vour vote: Anite view Scott Me G ra Chapter 3 Resonance How do the sounds produced by our vibrating vocal folds—that obnoxious buzz we heard sy ‘hocisea previously turn into the beautiful sounds our ears and brains interpret 2s singing? The answer lies in resonance. ‘All musical instruments, including the human voice, have at least three features in common: 0 Ae goand they must have a power source, a vibrator, and @ resonator. For a trumpet, the power source Is the breath, the lips are the vibrator and the tubing of the instrument is the reso- power Valine and other bowed stringed instruments use the bow as the power source, the sting serine vibrator and the body of the instrument as the resonator. Pianos rely on the hammer ae ated by the fingers-—as the power source, the string as the vibrator and the sounding boare as the resonator. How does this apply to the human voice? Actually, the voice has a lot in common with the Wun pet the power source fs the breath, the vibrator is a pair of vibrating folds of issue (the vocal folds), and the resonator is the vocal tract. ‘All musical instruments also have a means of articulation. For most instruments, articulation is tiietly a musical phenomenon, described through words such as staccato, legato, marcalt, and Supitg piano, The human voice, of course, also is capable of articulatory gestures. It stands alone, however, in its most important type of articulation: language. ‘Artigulation in instruments other then the human voice is almost always achieved through varie Aenea the power source or the vibrator. For example, orchestral wind instruments differentiate wre to rd legato through control of breath and embouchure. Stringed instruments do the Sime by controling the contact of the bow with the string. The human voice can also be artes feted thvough changes in the power source and vibrator; however, itis the only instrument ‘a yich articulation also is created by changes in in the shape and configuration of the resona tors." What is resonance? A practical definition comes from the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Ditton ety. Resonance is the intensification and enriching of a musical tone by supplementary vibra- tion. Two key factors are present in this definition: +... Intensification (amplification) and enrichment (change of timbre); 2. Supplementary vibration, that is, vibration of something beyond the original sound source: little vibrations become big vibrations. To better understand resonance, we wil first look at a non-musical example. Imagine 2 child being pushed on a swing. This mechanical system will be resonant (or in resonance) wie) he person doing the pushing synchronizes his action with the swinging child (314). Tne result of this Synchronization is the maintenance or enlargement of the arc along which the swing travels. AS Sy Nubeter’s defntion of resonance, small vibrations (the gentle pushing of the helper), induce large vibrations (the movement of the swinging child). If, however, the person doing the pushing eb oul of synch with the swinger, the swinging eventually—perhaps even abrupt—siops Gia). Many other non-musical examples of resonance can be found. Rates might Be heard man Neale at certain, specific speeds, Household objects might vibrate in response to cartait tones played through a stereo system. Crystal wineglasses “sing” when a wet finger Is rubbed 1 an exception to this statement might be seen in brass players using a plunger mute Page 26Chapter 3: Resonance around the rim. In these examples, the objects exhibiting resonance have physical traits in ‘common: they have mass and compliance. Indeed, any object that possesses mass (as meas- rable by weight) and compliance (the ability to be deformed) can serve as a resonator. Forced Resonance Musical resonance often is based on this principle of mass and compliance; stringed instru- ments, inoluding the guitar and piano, resonate in this manner. This form of resonance is given the name forced resonance (also known as conductive resonance), which requires a direct, me- chanical connection of the vibrator to the resonator. Forced resonance occurs in the violin be- cause the vibration of the strings is transferred directly to the body of the instrument (the reso- nator) through the bridge. The same thing happens in the piano and guitar. ‘Supplementary vibration, as described in the previous paragraph, begins the process of musical resonance. To complete it, the sound somehow must be intensified andlor enriched. To under- stand how this can happen, think about the relative surface areas of the vibrator and the resona- tor of a piano, that is, the strings and the sounding board. The vibrating string has a relatively small surface area. Therefore, even if it is actuated to high amplitude of vibration, relatively few molecules of air will be induced to the compressions and rarefactions of sound. The piano's soundboard, by contrast, has a very large surface area and is made of highly compliant material (Generally spruce wood) that is easily set into vibration, which therefore is able to cause many ore air molecules to compress and rarefy. The result is increased amplitude of sound. Forced resonance also occurs in the human voice. For example, people often feel vibrations in the chest and head while singing. These body parts have mass and compliance