Dear List:
I want to try one more time to give a mapping between areas of the male voice and the 3 phonational registers Prof. Lloyd Hanson has described.
The following (taken from Richard Miller's book on Tenor Voices but with my creative naming) would be for a smooth scale, although one could take the various "registration areas" higher or lower; the pitches would vary up or down by a few half steps or so for most male voices (the following would be a lyric tenor):
below C3: "ultra low" C3 to G3: "low" G3 to C4: "lower middle" C4 to G4: "upper middle" G4 to C5: "lower upper" C5+ : "upper upper"
Among the questions I (and others) have raised are:
1) Are there really only 3 phonational registers? 2) What is the proper mapping between the above vocal areas and the purported 3 phonational registers?
I am in no position of authority to answer the first question.
As to the second question, I have offered two interpretations:
*** INTERPRETATION A *** This is how I believe Prof. Hanson would make the mapping:
LOWER PHONATIONAL: ultra low, low, lower middle MIDDLE PHONATIONAL: upper middle UPPER PHONATIONAL: lower upper, upper upper
Note that for the female voice, take the above ranges roughly up an octave, and you have a different mapping:
LOWER PHONATIONAL: ultra low, low MIDDLE PHONATIONAL: lower middle, upper middle UPPER PHONATIONAL: lower upper, upper upper
*** INTERPRETATION B *** Here is another interpretation of the mapping for the male voice:
LOWER PHONATIONAL: ultra low, low, lower middle MIDDLE PHONATIONAL: upper middle, lower upper UPPER PHONATIONAL: not used by classical tenors and baritones
Hope this doesn't cause more confusion.
Cheers,
Michael Gordon
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