1. Flapping Jaws and Acoustic Laws:
The Singer’s Guide to Inertive Reactance (and the Voce Chiusa)
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

2. 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

3. Vocal Tract Acoustics ‘101’
But first:
Vocal Tract Acoustics ‘101’
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

4. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

5. 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

6. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Source-Filter Theory
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

7. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Sound Pressure Spectrum
Glottal Flow Spectrum
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

8. 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

9. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Solution:
Inertive reactance!
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

10. Ingo Titze www.NCVS.org Please visit their website!
Thanks to:
Ingo Titze
Please visit their website!
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

11. 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

12. Linear Source-Filter Acoustics
Nonlinear Source-Filter Acoustics
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

13. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Inertance
- sluggishness of response of an air column provides the feedback energy
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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19. Formant Tuning in the soprano
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

20. Formant Tuning in the soprano
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

21. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Singer’s Formant
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

22. Singer’s Formant Source
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

23. Adds energy to upper partials
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

24. 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

25. 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

26. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Inertive reactance is high for frequencies just below a vocal tract resonance (formant)
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

27. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007F1 F2 F2 F1 F2 F1
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

28. Important combination:
Length and width of the epilaryngeal tube influences the reactance
Opening of the mouth tunes F1
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

29. Singing below the first resonance F1
(chest register and female belt)
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

30. Important harmonics are above F1
Important harmonics are below F1
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

31. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

32. Males and female belters
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

33. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Classical females and
countertenors F1 F2
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

34. 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

35. Important harmonics are above F1
Important harmonics are below F1
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

36. Singing above the first resonance F1
(mixed register)
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37. Male and female mixed register
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38. 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

39. 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

40. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Manuel Garcia II ( )
1832 appointed to Paris Conservatory
Central figure in 19th C pedagogy
Famous pupils:
Battaille
Stockhausen
Malibran
Marchesi
Lind
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

41. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Manuel Garcia II ( )
…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

42. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Manuel Garcia II ( )
“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

43. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Manuel Garcia II ( )
“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

44. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007
Manuel Garcia II ( )
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

45. Result of inertive reactance
Sombre timbre
Result of inertive reactance
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

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Changing Traditions
Gilbert-Louis Duprez ( )
1837 – Paris
Replaced Nourrit as Arnold in Rossini’s Guilliame Tell
Do di petto
Learned the technique in Italy
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47. 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

48. 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

49. 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

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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

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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

52. 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

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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

55. Males and female belters
The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

56. 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

57. Pavarotti & The Italian Tenor Decca Record Co. Limited, London.
‘O Colombina’
Pagliacci (Leoncavallo)
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58. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

59. 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)
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60. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

61. Lauritz Melchior Bel Canto: The Tenors of the 78 Era Kultur
“Morgenlich leuchtend”
Die Meistersinger (Wagner)
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62. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007

63. “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)
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64. The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2007