From: john schweinfurth
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: singer's formant (that pinging thing)
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Mon, 7 Feb 2000 22:08:05 -0800 (PST), VOCALIST wrote:

> I am interested to know other ways to teach the
> singer's formant. If it's unrelated to
> brightness/darkness or to which vowel is being sung,
> how do you teach a singer what it is, and how to build
> it into the voice? Are there exercises which are not
> vowel-specific to help build this vital quality?
> Isabelle B.

That's the million dollar question, isn't it? The singer's formant has to
do with the natural resonance of the vocal tract, such that certain sounds
are augmented and others diminished. Clearly, it must exist across a range
of tones and pitches, otherwise Pavarotti could only sing one note.

In the 'good ole days' before microphones, the singer had to be heard above
the orchestra "au naturale."(unplugged, nowadays) The typical orchestral
sound spectrum is in the 500Hz range, whereas the singer's spectrum is found
between 2 and 3,000 Hz; the 'special resonator' appears to exist at 2,800
Hz. To get slightly more technical, in singing, the vocal tract crams 5
formants into to the space of 4 found in speaking alone. As you noticed,
the formant frequencies for the /i/ vowel is highest at every formant, but
still lower than the 4th spoken /i/. In summary, the clustering of formants
increases the sound level by about 20 dB. Or something like that.

The variable, then, appears to be the fundamental frequency. According to
Sundberg, jaw opening, contracting the corners of the mouth, and raising the
larynx all increase the first formant frequency.

I have no idea how to teach this effectively; good thing I'm not a voice
teacher!

John M. Schweinfurth, MD
Laryngology and Professional Voice Care
Assistant Professor
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN
(615) 322-6180





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