Mike and Vocalisters:
Singer's formant does exist, especially in Opera. For those new to
this discussion, "singer's formant" is a peak resonance in the
2500-3200 Hrz range produced by a voice trained to create this
effect. Singer's formant is necessary if a singer is to heard over
an orchestra, especially a large opera orchestra, in a large hall.
It has been a noticed effect for hundreds of years and is often
referred to in older literature as the "ring" in the voice.
An orchestra's peak resonance occurs at a lower frequency, somewhere
in the 500 to 1500 Hrz range where much of a singers general
fundamental and lower partials appear, and this explains why the
singer's formant frequency can be heard and is so necessary.
Titze (Principles of Voice Production, pages 238-241) explains in
some detail the theory of the source of this singer's formant and, in
doing so, he refers to Bartholemew (1934) who first mentioned that a
good operatic voice needed a concentration of energy at around 3000
Hrz, and Sundburg (1972, 1978) who offered a physiological
explanation for this phenomenon.
"A small resonator (quarter wave) is bounded by the rim of the
epiglottis at the open end and by the glottis at the closed end.
Yanagisawa et al (1989) confirmed the configuration with
videolaryngoscopy. The length of the resonator is determined by the
thickness of the false folds and the ventricle. [cut to remove
formula which does not post well on email]. The exact freuency is
determined by the effective acoustic length of the small resonator.
Typically,this is 2.5 to 3.0 cm, which is about one-sixth of the
length of the entire vocal tract. Thus the one-sixth ratio appears
twice, once as a scale factor for length and once again for the cross
section
On pages 15-16, Titze highlights the airway between the trachea and
the tip of the epiglottis:
"The vocal folds are located at the narrowest portion of the airway.
Above them is the laryngeal ventricle (also known as the sinus of
Morgagni). Then we see the ventricular folds (also called the false
folds). Above the ventricular folds are the quadrangular membrane
and aryepiglottic folds, which together can produce a narrowing in
the collar of the larynx . . .where the aryepiglottic muscle is
identified. In combination , the vocal folds , the ventricular
folds, the aryepiglottic folds, and the quadrangular membrane
constitute a system of folds that seals off the laryngeal airway
rapidly and completely when the appropriate muscles are activated.
More about the folding action of the larynx is found in Fink (1975)."
This only defines the available systems which can be employed, not
the actual action of these systems in different kinds of singing.
Clearly, it is possible to train the vocal mechanism to produce a
great variety of tonal qualities. It was not my intent to suggest
that any particular tonal quality has any "inherent connections to
particular emotions" as you suggest I have stated.
My point was that in an art form there is a synthesis of emotion, not
the emotion itself. The more abstract the art the more this is true.
If any art form reduces the synthesis to the level of the emotion
itself that art form is, on the basis of the maxim above, a less
abstract art form. We have discussed before your dislike of much of
opera because it does not seem "real" to you and I think this is a
valid criticism. But, at the same time, it is a validation of opera
as a more abstract form of art and, in the same way, most pops
singing as a much less abstract form of art.
Two forms, each different, each valid, but not to be compared because
their basic concepts of construction and purpose are different.
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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