1.  Quality

Voice Classification

Voices are usually classified according to quality or range or both. Since many singers have more than one possible singing quality, and since the vocalizing range of most female voices at the age of eighteen is approx­imately three octaves, and that of boys at the same age is limited, without the so-called falsetto range, to a little over an octave, using quality and range as the only means of classification is hardly satisfactory.

Many singers have quite definite opinions about the type of voice they think they have, or would like to have. Many sopranos think they are altos; tenors think they are baritones, baritones think they are basses. These judgments are based on what the singer thinks he hears. He hears his voice in two ways, through both air and bone conduction. A singer does not re­cognize his own voice when he hears it played back on a tape recording or record for the first time, since he is hearing it only by air conduction through his outer ear. This inability of a singer to hear his voice as it actually is emphasizes the necessity for a teacher who knows what to listen for.

The average normal pitch of the speaking voice may be used as an in­dication of the type of voice. Generally speaking, if an individual speaks below B flat, he has a low voice, between B flat and D, a middle or mezzo voice, at D or above, a high voice. This cannot be considered a hard and fast rule. There are individuals who speak higher or lower than they should, because of their environment, or because of conscious or unconscious imita­tion of another type of voice, or because of emotional disturbances.

About an octave above the average normal pitch of the speaking voice there is a change to what some teachers call the first "lift." This is a psy­chological term describing a change in the sensation of resonance placement. The tone feels as if it were lifted upward. This marks the middle of the range, or the end of the chest register. Using this as a basis, the following rule can be derived: if the first lift occurs below B flat, it is an indication of a low voice., if between B flat and D, a middle or mezzo voice, if at D or above, a high voice.   This leads us to the following classification of voices:

Female
High Voices                     Coloratura sopranos
Lyric sopranos
Middle or
Mezzo Voices                  Second sopranos
Dramatic sopranos
Mezzo sopranos
Low Voices                        Contraltos
Mezzo contraltos
Male
High Voices                              First tenors
Middle or
Mezzo Voices                          Second tenors
Dramatic tenors
High Baritones
Low Voices                Baritones
Bas s -baritone s
Basses

This approach should not be considered as a final judgment on the type of voice. Voices change with age, maturity, and development. Each cate­gory has its own particular quality that distinguishes it from other types. It is not for the teacher to say that a voice is definitely one type or another un­til the voice has had a chance to determine itself. But at least this approach is helpful in assigning the individual to a particular section in a chorus or choir, in determining where to vocalize, or the selection of music in the proper key.

Resonance and Vibratory Qualities

Regardless of whether a singer has a high, middle, or low voice, his quality of tone will fall into either a resonance quality or a vibratory quality. The resonance qualities maybe classified as metallic (open), muffled (closed), nasal, de-nasal, and normal; the vibratory or vocal cord qualities maybe classified as breathy, harsh, hoarse, and normal.

These are psychological descriptions of what the tone quality sounds like. Each sound can be analyzed, to a limited degree, to ascertain why it sounds that way.

A metallic tone is the result of a strong pharyngeal action. All good quality calls for some metallic ring in the voice. This indicates the pre­sence of a high formant, which must be balanced by a low formant. Other­wise the tone is essentially a yell.

A muffled or closed tone is the result of a strong or over-emphasized mouth resonance. The vowels are enunciated with the mouth and lips, thus cutting down on the amount of pharyngeal resonance. This indicates the presence of a low formant, which must be balanced by pharyngeal action. Otherwise the tone is a hoot, and clear diction is lost. All good quality re­quires the presence of a low formant for mellowness and beauty of tone.

A nasal tone is either the result of breath passing through the nose, or is a cul de sac (pocket) in the naso-pharynx. Nasality can have either a metallic (high formant) or a muffled (low formant) quality. In either case it should be balanced by a stronger oral-pharyngeal resonance.

A de-nasal quality is usually the result of muscle constriction, literally closing off the nasal passages.

Normal resonance quality is the re suit of balanced pharyngeal and mouth resonance qualities.   It has been given the term   "Nasal" resonance. Ac­tually it eliminates the nasal passages as resonators except on the nasals, m, n and ng.

