ACOUSTICS OF SPEECH

AND SINGING

MUSICAL ACOUSTICS

Science of Sound, Chapters 15, 17P. Denes & E. Pinson, The Speech Chain (1963, 1993)J. Sundberg, The Science of the Singing Voice (1987)D. Miller, Resonance in Singing (2008)

THE VOCAL ORGANS

THE LARYNX

(a) BACK VIEW

(b) SIDE VIEW

VOCAL FOLDS CONTROL OF THE GLOTTAL OPENING BY THE ARYTENOIDS

SCHEMATIC OF THE BREATHING APPARATUS

(b) CONTRACTION OF THECHEST CAVITY BY THE INTERNAL INTERCOSTALS,ALONG WITH RAISING THE DIAPHRAM, CAUSES THE LUNGS TO CONTRACT

(a) EXPANSION OF THE CHEST CAVITY BY THEEXTERNAL INTERCOSTALSALONG WITH A FLATTENINGOF THEDIAPHRAM REDUCES THE PRESSURE AND CAUSESTHE LUNGS TO EXPANDAND FILL WITH AIR

LUNG CAPACITY IN THE NORMAL YOUNG ADULT AND ITS SUBDIVISION INTO FUNCTIONING VOLUMES. THE VOLUME OF THE MALE LUNG IS INDICATED AT THE LEFT, THE FEMALE AT THE RIGHT

GLOTTAL WAVE FORM SPECTRUM

CLOSED PIPE MODEL OFTHE VOCAL TRACT

SIMPLE MODELS OF THE VOCAL TRACT

THE EFFECT OF FORMANTS ON SOUND

FORMANTS AND PITCH• IN BOTH SPEECH AND SINGING, THERE IS A DIVISION OF LABOR

BETWEEN THE VOCAL FOLDS AND VOCAL TRACT. THE VOCAL FOLDS CONTROL THE PITCH, WHILE THE VOCAL TRACT DETERMINES THE VOWEL SOUNDS THROUGH FORMANT (RESONANCE) FREQUENCIES AND ALSO ARTICULATES THE CONSONANTS

TYPICAL FORMATS OF MALE AND FEMALE SPEAKERS REPRESENTED ON A MUSICAL STAFF.

FIRST AND SECOND FORMANTS OF VOWELS

CONSONANTS

CONSONANTS INVOLVE VERY RAPID, SOMETIMES SUBTLE , CHANGES IN SOUND.CONSONANTS ARE MORE DIFFICULT TO ANALYZE AND TO DESCRIBE ACOUSTICALLY

CONSONANTS MAY BE DESCRIBED ACCORDING TO THEIR PLACE OF ARTICULATION AND THEIR MANNER OF ARTICULATION.

THE SIGNIFICANT PLACES OF ARTICULATION IN ENGLISH ARE THE LIPS (LABIAL), THE COMBINATION OF LOWER LIP AND UPPER TEETH (LABIO-DENTAL), THE TEETH (DENTAL), THE UPPER GUMS (AVEOLAR), THE HARD PALATE ( PALATAL), THE SOFT PALATE (VELAR), AND THE GLOTTIS (GLOTTAL)

CONSONANTS MAY BE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF ARTICULATION AS PLOSIVE, FRICATIVE, NASAL, LIQUID, AND SEMIVOWEL.

PLOSIVE CONSONANTS (p, b, t, etc.) ARE PRODUCED BY BLOCKING THE FLOW OF AIR (USUALLY IN THE MOUTH) AND RELEASING THE PRESSURE RATHER SUDDENLY

FRICATIVES (f, s, sh, etc.) ARE MADE BY CONSTRICTING THE FLOW TO PRODUCE TURBULENCE

NASALS (m, n, ng) ARE MADE BY LOWER THE SOFT PALATE TO CONNECT THE NASAL CAVITY TO THE PHARYNX AND BLOCKING THE MOUTH CAVITY SOMEWHERE

SEMIVOWELS (w, y) ARE PRODUCED BY KEEPING THE VOCAL TRACT BRIEFLY IN A VOWEL POSITION AND THEN CHANGING IT RAIDLY TO THE VOWEL SOUND THAT FOLLOWS

IN SOUND THE LIQUIDS (r, l) THE TIP OF THE TONGUE IS RAISED AND THE ORAL CAVITY IS SOMEWHAT RESTRICTED

CONSONANTS

CONSONANTS MAY BE CLASSIFIED ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF ARTICULATION AS PLOSIVE, FRICATIVE, NASAL, LIQUID, AND SEMIVOWEL.

