I am a female chorus teacher and have a difficult time explaining to my
male students how to sing falsetto. What is the best way to "explain" to
them how to sing in falsetto? Thanks
Understanding and explaining the opposite voice is a common challenge
among teachers. What I always try to assure people is that they are not
really different. They may differ in terms of degree, but the basic
configuration is the same. Falsetto is just the male head voice like
what is predominant in the female. Likewise females have some kind of
chest voice which is the dominant adjustment in the male. So taking your
own voice as an example you can demonstrate the change from your low
voice into your lighter voice that you sing with. I find demonstrating
to be the most successful option. Some respond immediately and others
may need to experiment more. One thing I would try is ask them to
imitate a woman or the hoot of an owl. Like most aspects of the voice,
what makes it challenging is that it responds automatically to our
thoughts and desires of what we want to do rather than our thoughts of
how to do it. In other words we have to figure out how to deliberately
influence involuntary muscle groups.
