| From: "Lloyd W. Hanson" Subject: Re: singer's formant (that pinging thing) To: VOCALIST <vocalist> Send reply to: VOCALIST <vocalist>
Dear Jon Schweinfurth, MD and List:
Your recent post regarding vowel formants and the singer's formant contains information that, in my opinion and study, is not in line with the source material from Dr. Titze and others.
The singers formant exists only in the area of about 2800-3200 Hrz. The most accepted explanation for its occurrence is that is produced in the epilaryngeal region just below the pharynx. The relationship of this small resonator and its opening into the lower pharynx are critical factors.
Titze (Principle of Voice Production, pages 239-240) discusses this phenomenon and indicates that the exact frequency produced is determined by the effective acoustic length of the small resonator. He has written articles in the NATS Journal which offer traditional vocal training procedures that appear to help the singer develop this ring in the voice by extending slightly the operational length of this resonator.
You also indicated that "the formant frequencies for the /i/ vowel was highest at every formant". Everything I have read and seen in spectrograph displays indicates that the /i/ vowel has a lower first formant and a higher second formant than other vowels. I have seen nothing that indicates that both its first and second formants are highest, as you have stated.
Perhaps you were only considering the display of formant frequencies found in female voices when singing in their highest range. At these frequencies the first and second formants and higher formants tend to cluster and Sundberg has suggested that this cluster my be the effective equivalent of the singers formant for this special case.
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA Professor of Voice, Pedagogy School of Performing Arts Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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