0:00:02 > 0:00:04OPERATIC SINGING
0:00:11 > 0:00:12From high culture...
0:00:12 > 0:00:15MUSIC: 'You Make Me Feel Mighty Real' by Sylvester
0:00:15 > 0:00:19..to high camp.
0:00:19 > 0:00:22The high-pitched falsetto voice is like the female vocal range
0:00:22 > 0:00:26and men have been using it for as long as they have been singing.
0:00:26 > 0:00:29And yet it never fails to get a reaction.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32HE SINGS NESSUM DORMA
0:00:34 > 0:00:37APPLAUSE
0:00:41 > 0:00:44- What do you think, Simon? - It's like a dog meowing.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47LAUGHTER
0:00:47 > 0:00:49It just shouldn't do that.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51But it does do that, Simon.
0:00:51 > 0:00:55The falsetto has given some of the greatest groups of all time
0:00:55 > 0:00:57their trademark sound.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59# Whether you're a brother or whether you're a mother
0:00:59 > 0:01:01# You're staying alive, staying alive
0:01:01 > 0:01:03# Feel the city breaking and everybody shaking
0:01:03 > 0:01:05# Staying alive, staying alive. #
0:01:08 > 0:01:13But a man seen singing that high can also be seen as an aberration.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17Because you SOUND like a girl, you don't have to act like one.
0:01:17 > 0:01:22# Walk like a man, talk like a man
0:01:22 > 0:01:25# Walk like a man, my son. #
0:01:25 > 0:01:27FALSETTO VOICE: I'm not doing it now!
0:01:27 > 0:01:29RISING IN PITCH: A-a-ah!
0:01:29 > 0:01:32- This might end up on the cutting room floor. - I hope I'm not frightening you.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35SINGING
0:01:35 > 0:01:38# God bless you. #
0:01:38 > 0:01:42It's a voice that can reveal another facet of masculinity.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46I think a lot of women like to see the sensitive side of men.
0:01:46 > 0:01:51- The feminine side? - Er, the sensitive side!- Oh, sorry.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58So where does the falsetto voice come from?
0:01:58 > 0:02:01# Up in the head. # It's got to be up here.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05HIGH-PITCHED: Kind of like how Michael Jackson talked.
0:02:05 > 0:02:07CHOIR SINGS
0:02:07 > 0:02:10And it's the unique sound of the falsetto
0:02:10 > 0:02:13that seems able to transport us to heaven knows where.
0:02:35 > 0:02:37Ladies and gentlemen, I present the man
0:02:37 > 0:02:39that hits the notes up into the sky.
0:02:39 > 0:02:41Will you give him a big welcome!
0:02:41 > 0:02:44Mr Eddie "Hit Those Notes" Holman!
0:02:44 > 0:02:45APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:02:45 > 0:02:50Yes, this is Eddie Holman. The one and only.
0:02:50 > 0:02:56Eddie scored a worldwide smash with Hey There, Lonely Girl in 1969.
0:02:56 > 0:03:03# Hey there, lonely girl
0:03:03 > 0:03:06# Lonely girl
0:03:06 > 0:03:12# Let me make your broken heart like new
0:03:13 > 0:03:18# Hey there, lonely girl
0:03:18 > 0:03:22# Lonely girl
0:03:22 > 0:03:30# Don't you know this lonely boy loves you... #
0:03:30 > 0:03:33# Hey there, lonely boy
0:03:33 > 0:03:34# Lonely boy... #
0:03:34 > 0:03:38The song was originally entitled Hey There, Lonely Boy.
0:03:38 > 0:03:42It was a minor hit for Ruby And The Romantics in 1963.
0:03:42 > 0:03:44But this falsetto version
0:03:44 > 0:03:47gave Eddie Holman a chart buster around the world.
0:03:47 > 0:03:50He was dubbed the voice of an angel
0:03:50 > 0:03:53and he's been dining out on it ever since.
0:03:53 > 0:03:58# Hey, hey, hey, lonely girl
0:03:58 > 0:04:02# My only girl
0:04:02 > 0:04:07# Let me make your broken heart like new... #
0:04:07 > 0:04:09I wonder how Eddie would describe his voice?
0:04:09 > 0:04:11Are we filming?
0:04:11 > 0:04:15- Yeah.- We are?- Yes. - Oh! How would I describe my voice?
0:04:18 > 0:04:22I have one of the greatest falsetto voices of all time.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I'm not saying I'm the greatest singer of all time,
0:04:29 > 0:04:32but I am ONE of the greatest singers of all time.
0:04:32 > 0:04:35And the falsetto voice that I have
0:04:35 > 0:04:38is unbelievable, it's powerful.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41'If I can think it, I can sing it.'
0:04:41 > 0:04:48# Don't you know this lonely boy loves...
0:04:48 > 0:04:53# Yo-o-ou
0:04:53 > 0:04:56# Yo-o-ou
0:04:56 > 0:05:00# Yo-o-ou.#
0:05:00 > 0:05:02It just makes you creative
0:05:02 > 0:05:06when you know you have the power to go from here to there.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09# Hey there, lonely girl
0:05:09 > 0:05:12'It's just something that I'm proud of,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16'to be in the business now as a professional performer for 56 years'
0:05:16 > 0:05:19and still sound even greater
0:05:19 > 0:05:21than I did when I was a kid.
0:05:21 > 0:05:24That makes me feel good,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28but there is no falsetto in the world like mine.
0:05:29 > 0:05:31Thank you, Eddie.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Right, well...
0:05:35 > 0:05:38# Round, round, get around, I get around
0:05:38 > 0:05:41# Yeah, get around, round, round, I get around
0:05:41 > 0:05:43- # I get around - Get around, round, round,
0:05:43 > 0:05:44# I get around
0:05:44 > 0:05:47- # From town to town - Get around, round, round
0:05:47 > 0:05:48- # I get around - # I'm a real cool head
0:05:48 > 0:05:50# Get around, round, round
0:05:50 > 0:05:54- # I'm making real good bread - Get around, round, round... #
0:05:54 > 0:05:57Eddie Holman is definitely one of a kind.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00But for a generation like mine, it was this sound
0:06:00 > 0:06:03from the West Coast of America which first introduced us
0:06:03 > 0:06:06to the thrilling heights of the falsetto.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10It was the trademark vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys,
0:06:10 > 0:06:13with Brian Wilson's soaring falsetto on top,
0:06:13 > 0:06:17that defined the sunny optimism of post-war America.
0:06:17 > 0:06:20- # I'm a real cool head - Get around, round, round
0:06:20 > 0:06:22- # I'm making real good bread - Get around, round, round
0:06:22 > 0:06:24# I get around
0:06:24 > 0:06:25# I get around, round
0:06:25 > 0:06:28# Get around, round, round, round... #
0:06:28 > 0:06:31It became known as the California Sound
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and it evoked a compelling world
0:06:34 > 0:06:36of fun, sun, sea and surf.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39But what were its origins?
0:06:39 > 0:06:44RADIO: 'The Four Freshmen - That's My Desire.'
0:06:48 > 0:06:54# To spend one night with you
0:06:54 > 0:06:59# In our old rendezvous... #
0:06:59 > 0:07:01It was this quartet, The Four Freshmen,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05that dominated the American airwaves in the 1950s.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07Their lead singer was Bob Flanigan.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11His vocal range give the group a special quality,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14which massively influenced the young Brian Wilson.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17HARMONISED VOCALS
0:07:17 > 0:07:19'I got so...'
0:07:19 > 0:07:22So goddamned into The Freshmen,
0:07:22 > 0:07:27that I almost became The Freshmen.
0:07:27 > 0:07:33HARMONISING VOCALS
0:07:33 > 0:07:37I could identify with Bob Flanigan's high voice and I could sing along.
0:07:37 > 0:07:41He taught me how to sing high. I kept singing for a whole year.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45For a year, I spent working with the Freshmen on my hi-fi.
0:07:45 > 0:07:49And I'll be goddamned if I didn't learn every song they did.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52# To meet where gypsies play... #
0:07:52 > 0:07:56The first song we learned was Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring,
0:07:56 > 0:08:00Which is of course one of the most beautiful Freshmen tunes.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04That was our piece de resistance.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09# There's a story told
0:08:09 > 0:08:15# Of a very gentle boy
0:08:15 > 0:08:22# And the girl who wore his ring
0:08:22 > 0:08:28# Through the wintry snow
0:08:28 > 0:08:34# The world they knew was warm
0:08:34 > 0:08:42# For their hearts were full of spring. #
0:08:42 > 0:08:46The Four Freshmen have been performing since 1948,
0:08:46 > 0:08:50albeit with numerous personnel changes along the way.
