2.1 Voice production
The human voice is a kind of sound produced by the vocal apparatus. This sound is produced by vibrations generated in a flow of air produced in the lungs and expelled through the mouth.
We could consider two parts in the vocal apparatus.
a) The place where the vibration is produced: The “vocal folds” (also vocal cords or voice reeds) is the organ that produces the vibration. It is located in the larynx.
b) The resonators: The air in vibration is sent from the vocal folds to the mouth and the nasal cavity. There it resonates in different ways. This resonation depends on the position and shape of the lips, jaw, tongue and palate. It also depends on the particular place where the vibration is sent, creating different qualities on the sound.
You can see how the vocal cords work in this video:
2.2 Different Kind of voices
The voices can be classified in many different ways although none of them perfectly fits the complexity of human voice. We are going to see two of these ways: Types of voices depending on the timbres and types of voices depending on the tessiture.
2.2.1 Types of voices depending on the timbre.
The human voice is produced in the vocal folds but it's mainly in the mouth and also in the nasal cavity where it takes its particular timbre and most of his power. Both cavities act here as resonators. In musical instruments the resonator (a sounding board for example) has a shape that can’t be changed. The mouth on the contrary is able to adopt an incredible number of different shapes. It is also possible to change the place in the mouth where the air sent from the lungs resonates. These changes allow us to change the colour or timbre of our voices.
Therefor the human voice is capable of an incredible amount of different timbres. Each kind of music chose the timbers that fit its purpose, so different music styles use different kinds of voices.
As you can imagine is impossible to classify and define all and each one of the human voices. As a sample we are going to see a few examples.
· Natural voices: It is the relaxed kind of emission that we normally use to speak. It uses the central part of the palate as a resonator. It is not very used in music because is weak. You can’t project your voice loudly using this kind of emission.
It is used in the traditional vocal styles of Ireland and Scotland as you can watch in this video; a puirt a beul (literally mouth music) sung by the traditional Scottish Gaelic singer Julie fowlis
Currently it is very used in pop music. In this style you don’t need a powerful voice because you use a microphone to amplify it.
The voice of Paul MacCartney (The Beatles) is a clear example of a natural voice.
·
PProjected voice
In this kind of emission the voice gets tension and is projected powerfully to the front part of the palate. This kind of emission is very used because allows a very loud vocal emission.
This is the voice of the opera and classical music in general. If you are singing in a big theatre and you have to sing over the sound of an entire orchestra you need a powerful projected voice.
One of the most celebrated examples of this kind of voice is that of Pavarotti. You can hear him singing an aria from a Donizetti’s opera.
You can hear this kind of voice in many styles of traditional singing. The Cantabrian and Asturian “tonás” (a kind of songs from these areas) use projected voices too
Here you have an example: La Hayuela by Cachimbo
· In this example the voice of the singer changes from natural to slightly projected in the minute 1:16
NNasal voice
In this case the resonation of the voice is located in the nasal cavity. This is very typical in many American music styles.
One of the most famous nasal voices is that of Bob Dylan. In this video he is singing one of his first hits Tambourine man.
· Falsetto voice
This vocal technique is used in the coutertenor voice (see above). This voice uses a particular kind of emission that allows men to sing in the vocal range of a soprano. The sound is sent to the back of the head and the vocal folds don’t emit the fundamental sound but the first harmonic of the notes.
It sound kind of unnatural but it's very used in music.
The Austrian style of singing called yoddel is a famous example of the use of the falsetto in traditional music.
This emission is used also in many musical cultures around the world. In this video you can see it in the singing of these pygmy people in Africa.
In modern popular music is often used in chorus, when a treble voice is required in a male band. You can appreciate this in the beginning of the Beatles song “All you need is love”
But this practise reached its most developed features in the Baroque Era with the singing of the countertenors. In this example Filippe Jauroskis voice is so close to a female voice, that is easy to mistake.
· Castrato’s voice.
Very often people confuse the voice of the castrati with that of the countertenor. It is a mistake. The falsetto is a kind of vocal emission that every man could be capable of. The castrato’s voice, in the other hand, is the voice naturally produced by men whose testicles have been removed in childhood.
When a boy is castrated he grows without hormones produced in the testicles that have a huge influence in his development. In the particular case of the voice, this practice keeps the voicein the female tessitura but with all the thoracic capacity of a man once the child has grown up. As a result a very special voice is got, with an extended vocal range. This ruthless and inhuman practise was very popular in the Baroque period. The good castrato singers had as great considerations as the rock stars of our days, and earned vast amounts of money. After the SXVIIcentury these short of castrations were banned. The last castrato singers remain in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican, singing for the pope.
This is the only record that has preserve of this kind of voice.
In the following video you can compare four different kinds of white voices: A kid, a woman, a countertenor, and a man who has born whit a testicles disease and has grown as a castrato.
· Guttural voices.
In this type of voice the vibration is kept in the throat (guttur in Latin means throat). There it takes a broken look than fits perfectly with many kinds of music.
Rock and roll and pop music use this kind of emission very often. There are different grades of gutturally. The more melodic bands tend to use more natural emission while rock and hard rock uses very strong guttural emissions.
This tendency for guttural voices in rock is linked with the kind of voices typical of blues, jazz and other shorts of American black music.
Louis Armstrong is one of the most renowned Afro-American voices.
The Cantabria band “La Fuga” makes melodic-rock and use a very soft level of gutturally.
Bruce Sprinting sing whit a nice standard guttural rock voice
The most famous guttural voice in the hard rock scene is than of Brian Johnson, the singer of AC/DC.
In the most extreme side of the spectrum we find the growl or death growl, an emission very usual in metal genders as death metal or black metal.
In this impressive video you can see the singer (Jinjer) changing from natural to an extreme sort of guttural voice.
2.2.1 Types of voices depending on the tessitura
This is the oldest and most traditional way of voice classification. It was developed for classical music. It is very useful for styles like opera and for choral music, although it doesn’t fit so well for other music styles.
This classification focuses on the vocal range of the different voices. So, from that point of view we have two main kinds of voices: the female voices and the male voices.
Usually the voices of women are higher pitched than that of the men. This is because the women’s larynx (and therefor their vocal folds) are usually shorter. The female voices and the voices of the children can be classified together as treble voices (voces blancas). This is because they are in the same vocal range. In this case male voices would be called deep voices.
So, considering the
“tessitura” we classify female and male voices as follows:
· Female or treble voices:
From higher to lower pitch there are three kinds of female voices: Soprano, mezzo-soprano and contralto. Each one is divided into different subcategories based on range, vocal timbre and other considerations.
You can compare these different voices in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPFAww8X-U
· Male voices:
Also from higher to lower pitch, male voices can be classified as: Tenor, baritone and bass. We can add to this list another more called “countertenor”. This voice uses a particular kind of emission that allows men to sing in the vocal range of a soprano.
As in the case of the female voices, there are subdivisions in each category of male voices too.
You can watch these types and many of the subdivisions in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRL7shs23Wc
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