Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Emily C., McCoy, Ch. 4

Your Voice: An Inside View Ch 4: Formants

  • How is the vocal tract like the amplifier and tone controls of a stereo system?
    • The vocal tract is an amplifier and graphic equalizer; it’s highly adjustable and can modify sounds. “It selectively amplifies and attenuates frequencies present in the sound source.” 
  • Define the term formant.
    • A resonance of the vocal tract. (amplification/enrichment provided by the vocal tract, a.k.a. sound potential. )
  • Which formants are responsible for vowel creation? 
    • F1 and F2 are required for accurate vowel production. The rest of them provide timbre/carrying power/projection. 
  • What is formant tuning? (a.k.a. vowel modification)
    • Trying to get F1 to sound as much as F0 as possible. “The synchronization of F1 with the fundamental frequency/harmonic overtone.” 
  • Why is the singer’s formant important?
    • It makes vocal projection must easier. 
  • Are there alternatives touring the singer’s formant?
    • Yes; some high sopranos use tessitura, and some tenors use F2 instead of Fs for their high notes. 
  • How are formants viewed differently in linear and nonlinear descriptions of vocal resonance?
    • Linear: formant peaks provide maximum amplification.
    • Nonlinear: Maximum amplification happens just before formant peak. (The formant itself induces instability.) 
  • What is the average pitch for F1 of the cardinal vowels?
    • <i, e, a, o, u> = E4, C5, G5, C5, E4 (plus about a major third above or below these pitches) 
  • How are formants different from resonance frequencies in a fixed-diameter quarter-wave resonator?
    • Formant frequencies can be changed by moving the articulators; resonances of a fixed diameter tube are locked in place. (duh) 
  • If the vowel /a/ is sung on F4, which of the first three harmonics is likely to be strongest? 
    • 2F0. Close to F2 of /a/, centers around pitch G5. (I still don’t get how to do this.) 

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