PLOSIVE CONSONANTS (p, b, t, etc.) ARE PRODUCED BY BLOCKING THE FLOW OF AIR (USUALLY IN THE MOUTH) AND RELEASING THE PRESSURE RATHER SUDDENLY

FRICATIVES (f, s, sh, etc.) ARE MADE BY CONSTRICTING THE FLOW TO PRODUCE TURBULENCE

NASALS (m, n, ng) ARE MADE BY LOWER THE SOFT PALATE TO CONNECT THE NASAL CAVITY TO THE PHARYNX AND BLOCKING THE MOUTH CAVITY SOMEWHERE

SEMIVOWELS (w, y) ARE PRODUCED BY KEEPING THE VOCAL TRACT BRIEFLY IN A VOWEL POSITION AND THEN CHANGING IT RAIDLY TO THE VOWEL SOUND THAT FOLLOWS

IN SOUND THE LIQUIDS (r, l) THE TIP OF THE TONGUE IS RAISED AND THE ORAL CAVITY IS SOMEWHAT RESTRICTED

CONSONANTS

SEMIVOWELS (w, y) ARE PRODUCED BY KEEPING THE VOCAL TRACT BRIEFLY IN A VOWEL POSITION AND THEN CHANGING IT RApIDLY TO THE VOWEL SOUND THAT FOLLOWS

IN SOUNDING THE LIQUIDS (r, l) THE TIP OF THE TONGUE IS RAISED AND THE ORAL CAVITY IS SOMEWHAT RESTRICTED

CONSONANTS ARE FURTHER CLASSIFIED AS UNVOICED (p, t, k) OR VOICED (b, d, g).

FORMANT FREQUENCIES

VOWEL “æ” AS SPOKEN AND SUNG

FORMANT FREQUENCIES OF BASIC SUNG VOWELS

SINGER’SFORMANT

SPECTRUM OF /ά/ WITH HIGH AND LOW LARYNX

REGISTERS

FORMANT TUNING BY SOPRANOS

F1 AND F2 ARE THELOWEST FORMANTSOF VOWELS /i/, /ά/, and /u/

SOLID LINES ARE THEFIRST 7 HARMONICS OF THE SUNG NOTE

SUBGLOTTAL PRESSURE IN

SINGING

GLOTTAL WAVEFORMS:

Rates of closure

RELATIVE STRENGTHS OF HARMONICS IN FEMALE AND MALE VOICES

IN MODAL ANDFALSETTO (MALE)

POPULAR SINGING

LESS VOWEL MODIFICATION (“STRAIGHT TEXT”)

NATURALNESS AT THE EXPENSE OF BEAUTY

SONG IS FREELY CHANGED TO SHOW OFF SINGER’S VOICE

BELTING – EXTENDING CHEST REGISTER ABOVE NORMAL RANGE

COUNTRY SINGERSSPECTRA OF SPOKEN & SUNG VOWELS ARE SIMILAR“SINGER’S FORMANT” USUALLY MISSING

HARMONIC SINGING

VOCAL TRACT IS SHAPED TO GIVE STRONG EMPHASIS TO CERTAIN HARMONICS

HARMONIC CHANT NORMAL SINGING

CHOIR SINGING

CHOIR VS. SOLO SINGING MALE SINGERS HAVE LESS PROMINENT SINGER’S FORMANT IN CHOIR MODE

“SELF” TO “OTHERS” RATIO (S0R) CHOIR SINGERS PREFER SOR OF ABOUT 6dB (AVE) MEASURED SORs ARE 4 dB (SINGLE ROW) TO 3 dB (DOUBLE ROW) IN OPERA CHORUS, SOR IS 10 –15 dB (Ternström, 2005)

UNISONS /u/ IS MORE DIFFICULT TO MATCH TO A REFERENCE TONE THAN /ά/, PROBABLY BECAUSE OF LACK OF HARMONICS PITCH ACCURACY STANDARD DEVIATION IN A BASS SECTION FOUND TO BE 16 CENTS

AVERAGE SPECTRUM ENVELOPES OF BASS IN SOLO AND CHOIR MODES (Rossing, et al., 1985)