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Skip Gundlach

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Apr 25, 1995, 3:00:00 AM4/25/95

Table of Contents

Subject: voice color
Subject: "Music provided some comfort."
Subject: AOL disk and 10 hours free time
Subject: Re: AOL disk and 10 hours free time
Subject: RE: Calendar o' events in Miami (Reach for the stars show)
Subject: LifeLine
Subject: Re: LifeLine
Subject: Lifeline
Subject: University Barbershop Programs
Subject: Heard this? -- You asked for our comment.
---------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 16:18:00 +1300
From: L...@WAIKATO.AC.NZ
Subject: voice color

I follow the digest on rec.music.a-cappella (thanks Skip!), so please forgive
me if I'm out of sync with the discussion. Mike Barkley asks about vocal
color - dark, light, etc, and what constitutes a manufactured sound.

You're probably aware that, when you sing, there's a whole series of
overtones, or harmonics, happening above the note you're singing. The first
overtone is an octave above your note, the next is a fifth above that, then
two octaves above your note, and so forth. In theory, these overtones go on
forever. In practice, nobody can hear them above about 20 kHz anyway - well,
maybe your dog or cat, but ours always used to go out when anybody started
singing.

Some of these overtones (also called harmonics or partials - why have one term
when you can have three or four?) are resonated by the way you shape your
mouth and throat when you sing. In fact, that's how we make vowels - when you
shape your mouth and throat so as to resonate the harmonics at about 900 and
1100 Hz, you're singing (or saying) "AH". When you resonate harmonics at
about 300 Hz and 2100 Hz you're singing "EE". These resonant frequencies
are called "formants" (sorry, I don't know why they're called that).

The lowest two or three formants are important for making vowels and some
consonants (l, r, w), and there is considerable variation as to the exact
frequencies of these lower formants (the higher formants seem to be more
"set" by your natural throat characteristics). If your formants are low
compared to most people, you'll likely have a "dark" voice. If your formants
are high, you'll probably have a "light" voice. Voice color is quite closely
tied up with voice classification. Thomas Cleveland did a study, published in
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America (JASA) in 1977, where he
synthesized voices and asked voice teachers to classify them - bass/ baritone/
tenor (we're talking legit tenor here - like Pavorotti - not bbs tenor). For
the most part, if the formants were low, the voice was classified as bass, and
if they were high the voice was classified as tenor. In your quartet, the
bass will have the darkest sound and the tenor the lightest.

But you can vary your own formants considerably. In a famous paper (read by
*both* my parents) published in JASA in 1980, I showed that, by raising her
larynx, a soprano could produce understandable vowels on high notes - because
the formants were raised. My wife has never sounded the same since (just
kidding, dear).

So, you can sing a dark tone by lowering your larynx, thus lengthening your
vocal tract (throat/mouth) and lowering your formants, or you can sing a light
tone by raising your larynx. You can vary your sound comfortably within a
certain range - my guess is anything outside that range is what we call
artificial sounding, or manufactured. Incidentally, varying your sound like
this is a large part of the art of singing bari - how many times have you
(baris) been told to sing like a tenor when you're above the lead and "fill
out" when you're below the lead? The changes are probably more registration
(mix of chest/head voice) but I think there's some of this formant coloring
going on, too.

Anyway, while raising the larynx will give you a lighter sound, it will be
either a kind of "pale" sound, lacking "brightness," or it might be a paint
peeling bright sound lacking "depth." In discussing quartet sounds over the
years, someone mentioned that we can have both dark and bright qualities in
the same voice. The Italians, music lovers that they are, have a term for
this - "chiaroscuro," meaning "dark-bright." The dark aspect comes from
keeping the larynx comfortably low (*not* depressed - as in a full yawn) along
with the "forward placement" that develops the singers' formant. The singers'
formant is a resonance at about 2800-3200 Hz.

By the way, I don't advocate that you think about lowering or raising your
larynx when you sing. If you want to sing a darker sound, think about singing
a darker sound, or find out what concept works for you (inner smile, an egg
in your mouth, etc). If you think directly about controlling the larynx you'll
likely overdo it.

Well, this is already longer than I intended, but I just want to comment on
the fellow who can sing a G, but seems to be stuck singing bass. First of
all, range doesn't necessarily indicate what part you should sing. I was in
a quartet once with a great legit baritone singing lead. He had a pretty
good lead sound, too. He could sing all the notes you'd ever want a lead
to sing, but he just couldn't sing them very long before getting tired - he
couldn't handle the "tessitura." And, of course, voice quality is important -
let's face it, you don't want your lead to sound like a bass. In this fellow's
case, he said he darkens his voice about 6 notes before the top. I assume he's
talking scale degrees, so he's "covering" his voice starting at about B or C.
Covering is an adjustment that involves lowering the larynx and widening the
pharynx, and we men do it in order to move into the upper part of our voices
without either yelling or breaking into falsetto. How to do it, how to teach
it, where on the scale to start it and so forth are all pretty controversial
issues, but I think it's pretty safe to say anybody who has to start covering
at B or C is likely to be a bass or bass-baritone. And Mike, if you break
into falsetto when you crescendo a C, either your voice is changing or you're
likely a bass, too.

