A Basis for the Acoustical Study of Singing
Lucie Manén, D. Β. Fry · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America · 1956
A systematic classification of the tones which singers produce is necessary as a basis for spectrographic and for x-ray studies of singing. A three-dimensional system is proposed in which tones are classified according to (1) the type of voice quality, (2) the mood which the singer expresses, and (3) the vowel which is articulated. Three types of voice are generally distinguished—light, lyric, and dramatic—which depend on the position of the larynx and the configuration of other parts of the mechanism (particularly the epiglottis, the pharynx, and the root of the tongue). Configurations have been found for light voice, lyric voice, and dramatic voice, together with factors governing mood which the singer expresses. Larynx position and larynx action determine phonation; and articulation, the formation of the particular vowel, is grafted upon phonation. This system gives 27 possible combinations preliminary experiments suggest that physiological differences (as shown by x-rays) and acoustic differences (apparent in spectrograms) may be found regularly correlated with the differences of voice, mood, and articulation covered by the system of classification.