Falsetto

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A falsetto voice is a special way of singing. When a man sings with a falsetto voice it sounds high like a soprano. If a man tries to imitate a woman’s voice he does it by speaking in a falsetto voice. Actors do this sometimes, e.g. Robin Williams in the film Mrs Doubtfire or Kevin Clash when voicing the character Elmo in Sesame Street and Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees, with his R&B falsetto.

When people speak or sing, their vocal cords vibrate. When a man sings falsetto only the edges of his vocal cords vibrate. These produce harmonics. It is similar to playing harmonics on a string instrument by lightly touching the string at a certain point so that only part of the string vibrates. When a man sings falsetto his vocal range is usually one octave higher than his normal singing voice.

Falsetto singing was used in the days when women were not allowed to sing in churches. Instead, men sang countertenor. Later the popularity of the countertenor disappeared, but in the mid 20th century it became popular again for performing Renaissance and Baroque music. Today the tradition of men singing alto (with countertenor voices) still exists in Britain in cathedral choirs and some church choirs which are all-male choirs. It is not a big, operatic voice, and it blends in well with boys’ treble voices in the acoustic of churches and cathedrals.

Occasionally falsetto can be used for comic effect, as in the dying swan in the Carmina Burana by Carl Orff.

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