| From: Tako Oda To: VOCALIST <vocalist> Subject: Re: Speaking/Singing voice ( ranting about countertenors) Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
"Lloyd W. Hanson" wrote: > Your suggestions that the cords get stretched lengthwise to raise > pitch until they can no longer stretch lengthwise and must be > stretched laterally is a most confusing statement. Can you explain a > bit more? For example, how is lengthwise and laterally stretching > different?
Sorry! My attempt to explain was not thorough enough.
By lengthwise stretching, I meant longitudinal tension. Kind of like the approximating surfaces of the cords were the ropes in a game of tug-o-war. The pulling would be more or less dorso-ventral. The rise in pitch comes from the added taughtness of the actuator of sound, in spite of the the slight lengthening of the actuator (which is usually associated with a lowering of pitch).
By lateral stretching I meant the thinning action that happens when there is tension applied to the cords from the sides. The rise in pitch comes from reduced mass (caused by the thinning), not to mention the shortening of the effective vibrating length of the cords which is characteristic of register 2 (aka head voice).
I tried to avoid talk of muscles in this discussion, as the work of muscles are always re-directed and can therefore make things confusing. I thought that by sticking to the action of the resultant vectors it would be easier to explain. If this is still confusing, or if I have it wrong, then by all means please let me know. Thanks!
Tako Oda Graduate Student in Composition Mills College Music Department http://www.mills.edu/PEOPLE/gr.pages/toda.public.html/music/singer.html
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