The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

Vocal Registers:

Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Voice

University of North Texas

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Vocal Registers… OMG!

Literature is very confusing: little agreement

Some historical pedagogical literature offers a practical guide

Written before registers were understood

Some voice science literature offers a simplification to this complex subject

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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!

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The larynx:

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The larynx:

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Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’

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Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’

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Source: Vennard - ‘Light Mechanism’

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Register is defined by:

Slope #1: medial margin of the vocal folds

What determines this difference?

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Intrinsic musculature

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Electromyography

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Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of

Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20, 1970.

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Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological

and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp. 51-69. 1988.

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Titze: Modal & Falsetto

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Register is characterized by:

Slope #2: the glottal flow pulse

Result of configuration of the vocal folds

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Sundberg: Flow glottograms

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Register is characterized by:

Slope #3: EGG waveform

Result of configuration of the vocal folds

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McCoy: Electroglottogram

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Closed Quotient

Heavy mech. = .5 or greater

Light mech. = below .5

Square folds stay closed longer

Longer CQs have more harmonic energy

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How does this information helps us in

the studio?(can it?)

Historical approach:

Scientific observations were predicted in long-established pedagogical principles:

Decades of ‘trial and error’ application and observation

The true ‘scientific method’

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The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

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.”

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The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

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.”

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Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood

Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.

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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.”

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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.”

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We can ‘reshape’ the folds:Vocalis is skeletal muscle

Responds to exercise

Grows in strength

AND in mass!Squares the vocal

foldsProfoundly affects the

timbre of tone

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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. . .”

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The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

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.”

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The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

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.”

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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.”

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The Vocal Pedagogy Workshop 2011

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.”

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Voice Building!

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Filter

Partials interacting with formants:

Don Miller – ‘Register Violation’

2nd partial in F1

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FilterDon Miller – ‘Head Voice’

3rd partial in F2

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Miller: Head Voice

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Head Voice?

Is there 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’!

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Sustained tones in the chest

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William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.

Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 214. 1967.

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William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique.

Carl Fischer, New York. Pg 155. 1967.

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Garcia’s 1st exercise for femaleComplete Treatise Pt. 1

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‘Welcoming in the chest’

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“Imposing the chest’

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‘Imposing the chest – II’

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‘Deference to the head’

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