1. Keeping Your Balance: The slippery slope of vocal registers
Stephen F. Austin, M.M., Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Voice
University of North Texas
11/15/2018

2. Vocal Registers… OMG! Opinions vary wildly!
Literature is very confusing: little agreement
Some pedagogical literature offers a practical guide
Written before registers were understood
Some voice science literature offers a simplification to this complex subject
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3. Vocal Register: 2 views
Source: produced at the level of the larynx and respiratory system
Filter: produced by changes in the resonance characteristics of the vocal tract:
formants interacting with the partials from the larynx
A combination of both the above!
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4. The larynx:
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5. The larynx:
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6. Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’
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7. Source: Vennard - ‘Heavy Mechanism’
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8. Source: Vennard - ‘Light Mechanism’
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9. Register is defined by:
Thickness of the medial margin of the vocal folds
What determines this difference?
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10. Vocalis muscle: Thyroarytenoid
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11. Electromyography
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13. Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of Voice”
Minoru Hirano “Regulation of Register, Pitch and Intensity of Voice”. Folia Phoniatrica, Vol. 22, Pp. 1-20,
Emg Study
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14. Minoru Hirano “Vocal Mechanisms in Singing: Laryngological and Phoniatric Aspects”. Journal of Voice, Vol. 2, No. 1, Pp
Stimulated vocalis
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15. Titze: Falsetto (head) and Chest
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16. Register is characterized by:
Slope #2: the glottal flow pulse
Result of configuration of the vocal folds
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19. Sundberg: Flow glottograms
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20. Register is characterized by:
Slope #3: EGG waveform
Result of configuration of the vocal folds
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21. Typical electroglottograph
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22. EGG in use:
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23. EGG output signal: VF cycle
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24. Dr. Scott McCoy: CQ associated with two registers
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25. Closed Quotient Heavy mech. = .5 or greater Light mech. = below .5
Square folds stay closed longer
Longer CQs have more harmonic energy
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26. How does this information helps us in the studio?
(can it?)
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27. Historical approach:
Scientific observations were predicted in long-established pedagogical principles:
Decades of ‘trial and error’ application and observation
The true ‘scientific method’
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28. Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part On
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part On. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V. Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967.
“By the word register we understand a series of consecutive and homogenous tones going from low to high, produced by the development of the same mechanical principle, and whose nature differs essentially from another series of tones equally consecutive and homogenous produced by another mechanical principle.”
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29. Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One
Manuel Garcia II A Complete Treatise on the Art of Singing: Part One. The editions of 1841 and 1872 collated, edited, and translated by Donald V. Paschke. New York: Da Capo Press. Pg. xli, 1967.
(cont.)
“All the tones belonging to the same register are consequently of the same nature, whatever may be the modification of timbre or of force to which one subjects them.”
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30. Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production
Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 262, 1994.
Stimulated vocalis
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31. Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 20, 1967.
“This chest voice is not equally forceful and strong in everyone; but to the extent that one has a more robust or more feeble organ of the chest, he will have a more or less robust voice.”
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32. Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 34, 1967.
“A sonorous body, or rather robustness of voice is ordinarily a gift from nature, but can also be acquired by study and art.”
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33. We can ‘reshape’ the folds:
Vocalis is skeletal muscle
Responds to exercise
Grows in strength
AND in mass!
Squares the vocal folds
Profoundly affects the timbre of tone
Stimulated vocalis
11/15/2018

34. Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967.
“It remains for me now to speak of those voices which are slender and weak throughout their register One observes that these voices are very weak in the chest notes, and the greater majority deprived of any low notes. . .”
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35. Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing
Giambattista Mancini Practical Reflections on Figured Singing. Editions of 1774 & 1776 compared, translated and edited by Edward V. Foreman, Pro Music Press, Minneapolis. Pg. 35, 1967.
“There is not method more sure to obtain this end, I believe, than to have such a little voice sing only in the chest voice for a time. The exercise should be done with a tranquil solfeggio; and as the voice enriches itself with greater body, and range, one may blend it as much as possible with the low notes.”
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36. William Vennard Developing Voices
William Vennard Developing Voices. Carl Fischer, New York, New York, 1973.
“During her studies she frequently asked for help with her high tones, which did improve during the work. More freedom and modification of the brighter vowels helped the top voice, but what she needed most was to develop the chest voice and blend it into her singing so that it would be usable.”
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37. Richard Miller Structure of Singing. Schirmer Books, New York, New York. Pg. 136-137, 1986.
“Chest mixture will strengthen the soprano’s lower - middle range. Almost every female can make some chest timbre sounds, no matter how insecure, in the lowest part of her range. These notes should be sung in short, intervallic patterns, transposing by half steps upward, as more sound emerges.”
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38. Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production
Ingo Titze Principles of Voice Production. Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Pg. 261, 1994.
“As the bottom of the vocal fold bulges out, the glottis becomes more rectangular than wedge-shaped (convergent). During vibration, then, glottal closure can be obtained over a greater portion of the vocal fold, and thereby over a greater portion of the cycle…The result is a voice of richer timbre, which we call chest or modal voice.”
Stimulated vocalis
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39. Voice Building!
Stimulated vocalis
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40. Voice building: Specific exercises target the laryngeal muscles:
Some build ‘bulk’, strength, endurance
Others build flexibility, ‘fast-twitch’ muscles
All should coordinate efforts between laryngeal muscles, respiratory muscles, and those of the articulators
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41. William Vennard ( )
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42. William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique
William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg
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43. William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique
William Vennard Singing: The Mechanism and the Technique. Carl Fischer, New York. Pg
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44. Sustained tones in the chest
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45. Garcia’s 1st exercise for female Complete Treatise Pt. 1
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46. ‘Welcoming in the chest’
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47. “Imposing the chest’
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48. ‘Imposing the chest – II’
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49. ‘Deference to the head’
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50. Filter
Don Miller – ‘Head Voice’
3rd partial in F2
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51. Miller: Head Voice
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52. Filter Partials interacting with formants:
Don Miller – ‘Register Violation’
2nd partial in F1
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53. Head Voice? Not ONLY a function of a change in the laryngeal mechanism
Results from a change in resonance effect:
Perceptual vs functional
Formants interacting with partials
Specifically 3rd partial lined up with F2
Requires a strong source spectrum:
Characteristic of the ‘Chest Voice’
Historically called the ‘Do Di Petto’!
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