BS: Singing soprano?

Subject: BS: Singing soprano?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 02:12 PM

I got email yesterday about a successful sex change for a Jethro Tull member (fnarr) Can anyone enlighten ... or is it balls?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: ced2
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 03:04 PM

Or lack of them?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: michaelr
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 03:18 PM

Fnarr?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Cluin
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 04:23 PM

Supposed to be kind of a "sign against the evil eye" antihex used when a double entendre is made by accident.

When in reality what it really means is "Look, everyone! I made a clever double entendre!"

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: TheBigPinkLad
Date: 28 Jan 04 - 06:05 PM

Actually, it's a direct quote from Finbar Saunders ...

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 01:00 AM

But how does it relate to fnord?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 05:43 AM

It's a simple enough operation - snip snip and Bob's yer Auntie.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 06:27 AM

Or Fanny's your uncle.
eric

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: lady penelope
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 08:38 AM

Er , yes it's true. It was the keyboard player ( I can't remember his name ). His wife died a few years ago and he then went in for the full op. and all that. He / she was on the telly talking about it the other night. Apparently it's taken the other members of Jethro Tull a while to get over it, but they all seem to be behind him/her now.

TTFN Lady P.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Sam L
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 09:41 AM

Woke up this mornin, the world turned upside down, lawdy but things ain't been the same since the blues walked in our town.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 11:02 AM

Just before Uxbridge folk club finally moved from "The Load of Hay" I happened to visit the club. A rather attractive lady was singing and playing exellent guitar. Leadfingers (who was one of the organisers) told me that I should be able to recognise her from the days when I was a regular there. He thought it was amusing that I didn't know who she was and then explained that in those earlier days, "she" was a "he".

I have also sung in a choral group with one of the "BBC Singers" who had a wonderful mezzo-soprano voice. I was very surprised to find out later that she had been a man and had previously sung baritone.

The thing that surprised me most in both of these cases was that the "vocal chord modification operation" had in each case worked well enough for them to continue to sing to a fairly high standard.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Cluin
Date: 29 Jan 04 - 04:01 PM

Keyboard player?

John Evan? David Palmer? Peter Vettese? Martin Allcock? (not any more?)

Eddie Jobson looked about halfway there already.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Kaleea
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 03:01 AM

The technically correct term, if one does the old "snip snip" on a feller in the choir as they did in days gone by, for what part one sings is "Castratti." This is not a joke. This was actually the practice --snip snipping before puberty) to keep the boys in the choir singing "soprano" until a pope literally banned the practice. I did continue for some time, though, as those choir positions were for males only--it was officially naughty in olden times for females to raise their voices during the mass. My old Music History professor once played a recording for me of one of the last known "Castratti." It sounded quite eerie.   

   So if one had a bit of "snip snip here, snip snip there" (but not in the land of OZ!) would one then become she, him, or . . .shim?

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 04:02 AM

There is a film of the life of the last Castratti, called, surprisingly enough, Il Castratti. It's a fascinating programme and shows very clearly the honour and high regard that he was held in.

It is possible for trained singers to sing soprano (or rather falsetto) - one of my musical directors could sing all four parts but then he was educated at Cambridge!

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Amergin
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 04:48 AM

There is a wonderful film about a boy who was castrated for the Chinese Opera so he could continue to play women parts...it is called Farewell My Concubine....be warned it does have subtitles...

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 07:18 AM

The castratti thing only works properly if done before puberty. Once a male voice has "broken", the loss of testosterone does not usually cause the vocal chords to revert to a female timbre properly. For this reason a vocal chord "shaving" operation is often opted for by men who have a sex change. I was just rather impressed by the results in the cases which I mentioned - especially the second. It makes one wonder if this sort of operation would be useful for improving singing voices in some non gender change cases.

I gather that women who take testosterone as part of a f-m gender change, usually do achieve a relatively normal male voice.

Incidently, my information on "chord shaving" came from the previously mentioned mezzo-soprano who was quite open about her gender change.

Subject: RE: BS: Singing soprano?
From: Sam L
Date: 30 Jan 04 - 11:26 PM

got yourself a gun. woke up this mornin'.