0:08:50 > 0:08:53Here in the Californian desert,
0:08:53 > 0:08:56near the retirement resort of Palm Springs,
0:08:56 > 0:08:58the current incarnation of The Freshmen
0:08:58 > 0:09:01has become a much-loved institution.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05They play to packed houses, season after season.
0:09:05 > 0:09:12# Little surfer, little one
0:09:12 > 0:09:18# Make my heart come all undone
0:09:18 > 0:09:23# Do you love me
0:09:23 > 0:09:26# Do you, surfer girl? #
0:09:26 > 0:09:30'I was a huge Beach Boys fan'
0:09:30 > 0:09:34before I even heard of The Four Freshmen. So to find out that there
0:09:34 > 0:09:37was a connection later with this thing I was doing,
0:09:37 > 0:09:38I thought, "Oh, wow!"
0:09:38 > 0:09:42I came in that way, you know? I'm a huge Brian Wilson fan.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44I'm trying to sing like him.
0:09:44 > 0:09:47And he's trying to sing like, you know, "my part" guy.
0:09:47 > 0:09:51- # Come rain, come shine - Do-be-do-be-do
0:09:51 > 0:09:55# I meet you and to me, the day is fine
0:09:55 > 0:09:59# Then I kiss your lips and the pounding becomes
0:09:59 > 0:10:03# An ocean's roar, ten thousand drums... #
0:10:03 > 0:10:07The Freshmen followed in a tradition of barbershop harmony singing,
0:10:07 > 0:10:12which they then subverted by giving the melody line to Bob Flanigan.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Bob Flanigan was very talented
0:10:16 > 0:10:20as a falsetto tenor and a full-voiced tenor.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22It became very natural for him,
0:10:22 > 0:10:25so they used him on all these high parts.
0:10:25 > 0:10:28That was what really inspired a lot of other vocal groups,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30including The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson.
0:10:30 > 0:10:35Do you try to stay very close to the original Four Freshmen sound?
0:10:35 > 0:10:38Is that what you're really trying to achieve?
0:10:38 > 0:10:42Yeah, definitely. The way that they voiced chords.
0:10:42 > 0:10:50# It's a blue world
0:10:50 > 0:10:56# Without you
0:10:56 > 0:11:03# It's a blue world
0:11:03 > 0:11:07# Alone... #
0:11:07 > 0:11:10'You just make it as high as you can,'
0:11:10 > 0:11:13because the higher the top guy can get, the more notes and better,
0:11:13 > 0:11:16more interesting chords you can squeeze underneath it.
0:11:16 > 0:11:18As the top guy goes down,
0:11:18 > 0:11:23it turns the other four parts real close, the lower you get.
0:11:23 > 0:11:31# When that hazy, crazy night we met
0:11:31 > 0:11:40# When a nightingale sang
0:11:40 > 0:11:48# Ooh, a nightingale sang
0:11:48 > 0:11:57# When a nightingale sang
0:11:57 > 0:12:04# In Berkeley
0:12:04 > 0:12:07# Square. #
0:12:07 > 0:12:11APPLAUSE
0:12:30 > 0:12:33Come the beginning of the 1970s, the falsetto voice
0:12:33 > 0:12:36had found a home in Philadelphia.
0:12:36 > 0:12:37With the aid of Eddie Holman,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41it ushered in the Philly Sound - black American soul
0:12:41 > 0:12:46with a distinctly different beat from anything else around.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50'A lot of those New York,'
0:12:50 > 0:12:52Chicago... They were up-tempo soul.
0:12:52 > 0:12:57# Ooh, ooh, ooh, whoa, whoa
0:12:57 > 0:13:01# Ooh, ooh, ooh, whoa, whoa.#
0:13:01 > 0:13:06With Philadelphia, it was slower, a bit more laid-back and more like...
0:13:06 > 0:13:08HE TAPS FOOT AND CLAPS
0:13:13 > 0:13:19# I don't have plans and schemes
0:13:19 > 0:13:26# And I don't have hopes and dreams
0:13:26 > 0:13:31# I don't have
0:13:31 > 0:13:34# Anything
0:13:34 > 0:13:40# Since I don't have you. #
0:13:43 > 0:13:46So now you're taking that falsetto and you're turning it into a ballad.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49You're making it slow. That's what the sound of Philadelphia is.
0:13:49 > 0:13:54I helped put that on the map and I've inspired every falsetto singer
0:13:54 > 0:13:57since the time that I started.
0:14:12 > 0:14:17The falsetto wasn't only being used by solo artists.
0:14:17 > 0:14:20As the '70s progressed, Philadelphia groups
0:14:20 > 0:14:23were putting the voice upfront and storming the charts.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30# If I had money, I'd go out... #
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Anyone remember this? Top Of The Pops, 1975.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38# And in a chauffeured limousine
0:14:38 > 0:14:41# We'd look so fine
0:14:43 > 0:14:46# But I'm an ordinary guy
0:14:46 > 0:14:51# And my pockets are empty. #
0:14:51 > 0:14:54You had a lot of top 10 hits in England in the mid-70s.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56The Stylistics were really hot.
0:14:56 > 0:14:59We watched you on Top Of The Pops. Do you remember?
0:14:59 > 0:15:01Yeah, I remember Top Of The Pops very well.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04# Wise men say
0:15:04 > 0:15:07# Only fools rush in
0:15:08 > 0:15:11# But I can't help
0:15:11 > 0:15:15# Falling in love, falling in love... #
0:15:15 > 0:15:17# Wonder woman
0:15:17 > 0:15:21# Wonder woman, wonder woman
0:15:21 > 0:15:23# You will never know... #
0:15:25 > 0:15:31# I am guilty of loving you too... #
0:15:31 > 0:15:34How did you discover this very distinctive voice that you have,
0:15:34 > 0:15:38and which really was the voice for the Stylistics
0:15:38 > 0:15:40when you began in the '60s?
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Well, growing up, most of the things, before I became a falsetto,
0:15:43 > 0:15:47I could sing all that in my natural voice as a kid.
0:15:47 > 0:15:52My father was a singer, so growing up listening to him,
0:15:52 > 0:15:54I could imitate what he did.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58In fact, he did a little bit of instruction when it came to singing,
0:15:58 > 0:16:00by listening to different records
0:16:00 > 0:16:04and showing me techniques that the singers were using on the records.
0:16:04 > 0:16:09MUSIC: "One Mint Julep" by The Clovers
0:16:12 > 0:16:14Just having music around all the time, you know,
0:16:14 > 0:16:17in a black family that did a lot of things together
0:16:17 > 0:16:20and going to church and different things, there was music everywhere,
0:16:20 > 0:16:23even after glee club or after junior high school,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27we would all get together and sing the parts in the gymnasium
0:16:27 > 0:16:32and the subways and places where the reverb was automatic,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34and, you know, the harmony would sound very good.
0:16:34 > 0:16:36And when my voice started to change,
0:16:36 > 0:16:39I really wanted to continue to sing in that range
0:16:39 > 0:16:44and I found that I could do it by using the falsetto.
0:16:44 > 0:16:49And locally, when I was very young, before my falsetto started,
0:16:49 > 0:16:50I'd listen to Frankie Valli
0:16:50 > 0:16:54on the first radio I ever owned of my own.
0:16:54 > 0:16:59MUSIC: "Sherry" by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
0:16:59 > 0:17:04He used to come on a station in Philadelphia called WIBG, "wibbage."
0:17:04 > 0:17:06What was it about that sound that appealed to you so much?
0:17:06 > 0:17:13I guess the songs they sang, Sherry Baby and things like that,
0:17:13 > 0:17:15but I guess it was the fact that
0:17:15 > 0:17:19I was able to mimic, you know, what he was doing.
