Lloyd wrote:
>
> COMMENT: Any study that dates from 1971 is, by definition very
>dated. A lot more recent research has been done on this
>phenomenon .since that time. Titze's book for example.
Yes, the study is dated. This fact alone does not imply to me
that we can't gain some knowledge from even "dated" material. In my
grad vocal ped class we used these studies for a large part of the
semester.
Lloyd wrote:
>
> COMMENT: This "liken to" does not necessarily hold. The bicep
muscle does not equate with the very different muscle fibre found in
the vocal folds.
> One is a slow muscle and one a very fast muscle.
The bicep comment was merely used to make a point. I did not
feel it was necessary to talk about the lamina propria. Perhaps, I
should have.
> Lloyd wrote:
> COMMENT: It would be of some help if you would give us the source
and location of this information from Titze. I do not know of this
conclusion
from Titze that a rounded muscle produces high levels of acoustic
>energy.
Lloyd, I don't know of an exact source of this information
from Titze. It came relayed from Dr. Austin to our ped class as
something he got from Ingo while working with him.
Lloyd wrote:
> COMMENT: Your first statement is not supported. Why and how is it
logical that "through guided exercise, we can increase the endurance
and strength
> of the CT(Cricothyroid) for high pitches AND strength and bulk of
the TA. Thus, creating a 'rounded' vocal fold.
I made this comment because we know that when we exercise a
muscle we increase its ability to do work. It gains strength and
becomes more resistant to fatigue. Vocal exercise can accomplish
this same thing in the laryngeal musculature. Regarding 'rounded'
fold, Titze and Hirano say: the cross sectional shape of the vocal
folds carry significant implications concerning 1)shape of source
spectrum, and 2)Ease of phonation.
Lloyd wrote:
>
> It is also necessary to keep in mind that the thyroarytenoids are
not solely
> responsible for the low voice and cricothyroids for the high voice.
Yes, exactly right. However, in the, as you call them-"dated"
studies from '71- The vocalis muscle participation is the ONLY muscle
that changes significantly across all register conditions(falsetto,
head, and chest voice). This fact alone has some serious
implications for the TA participation throughout the entire range.
Hirano calls the TA the 'register' muscle and the CT the 'pitch-
muscle.' And Lloyd we are also in agreement regarding the fact that
the TA and CT muscles are always in a constant changing balance of
activity(antagonism).
Lloyd wrote:
>The singers formant is the cause of ring and it is an acoustic
>energy in a particular frequency range
> which does not necessarily indicate an overall increase in levels of
> acoustic energy.
I agree 100% that the singers formant is the cause of
the 'ring.' My suggestion is that the 'chesty' quality characterized
by high TA activity(rounded VF), is characterized by high levels of
energy in the upper-partials, which in turn produces that 'ring.'
You can try to get your voice to sing at 3000Hz all day long-without
enough TA muscular activity(rounded VF) the task becomes quite
difficult. Maybe the effect of the rounded VFs aids only in
supplying acoustic energy to the 3000hz area- I don't know. Maybe
I'll call Ingo and ask him this question.
Lloyd wrote:
>
It is difficult imagine any
> teacher denying the existence of chest register in today's world.
Why did
> Garcia speak this way?
As to the exact reason why Garcia spoke that way- I don't
know. Regarding the second comment I would list several
reasons/stories. I'm certainly not implying that no teachers
advocate the use of the chest-voice. But, there are people who are
scared of the term. A world famous soprano taught at LSU for a
number of years. In Dr. Austin's ped class at the time he played her
for the students and commented on her amazing use of the chest
register. Well when she got wind of this, she just about slapped Dr.
Austin in the hallway saying,"I have never used my chest-voice-How
dare you tell the students that I sing with my chest-voice." As on
of the great voices of this century she not only used her chest-voice-
but, used it to GREAT effect!!
Also, I think it's very possible to be using the chest-voice
(especially in female voices) in a not-so-healthy way. Many female,
mostly mezzos, resort to harsh medial compression, chin tucking, and
forcing. Yes, they sing in chest-voice. But, is it done in the most
freely produced way, with the proper vowel, and the right resonance
adjustment? The concern is not to just SING a chest-tone. But, a
chest-tone that's RIGHT.
When my fiancee Laura(21 year old mezzo) had a lesson with
Reid, she spent most of the time on this very issue. She tends to
darken her lower register to sound older and richer. The first
comment Reid said was,"well its sound like a mezzo but, there is all
this extra STUFF in there that we don't want- "Once we get rid of
that, the true character of your voice will shine through." I'm
still waiting to hear a chest tone like Giulietta Simionato. Now
THAT was a chest tone. I'm sure Mark M. would agree;)
Lloyd wrote:
> Garcia's use of the term falsetto is also most unclear. In some of
his writings he uses the term to define the male voice between the
chest voice
> and the head voice. In other of his writings he uses the term in a
generic way to mean any voice quality that is not chest voice in
>quality.
I'll attempt to explain what I know about this concept: Many
teachers think of falsetto as being simply a PITCH related event. In
Garcia's time falsetto was considered more of a registration event.
Which is why he placed it BETWEEN the chest and head registers. To
Garcia, the falsetto had the characteristics of, "the low-tones of a
flute." Current pedagogy talks about falsetto as a false voice
without much use. Even when I watched Miller, he did not speak very
highly of falsetto as a pedagogical tool. However, the breathy-flute
tone falsetto as Garcia describes, is not the pitch related/close
chink falsetto current pedagogues normally accociate with the term.
Garcia was rather clear on the use of the term in my understanding.
Perhaps current pedagogy has ignored Garcia's original intentions.
Wow! I feel like I just wrote a dissertation. Lloyd really
makes me think about everything I write on the list. It's great
practice for my general exams I guess- so thanks. At 26, I think I
have a pretty good knowledge base to start from. And a good amount
came from the list. By the way Lloyd, Austin used your
article,"Survey of Research on Vocal Falsetto", for our advanced ped
class. It's an excellent article- and we even had a quiz on it ;-o
Take Care All,
Taylor L. Ferranti
DMA Candidate in Vocal Pedagogy
LSU
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