From: Steven Fosdick
To: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Subject: Re: TECH: Body size/Height & Vocal Range
Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>

On Wed, Feb 09, 2000 at 08:55:08AM -0800, Tako Oda wrote:

> Dear Gib,
>
> I agree with you that height is not necessarily linked to larynx size.

Is it possible though that some tall people may have longer necks than
some shorter people. Wouldn't that change the distance from the vocal
folds to the mouth and therefore the range of frequencies to which the
vocal tract can be effectively tuned? Would you expect someone with a
longer neck to get more resonance on some low notes than someone with
a short neck and thus be more likely to include them in singing? How
would you expect this to change the top end?

> "Register 2 (aka head)" is produced by cords that are partially "zipped
> up", hence the highest pitch is determined not by the full length of the
> cords but the *vibrating* length of the cords, which is not necessarily
> related to the overall size of the voice box!

If that is the case then why don't we hear basses singing the tenor high C?

> Also, I believe the typical Asian larynx is not all that different
> from a German one - what I am postulating is that "cracking voice",
> or loss of the upper extension is not as common a secondary sexual
> characteristic of puberty in Asian boys... just as hairy chests are
> somewhat unusual in the same population.

Is it possible that the "cracking voice" has nothing to do with
specific laryngeal characteristics but is caused simply by a lack of
co-ordination - i.e. that the larynx has changed size/shape and the
brain hasn't caught up yet? Some teenagers are rather clumsy during
their growth spurt for presumably the same reason.

One possibily for "the brain hasn't caught up" could be maintaining a
constant speaking pitch during the time that the larynx is growing.
The pitches at which the register transition points occur could move
downward as the larynx grows and eventually one of them will be right
where the speaking voice is.

Comments?