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194 TRAINING THE SINGING VOICE
able part and that current physiological descriptions regarding vowel positions (e.g., open, dosed, narrow, wide, high, low, etc.) are "generally fantastic and practically without basis in fact." [Ibid., p. 351]
The exact physiology of vowel production in singing is not yet clearly understood. Harris and Harper still believe that 'Vowels are formed entirely by the shape of the oral [mouth] cavities." [229, 228, p. 26] But majority opinion holds, with Russell, that the entire vocal passage, including the pharyngeal and throat cavities contribute to the shaping of the vowel resonator. [479] Therefore, it is "the position of the [entire] resonator in forming the vowel sounds that is most important in the art of singing.** [AiMn 4]
More recent acoustical research has contributed some interesting information on the subject of vowel analysis. Along with factors of physical shape, position and duration, the acoustical composition of the vowel is also important. That is, a vowel sound is composed of a fundamental pitch frequency (produced at the glottis) and a series of overtones (produced in the resonators). [Stanley 578] This peculiar composition of fundamental and overtones produces, for each standard vowel sound, a characteristic tonal spectrum or formant. (See Chapter V) Negus* description is also typical: Vowels are "a mixture of fundamental and overtones produced at the glottis and modified as to quality by the resonators." [418, p. 440; also Herbert-Caesari 269, p. xiii; Jones 507, p. 5] Stanley also finds that it is the vowel sound that determines the timbre (quality) of the voice at any moment during the singing of a song. Yowel sounds are always determined by the preponderance of "two or three bands of frequencies" in the tonal spectrum (formant). The slightest modification hi the position of these frequency bands alters the vowel. Therefore, a wide range of vowel changes is possible in normal voice production. **These bands do not depend upon the fundamental" (pitch) but rather upon the selectivity of the vocal resonators. [Op. dt.]
The vowel formant is apparently determined independently of the pitch of the vocal tone; that is, different vowels may be sounded on the same pitch and the same vowel may be produced on different pitches. Jacobsen describes the vowel formant as a "frequency region where each individual vowel will have an unusual amount of energy, regardless of the pitch [fundamental] at which the vowel is sung." [297] Metfessel reports that the elimination of several overtones in the formant of the vowel ah does not change the pitch of the note that is sung. [390] Bon Lewis* extensive researches on vocal and vowel resonance are reported in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. In Ms findings he pre sents a typical vowel theory that is summarized as follows: |
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