: Two letters, one sweeping statement, high confusion
As a general rule, Gemma considers the break in my voice - E4, I believe, but that note does not come out at all consistently - to be the top of my usable range. Furthermore she has made more than a few noises implying she is convinced I am a bass.
In Thursday's voice lesson, we spent the entire time working on technical exercises as opposed to singing songs - nearly always being singing sequences of several notes with a specific sound, transpose a semitone, repeat until out of one's range.
On one of these scales - which I seem to recall being a descending five-note scale on 'we', with fairly obviously the 'ee' sound being maintained - once I got to around E4, the first and highest note of the scale came out in a relatively clear falsetto, and I didn't drop into my lower register - you know, the one Gemma considers the entirety of my range - until the third note of the scale.
Now, here's where the madness begins. She let me keep on going up. And up. And up as far as, at least, Bb4. I wasn't paying any attention, and nor did Gemma mention it. What she did say afterwards pricked my ears sharply; after mentioning what I'd done, she then said, with not a hint of meaning anything else, 'men shouldn't sing in falsetto'.
Way to confuse an Aspie - one part overgeneralisation to one part hypocrisy in just five words. That triggered me scrabbling for explanations and second opinions, and these can be summarised below:
* Gemma's comment is broadly true, with a few obvious counter-examples (wording deliberate, there), and ignoring her could be dangerous. This is the viewpoint of four people I've spoken to - I don't know if it's amusing or telling that one of them is a countertenor, and thus one of the exceptions. Another exception - a civil servant from Canada moonlighting as a classical soprano, whom I met on LJ - pointed out the lack of male falsetto singing in classical and musical theatre singing - true enough, though ignoring the fact that I have already ruled out the latter (see recent comment) and have never really envisaged the former. I shall discount the other two, as I don't think either are as knowledgable on singing as others I have mentioned.
* Gemma's comment is an overgeneralisation, and while being careful is right, this does not have to involve discounting an entire part of my voice. This is the view of another of the many classical singers I know through meeting them on LJ when Fitzpatrick owned it, who said that it's unhealthy to spend too much time at either extreme of one's range but beyond that there isn't so much of an issue. It is also roughly the view of another classical singer I've met on LJ, who has herself suffered pretty scary vocal damage through poor teaching (and being treated as a mezzo, when she was in fact a very high soprano). She concedes not knowing anything specific, but suggests that being older than she was - and the fact I'm not singing for over an hour every day like she was - means I can feel assured I won't face anything like what she did.
* Gemma's comment is just plain wrong and I should either ignore her or challenge her. This is the view of one of my former school friends who was involved in musical theatre at school and still sings. Amusingly she suggested that if men shouldn't sing falsetto then sopranos shouldn't sing in their lower register...
* Gemma was wrong to overgeneralise, but would have been right to say that I personally should avoid those notes. This is what I think my friend from sixth form, who gave me a few lessons in 2004, seemed to be leaning towards, but her point was moderately unclear.
-----
Conclusion: I'll hang on. I'll stick to my lower register, though strengthening the higher notes within that (A3-D4) would be very useful. Next academic year I'll have a new voice teacher, probably a male one, and that's as obvious a time as any to reassess.
As a general rule, Gemma considers the break in my voice - E4, I believe, but that note does not come out at all consistently - to be the top of my usable range. Furthermore she has made more than a few noises implying she is convinced I am a bass.
In Thursday's voice lesson, we spent the entire time working on technical exercises as opposed to singing songs - nearly always being singing sequences of several notes with a specific sound, transpose a semitone, repeat until out of one's range.
On one of these scales - which I seem to recall being a descending five-note scale on 'we', with fairly obviously the 'ee' sound being maintained - once I got to around E4, the first and highest note of the scale came out in a relatively clear falsetto, and I didn't drop into my lower register - you know, the one Gemma considers the entirety of my range - until the third note of the scale.
Now, here's where the madness begins. She let me keep on going up. And up. And up as far as, at least, Bb4. I wasn't paying any attention, and nor did Gemma mention it. What she did say afterwards pricked my ears sharply; after mentioning what I'd done, she then said, with not a hint of meaning anything else, 'men shouldn't sing in falsetto'.
Way to confuse an Aspie - one part overgeneralisation to one part hypocrisy in just five words. That triggered me scrabbling for explanations and second opinions, and these can be summarised below:
* Gemma's comment is broadly true, with a few obvious counter-examples (wording deliberate, there), and ignoring her could be dangerous. This is the viewpoint of four people I've spoken to - I don't know if it's amusing or telling that one of them is a countertenor, and thus one of the exceptions. Another exception - a civil servant from Canada moonlighting as a classical soprano, whom I met on LJ - pointed out the lack of male falsetto singing in classical and musical theatre singing - true enough, though ignoring the fact that I have already ruled out the latter (see recent comment) and have never really envisaged the former. I shall discount the other two, as I don't think either are as knowledgable on singing as others I have mentioned.
* Gemma's comment is an overgeneralisation, and while being careful is right, this does not have to involve discounting an entire part of my voice. This is the view of another of the many classical singers I know through meeting them on LJ when Fitzpatrick owned it, who said that it's unhealthy to spend too much time at either extreme of one's range but beyond that there isn't so much of an issue. It is also roughly the view of another classical singer I've met on LJ, who has herself suffered pretty scary vocal damage through poor teaching (and being treated as a mezzo, when she was in fact a very high soprano). She concedes not knowing anything specific, but suggests that being older than she was - and the fact I'm not singing for over an hour every day like she was - means I can feel assured I won't face anything like what she did.
* Gemma's comment is just plain wrong and I should either ignore her or challenge her. This is the view of one of my former school friends who was involved in musical theatre at school and still sings. Amusingly she suggested that if men shouldn't sing falsetto then sopranos shouldn't sing in their lower register...
* Gemma was wrong to overgeneralise, but would have been right to say that I personally should avoid those notes. This is what I think my friend from sixth form, who gave me a few lessons in 2004, seemed to be leaning towards, but her point was moderately unclear.
-----
Conclusion: I'll hang on. I'll stick to my lower register, though strengthening the higher notes within that (A3-D4) would be very useful. Next academic year I'll have a new voice teacher, probably a male one, and that's as obvious a time as any to reassess.