Maestro
Anthony Frisell
The Head Voice
Technique
Maestro Frisell believed that to achieve your best possible voice, the singer needed to develop their head voice. Chest voice comes naturally and develops quickly. Often singers overuse the chest voice and fail to develop their head voice (in men often referred to as Falsetto). Developing the head voice, making it the dominant part of your entire voice and ultimately blending it with the power of the chest voice was the goal of his vocal exercises. Once the head voice is developed, the singer's usable range increases dramatically, the ability to control volume even on the highest notes is achieved, along with the ability to sing for long periods of time without tiring or damaging the voice.
Anthony Frisell was born in New Orleans to Italian Immigrant parents. As a kid, he got a job as an usher at the local Opera house and fell in love with Opera. After he served several years in the Navy as a nurse he returned and directed several productions with the New Orleans Opera Company where he worked with many of the great singers of the silver age, such as Del Monaco, Tucker and Merrill.
He taught voice in New York city and published several books on singing; most famous being the Tenor Voice. His Tenor, Baritone and Soprano voice books can be found in just about every music library in the United States. He had many accomplished students, ranging from Opera Singers, Cantors, Pop artists and Voice actors. He went on to write Novels, Librettos and several more voice manuals, such as The Singers Notebook and Verismo. He passed away at 90 years old in Far Rockaway NY.