0:17:19 > 0:17:20# He said it
0:17:20 > 0:17:22# Walk like a man
0:17:22 > 0:17:25# Talk like a man
0:17:25 > 0:17:28# Walk like a man, my son
0:17:28 > 0:17:30# No woman's worth
0:17:30 > 0:17:32# Crawling on the earth
0:17:32 > 0:17:37# So walk like a man, my son
0:17:37 > 0:17:40# Oo-wee-oo-oo-oo... #
0:17:40 > 0:17:47What I learned about singing came from listening to other people sing
0:17:47 > 0:17:50and in many cases,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53doing impressions of other singers,
0:17:53 > 0:17:58and I was listening to a lot of R&B groups very early on in my career
0:17:58 > 0:18:03and most of them, in their background, they used falsetto.
0:18:05 > 0:18:07So I tried it and I had it.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09I thought everybody had it.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13# Oo-wee-oo-oo-oo-oo-wee
0:18:13 > 0:18:16# Walk! Walk! Walk... #
0:18:16 > 0:18:18We probably were the first to use it
0:18:18 > 0:18:23as a singing lead as opposed to background,
0:18:23 > 0:18:27and I became very well-known for doing falsetto.
0:18:27 > 0:18:31It wasn't always my favourite thing to do
0:18:31 > 0:18:35because I like singing straight...
0:18:35 > 0:18:38regular music, like a man would sing.
0:18:38 > 0:18:42# Walk like a man, fast as I can
0:18:42 > 0:18:46# Walk like a man from you
0:18:46 > 0:18:50# I'll tell the world, "Forget about it, girl"
0:18:50 > 0:18:54# And walk like a man from you
0:18:54 > 0:18:57I don't think anybody starts out in their life and says,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01"I'm going to sing every song in full falsetto."
0:19:01 > 0:19:04Now, there are groups out there that do that.
0:19:06 > 0:19:10One of them is the lead singer of The Stylistics.
0:19:10 > 0:19:12He sings everything in falsetto.
0:19:12 > 0:19:17Now, I don't think I would want to do that, and I love what he does.
0:19:17 > 0:19:24# There's a spark of magic in your eyes
0:19:24 > 0:19:30# Candyland appears each time you smile
0:19:30 > 0:19:36# Who'd have thought that fairytales came true?
0:19:37 > 0:19:40# But they come true
0:19:40 > 0:19:44# When I'm near you
0:19:44 > 0:19:49# You're a genie in disguise
0:19:49 > 0:19:54# Full of wonder and surprise
0:19:54 > 0:19:58# And betcha by golly, wow... #
0:19:58 > 0:20:03It's interesting that you as a child, you've got this voice,
0:20:03 > 0:20:05and you want to keep that voice, basically,
0:20:05 > 0:20:08as you go through adulthood. It's kind of a weird thing.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11How did you go about keeping it?
0:20:11 > 0:20:13It was just there.
0:20:13 > 0:20:18I started to become a baritone but I still had the ability to do that.
0:20:18 > 0:20:20I don't know, I can't explain it.
0:20:20 > 0:20:26I just had the ability to go to my natural tenor and hit the falsetto
0:20:26 > 0:20:30and it stayed that way all the way until I was about in my 20s
0:20:30 > 0:20:33and my voice started to get deeper and deeper,
0:20:33 > 0:20:35so then I developed a technique of using my natural voice
0:20:35 > 0:20:38from baritone all the way up to the falsetto.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41We used to call it crossing the bridge,
0:20:41 > 0:20:44where the natural voice can blend into where the falsetto picks up,
0:20:44 > 0:20:46and you can't hear the break in it.
0:20:46 > 0:20:52# If I could, I'd catch a falling star
0:20:52 > 0:20:58# To shine on you so I'll know where you are
0:21:00 > 0:21:04# Order rainbows in your favourite shade
0:21:06 > 0:21:09# To show I love you
0:21:09 > 0:21:12# Thinking of you... #
0:21:12 > 0:21:17For some people, there's something unnatural about the falsetto.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21- Mm-hmm.- And something also aspirational about it, you know,
0:21:21 > 0:21:23you're taking us places we don't normally go.
0:21:23 > 0:21:26As I said before, it is a sensitivity.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29I don't why it just popped in my mind, you know, like The Platters -
0:21:29 > 0:21:31# Only yo-o-ou
0:21:31 > 0:21:35# Can make this world seem bri-i-ight
0:21:35 > 0:21:39# Only yo-o-ou
0:21:39 > 0:21:42# Can make the darkness bri-i-ight. #
0:21:42 > 0:21:45It's just sensitive, you know?
0:21:45 > 0:21:50I know sometimes in my falsetto, I hear soprano.
0:21:50 > 0:21:52So, I think soprano.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55I think like a feminine voice.
0:21:55 > 0:22:00And depending on the song, it comes across good if you can do it that way.
0:22:00 > 0:22:02MUSIC: "Don't Make Me Over" by Dionne Warwick
0:22:02 > 0:22:04# Don't make me over
0:22:04 > 0:22:10# Now that I'd do anything for you... #
0:22:11 > 0:22:17Female voices have always been a big inspiration for falsetto singers.
0:22:17 > 0:22:20I was mimicking more female vocalists,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23probably cos of the emotional quality of the voice.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27As well, I was raised with my mom and my sister
0:22:27 > 0:22:30and a bunch of women, not so much, you know, guys.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33But I don't think that has anything to do with it.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36Basically, they just happened to be in the high register.
0:22:36 > 0:22:40People like Sarah Vaughan and Morgana King
0:22:40 > 0:22:43and Ella Fitzgerald and Dionne Warwick.
0:22:43 > 0:22:47I just remember, you know - # Don't make me over. #
0:22:47 > 0:22:50# Don't make me over
0:22:50 > 0:22:52# I wouldn't change one thing... #
0:22:52 > 0:22:58I was too young to analyse the difference between a female voice and the male voice,
0:22:58 > 0:23:04but the vibrato, I didn't know what that was or anything, you know.
0:23:04 > 0:23:08But, you know, just the beauty of that instrument.
0:23:08 > 0:23:14# And after this love game has been played
0:23:14 > 0:23:19# All our illusions were just a parade
0:23:19 > 0:23:23# And all the reasons start... #
0:23:23 > 0:23:26'The falsetto, it's pleasing to the ear.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30'It's similar to a lullaby.'
0:23:30 > 0:23:32It's romantic in nature.
0:23:32 > 0:23:37And it's something that...
0:23:37 > 0:23:41everyone can...sing along to.
0:23:41 > 0:23:45Even if they can't sing up in that register, they can try.
0:23:45 > 0:23:46# Ba-de-ya
0:23:46 > 0:23:48# Say, do you remember?
0:23:48 > 0:23:50# Ba-de-ya... #
0:23:50 > 0:23:54'But all those songs with those sing-along hooks up in the upper register,
0:23:54 > 0:23:56'pretty much became our trademark.'
0:23:56 > 0:23:58# ..yea-a-a-ah
0:23:58 > 0:24:00# Woo!
0:24:00 > 0:24:03# Ba-de-ya-de-ya-de-ya
0:24:03 > 0:24:07# Ba-de-ya-de-ya-de-ya... #
0:24:07 > 0:24:10'I think the falsetto goes back to our African roots.
0:24:10 > 0:24:16'If you listen to the sounds of African singers...'
0:24:16 > 0:24:20# Hey-le-le-la-le-lu-le Le-la-la-la-la-la-le-lu
0:24:20 > 0:24:25# 'Hey-la-la-le-le-le-le La-la-lu-lu-lu. #
0:24:25 > 0:24:27'It's a very natural thing.'
0:24:27 > 0:24:30ALL SING AND HORN BLARES
0:24:32 > 0:24:34'The ways in which African music merged'
0:24:34 > 0:24:38with all sorts of different kinds of musical forms
0:24:38 > 0:24:44and interacted with European musical forms in the context of captivity
0:24:44 > 0:24:49in the Americas, lent itself to these very dissonant sounds.
0:24:49 > 0:24:54# I-I-I-I love you Lord!
0:24:54 > 0:24:58# He he-e-eard my cry-ah!
0:24:58 > 0:25:01- # Ya-ah-h-h - He-e-e-eard... #
0:25:01 > 0:25:05Falsetto was a way of African-Americans, once again,
0:25:05 > 0:25:09taking back what was a kind of form of abjection and pain
0:25:09 > 0:25:13and turning it into something creative and empowering,
0:25:13 > 0:25:17'especially in the 20th century gospel singing tradition.'
