Is Polyphonic Overtone Singing?

Often music is consisted not only by sounds made from musical instruments, but also by voice and verbal messages. The structure of the voice, or as Roland Barthes describes it ‘the grain of voice’ is the element in a certain piece of music which is responsible for creating the emotions when listening. The grain and the lyrics make the signified and carry out the message. The vocal part of music is formed of words, text, which communicate and make the representation and expression of what it is sung - talked about. According to Barthes the emotive modes of the voice and the changes of the tones from low to high is what delivers the final message and makes us feel the music. (Barthes, R. 1977 [1972]).

The vocal note produced by the vibrations of the vocal folds is complex and made up of periodic (regular and repetitive) and aperiodic (irregular and non-repetitive) sound waves. The aperiodic waves are random noise introduced into the vocal signal owing to irregular or asymmetric adduction (closing) of the vocal folds. Noise impairs the clarity of the vocal note and too much noise is perceived as hoarseness.

Pitch of voice – making sure you pitch is right for the level of conversation and the service user you are talking too. Speaking in a low voice can be calming and soothing, but too low and you can sound boring. On the other hand a high pitch can sound shrill and be unpleasant to listen to

L’Orfeo is a baroque favola by Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643). The opera is a retelling of the Orpheus Legend; in which the son of Apollo, a gifted musician, travels to the underworld to take back his deceased wife only to fail because of his doubt of the God of the Underworld, Hades. The piece is a solo recitative throughout, an example of this speech like singing can be seen at 1:25. In addition L’Orfeo is homophonic because it has one clear melody that is accompanied by strings. The strings melody have the same rhythm as the clear melody at times as well as adding harmony to the piece.

Fundamental Tone- The sound produced by the vibration of the vocal folds as a whole unit.

With healthy ageing, there could be several changes in an older adult’s vocal mechanism, in particular, the larynx. One of the main changes is the increase in the concentration of collagen fibres, causing vocal folds to become more rigid which in turn results in the instability of vocal fold vibrations (Hammond, Gray, & Butler, 2000). Another normal age-related voice change is the degeneration of vocal muscles which could have been a result of programmed cell death (apoptosis) (Malmgren, Jones, & Bookman, 2001; Martins et al., 2015). This is directly associated with presbyphonia which could contribute to a shortness of breath and troubles increasing one’s voice (Martins et al., 2015). Presbyphonia is the biological modification to one’s voice as a result of structural deterioration in the coverage mucosa, muscle and cartilage due to aging (Ford, 2004). The extent of the decline is associated with an individual’s physical and mental well-being, lifestyle, race and genes (Martins et al., 2015)

CAPE-V is an auditory method of evaluating voice quality. The CAPE-V was created to provide a consistent scale and consistent parameters for professionals evaluating the voice while also allowing clinicians to identity differences among a client’s voice (Nagle, 2016, 47). Clinicians determine if a person has a voice disorder or if a person has a normal voice. Six voice qualities are specifically examined when a CAPE-V is used; however, the evaluation includes blank lines to allow a clinician to write additional voice features he or she perceives that are not originally listed on the CAPE-V form. Qualities examined by a professional utilizing a CAPE-V are overall severity, roughness, breathiness, pitch, and loudness. A tick mark is placed on a visual analog scale to denote the severity of each vocal quality; the left portion of the scale signifies a normal vocal quality, while the right portion of the scale represents an extreme deviance in voice parameters. The assessment requires the client sustain vowels /a/ and /i/, read six sentences, and speak in a conversational manner to the statement, “Tell me about your voice.” Prolonged vowels enable a clinical to hear a client’s voice with no articulatory influences, speaking the sentences permits a professional to evaluate specific voice qualities, and conversational speech allows a clinician to further assess a client’s voice for abnormalities (Kempster et al., 2009, pp. 126-127). Clinicians agree that

