Elizabeth T McCoy Ch 1

Clean – Raspy

Dramatic – Lyric

Loft – Twang

Clear – Breathy

Healthy – Damaged

Dark – Bright

Forward – Back

Ringing – Conversational

Nasal – Non-Nasal

Free – Forced

Straight Tone – Vibrant

Wobble – Flutter

Define chiaroscuro. (2) Translated literally to be light vs dark, it’s a term borrowed from the visual arts to describe how voices always have elements of both ligh and dark sound.

How does the strength of the overtones vary in tones that are bright vs. dark? (2) Bright sounds have stronger high-pitched overtones while dark sounds have stronger low-pitched overtones.

What causes twang resonance? How would you describe the sound? (2) Twang resonance is caused by a narrowing of the vocal tract, and sometimes accompanied by nasality.  The resulting sound is brassy and bright, and may be labeled as nasal

What causes loft resonance?  (2) The exact opposite of twang resonance: it is created by relaxing and enlarging the pharynx and lifting the soft palate

What often causes the sound to be ‘back’ rather than forward? (2-3) Tension in the root of tongue

Lyric and dramatic are indicators of both the size and the color of the voice. (3)

Synonyms for light and dramatic might be lyric and full. (3)

What is the cause of breathiness? (3) Breathiness is the result of incomplete closure of the glottis and poor breath support. 

What is raspiness?  What causes raspiness? (3) Raspiness is extraneous noise in vocalization, that sounds like hoarseness or coarseness.  Raspiness is caused by aperiodic events during vibration, sometimes related to vocal disorders.

How are breathiness and raspiness different? (3) Breathiness is a consistent hiss caused by lack of glottal closure, while raspiness is intermittent hoarseness caused by vocal pathology.

What are signs of a damaged voice? (3) breathiness and raspiness are two tell tale signs of an unhealthy voice, especially if these sounds are beyond the control of the singer. Other signs are cracking or popping noises, intonation issues, or vibrato issues.

What is nasality?  What causes nasality? (4) Nasality is a tone that actively resonates in the nasal cavity, caused by a low, relaxed soft palate that fails to seal the passageway from the back of the throat into the nose.

Define free singing. (4-5) Perhaps an illusionary concept, but can be explained as a lack of perceived force.  Free sounds give the impression of ease.

Define forced singing. (5) Forced singing is perceived force, and gives the listener the impression that it is taxing on the singer. 

Define vibrato. (5) long-term vibration or oscillation superimposed on a sustained frequency.  It is a natural component to free singing. 

What is the compass of a normal vibrato? (5) M2 or more from top to bottom

Describe the characteristics of regular vibrato. (5) Equal portions of pitch and loudness modulation that occur in perfect synchronization

What does pitch-dominant vibrato sound like? (5) This creates a sound in which intended pitch is difficult to determine.

What does loudness-dominant vibrato sound like? (5) It has a bleating quality to it.

What is the oscillation rate of a healthy, well-balanced vibrato? (5) 4.8 Hz

Define wobble. (5-6) very slow and wide vibrato, often exceeding a M2 from top to bottom

What causes wobble? (6) Poor singing technique, prolonged periods (years) of taxing voice use, neurological disorders, or old age.

How can we avoid developing a wobble? (6) Keeping the voice in shape throughout life is the best way to avoid a wobbly tone in old age.

Define flutter. (6)  A rapid, narrow vibrato