0:25:17 > 0:25:20THEY SING SOULFUL MELODY
0:25:20 > 0:25:23# Hey-ey-ey-ey... #
0:25:23 > 0:25:27Gospel music gave African-Americans a way in which to create
0:25:27 > 0:25:31an alternative world when this material world was so cruel.
0:25:31 > 0:25:36All the way from Detroit,
0:25:36 > 0:25:38The Fantastic...
0:25:38 > 0:25:41'Violinaires!'
0:25:42 > 0:25:45Everybody say, "Praise the Lord!"
0:25:45 > 0:25:48CHEERING
0:25:50 > 0:25:52# Our Father
0:25:52 > 0:25:58# Which art in hea-a-av...en... #
0:25:58 > 0:26:01CHEERING
0:26:01 > 0:26:05# Hallow will be-e-e-e thy name
0:26:05 > 0:26:08# Woo-ooh-woo-hoo
0:26:08 > 0:26:09# Ho-o-oo
0:26:11 > 0:26:14# Thy kingdom come
0:26:14 > 0:26:19# Thy will be-e-e-e
0:26:19 > 0:26:21# Done
0:26:21 > 0:26:23# On Earth
0:26:23 > 0:26:26# As it i-i-is
0:26:26 > 0:26:32# In Hea... Hea-ea-ea-ea-ven. #
0:26:33 > 0:26:35'The falsetto - there's nothing prettier.'
0:26:35 > 0:26:37The bass singer does what he does -
0:26:37 > 0:26:40that gets the attention of authority -
0:26:40 > 0:26:43and the baritone mellows it out.
0:26:43 > 0:26:46But that tenor falsetto, it makes...
0:26:46 > 0:26:49- I mean, the best singers... - The icing on the cake.
0:26:49 > 0:26:52- It is the icing on the cake. - Mmm-hmm.- I mean, when you can...
0:26:52 > 0:26:54HE SINGS IN FALSETTO
0:26:54 > 0:26:55THEY CHUCKLE
0:26:55 > 0:27:00Oh, people look at you with different eyes. "Oh, my. He can sing."
0:27:00 > 0:27:02# Wherever he leads me
0:27:04 > 0:27:06# Wherever he leads me
0:27:06 > 0:27:09# Wherever he leads me
0:27:09 > 0:27:11# Wherever he leads me
0:27:11 > 0:27:13# Wherever he leads me
0:27:13 > 0:27:16# Wherever he leads me
0:27:17 > 0:27:24# Leads. #
0:27:26 > 0:27:30I tell you like a lady told me once, it is shocking,
0:27:30 > 0:27:34it's amazing to see guys sing that high.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38- And there's no strain.- Mmm.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40- And they say, "Wow..." - Speak for yourself!
0:27:40 > 0:27:42HE LAUGHS
0:27:42 > 0:27:45And, you know, I've had them coming to me all the time saying,
0:27:45 > 0:27:47"Man, you sing high.
0:27:47 > 0:27:50"Are you all right? I say, "Well, that's just the way it is."
0:27:53 > 0:27:57Every time we sing, it's supposed to sound as though
0:27:57 > 0:28:01you were pulling a violin bow across the neck of the violin.
0:28:01 > 0:28:05That's why we have the mmmm sound when we sing.
0:28:05 > 0:28:09Make it pretty, now.
0:28:09 > 0:28:13'It's more or less a note, an instrument, than it is a voice.'
0:28:15 > 0:28:20# He, he, he leads
0:28:20 > 0:28:25# Leads
0:28:31 > 0:28:33# Me. #
0:28:33 > 0:28:37I chose gospel because I was in it all my life.
0:28:37 > 0:28:40I had a chance to go with The Manhattans,
0:28:40 > 0:28:43I had a chance to talk with The Temptations -
0:28:43 > 0:28:45I had a chance to do all of these things,
0:28:45 > 0:28:51but I always found myself in love with doing God's work.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53And it pays off better, you know?
0:28:53 > 0:28:56Yeah, you can have the whole world but the word of God said,
0:28:56 > 0:29:00"What good does it do you to have the whole world and lose your soul?"
0:29:00 > 0:29:03So I just love my gospel music.
0:29:03 > 0:29:04# Praise him
0:29:04 > 0:29:07# Praise him
0:29:07 > 0:29:11- # You ought to praise the Lord - Praise him
0:29:11 > 0:29:15- # Because Jesus - Jesus
0:29:15 > 0:29:20- # Messiah - Messiah
0:29:20 > 0:29:24# His word is true. #
0:29:24 > 0:29:27Bring it to the floor.
0:29:27 > 0:29:30RELIGIOUS CHORAL SINGING
0:29:32 > 0:29:34It's not only the gospel church
0:29:34 > 0:29:39which has used the high pitch of the falsetto to get closer to heaven.
0:29:39 > 0:29:41The English choral tradition would be bereft
0:29:41 > 0:29:45without the familiar sound of the boy treble.
0:29:45 > 0:29:47And yet the purity of that voice
0:29:47 > 0:29:52is a gift which will eventually be revoked.
0:29:55 > 0:30:00When this piece of music by Thomas Tallis was written in the 16th century,
0:30:00 > 0:30:03women weren't allowed to sing in cathedral choirs.
0:30:03 > 0:30:05The high parts were taken by young boys.
0:30:05 > 0:30:10When their voices broke, in order to continue singing in that childhood range,
0:30:10 > 0:30:12they falsified their voice.
0:30:12 > 0:30:14Hence, the falsetto,
0:30:14 > 0:30:18known in the choral world as male altos or countertenors.
0:30:18 > 0:30:23THEY HARMONISE IN LATIN
0:30:32 > 0:30:35And leaving the treble voice of your childhood behind
0:30:35 > 0:30:37is like a rite of passage.
0:30:37 > 0:30:39Trebles in the front row here
0:30:39 > 0:30:43are boys aged 13, 14, and, in some cases, I think probably 15.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46- So this is our front row here. - Yeah, the front row just here.
0:30:46 > 0:30:51These are trebles, if you like, in the final throes of their lives as trebles, probably.
0:30:51 > 0:30:54Either the twilight or the absolute purple patch
0:30:54 > 0:30:56when they sound at their most brilliant.
0:30:56 > 0:30:59- Would you like to hear just the trebles sing?- Yes, I would love to.
0:30:59 > 0:31:03So you can hear. Some of these boys are definitely on the way down.
0:31:03 > 0:31:07Can you just sing the first couple of phrases on your own for me, please, trebles?
0:31:07 > 0:31:10Just with organ accompaniment, so we can hear the trebles very clearly on their own.
0:31:10 > 0:31:13ORGAN STARTS Here we go.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19THEY SING IN UNISON
0:31:34 > 0:31:36So that's what the trebles sound like.
0:31:36 > 0:31:38You can hear that there's quite a rich sound there,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41that some of these boys' voices are changing already.
0:31:41 > 0:31:43What do you feel about having this gift, this voice?
0:31:43 > 0:31:48Being a treble is amazing because you have this voice
0:31:48 > 0:31:50and you're not going to have it for very much longer.
0:31:50 > 0:31:53You have to take the chance when you have it
0:31:53 > 0:31:55and use it as well as you can.
0:31:55 > 0:31:57If you're not entirely confident
0:31:57 > 0:31:59that you'll be able to get every note
0:31:59 > 0:32:01in a reasonable falsetto range cleanly,
0:32:01 > 0:32:07then I think sometimes it's foolish to try and pretend that you can sing a good falsetto
0:32:07 > 0:32:09just because you want to,
0:32:09 > 0:32:13and maybe you should kind of accept that and move on to tenor or bass.
0:32:13 > 0:32:16The second rows in our choir are alto line
0:32:16 > 0:32:20and I suppose some of them are countertenors, falsettists.
0:32:20 > 0:32:24Some of them are probably still trebles sliding down.
0:32:24 > 0:32:27So, of the boys - let's take this side first -
0:32:27 > 0:32:30of the boys on this side, how many of you see yourselves as falsettists?
0:32:30 > 0:32:33So you know you've got a changed voice already
0:32:33 > 0:32:36and you're singing alto cos I've encouraged you to do so for the good of the choir?
0:32:36 > 0:32:39So we've got four. And on this side?
