To tell a student to stay away from Falsetto is to turn him away from about half of the possible vocal effects that an artist should bring to his interpretation. In ages past, music was written with an expectation that an artist would use every tool he or she had developed over the course of their studies and experience to bring forth the best possible interpretation of the best efforts of composers and librettists. Falsetto is one of the foundational and indispensable essentials that an artist cannot ignore. Garcia embeds discussion of this Vocal Function into forty four pages of his first book. Gigli was a master manipulator of Vocal Function and put Falsetto to great use in his rendition of “Dalla sua pace”.
Gigli’s Way
A complete analysis of Gigli’s rendition of “Dalla sua pace” might be fun to do, but a blog is no place to wedge such a project which deserves a book length treatment. Besides, it would be way too much information for my “Twilight Zone” tenor to have to process. I think it would be a good thing to just mark the score where Gigli and Pavarotti sing in Falsetto and where they sing in Chest Voice so that everyone can see marked in the music what I hear in their singing. That would be concerning, Chest Voice and Falsetto use specifically, and we can compare how these artists used of these precious tools.
Pavarotti’s Way
I think it’s a great way to start a discussion about the audible effects that result from the use of these tools. I am beginning to wonder just how many of us know what Chest Voice sounds like, and what Falsetto sounds like, not to mention the differences between them. Talking or writing about them is really useless if we cannot agree on what we are hearing when we are listening to the same thing. Saying, “I hear Falsetto” when Chest Voice is being sung is like saying “I hear ducks” when there are only chickens singing in the barn yard. You may love ducks. I love them roasted, but, if they are not making noise, you can’t hear them….
Well, we could accept that some Post Modern tenors might believe that they are hearing ducks, but,,, well,,,, we could end up with the question: “What is a duck, anyway?” and that is a subject for a different blog.
When I hear Chest Voice, I think of Red. When I hear Falsetto I think of Blue. So I marked the Pavarotti and Gigli piano/vocal scores attached to this blog with bars of Red and Blue to show you where I hear chickens and where I hear ducks….. Sorry….. You get the picture.
Please print out my red and blue lined piano vocal scores of “Dalla sua pace” so you can follow along while I hope you will listen to these great Dead White guys yet again.
I want my “Twilight Zone” tenor, and anyone else interested, to hear just how differently this aria can be sung with admirable results. I have to admit that singers, or opera fans for that matter, can be partisans so radicalized that they would be unable to appreciate these artists’ singing beyond making the statement: “I hate Gigli and love Pavarotti!!” or “I hate Pavarotti and love Gigli!” with the possible added epithet: “Who cares about Mozart anyway? Let’s listen to these guys sing some real music!!” Oh!!! I almost forgot to include: “Gigli and Pavarotti are dead. Like so yesterday. I mean, like, you know, can’t we just forget about all that old stuff, and Mozart! Wow, what a dinosaur.” I hope no one takes offence. I might have to create a “Safe Space” on my blog.
Getting back to what I want to talk about. Gigli used Chest Voice sparingly but Pavarotti used Chest Voice almost exclusively. Which is the better interpretation? I like both. As a partisan, myself, I rate the gifts that God gave these artists differently. Luciano had the greater vocal gift, but Gigli was gifted with greater imagination and courage. Luciano accepted the inevitability of Falsetto when he decided to approach soft singing. Gigli made his singing live in Falsetto until he decided to express himself with louder singing. Most of Luciano’s interpretation was in mezzo forte to forte, so Chest Voice was his best friend. Gigli made mezzo piano to pianissimo his favored area of expression and Falsetto was his even more useful friend. I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, and hope, before you leave, you will add your opinion in the first comment space (not “Safe Space”) I have offered on these blogs. I hope you will comment on this subject, Falsetto/Chest Voice, as well as the artists represented here. It is a free country that we live in, and free will is one of my favorite God given gifts. So you can opine any way you want, on any subject you want and this benevolent dictator, me, will let every sane person participate.
I feel the need to provide a discussion area now, because getting Garcia’s book into your hands is a commercial exchange. Just ask the tax man. This three way conversation inspires me to cut him out as best I can, and the exchange of ideas has yet to be taxed in America. So let’s tell each other what we think and let the tax man take a hike. Merry Christmas to us all and let the tax man be happy with his day off.
