Anatomy and Function
The Thyroarytenoid (TA) is the ___________________ muscle. Is it mostly an intrinsic or extrinsic muscle?
Register Muscle, Intrinsic
What are the four methods of breathing that Stark mentions as the predominant methods of breathing in pedagogical literature?
Diaphragmatic, Dorsal, intercostal, Clavicular
According to Stark, there are two types of registers, what are they? How do they contrast?
Physical/physiological Registers - Registation based on the activity or passivity of the TA muscle.
Acoustic Registers - Registration events that occur because of acoustic phenomenon
Additionally, as we know from Resonance Inertia, acoustic phenomenon has an effect on the glottal closure rates which can effect the TA muscle and other adductor muscles.
What is vibrato?
Seashore:
“An artistic vibrato has a pitch oscillation of approximately a semitone, a rate of approximately six or seven cycles per second, and synchronous intensity and timbre oscillations which play a secondary role”
Who was Garcia II?
- Forefather of Vocal Pedagogy in the 19th century
- inventor: Laryngeal Mirror, Coup de la Glotte
-Teacher of Marchesi and Stockhausen, as well as the most famous singers of the time.
In raised-rib breathing, what muscles are most isolated?
intercostals
In the phonatory process, often called the myoelastic aerodynamic theory, what are the three main forces or principles that keep the vocal folds in oscillation (vibrating) in singing? What is a fourth element that recent science has now included in this process?
1) Breath Athleticism and Bernoulli Principle
2) Elasticity (of the vocal folds)
3) Adductor Muscles
Fourth: Intertive reactance or Resonance Inertia
What is the singer’s formant?
A resonance of the human voice that has a frequency of approximately 3,000 Hertz (3k). The singers formant was made popular by the writing of Vennard in the mid-20th century and is said to be responsible for singing resonances that allow the singer to project over the orchestra. This theory is supported by the fact that the human ear is most sensitive to this pitch range.
How has vibrato rate changed over time? Why?
Vibrato rates have slowed overtime. Pedagogues theorize that vibrato rates have slowed because of the demands to fill larger spaces/opera houses (higher subglottic pressure or glottal closure rates), Louder orchestras (ex. Wagner), and general aesthetic. Singers of the 20th century
What is Resonance Imagery?
A teaching tactic that is highly influenced by the sympathetic or secondary resonances of the vocal tract, often identifying where the tone or sound vibrations are felt not produced. Ex. tone placement, chante dan le masque, Kopfstimme
What are the names of the two muscles under the chin that can have an effect on vibrato rate? How might these muscles change the rate of vibrato?
Geniohyoid and Mylohyoid Muslces
They add additional muscle tensions to the process of vibrato and tend to slow down the rate of vibrato when active (although not always). Thomas Shipp said that the more isolated the vibrato to the CT probably the cleaner the neoromuscular signal.
Richard Miller stated that there are traditionally three orthodox forms of onsets, what were they? What is their equivalent in terms of release?
Balanced Onset/Attack - Balanced Release
Glottal/Hard Onset/Attack - Hard Release
Aspirate/Soft Attack/Onset - Soft Release
What is the fundamental frequency and what is the symbol used to represent it?
The fundamental is the frequency or resonance that is the perceived pitch by the human ear when a note is sung or played. F0 (H1 or R1)
Stark mentions 3 kinds of tremulousness that assist singers in florid/melismatic passages. List these three types from fastest to slowest.
Glottal Articulation, Legato or vibrato synchronous articulation, Diaphragmatic impulse
This term is associated with the British school and voce aperta concepts where the singer is asked to vertically extend the jaw past the point of normal speech for all vowel shapes (ex. 2-3 finger length jaw)
What is the name of the muscle that runs down the back of that neck what voice science has noted can pulsate with vibrato and has a huge influence on neck alignment?
Splenus Capitis
What is the coup de la glotte? How is it translated? Who promoted it and invented the term? In which national school is it most prominent? How is it used in the English school vs. the Italian School?
the coup de la glotte is a form of vocal onset sometimes considered synonymous with the balanced onset. It is translated as the strike of the glottis. It is most prominent in the Italian School. In the British school, operatic singers with use this onset when singing more romantic repertoire and opt for a lighter or aspirated onset when singing Baroque or early music. In the Italian school, onset exercises that incorporate the coup de la glotte are practices often (Marchesi, Garcia, Stockhausen) and are used regardless of style. This coincides with the tonal concept of many pedagogues within the Italian school that no sound should be breathy and no change in timbre should occur when performing a messa di voce. Firm glottal closure should be observed throughout.
What are 4 resonance adjustments predominant in famous operatic singers?
Lifted Soft Palate (closed velopharyngeal port), Lowered/mediated larynx, Neck Alignment, Formant tuning/Vowel Modification
There are five to six muscle groups that could be involved in producing vibrato, which of these is most prominent and should be isolated? What might be the outcome if this muscle is not isolated?
the CT Muscle. There are many outcomes including syncronous shaking of the head, jaw, and abdomen with the vibrato which can alter the vibrato rate and lead to a tremolo or wobble. Often, jaw sychronous vibrato rates accompany tension of the Geniohyoid and Mylohyoid muscles which often have a widening or slowing effect on the vibrato.
What is the Bernoulli Principle?
The Bernoulli Principle is suction created by airflow; once thought to be the primary way the vocal folds maintained adduction during the phonatory process, now considered a secondary force.
The _______ __________ is a muscle that runs down the center of your abdomen and is most isolated during “Diaphragmatic Breathing”.
Rectus abdominus
Why do pedagogues and speech pathologists dislike breathiness? How does breathiness affect resonance?
Breathiness can be a sign of a pathology, it could be a sign of damage or inflammation, or it could be a sign of hypoadduction. Breathiness introduces noise into the sound spectrum, therefore it is consider a negative resonance. Singers with breathiness will be less likely to formant tune effectively because of the weak overtones/harmoncis produced at the glottis. In the case of hypoadduction, this could also mean that the singer will run out of air quickly and sing shorter phrases because the vocal folds are not properly adducted.
When treble voices are singing high (in range), what vowel choices are preferred? What is the problem with G5 in treble voices that causes a problem for vowel purity?
Open vowels like [a], [^] and [ae] are preferred. As pitch ascends, treble voices tend to modify vowels open. It is common that treble voices will formant tune with F1 as pitch ascends, on G5, the only vowel that has an F1 resonance above the fundamental is [a] (Maurer). Dependent on the individual singers oral pharyngeal cavity (the cavity responsible for F1 resonances), other more open vowels will formant tune as well.
Statistically, is vibrato normal or abnormal? Explain?
Yes, vibrato is statistically normal. Possible supportive quotes:
Thomas Edison purported to have found only 22 people out of 3800 who didn’t have the vocal tremolo.
Seashore found that the vibrato was present 95 % of the phonating time of the great singers of his time.
Kwalwasser found vibrato in 93 % of trained singers, 87 % of untrained singers.
What are two auxiliary Registers discussed in class and how are they defined?
Flageolette and Strohbass