0:32:39 > 0:32:42So we've got a mixture of trebles sinking
0:32:42 > 0:32:45and boys with voices that have already changed -
0:32:45 > 0:32:48so countertenors - singing the alto line.
0:32:48 > 0:32:50- Would you like to hear a little bit of the altos on their own?- Yes.
0:32:50 > 0:32:52This shows what a difficult line it is to sing
0:32:52 > 0:32:55because it can be quite low in a changing voice
0:32:55 > 0:32:59and then suddenly quite high as well. So just the altos, the beginning.
0:32:59 > 0:33:00Here we go.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05THEY SING IN UNISON
0:33:22 > 0:33:26Let me ask the falsettists what it feels like now to actually,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29as you say, contrive this voice
0:33:29 > 0:33:34or take this treble voice which you haven't quite...you're losing,
0:33:34 > 0:33:36and actually begin to shape it.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39It's quite interesting because a falsetto, when you first get it,
0:33:39 > 0:33:43essentially feels like when you're a treble and having to sing really high notes.
0:33:43 > 0:33:45It's like your head voice but it's gone lower
0:33:45 > 0:33:50so you've now got your whole range as what your head voice was as a treble.
0:33:50 > 0:33:54And it's quite different but when you improve and work on it,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57it becomes really free and easy to sing as a falsetto.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59THEY SING IN HARMONY
0:34:13 > 0:34:18You're in this unusual position that the countertenor voice or the falsetto voice...
0:34:18 > 0:34:22- What do you call them? - The falsettists.
0:34:22 > 0:34:25The falsettists, as you call them, the countertenor voice,
0:34:25 > 0:34:27is one that you can see this transition.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31So what have you noticed about what makes a treble
0:34:31 > 0:34:36turn into a great countertenor, a great falsettist?
0:34:36 > 0:34:41I think that's an impossible question to answer because every instance is different
0:34:41 > 0:34:47and the countertenor voice, as we would expect to see it in a solo setting,
0:34:47 > 0:34:51can take many years to settle and formulate.
0:34:51 > 0:34:58I think we probably all agree there are a small number of really, really fine countertenor voices out there
0:34:58 > 0:35:02that we would gladly go and sit in a concert hall and listen to.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04# Now
0:35:04 > 0:35:10# Now that the sun
0:35:10 > 0:35:15# Hath veil'd his light
0:35:15 > 0:35:19# And bid the world
0:35:19 > 0:35:21# Goodnight
0:35:21 > 0:35:26# To the soft bed
0:35:26 > 0:35:29# To the soft
0:35:29 > 0:35:33# The soft bed
0:35:33 > 0:35:38# My body I dispose
0:35:38 > 0:35:41# But where
0:35:41 > 0:35:47# Where shall my soul repose?
0:35:47 > 0:35:54# Dear, dear God
0:35:54 > 0:35:57# Even in Thy arms
0:35:57 > 0:36:01# Even in Thy arms. #
0:36:01 > 0:36:04I went to Wales' Cathedral School, which is a renowned music school,
0:36:04 > 0:36:06but it has a choir as well.
0:36:06 > 0:36:08And after my voice broke, I sang tenor then bass.
0:36:08 > 0:36:12I didn't plan to be a countertenor but I wanted to sing
0:36:12 > 0:36:15but my tenor and bass voice was sort of disgraceful.
0:36:15 > 0:36:19It's the sort of thing where it felt really nice.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23It has a plangent, expressive feeling when you're singing countertenor
0:36:23 > 0:36:25and, for me, it just had the right vibrations
0:36:25 > 0:36:28and it just seemed to fit and it made me feel a little bit different.
0:36:28 > 0:36:32# And can there be
0:36:32 > 0:36:38# Any so sweet
0:36:38 > 0:36:44# Security... #
0:36:44 > 0:36:48'An Evening Hymn by Henry Purcell is one of the most beautiful songs
0:36:48 > 0:36:51'that we're fortunate enough to sing.
0:36:51 > 0:36:55'You have this lullaby, almost, and it's an evening hymn
0:36:55 > 0:37:00'so it's very suitable, but it has that mellifluous quality, this otherworldliness.'
0:37:00 > 0:37:07# Then to thy rest
0:37:07 > 0:37:10# O, my soul
0:37:13 > 0:37:18# Then to thy rest
0:37:18 > 0:37:22# O, my soul
0:37:22 > 0:37:28# And singing
0:37:28 > 0:37:32# Praise the mercy
0:37:32 > 0:37:36# That prolongs thy days. #
0:37:36 > 0:37:42With the falsetto, the voice itself, you know, the shifts in tone,
0:37:42 > 0:37:46it's the voice itself which comes through.
0:37:46 > 0:37:50The actual sound of it, you could sing that piece just to ah
0:37:50 > 0:37:51and it would be as beautiful.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55But, of course, that's taking away from the amazing text that you have to sing.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58So, yeah, you're right, it suits it down to the ground
0:37:58 > 0:38:02because when you hear that voice it links up with that vulnerability
0:38:02 > 0:38:05of what's being said about the end of the day,
0:38:05 > 0:38:07which also mirrors the end of your life,
0:38:07 > 0:38:13and it's perhaps the weaker side of that sound is what people connect with.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Whereas if you hear quite a healthy baritone singing it,
0:38:18 > 0:38:21it might not have the same underlying connotation of what's being said.
0:38:21 > 0:38:27The falsetto seems in pursuit of something always.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29It's always reaching out somehow in a way that...
0:38:29 > 0:38:31- It sounds like a tightrope act. - Exactly.
0:38:31 > 0:38:36It's hearing somebody doing something which you yourself can't quite comprehend is happening.
0:38:36 > 0:38:40And that's... If you were to ask me, "What's the general reaction
0:38:40 > 0:38:42"of people who have never heard it?" I did a concert once
0:38:42 > 0:38:45and the whole row of journalists spent the whole concert laughing.
0:38:45 > 0:38:48They couldn't not laugh cos they thought I was some sort of drag act.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58# Hallelujah
0:38:58 > 0:39:03# Hallelujah
0:39:03 > 0:39:11# Ha-ah-aaah
0:39:11 > 0:39:14# Hallelujah
0:39:14 > 0:39:16# Hallelujah
0:39:16 > 0:39:19# Hallelujah
0:39:19 > 0:39:21# Hallelujah
0:39:21 > 0:39:24# Haa-ahh... #
0:39:24 > 0:39:28OK, so what do I have to do to sing falsetto?
0:39:28 > 0:39:30Firstly, you have to relax and not be embarrassed.
0:39:30 > 0:39:33But the best thing to find where your falsetto range kicks in
0:39:33 > 0:39:36is to sing up in a scale in your chest voice,
0:39:36 > 0:39:39whether it's a tenor or bass. So we start on a note.
0:39:39 > 0:39:41- # Ah SAME PITCH:- Ah
0:39:41 > 0:39:43- # Ah HIGHER PITCH:- Ah... #
0:39:43 > 0:39:46Oh, no, the ah, yeah... HE LAUGHS
0:39:46 > 0:39:48OK, we'll do it in steps. So it's...
0:39:48 > 0:39:50- # Ah - Ah... #
0:39:50 > 0:39:53THEY SING AN ASCENDING SCALE
0:39:58 > 0:40:00STRAINED: # Ah. # I can't do it.
0:40:00 > 0:40:01And now, the next note,
0:40:01 > 0:40:05can you imitate what you think you would do if somebody said,
0:40:05 > 0:40:09"I want you to do a woman's voice." (FALSETTO) Aah!
0:40:09 > 0:40:10- (FALSETTO)- Aah!
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Without, no, you're still using your chest voice there.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15- Yes, you're right. - So I want you to slide up,
0:40:15 > 0:40:18going, "AaaAA-ah." Can you yodel?
0:40:18 > 0:40:21I haven't done it lately.
0:40:21 > 0:40:24But I get the point, it's not to come from the chest.
0:40:24 > 0:40:26No, you should feel this,
0:40:26 > 0:40:28and it's probably easier, actually, to do a slide,
0:40:28 > 0:40:32so if you start on a "AaaaaAAAAAH."
0:40:32 > 0:40:36When you feel it gets too tense, relax, and let the voice take over.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38AaaAAH - wait a minute.
0:40:38 > 0:40:40Not quite right, that.