and therefore act as forced resonators; they do not, however, make the voice louder or alter its timbre as far asa listener is concerned. Skin, muscle, fat and other tissues damp (inhibit) free vibration and prevent sound propagation beyond the body. Vibrations within the body are a singer's private resonance; the singer feels them, but nobody else hears them. Forced resonance provides a partial answer to the question that was posed in Chapter 2: does the imagery often used by singers and their teachers have a scientific basis? The answer is a resounding “sometimes.” Many of the images and descriptive sensations that are used, such as placing the tone forward or in the mask, are related to physical sensations created by forced resonance. In reality, placement is an illusion; you can't place the sound in your mask, on your hard palate, through the top or your head, or even in your elbow. But depending on your per- sonal physiognomy, you might indeed experience resonance or feelings of tone placement in ‘one or more of those regions (well, perhaps not your elbow...). While these sensations—caused by forced resonance—can be extremely helpful to individual singers, they are less reliable when Used for teaching, There is a simple reason for this dichotomy: no two people share the same body, Because we are unique individuals, one singer's experience of resonance often is very different from that of another, even if both produce similar sounds using the sare fundamental ‘oral technique. Free Resonance "Ifthe human voice does not use forced resonance for sound intensification and enhancement, how is @ resonant sound produced? The answer lies in a different form of resonance, called free resonance (also known as sympathetic resonance), which is the result of vibrations of air mole- cules and reflections of soundwaves within a void. To function as a free resonator, a structure must be hollow, have volume (not to be confused with loudness—think in terms of cubic centi- meters rather than decibels), and have an opening through which soundwaves can exit. Wind instruments, including woodwinds and brass, pipe organs and the human voice, all employ free resonance. Page 27Your Voice: An inside View Free resonators in the human body consist of the tra chea, larynx, and vocal tract (Figure 3-1). The vocal Nasal Cavity tract can be’ subdivided into six separate regions: the mn laryngopharynx, which extends from the vocal folds (glottis) to the tip of the epiglottis; the oropharynx, which continues upward from the tip of the epiglottis to the soft palate; the oral cavity (mouth); the nasopharynx, which is the passageway behind the soft palate into the nose; and the nasal cavities themselves. These last two struc- tures, however, only function as free resonators when the soft palate is lowered, which allows air, and there- fore soundwaves, to pass into and through the nose. An additional area of free resonance is found in the piriform Sinus, also known as the piriform fossa (recesses), which is a hollow space that surrounds the larynx at the base of the pharynx (Figure 3-2). Nasopharynx ‘Oropharyns: Figure 3.4 Froe resonators of the vocal tract ‘At the most basic level, free resonance acts as an ‘acoustic filer. Whenever a soundwave enters a hollow space, such as the tubing of a wind instrument or the vocal tract of a singer, some of its component frequen- cies are permitted free passage into the atmosphere where they can be perceived as sound. Other frequen- cies, however, will be strongly attenuated or even com- pletely damped out, never making it out the end of the Figure 3-2: Ptlorm sinus Fesonator or to the ears of a listener. In this regard, an analogy might be made with decorative nozzles on a pastry bag that allow frosting to pass through in different shapes, Many readers willbe satisfied with the rudimentary explanation of free resonance provided it) the previous paragraph: but if your curiosity has been piqued, read on to discover exacly how Gnd why i ocours. There are two ways to look at this process—wel start with the more straight: forward version. Free resonance, explained through wavelength (the basics) Free resonance easly con be explained through the spatial component in sound: wavelength (0). As a reminder, wavelength measures the physical distance between successive wavefronts ‘as sound travels through a medium. Acoustic pressure Maximum compression within each wave constantly varies, passing through | | points of peak compression, peak rarefaction, and null rl points points where pressure is zero (Figure 3-3). For @ pure /~™ fone as represented by a sine wave, these pressure variations always occur at specific, unvarying locations. Using the first peak of compression as the starting point, null pressure (also called a zero crossing) is Y Y found at one-quarter A, peak rarefaction at one-half A, Maximum rarefaction _null pressure again at three-quarters }, with peak com- ie in sheave pression returning at the conclusion of the cycle. Let us now consider @ model resonator that is @ cylindr- cal tube of uniform diameter with one end open to the atmosphere and the other closed by 8 Ciprating sound source (e.g, the vocal folds ora trumpeter’s lips). Sound freely wil pass through this resonator only if'a zero crossing in the waveform coincides with the open end of the reso- Page 28