Abrupt register changing technique “Atari” in traditional Japanese singing
Takeshi Saitou, Ken‐Ichi Sakakibara · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 2012
A rapid modal-falsetto-modal register changing technique “Atari” is widely found in various Japanese traditional singing styles, such as Nagauta, Okinawan traditional singing, and Japanese traditional folk singing “Min-Yo”. In other Asian singing styles, such as Urtin doo in Mongolia and similar styles in Tyva, and Sakha, consecutive rapid modal-falsetto register change is also widely used. In this study, a vocal fold vibratory pattern of “Atari” was observed by high-speed digital imaging. In “Atari”, the vocal fold vibration did not break and was very smoothly carried out modal-falsetto and falsetto-modal register changing. Acoustical characteristics along with modal-falsetto-modal register changing were also analyzed. In “Atari”, rapid changings of F0 and spectral tilt were observed. Based on these results, synthesis methods of “Atari” using STRAIGHT were proposed. By a listening test, it was clarified that “Atari” was effectively synthesized by changing only F0 without changing any spectral parameters.