0:40:40 > 0:40:46- AaaAAAAAAAAAH.- And then relax.
0:40:46 > 0:40:49It's very hard. This might end up on the cutting room floor.
0:40:49 > 0:40:51I hope I'm not frightening you off.
0:40:51 > 0:40:53(FALSETTO) Can you speak like this?
0:40:53 > 0:40:56- (FALSETTO)- Yes, I think I probably can.- OK, now.
0:40:56 > 0:40:59I want you to say in your chest voice, "Hello, my name is Alan."
0:40:59 > 0:41:02- In my chest voice?- Yes, as you do.
0:41:02 > 0:41:03Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:03 > 0:41:06Now I want you to do it in your imitation comedy woman voice.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08- (FALSETTO)- Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11OK, now I want you to do that, just what you did there,
0:41:11 > 0:41:12but do it very slowly, and go,
0:41:12 > 0:41:15(SLOW STEADY FALSETTO) "Hello, my name is Alan."
0:41:15 > 0:41:17- (FALSETTO)- Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:17 > 0:41:21OK, now, you can feel that resonance. If I... Go ahead, do that again.
0:41:21 > 0:41:23- (FALSETTO)- Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26- Right, now put your hand on my chest. - Yeah.- If I say in my chest voice,
0:41:26 > 0:41:28(DEEP) "Hello, my name is Alan."
0:41:28 > 0:41:30(FALSETTO) "Hello, my name is Alan."
0:41:30 > 0:41:32- Yes, it's not in your chest. - No vibration at all.
0:41:32 > 0:41:35So I want to feel, first of all to find out you're using your falsetto,
0:41:35 > 0:41:37so say in your chest first.
0:41:37 > 0:41:39- (DEEP)- Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:39 > 0:41:41- Wow. OK.- Wow.
0:41:41 > 0:41:43- Maybe I should be a baritone. - Two hands! Next.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46- (FALSETTO)- Hello, my name is Alan.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50Yep. Now, do that very slowly and when you get to Alan, just hold that.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53"Hello, my name is Aaaaah."
0:41:55 > 0:41:59Hello, my name is Aaaaaaaah!
0:41:59 > 0:42:02Can you flip it so it, think of it coming a bit more nasally for now.
0:42:05 > 0:42:08- Hello, my name is Aaaaah... - You're still engaging your chest.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11- It's still coming from here. - OK, another thing. Try...
0:42:11 > 0:42:12HE VOICES A NASAL TONE
0:42:12 > 0:42:15Can you make it really in your nose and less in your chest?
0:42:15 > 0:42:16BLOWS OUT THROUGH NOSE
0:42:16 > 0:42:18Eee!
0:42:18 > 0:42:19- (NASAL)- Eee!
0:42:20 > 0:42:23MUSIC: "An Evening Hymn" resumes
0:42:23 > 0:42:30# Ha-a-a-a-a-a-allelujah. #
0:42:34 > 0:42:36So how do you create something that beautiful?
0:42:36 > 0:42:39Where do these sublime unworldly sounds come from?
0:42:39 > 0:42:43A little squirt in your nose.
0:42:43 > 0:42:45Big sniff. Let that go down the back of your throat.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47Tastes revolting. Sorry about that.
0:42:47 > 0:42:50This is Declan Costello, a laryngologist
0:42:50 > 0:42:52and the go-to man if you're a falsetto singer.
0:42:52 > 0:42:55And being a trained countertenor himself,
0:42:55 > 0:42:58- he knows the voice outside and in. - Fantastic. Well done.
0:42:58 > 0:43:00So now we can see Ian's larynx.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04The two white strips, the V off in the distance is Ian's vocal cords.
0:43:04 > 0:43:07- Chin down just a little.- The V, that's his vocal cords. My goodness.
0:43:07 > 0:43:10Now, Ian, just say, "Eee."
0:43:10 > 0:43:11- Eee.- Good.
0:43:11 > 0:43:13- Eee.- Eeeee.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16- Good, well done.- And what can you see in Ian's throat at the moment?
0:43:16 > 0:43:20The first thing I'm looking for is symmetry of vocal cord movement,
0:43:20 > 0:43:21so when he says "He, he, he",
0:43:21 > 0:43:24I want to make sure both vocal cords are moving symmetrically.
0:43:24 > 0:43:26- Do that again.- He, he, he, he, he.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30- OK.- That was good, was it?- That was good, that's absolutely fine.
0:43:30 > 0:43:33I can actually get reasonably close into the vocal cords.
0:43:33 > 0:43:36We're probably half a centimetre or so from the cords themselves now
0:43:36 > 0:43:39and we get beautifully detailed images, and what I like to see,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42and Ian will be reassured to hear that I can see,
0:43:42 > 0:43:44is nice straight-edged vocal folds,
0:43:44 > 0:43:47no lumps, no bumps, no polyps, no nodules.
0:43:47 > 0:43:50- Shall we try some falsetto, Ian? - OK.- Good.
0:43:50 > 0:43:55(FALSETTO) # Eeee. #
0:43:55 > 0:43:59Now in these circumstances, the vocal folds are stretched very thin
0:43:59 > 0:44:02and just the innermost edge of the vocal fold is vibrating,
0:44:02 > 0:44:06whereas when he uses his chest voice, the vocal folds are thicker
0:44:06 > 0:44:09and more of the edge of the vocal fold is used. Eee, in chest voice.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13# Eeee. #
0:44:13 > 0:44:16So you get the impression, looking at the vocal folds,
0:44:16 > 0:44:18- they're thicker and bulkier... - Yes, that's right.
0:44:18 > 0:44:22..as they're coming together. Can you kind of flick between the two?
0:44:22 > 0:44:25(FALSETTO) # Eeee. #
0:44:25 > 0:44:26OK. Chest voice.
0:44:26 > 0:44:31# Eeee. #
0:44:31 > 0:44:32Falsetto.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36# Eeee. #
0:44:36 > 0:44:37Chest voice.
0:44:37 > 0:44:40# Eeee. #
0:44:40 > 0:44:44- Great. Well done.- Does it mean that the pressure on the falsetto,
0:44:44 > 0:44:46that's a much more demanding thing to do,
0:44:46 > 0:44:48because it's not coming from the chest?
0:44:48 > 0:44:52Because you're using the vocal cords in a, in a very tense way
0:44:52 > 0:44:56and you're really only using the innermost edges of the vocal cords,
0:44:56 > 0:44:59any tiny lesions on the edges of the vocal cords
0:44:59 > 0:45:03will cause problems with the falsetto, because you're reliant
0:45:03 > 0:45:07on a very thin strip of the lining of the vocal cords to work properly.
0:45:07 > 0:45:11I treated a patient a few months ago who sings cover versions of The Darkness,
0:45:11 > 0:45:14which obviously involves singing a lot in falsetto,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17and he had really been having trouble with his falsetto
0:45:17 > 0:45:19and couldn't really work out why,
0:45:19 > 0:45:22and it turned out, when you look very closely at his larynx,
0:45:22 > 0:45:26that he actually has a tiny polyp on his left vocal cord
0:45:26 > 0:45:27and as we have already said,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31the fact that you're using just a tiny edge of the vocal cord
0:45:31 > 0:45:34to make a sound when you're singing in falsetto
0:45:34 > 0:45:36meant that even this tiny thing
0:45:36 > 0:45:40was capable of inhibiting his ability to sing in falsetto,
0:45:40 > 0:45:45and so this is the same chap a week after his surgery.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51And that small irregularity that we saw at that point previously
0:45:51 > 0:45:52has now disappeared.
0:45:52 > 0:45:54His larynx is healing well
0:45:54 > 0:45:57and very pleasingly, his falsetto came back
0:45:57 > 0:45:59and he's gone back to singing songs by The Darkness.
0:45:59 > 0:46:03# I believe in a thing called love Just listen to the rhythm of my heart
0:46:03 > 0:46:05# There's a chance we could make it now
0:46:05 > 0:46:07# We'll be rocking till the sun goes down
0:46:07 > 0:46:11# I believe in a thing called love! #
0:46:11 > 0:46:14So the mechanics of singing falsetto
0:46:14 > 0:46:17are the same for a rock god as for a classical countertenor -
0:46:17 > 0:46:20with certain qualifications.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25As a countertenor, you're sort of the Formula One falsettist,
0:46:25 > 0:46:27you're doing it all the time
0:46:27 > 0:46:30and you've got to make it sound easy rather than this...