Well, I apologize for the length of this post, and also for the little white
lie I told above - I don't think my parents read my paper. I'm pretty sure my
dad didn't, anyway.

Lloyd Smith
Bari, of course
Hamilton, New Zealand
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 04:33:24 EST
From: Jim Styer <Jim_...@FC1.GLFN.ORG>
Subject: "Music provided some comfort."

Herewith, an unlikely conjunction of tragedy and singing:
>From the Detroit Free Press, March 22:

WHITE CLOUD -- Charla Egelmeyer is a sweetie, a model student who loves to
write.

Charla Engelmeyer is a troubled, abused girl who planned the murder of her
parents and then
tried to cover up what she did.

Those contrasting images emerged Tuesday from a Newaygo County Probate Court
hearing
for Charla, 16, who faces two counts of open murder in the Feb. 3 shooting of
her parents in
the family home just north of White Cloud. (Other stories told of how she
called 911 and,
while waiting for police to arive, related to the operator stories of physical
abuse and of
acting as a mother to her three young brothers.)

Teachers and administrators said the Big Rapids High School sophomore was an
A-student
who always did her homework and never caused any trouble. . . .

- --- This short sidebar ran with the main story:
"Music provided some comfort."

Her teachers said Charla Engelmeyer loved to write. Here's an excerpt from an
essay she did
about singing in a choral class.

"I believe that your voice is the passageway from your heart and is one of the
highest forms
of personal expression." People ask me, "Why do you take it so seriously?" I
do it for the
personal satisfaction I get when I know I have done my best; this kind of high
makes all the
risks worth it. I will always look for things in my life to try" the new
things to explore ... and
as far as dreams go "they are a very real part of my life and dreams make me
aware of
another kind of life. A dream world inside of me lives where I am the best at
everything and
there is no failure. I try to apply this feeling of total well-being in my
life. My dream is to
sing in front of the Lord and have him smile and nod his head. . . I may dream
too much but
I believe without them I would be empty."
- --30--

Jim Styer, bass-turned-lead, Battle Creek Pres and BE,
B.C. singAmerica coordinator, Pioneer DCO, past PROBE VP, etc, etc.
jim_...@fc1.glfn.org (The World's First Graphical FreeNet)
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 08:40:50 -0500
From: "TRENTON R. FERRO" <TRF...@GROVE.IUP.EDU>
Subject: AOL disk and 10 hours free time

I, too, have received one of those mailings which provides a disk with software
and offers 10 free hours with AOL. Since I have direct access to a university
mainframe from the remote at which I am now typing (sorry--keyboarding), I do
not need this "freebie." I will mail it to the first person who contacts me
directly with a mailing address.
Trenton Ferro Lead Section Leader, Greater Pittsburgh Chorus
trf...@grove.iup.edu Tenor, Custom Touch (Yep--a new quartet!)
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 08:26:01 -0600
From: "Dick Kingdon" <KING...@MWR65.MWR.ORA.FDA.GOV>
Subject: Re: AOL disk and 10 hours free time

Trenton,

Good luck with your qtet.

Mail to Dick Kingdon, if not already gone.
620 Echo Lane, Palatine, IL 60067.

Thanks. I'll enjoy playing with it.

Reply if you sent the AOL disk elsewhere.

Dick Kingdon, Bari, Chiefs of Staff/Echo Lane/Northbrook
________________________________________
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 10:59:14 CDT
From: "Paul Del Rio.......Cuban Baritone for hire"
<del...@WKUVX1.WKU.EDU>
Subject: RE: Calendar o' events in Miami (Reach for the stars show)

Ppl,
Recently in the digest the "Reach for the Stars" show in Miami was
listed as taking place on Wednesday July 6th.
[Wednesday is July the 5th] =-0
*take note*
Paul