“The air makes the vocal cords vibrate and the singers’ lungs, throat, mouth, and nose come in to play to produce the desired sound. The pitch of the tone varies with the tension of the vocal cords, the tighter they are, the higher the pitch” (3Book). Vocal classifications for women are soprano, mezzo-soprano, and alto (3Book). The men’s vocal classifications are tenor, baritone, and bass (3Book). Depending on the vocal classification a singer has would determine which ensemble group they would be in. “According to Princeton University, a musical ensemble is ‘a group of two or more musicians who perform instrumental or vocal music’”(Source 2). There are multiple ensemble groups, all of which, expect for singing, come from the five musical instrument families listed in the previous paragraph. Orchestra, band or wind, chorus/choir, jazz band, vocal jazz, soloist, piano soloist, marching band, and pop or rock bands are just a few on the many performing ensemble

Distinctive voices convey personalities and attitudes by relating to social norms and defining events of their contemporary culture – they are a manifestation of various views and human experiences. Ray Lawler’s play summer of the seventeenth doll is a modern realist drama, which explores moral standards and social aspects of the 1950s. Essentially, the reader is confronted with unique views concerning the roles of Australian men and women in the 1950s and their responses to a changing lifestyle. From a working class status, the characters within the play are faced with traditional pressures and conventional gender positions that allows the reader to envision how certain personalities and attitudes react to change. Similarly in Judith Wright’s

Reid argues that working with the dynamics of falsetto development and integration is a lost art, but one that is essential to providing excellent technical training. 10. He advocates working with the singer to produce a pure falsetto, where the only opposition to the cricothyroids (the relevant muscle system) as they perform their pitch regulatory function is provided by the posterior cricoarytenoids. In this arrangement, the vocal folds are maintained in a fully open position, thus permitting the breath to be released unchecked. This hooty, breathy falsetto sound is short in duration, has a fundamental pitch with no overtone content, has no vibrato, depends on the use of an [u] vowel sound exclusively, and is inflexible. With this separation,

General Purpose: To inform Specific Purpose: To describe to audience an overview of research- how voice is produced Central Idea: To describe how the voice works and create sound that applies to communication. Introduction: Attention-Getter: Have you ever wonder why each person sound different from another and how you can distinct one person just by hearing them speak? Other: We use our voice everyday, however, we don’t necessarily think about how our voice is produced.

There are many reasons why people would listen to music, whether it be for entertainment or for relaxing purposes. Each type of music can communicate something differently and can be a powerful means of communication. Music provides a means by which people can share Information, emotions, action, and stories. Communication in music is unique because it is universal and listeners can comprehend what the music is communicating even in a different language. There are many characteristics in a song such as volume, pitch, and timbre that helps what the music is communicating. However, many people might have different views on what the music is trying to communicate. All these characteristics of music plays a significant role in each unique individual’s

The human ear is not capable of hearing frequencies below 20 Hz, exactly the frequency range of Alpha, Theta, Delta and Beta brainwaves. If two auditory pure-sine waves, both at a frequency lower than 1500 Hz and less than 40 Hz apart, are heard dichotically, a third tone is heard at a frequency which is a difference of the two sound waves. This third tone is known as a binaural beat (Oster, G. Auditory Beats in the Brain, (1973)).

Singing is a universal language. It is a way of human’s self-expression. A way in which you can show your emotion, idea, feelings, enjoyment and satisfaction. From the article of journal week, some feel personal satisfaction when singing because it is a fun way to express themselves or perhaps internalize the song. Singing is defined as the production of musical tones by means of the human voice. The parts of the human body, specifically the lungs, voice box, larynx, stomach, the tongue and lips are also used in this manner, which is coordinated in the establishment of vocal technique and made to interact upon one another. The songs incorporates many aspects of cultural or social identity, including nationalism, political affiliation and

A study conducted in 2015 analyzed Mercury’s voice. The study found overall Mercury’s voice ranged from an F#2 (92.2 Hz) to about G5 (about 784 Hz). This large range is uncommon among most singers. The study also found his vocal vibrato was 7.0 Hz. This level of modulation is irregular and is the equivalent of a vocal tremor (“Why Freddie Mercury’s Voice was so Great, as explained by Science”). These overall characteristics are not a normal for a singer and create a pleasing appeal which attracted large crowds. Many other artists have a large following in their musical careers. However, the voice appeal is not to the extent of Freddie Mercury’s appeal.