0:46:30 > 0:46:33I think with pop music, it tends to sound like
0:46:33 > 0:46:37the emotion they're trying to express rather than something that's natural,
0:46:37 > 0:46:39and I find sometimes people say,
0:46:39 > 0:46:41"I like this countertenor rather than this one
0:46:41 > 0:46:46"because this one doesn't make me think it's a woman or a man singing falsetto - it just sounds normal."
0:46:46 > 0:46:48And sometimes you can hear a countertenor who...
0:46:48 > 0:46:52it sounds like a contrived voice, which I think is a bit closer
0:46:52 > 0:46:56to this idea of pop musicians, pop singers using their falsetto.
0:46:56 > 0:46:59It sounds like something in addition to what they're doing.
0:46:59 > 0:47:02- # Let him go!- Bismillah! We will not let you go.
0:47:02 > 0:47:04- # Let me go! - Will not let you go.- Let me go! #
0:47:04 > 0:47:06Nothing wrong with that.
0:47:06 > 0:47:10It was the falsetto that crowned Queen's vocal spectrum
0:47:10 > 0:47:13and gave them the artistic licence to come up with this.
0:47:13 > 0:47:18# Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
0:47:18 > 0:47:20# For me
0:47:20 > 0:47:23# For me... #
0:47:23 > 0:47:27It's an interesting subject, isn't it? The whole falsetto thing.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30It was a part of the Queen sound, but strangely enough,
0:47:30 > 0:47:33perhaps not in the way that people would expect
0:47:33 > 0:47:35because most of the falsetto wasn't Freddie.
0:47:35 > 0:47:39- Was it Roger Taylor?- Most of it is Roger, the real high stuff, yeah,
0:47:39 > 0:47:42because Roger had this kind of supersonic range at the time.
0:47:42 > 0:47:44- (VERY HIGH) # Galileo!- Galileo!
0:47:44 > 0:47:46- # Galileo!- Galileo! - # Galileo Figaro
0:47:46 > 0:47:49# Magnifico-oh-oh-oh
0:47:49 > 0:47:52# I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me... #
0:47:52 > 0:47:55Having said that, Freddie was very skilful with his falsetto.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59He could always just slip it in to change the character of a note,
0:47:59 > 0:48:03to change the feeling, to change the sort of, the colour,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07and I think Bohemian Rhapsody is a good example. It's very well-known,
0:48:07 > 0:48:10that line where he goes, "Now I've gone and thrown it all away."
0:48:10 > 0:48:13You'll notice half of it's in falsetto and then he just
0:48:13 > 0:48:16eases into the full voice halfway through, just to give it that punch.
0:48:16 > 0:48:19# Mama
0:48:19 > 0:48:23# Life had just begun
0:48:23 > 0:48:30# But now I've gone and thrown it all away
0:48:30 > 0:48:32# Mama... #
0:48:32 > 0:48:35Freddie was very clever, because his crossover was rather wide
0:48:35 > 0:48:37so there was a whole range of notes
0:48:37 > 0:48:40which he could do in normal voice or falsetto,
0:48:40 > 0:48:41and he would make the choice.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45He was able to edge his way into so many different genres.
0:48:45 > 0:48:48There's a song called You Take My Breath Away
0:48:48 > 0:48:52and the whole intro is Freddie multi-tracking himself
0:48:52 > 0:48:56and he multi-tracked so precisely that it phased with itself.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58It's incredible, you listen to it,
0:48:58 > 0:49:00some of the lower parts are normal voice
0:49:00 > 0:49:04and most of the top stuff is falsetto, but it all blends
0:49:04 > 0:49:08into this incredibly beautiful kind of panorama.
0:49:08 > 0:49:10Worth having a listen to that.
0:49:10 > 0:49:13That's one of the most beautiful examples I've ever heard
0:49:13 > 0:49:16of people using their voice in all its range
0:49:16 > 0:49:18and all its colour at the same time.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23- # Oooh.- Ooh, take my breath away
0:49:23 > 0:49:26# Ooh
0:49:26 > 0:49:31# Oo-oo-oo-OOOH
0:49:31 > 0:49:35- # Ooh!- You-ou-ou-OOOU
0:49:35 > 0:49:39# Take my breath awaaaay... #
0:49:41 > 0:49:42I think historically,
0:49:42 > 0:49:46a lot of men who had high voices very much appeal to women.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48I have this theory that women are attracted
0:49:48 > 0:49:51to the kind of female side of a man if they see it,
0:49:51 > 0:49:55and men, especially Western men, tend to kind of reject that side
0:49:55 > 0:49:59and have to be the tough man or whatever, but actually,
0:49:59 > 0:50:02women don't tend to enjoy that a lot of the time.
0:50:02 > 0:50:05I think what appeals to them is the sort of feminine side
0:50:05 > 0:50:07and the empathy in men.
0:50:07 > 0:50:11Women love a guy singing in high voice.
0:50:11 > 0:50:16# This lo-o-o-onely...
0:50:16 > 0:50:20WOMEN CHEER, CLAP
0:50:20 > 0:50:25# Bo-y-y-y... #
0:50:25 > 0:50:27WOMEN CHEER
0:50:27 > 0:50:30'It's so sweet, it's so tender, and women just melt.'
0:50:31 > 0:50:37# Yoooou... #
0:50:37 > 0:50:41I don't think we want to lose sight of the ironies and the paradoxes
0:50:41 > 0:50:45of how falsetto singing was about a kind of very sophisticated manhood,
0:50:45 > 0:50:49about being so confident in one's masculinity
0:50:49 > 0:50:53that one had no problem with moving to another realm,
0:50:53 > 0:50:56to another realm of intimacy.
0:50:56 > 0:50:57You know, when I was a kid,
0:50:57 > 0:51:01they used to say things about Eddie Holman singing in falsetto,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05"Oh, my God, he must tiptoe through the tulips," you know,
0:51:05 > 0:51:09"Oh, my God! A guy like that must wear tight underwear."
0:51:09 > 0:51:11And it turns a young guy off
0:51:11 > 0:51:15but like I tell the audiences, I say, "It never turned the women off."
0:51:15 > 0:51:18I said, it was only guys talking like that, you know,
0:51:18 > 0:51:19"He must wear tight underwear."
0:51:19 > 0:51:22The woman never worried about what kind of underwear.
0:51:22 > 0:51:24All they knew was, "You turn me on!" You know?
0:51:24 > 0:51:26HE CHUCKLES
0:51:26 > 0:51:30I think a lot of women like to see the sensitive side of men.
0:51:30 > 0:51:32The feminine side?
0:51:32 > 0:51:35- The sensitive side of men, yeah.- Sorry.
0:51:35 > 0:51:38I wouldn't say feminine!
0:51:38 > 0:51:42# Girl, it's you
0:51:42 > 0:51:49# You make me feel brand new... #
0:51:49 > 0:51:51All girls love it. I mean, I'm sorry. It's like,
0:51:51 > 0:51:55your dream is, like, Prince Charming singing a song to you.
0:51:55 > 0:51:58- It's still sexy.- Yeah. - It's still sexy!
0:51:58 > 0:52:00The man is great.
0:52:00 > 0:52:04He know what he doing, he does what he do.
0:52:04 > 0:52:07- And I enjoyed myself.- OK.
0:52:07 > 0:52:09You know, nowadays it's "Boom, boom," and...
0:52:09 > 0:52:12- Techno and Rihanna. - And filthy language, you know.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15- This is like...- Romantic.- Yeah!
0:52:15 > 0:52:18- Romantic slow songs, simple.- It is!
0:52:18 > 0:52:19Ah, nostalgia.
0:52:19 > 0:52:23And back in the heady days of the 1970s,
0:52:23 > 0:52:26the falsetto was finding a new outlet with the emergence of disco.
0:52:26 > 0:52:29# Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk
0:52:29 > 0:52:32# I'm a woman's man, no time to talk
0:52:32 > 0:52:34# Music loud and women warm
0:52:34 > 0:52:36# I've been kicked around since I was born
0:52:36 > 0:52:38# Now it's all right, it's OK... #
0:52:38 > 0:52:43The Bee Gees led from the front with Barry Gibb's unmistakable falsetto,
0:52:43 > 0:52:46which starred alongside John Travolta
0:52:46 > 0:52:48in the movie Saturday Night Fever.
