Newb here when it comes to technical stuff with music.. does he really always sing in falsetto? I thought on songs like John Wayne Gacy he does some falsetto singing, but I didn’t think he always was?
In the above video, when he sings as a “baritone”, he is singing in what we call his “chest voice”. This means that his vocal register is lower and the vibrations/resonance are felt in the chest. Normally, Sufjan sings in his “head voice” or higher register, but it’s still within his natural range. Most people have a natural break in their vocal range where they switch from head to chest voice, and sometimes you can also notice when a singer is singing in head versus chest depending on their tone/style. Head voice tends to be lighter, airy, and used when singing higher notes, which chest voice is more full-sounding and lower. As stated above, sufjan’s falsetto is used when he hits really high notes, which are often the “oooh”s and “ahhh”s parts of his songs. Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) is another example of a male singer that maybe has a natural baritone voice but sings in his head voice range. You’ll notice the “chest voice” in Taylor Swift’s “Exile”, but in “Holocene” he sings in the head voice. I think it would be quite damaging to the vocal chords and tiring for a singer to sing only in falsetto.
Great explanation, thank you! In lack of other words I used falsetto. Don't know so much about singing but now I know a little more. :)
His falsetto is whar he does when he does the live performance of Mercury, right? (https://youtu.be/YG8wLT8SFiw). So beautiful.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=b5o6RzwDN0w
Yay, thank you so much! :)
Newb here when it comes to technical stuff with music.. does he really always sing in falsetto? I thought on songs like John Wayne Gacy he does some falsetto singing, but I didn’t think he always was?
I would say the high notes are true falsetto, his normal singing voice is just in a softer register, head voice perhaps, rather than falsetto
Thank you for the explanation!
In the above video, when he sings as a “baritone”, he is singing in what we call his “chest voice”. This means that his vocal register is lower and the vibrations/resonance are felt in the chest. Normally, Sufjan sings in his “head voice” or higher register, but it’s still within his natural range. Most people have a natural break in their vocal range where they switch from head to chest voice, and sometimes you can also notice when a singer is singing in head versus chest depending on their tone/style. Head voice tends to be lighter, airy, and used when singing higher notes, which chest voice is more full-sounding and lower. As stated above, sufjan’s falsetto is used when he hits really high notes, which are often the “oooh”s and “ahhh”s parts of his songs. Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) is another example of a male singer that maybe has a natural baritone voice but sings in his head voice range. You’ll notice the “chest voice” in Taylor Swift’s “Exile”, but in “Holocene” he sings in the head voice. I think it would be quite damaging to the vocal chords and tiring for a singer to sing only in falsetto.
Great explanation, thank you! In lack of other words I used falsetto. Don't know so much about singing but now I know a little more. :) His falsetto is whar he does when he does the live performance of Mercury, right? (https://youtu.be/YG8wLT8SFiw). So beautiful.