Keeping Your Balance: The slippery slope of vocal registers Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D. Associate Professor of Voice University of North Texas 11/15/2018

Vocal Registers… OMG! Opinions vary wildly! Literature is very confusing: little agreement Some pedagogical literature offers a practical guide Written before registers were understood Some voice science literature offers a simplification to this complex subject 11/15/2018

Vocal Register: 2 views Source: produced at the level of the larynx and respiratory system Filter: produced by changes in the resonance characteristics of the vocal tract: formants interacting with the partials from the larynx A combination of both the above! 11/15/2018

The larynx: 11/15/2018

The larynx: 11/15/2018

Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’ 11/15/2018

Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’ 11/15/2018

Source: Vennard - ‘Light Mechanism’ 11/15/2018

Register is defined by: Thickness of the medial margin of the vocal folds What determines this difference? 11/15/2018

Vocalis muscle: Thyroarytenoid 11/15/2018

Electromyography 11/15/2018

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Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of Voice” Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20, 1970. Emg Study 11/15/2018

Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988. Stimulated vocalis 11/15/2018

Titze: Falsetto (head) and Chest 11/15/2018

Register is characterized by: Slope #2: the glottal flow pulse Result of configuration of the vocal folds 11/15/2018

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Sundberg: Flow glottograms 11/15/2018

Register is characterized by: Slope #3: EGG waveform Result of configuration of the vocal folds 11/15/2018

Typical electroglottograph 11/15/2018

EGG in use: 11/15/2018

EGG output signal: VF cycle 11/15/2018

Dr. Scott McCoy: CQ associated with two registers 11/15/2018

Closed Quotient Heavy mech. = .5 or greater Light mech. = below .5 Square folds stay closed longer Longer CQs have more harmonic energy 11/15/2018

How does this information helps us in the studio? (can it?) 11/15/2018

Historical approach: Scientific observations were predicted in long-established pedagogical principles: Decades of ‘trial and error’ application and observation The true ‘scientific method’ 11/15/2018

Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part On Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part On. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V. Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967. “By the word register we understand a series of consecutive and homogenous tones going from low to high, produced by the development of the same mechanical principle, and whose nature differs essentially from another series of tones equally consecutive and homogenous produced by another mechanical principle.” 11/15/2018

Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V. Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967. (cont.) “All the tones belonging to the same register are consequently of the same nature, whatever may be the modification of timbre or of force to which one subjects them.” 11/15/2018

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994. Stimulated vocalis 11/15/2018

Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 20, 1967. “This chest voice is not equally forceful and strong in everyone; but to the extent that one has a more robust or more feeble organ of the chest, he will have a more or less robust voice.” 11/15/2018

Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 34, 1967. “A sonorous body, or rather robustness of voice is ordinarily a gift from nature, but can also be acquired by study and art.” 11/15/2018

We can ‘reshape’ the folds: Vocalis is skeletal muscle Responds to exercise Grows in strength AND in mass! Squares the vocal folds Profoundly affects the timbre of tone Stimulated vocalis 11/15/2018

Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967. “It remains for me now to speak of those voices which are slender and weak throughout their register . . . One observes that these voices are very weak in the chest notes, and the greater majority deprived of any low notes. . .” 11/15/2018

Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967. “There is not method more sure to obtain this end, I believe, than to have such a little voice sing only in the chest voice for a time. The exercise should be done with a tranquil solfeggio; and as the voice enriches itself with greater body, and range, one may blend it as much as possible with the low notes.” 11/15/2018

William Vennard Developing Voices William Vennard Developing Voices. Carl Fischer, New York, New York, 1973. “During her studies she frequently asked for help with her high tones, which did improve during the work. More freedom and modification of the brighter vowels helped the top voice, but what she needed most was to develop the chest voice and blend it into her singing so that it would be usable.” 11/15/2018

Richard Miller Structure of Singing. Schirmer Books, New York, New York. Pg. 136-137, 1986. “Chest mixture will strengthen the soprano’s lower - middle range. Almost every female can make some chest timbre sounds, no matter how insecure, in the lowest part of her range. These notes should be sung in short, intervallic patterns, transposing by half steps upward, as more sound emerges.” 11/15/2018

Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 261, 1994. “As the bottom of the vocal fold bulges out, the glottis becomes more rectangular than wedge-shaped (convergent). During vibration, then, glottal closure can be obtained over a greater portion of the vocal fold, and thereby over a greater portion of the cycle…The result is a voice of richer timbre, which we call chest or modal voice.” Stimulated vocalis 11/15/2018

Voice Building! Stimulated vocalis 11/15/2018

Voice building: Specific exercises target the laryngeal muscles: Some build ‘bulk’, strength, endurance Others build flexibility, ‘fast-twitch’ muscles All should coordinate efforts between laryngeal muscles, respiratory muscles, and those of the articulators 11/15/2018

William Vennard (1909-1971) 11/15/2018

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214. 1967. 11/15/2018

William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155. 1967. 11/15/2018

Sustained tones in the chest 11/15/2018

Garcia’s 1st exercise for female Complete Treatise Pt. 1 11/15/2018

‘Welcoming in the chest’ 11/15/2018

“Imposing the chest’ 11/15/2018

‘Imposing the chest – II’ 11/15/2018

‘Deference to the head’ 11/15/2018

Filter Don Miller – ‘Head Voice’ 3rd partial in F2 11/15/2018

Miller: Head Voice 11/15/2018

Filter Partials interacting with formants: Don Miller – ‘Register Violation’ 2nd partial in F1 11/15/2018

Head Voice? Not ONLY a function of a change in the laryngeal mechanism Results from a change in resonance effect: Perceptual vs functional Formants interacting with partials Specifically 3rd partial lined up with F2 Requires a strong source spectrum: Characteristic of the ‘Chest Voice’ Historically called the ‘Do Di Petto’! 11/15/2018