Singers have found that they can sing more successfully with the sensa­tion of what they think is nasality. As a matter of fact, research has proved that in what is considered good singing, there is no resonance above the level of the mouth, except on the nasals!1 What is thought to be nasal resonance is actually bone conduction of sound vibration. In good singing or speech qua­lity the nasal port is shut off. Singers will argue that the nasal port is open. The sensation is that it is “open.” It is difficult to determine whether or not the nose is completely shut off. Research tends to prove that it need not be if the mouth opening is wide enough to overbalance the tendency of the breath stream to go through the nose !2 A test to determine whether a tone is nasal is to hold the openings into the nose closed with the thumb and forefinger while singing phrases without nasals, such as: “Tell her the day,” or phrases with nasals, such as: “My name is Mamie.” In speech this has been called the nose test.

Breathiness is the result of the vocal cords not being closely approximat­ed.   Whispering is the extreme example of breathiness.

A harsh quality may be the result of misuse of the voice, sickness, im­proper breathing or resonation.

A hoarse vibratory quality is a combination of breathiness and harsh­ness. All three vibratory qualities may have the same basic causes: mis­use of the voice, poor conception of tone, lack of the proper breath support, fatigue, and illness.

Normal vibratory quality is reflected in normal resonance quality.

Many more descriptions of tone can be given, some purely psychological, most of which can be analyzed in terms of acoustics, aspirate, etc.13

The normal resonance quality for singing has been given the term “Nasal” Resonance.” It may be described psychologically as a ringing resonant tone which has a free and easy production. There would seem to general agree­ment on what is a good tone in singing.

Tests have been made to determine what is a good tone in violin play­ing \4 as well as what is a good tone in cornet playing. There was general agreement among the juries selected as to how a good tone should sound. In the case of the trumpet tone, an acoustical analysis was made of a good cornet tone, with the idea of building a trumpet to get that tone.”

In the case of the singing tone, acoustical analyses were made of a good singing tone.   The following conclusions were reached:

According to Bartholomew)6good tone quality for both male and female voices has the following attributes: 1. A smooth and fairly even vibrato; 2. Intensity of tone; 3. A low formant for “resonance” or roundness or sonority;   4.   A high formant for ring or shimmer.

The vibrato should be about 6 or 7 times per second in the three varia­bles of pitch, intensity, and timbre. An even vibrato adds to the tone a cer­tain warmth or richness to which the listener reacts unconsciously. It is easier on the singer and on the listener as well.

The production of good tone is dependent on a relatively large throat, which makes possible greater intensity of tone. The large throat makes possible greater resonance, along with the stronger vibration of the vocal cords.

The low formant in male voices centers around 500 cycles or lower. According to Bartholomew]7 “the low formant is produced in the pharynx which in the good tone is considerably enlarged.”

In the good tone the high formant centers approximately around 2800 cycles. The better the tone or the better the voice, the more prominent this formant becomes. In women’s voices the high formant centers at about 3200 cycles, higher than in men’s voices, and in some voices, particularly in the coloratura register, there is practically no high formant at all. The so-called head voice register in women1 s voices is thought to correspond in some respects to the male undeveloped falsetto, which has no high formant. When this happens judgments on quality are based on purity and agility rather than on ring or resonance.18

If we accept the theory of what constitutes a good tone—vibrato, intensity of tone, and high and low formants—then basically there is one tone that all singers should try to sing. When these attributes are present, the voice is said to be properly placed.

One of the problems in placing the voice is to inhibit the swallowing muscles which work to constrict and close the throat, particularly the two pairs known as the pillars or fauces, the palato-pharyngeus and the palato-glossus muscles.19 Both tend to raise the larynx. This is accomplished by many teachers through the use of imagery, such as keeping the tone forward, singing forward in the masque, singing to the tip of the nose, singing to the teeth, keeping the tone out of the throat. Humming with the teeth slightly apart and the lips relaxed is a device to relax the above mentioned muscles. If the muscles that raise the larynx and tense the tongue are to be relaxed, the problem is to relax the muscles that raise the palate and act as a fulcrum to the muscles below..20

This can be accomplished through the phonation of the nasals, m, n, and ng. The velum drops because of the relaxation of the levator palatal muscles, thus allowing the breath to pass through the nose. This use of the nasals which inhibits the swallowing muscles has led many teachers and singers to believe that the nose is open and should be kept open during the act of sing­ing. Research studies prove that such is not the case2.1 The palate raises to shut the nasal port - perhaps not completely, but enough to prevent nasality. Part of the open or large throat position is dependent on a raised palate. What in humming has been a form of nasal resonance with the nose open now in good singing becomes an illusion of nasal or head resonance through bone conduction of sound vibration.   The nose feels as if it were open.

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