0:52:48 > 0:52:50# Stayin' alive, stayin' alive
0:52:50 > 0:52:52# Feel the city breakin' and everybody shakin'
0:52:52 > 0:52:55and they're stayin' alive, stayin' alive... #
0:52:55 > 0:52:58The falsetto revived the group's career
0:52:58 > 0:53:00and became the sound of a disco dancefloor.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03# Ah, ah, ah, ah, stayin' alive... #
0:53:03 > 0:53:07The kind of sexual revolution that was rooted in the disco age
0:53:07 > 0:53:13was really about articulating a whole range of social freedoms.
0:53:13 > 0:53:15The falsetto was ubiquitous
0:53:15 > 0:53:20precisely because it marked a certain kind of transgressiveness.
0:53:21 > 0:53:23# I feel
0:53:23 > 0:53:25# Real
0:53:25 > 0:53:27# I feel real real
0:53:27 > 0:53:31# You make me feel
0:53:31 > 0:53:34# Mighty real... #
0:53:34 > 0:53:39Sylvester gives a sort of radical way of
0:53:39 > 0:53:42articulating the power of queerness in the falsetto.
0:53:42 > 0:53:45It's an out-of-place voice and sound
0:53:45 > 0:53:50and I think that very much documents the moment of the '70s
0:53:50 > 0:53:54in the wake of all of these doors opening up
0:53:54 > 0:54:00and barriers coming down in terms of race and sexuality and gender.
0:54:00 > 0:54:07# I'm staying alive! #
0:54:09 > 0:54:12So where's the falsetto been since then?
0:54:12 > 0:54:16MUSIC: "Grace" by Jeff Buckley
0:54:16 > 0:54:19This is Jeff Buckley in 1995,
0:54:19 > 0:54:21two years before his untimely death.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27He merged his love of Led Zeppelin and Nina Simone
0:54:27 > 0:54:31to create a hybrid of masculine and feminine sensibilities
0:54:31 > 0:54:35that were woven into wild vocal expressions.
0:54:46 > 0:54:49# Oooh... #
0:54:49 > 0:54:52His falsetto took him into unexpected realms.
0:54:53 > 0:54:59# He bare her off, he bare her down
0:55:00 > 0:55:06# He bare her into an orchard ground... #
0:55:06 > 0:55:10He would influence a new generation of male singers.
0:55:11 > 0:55:13# Carry me
0:55:13 > 0:55:17# Hooting and howling
0:55:17 > 0:55:21# To the river to wash off my hands
0:55:21 > 0:55:24# Of the hot blood, the sweat and the sand... #
0:55:24 > 0:55:27'I think at 15, I was trying to sing like Kurt Cobain'
0:55:27 > 0:55:29and at 16, I was trying to sing like Jeff Buckley.
0:55:29 > 0:55:33I suppose there's that gradual shift, I think.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37Singing about the same things, but just in a very different manner.
0:55:38 > 0:55:41Hayden Thorpe is the singer with the Wild Beasts,
0:55:41 > 0:55:44who come from Cumbria, the land of the Lakes.
0:55:44 > 0:55:47His falsetto presented a challenge to the folks back home.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Growing up in the environment we grew up in,
0:55:52 > 0:55:56we played in the working men's clubs and at the downtown blues bars
0:55:56 > 0:55:58and in that environment,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02what I was doing felt a lot more rebellious and confrontational
0:56:02 > 0:56:04than screaming at people
0:56:04 > 0:56:07and, um, became a lot more powerful, in that sense.
0:56:07 > 0:56:14# Rivals who go for our girls
0:56:14 > 0:56:18# Will be left thumb-sucking in terror
0:56:18 > 0:56:21# And bereft of a coffin bearer... #
0:56:21 > 0:56:25How did you discover your voice, your falsetto voice?
0:56:25 > 0:56:29I always thought it was more of a mental shift than a physical one,
0:56:29 > 0:56:32in the sense that it was almost
0:56:32 > 0:56:34a coming-out in a way, you know, there's...
0:56:36 > 0:56:40It was sort of embracing that kind of
0:56:40 > 0:56:44vulnerable and sort of hurting part of yourself
0:56:44 > 0:56:47that otherwise was kind of covered up
0:56:47 > 0:56:52and also, it's kind of not celebrated by a lot of teenage music, in a way.
0:56:52 > 0:56:54I think as a teenager,
0:56:54 > 0:56:58you're more kind of suited to the aggressive shouty stuff
0:56:58 > 0:57:01that tells you, you know, how angry you're feeling,
0:57:01 > 0:57:04and then that slowly morphed into
0:57:04 > 0:57:08that anger and that frustration where it's actually sort of hurting
0:57:08 > 0:57:13and there's that kind of discovery that singing in that kind of manner
0:57:13 > 0:57:17expressed that more eloquently, I suppose.
0:57:17 > 0:57:18# I
0:57:18 > 0:57:20# I blame you
0:57:20 > 0:57:22# I blame you
0:57:22 > 0:57:26# For all of those things I've been through
0:57:26 > 0:57:30# Don't feel bad, not a pang
0:57:30 > 0:57:34# It's my neck around which you hang
0:57:34 > 0:57:38# Like a chain or a tag... #
0:57:40 > 0:57:43There are certain kinds of songs and certain kinds of emotions
0:57:43 > 0:57:47- you can deal with at that pitch that you can't necessarily...- Yeah.
0:57:47 > 0:57:49YOU can't deal with somewhere else.
0:57:49 > 0:57:53# A crude act, a bovver boot ballet
0:57:53 > 0:57:57# Equally elegant and ugly
0:57:57 > 0:58:01# I was as thrilled as I was appalled
0:58:01 > 0:58:04# Courting him in fisticuffing waltz
0:58:04 > 0:58:08# Now I'm not saying the lads always deserve a braying
0:58:08 > 0:58:11# I'm not saying the girls are worth the fines I'm paying
0:58:11 > 0:58:14# We're just brutes, bored in our bovver boots
0:58:14 > 0:58:16# We're just brutes... #
0:58:16 > 0:58:19'The falsetto often, well, for me anyway, the way I sing,
0:58:19 > 0:58:23'pulls me out of the everyday and allows me to sing about things
0:58:23 > 0:58:26'that are otherwise too difficult to express.'
0:58:26 > 0:58:30For me, singing in a falsetto and singing in those ranges
0:58:30 > 0:58:35is a very expressive and free way of kind of performing.
0:58:35 > 0:58:39It's completely against having rules and rights and wrongs.
0:58:39 > 0:58:42MUSIC: "That's Why God Made The Radio" by The Beach Boys
0:58:42 > 0:58:46And still, nothing evokes that unrestrained self-expression
0:58:46 > 0:58:48better than The Beach Boys.
0:58:49 > 0:58:5320 years on, they're back together again,
0:58:53 > 0:58:57hitting those high notes that gave them the unique vocal harmonies
0:58:57 > 0:58:59they pioneered half a century ago.
0:58:59 > 0:59:02- # Who-o-oa!- Falling in love
0:59:02 > 0:59:04# Who-o-oa
0:59:04 > 0:59:05# That's why God... #
0:59:05 > 0:59:08Collaborating with the Beach Boys is an adventure
0:59:08 > 0:59:12and second of all, we all sing more forcefully and strong and sweet.
0:59:12 > 0:59:13The voices have gotten even better
0:59:13 > 0:59:16because we just, we're natural born singers.
0:59:16 > 0:59:18The secret ingredient,
0:59:18 > 0:59:22other than the love of creating the harmony, is of course
0:59:22 > 0:59:25cousin Brian's unbelievably masterful ability, musically.
0:59:25 > 0:59:29# That's why God made That's why God made
0:59:29 > 0:59:33# That's why God made the radio... #
0:59:38 > 0:59:39No matter how old you are,
0:59:39 > 0:59:43that falsetto sound seems to keep you young.
0:59:46 > 0:59:48MUSIC: "Think About The Days" by The Beach Boys
0:59:48 > 0:59:50I must remember that.
1:00:13 > 1:00:16MUSIC: "California Girls" by the Beach boys
1:00:33 > 1:00:36Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd