Dear Vocalisters,
An interesting discussion is going on about registers and the
difference between male and female voices.
Although male and female vocal folds and larynges obviously differ
and this fact has a large impact on the characteristics of male vs.
female voices, I think it is possible to talk about registers in a
way that is independent of gender.
Donald Miller from the University of Groningen Voice Lab in
the Netherlands (http://www.med.rug.nl/bmt-ao/voicelab.htm) wrote an
interesting Ph.D thesis this year about registers, which I found very
illuminating.
It does not explain all aspects of registration, but one of the nice
things about this theory is that it reconciles the findings of
modern voice science with the 'classical' terminology for registers,
while at the same time defining more clearly what these classical
terms mean in acoustic terminology.
Although there is much more to his theory than I can possibly
summarize here, I will highlight some of Donald Miller's findings.
'Special' registers like the male 'mezza voce' and pulse registers
or the female flageolet register have been omitted for now.
1. Registers are based on two things:
a. Vocal fold ('voice source') vibrational pattern
- 'heavy' (high closed quotient, high vertical phase difference)
or - 'light' (low closed quotient, low vertical phase difference)
b. Resonance strategy
Which harmonics (H1, H2 etc.) are resonated by which
formants (F1,F2 or singer's formant (SF) )
2. It is possible to make an overview of registers based on
vibrational pattern and resonance strategy alone.
Legend: H1 = first harmonic = fundamental
H2,3 etc. = higher harmonics
F1,F2 = Lowest 2 formants (determine the vowel)
F1: back resonance
F2: front resonance
SF = Singer's formant = cluster of formant
F3, F4 and F5
Vocal fold vibr. pattern Resonance strategy
chest
(male/female): heavy - H2 is lower than F1
on an open vowel
- resonance strategy
not critical
due to small
distance between
harmonics
male head - H2 is higher than F1
on an open vowel
(larynx stays low)
- F2 or SF
resonates H3,H4 or
higher
- Notice the difference
with 'belt'
male falsetto: similar to female middle (see below)
female middle: light - H1 is lower than F1
on an open vowel
- Several strategies
female head: light - F1 follows H1
(jaw drops and larynx
rises slightly
with pitch)
belt
(male/female): heavy - F1 follows H2
(larynx rises with
pitch)
Wim Ritzerfeld
- engineer, singer and aspiring voice teacher -
Eindhoven, The Netherlands
www.chello.nl/~w.ritzerfeld
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