Alain, David, List,
I was looking at the article on singing in MGG (Sachteil, Band 8
p.1414) the other day and I noticed in an illustration of a small something
called a 'fatty body' at the back of the throat, high in the larynx.
Immediately I began to wonder if this might have some function in vocal
resonance. It's an odd place to store fat. My poor brain then proceeded to
imagine that it might vary just a bit in size along with the fat in a
singer's body as a whole! Can anyone see where I'm going with this?
Being fat, and being warmed by the breath all the time, it's probably
soft. Since it is fairly deep in the throat it must add to the narrowing of
the throat at that point and thus give the pharyngeal area even more of a
trumpet or horn shape when the throat is 'open'.
I don't want to start rumours here, but is it perhaps possible that
singers who have just the right size of 'Fettkoerper' may have a slight
advantage in singing certain kinds of notes in certain repertoire? Or is
this body mobile enough to play a part in the slower resonance of vibrato?
Alain, on the subject of our variant perception - it may be due to how we
hear overtones, or maybe she sang differently perhaps due to a different
standard diapason or preceding long plane ride. Also, I heard here only a
few weeks ago. Maybe she fixed something? It has occurred to me, however,
that maybe I wasn't listening as keenly to pitches as I might, had it been
the Tallis Scholars singing Josquin :o) john
At 01:33 AM 7/5/00 +0200, you wrote:
...
>>like Tiny Tim on steroids! Any one else noticed this?>>
>
>Yes! I call it the Lady Macbeth voice... ;-)
>And this is exactly what I hear (live) in Jane Eaglen's voice when she sang
>Norma in Paris, like John Alexander Blyth who wrote : <<I would say that
>Jane Eaglen (to my loony ears) uses a lot more falsetto in Bruennhilde's
>high bits>>
>
>Karita Mattila had that tone also when she sang Elisabeth de Valois in
>Paris, but not later in other parts. Mara Zampieri had it when she sang Lady
>Macbeth. From her recordings, Tebaldi seems to have used this kind of
>singing.
>
>Nevertheless, it never occurred to me that this kind of vocal production
>could be called "falsetto". I would rather have related it to whistle:
>pressed phonation, lots of air pushed through rigid cords producing a shrill
>straight tone...
>
>Isn't it also the kind of sound a frightened woman is supposed to produce in
>a horror movie?
>
>John Alexander Blyth added : <<, compared to the 'laser tone' of Birgit
>Nilsson, yet Eaglen was marvellously in tune, while Nilsson had a tendency
>to go sharp.>>
>
>Strange difference in perception: I heard Eaglen as sharp... because her
>high notes lacked the "chest" in them. But at the same time, if I call her
>singing "straight", it should lack overtones, and be perceived as flat??
>Perhaps it lacked more fundamental than overtones, and the most emphasized
>overtone was the octave above the fundamental? Even if that overtone were
>perfectly in tune, the feeble fundamental could make it perceived as sharp?
>
...
>| Alain Zürcher, Paris, France
>| L'Atelier du Chanteur :
>| http://chanteur.net
John Blyth
Baritono robusto e lirico
Brandon, Manitoba, Canada
|
|  |
