I thought I'd chime back in here... in relation to the Bloggers comments about Haley and the subject in general
We got lost a bit in arguments about Word choice (semantics) which made it particularlly dificult to discuss particular stenghths and sounds in different "voices" (we also got derailed by "but she sings it beautifully even if she doesn't do it that way" statements put a little more definitively questioning the very idea of criticizing elements of where her voice gives out (everyone's voice gives out at the end of ranges...its rarely all or nothing although the transition can be abrupt)
Here is a good video I found on Male voices. The first take away is that everyone uses very different terms. One person's definition of Falsetto might be different from another.
Stay with this video.. (maybe start 1:50 in ) it gets kind of fun hearing him do Freddie Mercury to demonstrate his personal definitions
Or Jump to second video but you really want to hear him finding his RangeS on the piano
he shows how they mostly overlap in 2 low and high groups (soft and opera, and falsetto and head largely the same.. yet they sound different)
Then he shows where each sounds better in a smaller range
you can see , he defines the types of "voices" within a range differently than some.. especially his distinction between "soft voice" and "loud voice(interchangely he uses "operatic voice" ).
-- on to the critque.
For the most-part . The critique (not the video) is really quite glowing about Haley's artistry and his negative comments are usually qualified with "acquired taste" "sweet" .
However I do think it is kind of dumb to discuss the way a singer doesn't sound as good at the limits of her range, especially those more Alto range notes. We discussed how songs call for some low notes to start to achieve an artistic effect later.
"She's not an alto but can sing some notes in the alto range using the aspects of the strain to reach those notes for artistic effect" might have been better than
He gets lost with how he uses the words falsetto and head voice but I think I got what he was trying to praise and contrast negatively.
If instead the writer guy used terms more like the video I linked above, it might have felt more true.
(IMO) If Haley tried to sing "paradise city" like Fergie she'd suck
.. and not because of "range" but of qualities of voice in that "loud/operatic?" type of sound the song was written to call on[/b]
Same with a straight-on "loud voice" (opera voice) run at God Bless America (lol nice contrast with Paradise city , huh?)
In that context (which was the type of voice I believe the writer was generally pointing out contextually) - I think , "delicate, thin and overly youthful" might apply to whatever you want to call that full/loud/operatic chest voice. We certainly wouldn't want her to employ a "growl" to make the loud voice more varied in the middle of "god bless america". LOL that would not be "my taste" either in that context.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1z2pp_sFMM
BUT this is one of the places (which make up 2/3 rds of his remarks) the writer gets it dead on!:
Quote:From the blog voice critique
...It extends upwards to Soprano E. Her tone here is a dead ringer for a piccolo, and is in contrast to the rest of her voice. It is warm and has a light weight fragility to it. She can switch to head tones within the space of a breath and exhibits great dexterity here. Her mix is stellar and uses great technique to achieve this sound. (Just about every single song she has created shows off her head tones.)
There are zillions of songs that play to Haley incredible strengths... and she can ever interpret rock songs in different softer ways. She doesn't need to go where she isn't best at.. but there are a couple places she isn't best at.
