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From: Barry Bounous
Subject: Re: Chin vibrato - Observations
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Since this has been a recent topic I made a point of observing and
listening closely during our voice major juries (end of term singing
exams) to those singers who evidenced jaw movement during sustained
notes and vowels. I listened to around 200 singers and about 10% had
noticeable jaw movement (only 1 being male, the rest female) I noticed
that they tended to fall into two catagories:

1) Those who couldn't seem to produce any vibrato without the
assistance of the jaw.

2) Those who could but who periodically added jaw movement (usually on
loud and/or high pitches).

In the former case, the vibrato sometimes had a 'normal' sound (when I
closed my eyes) and sometimes did not. (About 50/50)
In the latter case, I noticed a definite degradation in the periodicity
and balance of the vibrato as the singers "added" jaw movement to "help"
the vibrato or at least to help their sense of vocal freedom.

I didn't have any measuring devices so this is subjective. Hey all you
pre-Thesis types out there! Anyone want to confirm (or disprove) my
findings objectively?
--
Dr. Barry Bounous
Brigham Young University
School of Music
bounousb-at-itsnet.com