In Defense of Countertenors

What is a counter tenor? Countertenors are men who sing in the traditionally female alto or soprano ranges. Countertenor is short for contratenor altus which just means above the tenor. Two modes of vocalization available to both sexes are the chest voice and head voice. The chest voice, which produces low pitches, is what most people use to speak. For head voice, the larynx makes a gear shift, allowing for higher pitches. Most women use both modes when singing. Most men use only their chest voices.

Every human voice, male or female, has a "head" register and a "chest" register. People tend to speak in the chest register most of the time, and the head register has got tagged with the derogatory word "falsetto" as if there's something false about it, but it's natural. Singers work at developing the strength of both voices, along with a blended sound that brings in some characteristics of each. Counter-tenors and sopranos work in the head voice almost all the time, and singers of the lower voice parts work in the chest voice most of the time.

The human vocal cords operate pretty much like the strings on a musical instrument. You can't make a string resonate below its basic frequency. However, you can make it produce higher frequencies, either by shortening the string's effective length (which a violinist or guitarist for instance does with the fingers of his left hand), or by increasing the tension on the string (which with violins and guitars is done when tuning the instrument). Both these things can be done with the vocal cords, to a certain anatomically limited extent, but you cannot ever go lower than the lowest possible frequency.

This lowest frequency tends to be much lower in men than in women, because the human larynx, which has the vocal cords in it, is a secondary sexual characteristic, and in males undergoes a growth spurt at puberty (or, more colloquially, their "voice breaks", and they get an Adam's apple). Adult males therefore have longer vocal cords, on average, and a lower basic frequency to their voice than women. That was the whole idea behind castrati: by castrating a boy very early, he missed out on normal puberty, his larynx only expanded proportionally with the rest of his body (as it does with women), and he ended up with his voice in a soprano or alto range.

Sopranos use exactly the same vocal techniques to achieve their high notes that male falsettists use to achieve theirs (men and women do not have differently constructed larynxes, it's just the average size that differs). It's a matter of cultural prejudice that many people have grown used to hearing only women sing this way, not men (at least in classical music -- in pop music, as has been pointed out, the falsetto voice has always been a very "natural" presence).

This doesn't mean that there aren't women with naturally very low voices, or men with naturally very high voices just as the fact that men are on average taller than women doesn't mean that there aren't any women that are taller than most men, or men that are shorter than most women. What we do have is a culturally determined problem where a low voice is associated with "masculinity", which makes many men nervous about singing in a high register (to a large extent because "not masculine" is in turn culturally associated with "homosexual"), and makes many women nervous about singing in a low register for the same reasons.

A voice teacher on the countertenor voice: " In my experience, the counter tenor is basically a singer who has developed the falsetto with such strength that it has similar power and resonance of a full-voiced sound. Often these singers possess a lower male voice; baritone or bass in the changed voice function. I have found that the lower male voices usually (not always) have stronger and more beautiful falsettos. In studying the successful counter tenors, I have found the singer often possesses the ability to hold back tremendous amounts of breath pressure with the body, which allows the falsetto to develop great strength and beauty of tone along with excellent agility. This agility makes it possible to sing the florid phrases demanded in the earlier vocal literature. "

In spite of all this, countertenors are viewed at times as "something of a circus" or at least a freak show. Philippe Jaroussky, David Daniels, Andreas Scholl and others have all experienced the nervous laughs from one or two spectators who had no idea countertenors exist! (Or what they sound like) David Daniels said once that every time he goes on stage he feels he has to convince the public of the virility of his role.

This prejudice definitely didn't exist in the baroque time.It is a completely modern bias. It's something counter-tenors have had to put up with since the voice type reemerged as a solo singing voice in the 1950s (it had never died out in the English choral tradition, of course). Even today every counter-tenor who's interviewed can expect strange questions about his sexual identity and orientation -- questions that nobody would ever dream of asking of a bass or tenor, or female soprano or alto, despite the fact that those people's voices are just as "natural" or "unnatural" as his.This inexplicable association between the male alto voice and a sexual orientation, an association that's made even more inexplicable because you apparently only have it with clasically trained singing voices, not with pop music singers!

Not the least at all is the prejudice existing among singers, such as mezzos, or directors, about the competence of countertenors. The jokes about "avian" sounds and general hootiness are widespread as well as the idea that the natural singers to succeed castrati should be female. But in this visual age, looks are important even (or especially?) in opera, and Julius Cesar as a woman is harder to swallow than a countertenor with a soft voice.

But countertenors are not all created equal. Some use techniques that are very effective and insure good projection and even tone. Of course Philippe Jaroussky comes to mind, as also David Daniels. The voices range from full, plummy sounds to pure transparent, almost "white" singing. Again the voice teacher :..."'hooty' sound comes from a low soft palate position and a high larynx position. What causes a low palate and high larynx is the pushing of too much breath pressure in an attempt to However, the trademark 'hooty' sound that some counter tenors develop is held in the mind of many as a vocal characteristic....Breath control alone does not solve the problem of lack of beauty in the voice altogether. The missing piece is not just a high soft palate and lower larynx position, but one huge key is the tongue position. If the tongue is trained in the 'ng' position, then the singer can begin to feel nasal resonance, a concept that allows many higher overtones into the vocal production. Without these higher overtones, a counter tenor (and any other voice type for that matter.) can sound hooty and pushed."

As a final note, the proof of the pudding is in the tasting. In this case, the listening. And when you listen to a good countertenor, chances are you will feel amazed at the sound. Different from a woman's, it will carry you to a place where beautiful voices , be them men's or women's, surround you and fill your soul. After all, isn't this what singing is all about?


This piece has been compiled from various forums and other sources in the net and written material available. M.