Next time I’ll talk about Falsetto being no place to hide vocal difficulty.
Finally! As I was reading this I was wishing for a place to type, and, voila!
Thank you for sharing so much with me (I suppose others might be reading as well).
I agree with you and since I started singing recreationally I have found that professionals that I know and that I have read on the internet can’t seem to hear what is clearly falsetto in all of these great artists’ softer singing. It has been a relief to find people like yourself that have confirmed what my “novice” ears heard when I listened to these artists.
My question for you is what capacity do you use falsetto in training a voice? When a singer cannot sing past middle c comfortably, what do you recommend? Garcia has exercises around that area going from chest voice to falsetto and back. Some have interpreted that as just darkening the vowel. But I don’t think darkening allows one to being higher but is more of an aesthetic choice once the voice is built.
Thanks and Merry Christmas!
A Merry Christmas right back at you, Steve.
My falsetto use in lessons is a little bit like doing hat tricks. I ask the singer to do scales just like the scale you can find Luciano singing in a link I included in: https://rockwellblake.com/blog/2016/12/04/nuts-and-bolts/ The difference I ask them to make is to sing the beginning low note comfortably full voiced, like Luciano, and perform a diminuendo to the 9th of the scale with the intention of making the top note the softest note of the scale and to return to the bottom performing a crescendo to return to the first note of the scale attaining to the same volume as the beginning of the scale. Falsetto is inevitable on the approach to the 9th, but it is the contrast against which singing the whole scale in full voice needs to be measured. The full hat trick is the probability that the singer will find some “Garcia Secrets” revealed. There are parallels between the soft (Falsetto) portion of this scale work and the full voice (Chest Voice) portion. When they are discovered, singing all the way to the highest notes physiologically possible becomes child’s play.
Falsetto was once upon a time the escape function for a voice that just ran out of Chest Voice on the way up the scale.
It offers an inconvenient temptation to stand in for darkness, because it is “dull” in character. Falsetto is also something that sneaks in the back door of singing when darkness is the intended effect.
Interesting! I am not sure I can produce a chest voice like Luciano, but I get your point ;). Thank you.
These PDFs and music are very interesting and educational. I find Luciano’s voice very easy to tell the difference between chest voice and falsetto. Clear and dark timbre are fairly easy with his voice as well. Gigli I struggle more with. The difference is (at times) more subtle I think. Measure 39 sounds like falsetto to me, so perhaps I don’t quite have it down yet.
Thanks again for your blog and time!
Whew! Just saw your other replies and redownloaded the sheet for Gigli. I am indeed able to hear the difference. I was trying really hard to hear chest voice before but this clears it up! Thanks!
Ok, Steve. Tenors will be tenors, and I am one happy camper to be able to put things right even though I will never escape my category. I am not suggesting that anyone should try to adopt Luciano’s sound. That sound was a gift encoded in his DNA. Chest Voice and Falsetto are tools that just about every human, not stuck in depression, uses at some point in every conversation. Maybe I will mark up a script from a film. Actors give us some great examples of Functional Variety.
Thank you for this Christmas present, Rocky. Before reading your post, I would have preferred Pavarotti’s chest voice version, but now having listened to both tenors – with your helpful indications – Gigli’s falsetto singing seems so much more heartfelt. Happily, like you, I like them both.
HOORAY FOR MUSIC, HOORAY FOR SONG, HOORAY FOR TENORS…HOORAY FOR ROCKY! Merry Christmas to you and Debbie from Rome!
Thanks for reading my stuff, Shirley, and for prodding some of my Roman memories toward the conscious part of my mind.
So, a reader of this blog found an error. Tenors are supper prone to making big mistakes, and this tenor was glad to make them, even on the stage, in my crusade to become the best artist my gifts would allow. I am happy that there are a few courageous souls out there willing to talk back at a tenor to let him know when something just doesn’t go well. In this case we have a tenor trying to learn how to use software. I made a big mistake, and mixed the .PDF piano/vocals together in a bad way for Gigli. I fixed it. I offer many thanks to Svyatoslav Moshegov who found my blunder and sent me a heads up on Face Book.
Thank you very much, dear Maestro, for fixing it! I thought it was important for the beginner singers to have a clear example of usage of the registers by Gigli. It’s human to make mistakes, and we readers are here to help to find them. Thank you for this great blog!