On 21 Jul 2005 at 19:13, Tyler Turner wrote:

> It is the belief of many professionals that singing
> out of one's normal range is bad for the voice.
> Whether we agree or disagree is not the issue here.
> The issue is the motivation for the rule. This is a
> valid possibility. The burden of proof does not fall
> to me to show that this can hurt the voice. It doesn't
> even fall on me to show that TMEA members used this as
> part of their reasoning. The integrity of these
> individuals has been called into question. Before
> anyone is bold enough to do this, it should fall on
> them to disprove all plausible doubts before making
> accusations. It's not my job to show their explanation
> is genuine. It's the accuser's job to show their
> explanation is unquestionably a lie.

You're missing the point. The rule is unnecessarily rigid.

Look at your formulation of the justification for the rule:

   singing out of one's normal range is bad for the voice

If you define this as the "normal range for one's gender" then how do 
you determine the difference between tenor, baritone and bass, and 
also and suprano? Obviously, there's got to be a judgment call made 
by someone as to which of those voice parts is most appropriate.

Now, Carol Channing ain't no alto, because that is *not* the natural 
range of her very peculiar voice, and it seems to that a boy who 
sings countertenor is singing in a voice type that has a very long 
history, and however unfamiliar it is to us today, is not unnatural 
at all (at least for those who have the ability to utilize that range 
successfully).

Countertenor *is* his "normal voice range," unless you define 
"normal" as being restricted to certain predetermined voice types.

So, we can actually agree on the premise behind the justification 
given for the rule and still see the rule as being WRONG, precisely 
because the rule PREVENTS certain singers from singing in their 
"normal voice range."

-- 
David W. Fenton                        http://www.bway.net/~dfenton
David Fenton Associates                http://www.bway.net/~dfassoc

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