countertenor voices?

Question

I've recently became interested in countertenor voices and was wondering something about the pitch. Why is it that when a male sings in the alto or mezzo-soprano range, it sounds an octave higher than what the note is (for example, an E5 would sound like an E6 [the high note in phantom of the opera]? Also, I wanted to know why bass voices (I'm a bass) have really good head voices? I've heard basses sing in the alto range in head voice and sounded really strong and not weak.

Answer 1

Go to the library and get a good book on this subject. It is a very complex subject which very few people on Yahoo! Questions and Answers will even understand much less be able to answer.

Answer 2

Two issues:
Sounding an octave higher: Either you're finding yourself 'confused' that the voice somehow is in the 'wrong' octave, or you're somehow hearing something more than the base pitch. You know logically, that the countertenor is singing in the treble clef at the exact same frequency pitch as an alto but your brain is telling you otherwise.

In some way, I think this is related to the second part of your question, and, as a singer, I think you know the answer. Just as a soprano has to 'belt out' a coleratura section, in that there is no subtle sweetness in high C's for example, men's voices must become more powerful the higher they get. A better sign of quality of training and the skill of the singer is how powerful a voice can be in the NORMAL register.

P.S. The first answerer is doing Yahoo Answers a great disservice to speak for what users here might or might not know. Spend some time on the 'fringe' topics and you'll find a lot of very smart people giving very informative, qualified answers.

Answer 3

the size of a man's vocal tract measured from the vocal cords themselves all the way out to the lips falls between 17-21 cm. a woman's vocal tract 14-17.5 cm. It is a 2:3 ratio from physics, which gives us women that upper octave.
Most tenors ( those with the shorter vocal tracts of men) and altos ( those with the longer tracts among women) basically sing the same notes. The difference is in the timbre because of the function of those notes in the range of the particular person.
When a man goes into falsetto voice, and counters are basically very well trained falsetto voices, he uses less than the full length of his less-than-an-inch-long vocal cords, which also gives him that higher lighter sound.
( Women do have this option- we call it whistle tones or flageolet, but it's another octave higher, and very few ladies need to get up there , so it doesn't enjoy the acclaim that falsetto does.)
May I recommend some books on scientific singing? There has been a lot researched and written in the last 2 decades on the scientific why and how of singing that might give you more detailed answers.
Voice: the mechanism and the Technique by Dr. William Vennard ( this was written in 1967 and is now out of date, but his insights are still very important)
The structure of singing by Richard Miller
The Science of the Singing Voice by Johann Sundberg
Vocal Health and Pedagogy by Dr. Robert T. Sataloff
( this was written last year, and summarizes the work of the last two decades without all the math and physics of Dr. Sundberg's book)

As to part two, not all basses have a good falsetto voice. Sometimes it is simply the contrast between their modal sound and that high light sound that makes it so effective.
Like everything else, it's a question of training. Some men simply don't feel comfortable in falsetto, until they get to know it better.
Best wishes and keep on singing

Answer 4

Just to add onto what Lynn.. wrote. My boyfriend is a counter tenor (we're both professional singers). In his "male" voice, he's a baritone. But in his "alto" voice, he's a contralto or low counter tenor. When a tenor decides to switch and become a counter tenor, my experience is that they usually end up being high counter tenors with not much power around middle C and lower.