In his 29 March post, Brian Lynch spoke of the zealous protection SPEBSQSA
exercises over its mailing list, and he wrote, "...we still catch heat every
time MBNA America does a mail or telephone solicitation. Same with
*LifeLine*, our long-distance carrier."
Most know of the Society's beneficial relationship with MBNA America. Few
know of LifeLine, and I can no longer contain an overwhelming urge to shed
light on that subject.. The following are selected quotes from an article by
Steve Goldstein, datelined Washington D.C., August 7, 1994, distributed by
the Knight-Ridder News Service.
"LifeLine donates 10 percent of its long-distance billings to
organizations that oppose abortion, homosexual rights and pornography, and
that espouse the pro-family, pro-prayer, home-schooling agenda of the
religious right.
" 'You would call us a fundamental Christian, right-wing organization --
and we would like it,' said Carl Thompson, vice president of AmeriVision
Communications, which created LifeLine.
"AmeriVision was founded five years ago in Oklahoma City by Thompson and
president Tracy Freeny. Over the last year, it has grown fivefold and has
more than $12 million in annual gross billings. It's shooting much higher
than that.
" 'Our vision is to sign up 3.5 million customers in the next five years
and put $84 million back into the kingdom of God,' said Thompson, 46.
" 'WE believe God wants to fund his kingdom.'
"The funding is coming through customers such as Pat Robertson's Christian
Coalition and Donald Wildmon's American Family Association. Thompson said
they have also signed up the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue and the
Moore Foundation, a home-schooling advocacy group...."
"A service called Working Assets offers long-distance customers a chance
to donate 1 percent of monthly charges to such organizations as Planned
Parenthood, Amnesty International and Greenpeace. An ad in the June (1994)
issue of the American Family Association journal asked: 'Are you as committed
to family values as the radical feminists and homosexuals are to their
leftist agendas?' The appeal seems to be clicking with conservatives...."
"Thompson said that LifeLine would not be used to benefit any 'secular'
groups, although he said he was interested in supporting political
candidates.
" 'There are some major republican names who we are looking at,' said
Thompson. 'Obviously we are against the Clinton administration.'...."
There is more to the story, but the above quotes justify the indignation I
feel for my Society's association with, and support for, LifeLine. I'm
convinced it violates the spirit, if not the letter, of canon 7 of the
SPEBSQSA Code of Ethics, "We shall not permit the introduction of political,
religious or other similar controversial issues into the affairs of the
Society."
I expressed my displeasure to the International Staff and was told that
the International Executive Committee discussed the issue and agreed to take
no action. My guess is they don't want to jeopardize a source of easy
money--a "cash cow."
Sorry, Brian, but I could no longer contain my resentment of this issue.

Herb Bayles <probe...@aol.com>
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 08:38:00 -0500
From: "warren (j.w.) fuson" <fu...@BNR.CA>
Subject: Re: LifeLine

I take serious issue with the Society's evident support of/use of
LIFELINE, given its political tenets. I am very conscientious about
the causes I support (and they are numerous) but I don't agree with
the majority of the stands taken by LIFELINE.

It seems to me that this is NOT something the Society should be
involved in.

There, I've said my piece.

Warren Fuson
Bass - "Hooked on Tonics"
General Assembly Chorus
Research Triangle Park (NC) Chapter
________________________________________
Date: Thu, 30 Mar 1995 08:18:03 EST
From: "Warren Huyck (1-919-254-4742)" <hu...@VNET.IBM.COM>
Subject: Lifeline

I want to thank Herb Bayles for his appends clarifying the nature of
Lifeline. I know that I was unaware of both the group and of
SPEBSQSA's association with them, and I suspect that this is true
for many members.

Some members will be supportive of the arrangement. Others will find
it objectionable. Even if you agree with the political positions of
Lifeline, it is totally inappropriate to bring such a divisive and
explosive issue into the society. For one thing, the society's tax
exempt status, in part, requires us not to be politically active.
And the society needs to be a place where all segments of society
can feel comfortable.

I urge the society to re-evaluate this situation and discontinue the
inappropriate association, regardless of whether or not they
personally support Lifeline's agenda.

___ ___
\ \ __ / /
\ \ / \ / /
\ \/ \/ /
\ /\ arren A. Huyck / hu...@vnet.ibm.com / HUYCK at RALVM12
\__/ \__/ Research Triangle Park Chapter (SPEBSQSA), Raleigh, NC
________________________________________
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 16:33:19 -0500
From: "Lori D. x45" <lo...@MCCABE.COM>
Subject: University Barbershop Programs

I am an alum of BGSU and was only slightly aware of the men's barbershop
program there while I was in school. I am curious if there is any comparable
program teaching the craft to women there or anywhere else in the country.

Lori Dreyer
lo...@mccabe.com
Bari - "Collage"
Elkridge Chorus, SAI
Baltimore, MD
________________________________________
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 1995 15:51:15 GMT
From: "David T. Knapp - A" <DK3...@DEERE.COM>
Subject: Heard this? -- You asked for our comment.

(snip----> Life's gonna suck when you grow up, when you grow up, etc.
<----snip)

Johan:

The rythym of the words and phrases appears to be melody of a song
pre-school children sing: The title is: Here We Go 'Round the Mulberry
Bush.

The children would act out the words to the song's verses:

"This is the way we wash our clothes, wash our clothes, wash our
clothes, etc"

Editorial:

I don't think you'll get the reaction you may be expecting by
singing these lyrics at an afterglo (at least not in the USA.)

Regards,

Dave Knapp, Davenport, IA SPEBSQSA

------- End of Blind-Carbon-Copy

--
Skip Gundlach, 1439wells and 2539fi for the shy
Multi-faceted and -talented musician and survivor

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