Flapping Jaws and Acoustic Laws: The Singer’s Guide to Inertive Reactance (and the Voce Chiusa) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Purpose: To explore how specific manipulations of the vocal tract can help us achieve our artistic goals: Elongating and narrowing the epilaryngeal tube Controlling the opening of the mouth The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Vocal Tract Acoustics ‘101’ But first: Vocal Tract Acoustics ‘101’ The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 What is Resonance? Resonance is a reinforcement of a natural behavior or phenomenon Acoustic resonance is an intensification of sound by sympathetic vibration of two or more things Vocal tract resonance is a selective reinforcement of a few source (larynx) frequencies by the vocal tract The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Source-Filter Theory The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Sound Pressure Spectrum Glottal Flow Spectrum The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
So, what’s so special about singers? We have to sing LOUDER than normal We have to sing HIGHER than normal We have to sing BEAUTIFULLY at the same time The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Solution: Inertive reactance! The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Ingo Titze www.NCVS.org Please visit their website! Thanks to: Ingo Titze www.NCVS.org Please visit their website! The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
To get the maximum boost from the vocal tract we can either: Resonate one or two harmonics of the source selectively (as in harmonic singing, counter-tenor singing, high coloratura, or whistle voice), or Resonate the entire vocal fold vibration process with a vocal tract that stores and returns energy to the glottis The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Linear Source-Filter Acoustics Nonlinear Source-Filter Acoustics The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Inertance - sluggishness of response of an air column provides the feedback energy The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Long, narrow tubes have a lot of inertance: How does this help us as singers? The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Inertive reactance: Skews the flow pulse, Which increases the maximum flow declination rate (MFDR), Which increases the vocal intensity. HOW? More energy in the higher partials. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Vowel /a/ as in “hot” - male Mouth Leakage into Nasal Tract Lips Pharynx Piriform Sinus Valleculae Epi-Larynx Tube Vocal Folds Trachea The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Formant Tuning in the soprano The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Formant Tuning in the soprano The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Singer’s Formant The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Singer’s Formant Source The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Adds energy to upper partials The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Inertive Reactance = (inertance) x (frequency) Inertive reactance measures the amount of acoustic energy stored in the vocal tract, and It also determines the amount of energy fed back to the glottis to help the vocal folds vibrate The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
We lengthen and narrow the tube by: Lowering the larynx ‘Squeezing’ the laryngeal aditus or the ‘collar of the larynx’ The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Inertive reactance is high for frequencies just below a vocal tract resonance (formant) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 F1 F2 F2 F1 F2 F1 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Important combination: Length and width of the epilaryngeal tube influences the reactance Opening of the mouth tunes F1 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Singing below the first resonance F1 (chest register and female belt) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Important harmonics are above F1 Important harmonics are below F1 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Males and female belters The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Classical females and countertenors F1 F2 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Conclusion 1 With a wide-open mouth (megaphone shape), a male sound or a female belt sound can be produced as long as F1 is above the second harmonic With a wide-open mouth (megaphone shape), a male counter-tenor sound or a female classical lyric or coloratura sound can be produced as long as F1 is above the fundamental The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Important harmonics are above F1 Important harmonics are below F1 The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Singing above the first resonance F1 (mixed register) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Male and female mixed register The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Conclusion 2 With a small mouth opening (inverted megaphone shape), a mixed-register male or female sound can be produced as long as F2 is higher than the second harmonic With a small mouth opening (inverted megaphone shape), a male counter-tenor sound or a female classical lyric or coloratura sound can be produced as long as F2 is higher than the fundamental The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Overall Conclusion In singing, the source (larynx) can be highly interactive with the vocal tract Interaction is heightened if some part of the vocal tract is narrow, such as the epilarynx tube; this creates not only vocal ring, but higher overall intensity A semi-occluded vocal tract (at the mouth) is very friendly to a mixed register and hence is very useful for training classical singing The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906) 1832 appointed to Paris Conservatory Central figure in 19th C pedagogy Famous pupils: Battaille Stockhausen Malibran Marchesi Lind The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906) …the human voice is, in the largest sense, composed of the different registers: Chest Falsetto-head And two timbres: Clear timbre Sombre timbre The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906) “When the larynx produces a tone, the pharynx takes possession of it as soon as it is emitted and modifies it. Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840 Clear timbre Offers brilliance and can allow power Carried to exaggeration makes the voice shrill and yelping The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906) “When the larynx produces a tone, the pharynx takes possession of it as soon as it is emitted and modifies it. Mémoire sur la voix humaine, 1840 Sombre timbre Gives the voice roundness Penetration Modifies the falsetto into the ‘head’ register The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Manuel Garcia II (1805-1906) Sombre timbre AKA voce chiusa, voix sombrée ou couverte, closed timbre Timbre result of the shape of the pharynx If the larynx rises – clear timbre If the larynx remains low – sombre timbre The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Result of inertive reactance Sombre timbre Result of inertive reactance The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Changing Traditions Gilbert-Louis Duprez (1806-96) 1837 – Paris Replaced Nourrit as Arnold in Rossini’s Guilliame Tell Do di petto Learned the technique in Italy The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 New expectations “After Duprez, the ut de poitrine became a requirement for the Romantic tenor high C, then or now, for the success or failure of tenors.” Stark: Bel Canto: A History of Vocal Pedagogy The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Voix Sombrée! June, 1840 – Diday and Pétrequin reported to the Académie des Sciences on the subject of timbre and laryngeal position as related to Duprez’s do di petto. Voix sombrée ou couverte (dark and covered) November, 1840 – Garcia presented his theories to the academy Garcia claimed to have been teaching the lowered laryngeal posture and ‘covered tone’ since 1832. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Voix Sombrée! Used for register unification Female chest/middle voice Male high voice “do di petto” Long history of teaching this method since Garcia The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Voix Sombrée! Attention to the laryngeal posture is controversial Vowel color can be utilized: [o], [u] without mention of the larynx Source of much of the controversy throughout history The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Voce Chiusa ‘Comfortably low’ larynx elongates vocal tract - increases inertive reactance ‘Squeezing the collar of the larynx’ narrows the tube - increases inertive reactance Paying attention to mouth opening appropriately tunes F1 to achieve the aesthetic expectation The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Singing with the megaphone shape helps produce high pitches in chest register (or belt voice) for Fo < 530 Hz (C5) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Singing with the megaphone shape also helps produce high pitches in classical female and counter-tenor style for F0 > 530 Hz The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Males and female belters The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007 Aesthetics Summary: Wide open mouth opening Popular styles: belt (male and female), pop styles, etc. Classical styles: Soprano in her high voice – formant tracking, counter-tenor Narrow mouth opening Popular styles: Country & Western, flageolet Classical styles: mixed registers – female middle, male high voice The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Pavarotti & The Italian Tenor Decca Record Co. Limited, London. ‘O Colombina’ Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
D’amor sull’ali rosee Il Trovatore (Verdi) Leontyne Price The Complete Bell Telephone Hour Performances. Video Artists International D’amor sull’ali rosee Il Trovatore (Verdi) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Lauritz Melchior Bel Canto: The Tenors of the 78 Era Kultur “Morgenlich leuchtend” Die Meistersinger (Wagner) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
“Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali” Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) Giuseppe di Stefano “Tu che a Dio spiegasti l’ali” Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007