The first point revealed in VOCES8’s singing is the feigned voice “La voce finte or finta.” To reveal what the feigned voice is like, one only must listen to the popular music crooning voices of the day. The technique, intentional or unintentional, is employed in choral singing. Notice that choral singing is unlike the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, where the sound is quite energized in volume, spin, and quality. The sound of VOCES8 is a crooning style that affects the sound as if holding back the sound. There is a soft quality that some deem “effeminate,” but a loose translation of the word. There is a sense of intimacy of sound lacking any feats of strength but rather a more relaxed state of sound while garnering overtones that engage a hall.
In the long run, singing the feigned voice produces weakness because there is no intentional effort to produce a sound that would fill a hall of a thousand seats. The sound of a thousand seats, of course, is more solo in nature and not necessarily found within the context of a choir or vocal ensemble. The endeavor to employ the “voce finta” in coral singing is worth exploring but be forewarned that overuse of the feigned voice will lead to a voice that will establish itself trapped if not trained to expel energy beyond the scope of a faraway crooning approach.