice occur in women.
[The OXFORD DICTIONARY OF OPERA. JOHN WARRACK AND EWAN WEST, ISBN 0-19-869164-5] The head voice of a man is, according to David A. Clippinger most likely equivalent to the middle voice of a woman.
This may mean the head voice of a woman is a man's falsetto equivalent. Although, in contemporary teaching, some teachers no longer talk of the middle voice, choosing to call it the head voice as with men. Falsetto is not generally counted by classical purists as a part of the vocal range of anyone except countertenors. There are exceptions, however, such as the Bariton-Martin which uses falsetto (see
baritone article).
[THE NEW GROVE Dictionary of MUSIC & MUSICIANS. Edited by Stanley Sadie, Volume 2. Back to Bolivia. ISBN 1-56159-174-2, Copyright Macmillan Publishers Limited 1980.]Many
Hawaiian songs feature falsetto, called "
leo ki'eki'e", a term coined in Hawaiian in 1973. Falsetto singing, most often used by men, extends the singer's range to notes above their ordinary vocal range. The voice makes a characteristic break during the transition from the ordinary vocal register to the falsetto register. In Western falsetto singing, the singer tries to make the transition between registers as smooth as possible. In Hawaiian-style falsetto, the singer emphasizes the break between registers. Sometimes the singer exaggerates the break through repetition, as a
yodel. As with other aspects of Hawaiian music, falsetto developed from a combination of sources, including pre-European Hawaiian chanting, early Christian hymn singing and the songs and yodeling of immigrant cowboys during the Kamehameha Reign in the 1800s when cowboys were brought from Mexico to teach Hawaiians how to care for cattle. Falsetto may have been a natural and comfortable vocal technique for early Hawaiians, since a similar break between registers called "
ha'iha'i", is used as an ornament in some traditional chanting styles.
Falsetto is also common in African
folk music, especially the
South African style called
Mbube, traditionally performed by an all-male
a capella chorus. This style is said to have originated with the song "Mbube" written by
Solomon Linda. The song was later made famous internationally by
The Weavers as "Wimoweh" and then as "
The Lion Sleeps Tonight".
There is a difference between the modern usage of the "head voice" term and its previous meaning in the renaissance as a type of falsetto, according to many singing professionals. The falsetto can be coloured or changed to sound different. It can be given classical styling to sound as male classical
countertenors make it sound, or more contemporary as is the case in modern R&B music(
[Justin Timberlake: 'FutureSex/LoveSounds' by Christy Lemire - Associated Press - Sept. 11, 2006 - Timberlake's falsetto layering on top of one other as the songs build to their crescendos. ]Ronald Isley or
Philip Bailey for example). It can be made in different tonalities as is often the case of its use in progressive rock (for example,
Roger Taylor of
Queen,
Steve Perry of the band
Journey,
Jeff Buckley,
Matthew Bellamy of the band
Muse and
Thom Yorke of the band
Radiohead), hard rock (for example,
Ian Gillan of
Deep Purple and
David Lee Roth of
Van Halen), heavy metal (for example,
King Diamond of
Mercyful Fate,
Bruce Dickinson of
Iron Maiden and
Rob Halford of
Judas Priest),
power metal (for example,
Michael Kiske of
Helloween) and
alternative rock (for example,
Raine Maida of
Our Lady Peace).
Use in singing
Falsetto is more limited in dynamic variation and tone quality than the
modal voice. Most trained singers have at least an octave of range that they can sing in either modal voice or falsetto. In this overlapping area a given pitch in modal voice will always be louder than the same pitch sung in falsetto.
The type of
vocal cord vibration that produces the falsetto voice precludes loud singing except in the highest tones of that register; it also limits the available tone colors because of the simplicity of its waveform. Modal voice is capable of producing much more complex waveforms and infinite varieties of tone color. Falsetto, however, does involve less physical effort by the singer than the modal voice and, when properly used, can make possible some desirable tonal effects.
The falsetto voice has a number of highly specialized uses within a musical context. The following list includes the most common ones:
* in
Barbershop music for the Tenor voice (not always necessary) and occasionally with the Lead and Baritone voices in certain arrangements.
* by some lyric (Irish) tenors, folk singers, and so forth
* for
pianissimo tones that would be difficult to execute in the modal register
* for vocal development
Use in speech
The ability to speak within the falsetto register is possible for almost all men and women. The use of such speech, however, is uncommon, and is usually employed within the context of humor
, as in
Monty Python's Flying Circus sketches featuring the
Pepperpots, or the
Saturday Night Live sketch "
Barry Gibb Talk Show". One notable exception, however, concerns those cultures in which falsetto is consciously or unconsciously maintained as a form of social distinction amongst women, notably in the bourgeois French speech patterns of the beaux-quartiers of Paris and provincial cities of central France. Some people, however, speak frequently or entirely in the falsetto register. This behavior is identified by speech pathologists as a type of functional
dysphonia.
The term is also used to describe a slightly artificially-raised sounding pitch that often occurs momentarily, if repeatedly, in boys during
puberty as their voice changes.
See also
