A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act I, Scene I
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A son who is the theme of honour's tongue;
Amongst a grove, the very straightest plant;
- Henry IV, Part 1, Act I, Scene I
The speaking voice encompasses more than an octave of easy negotiation. Untrained singers have few problems in singing the pitches that lie within the speaking range. When adolescent males and untrained male singers approach the termination of the comfortable speech range, they reach a point in the ascending scale where they often involuntarily raise the chin and the larynx. The corresponding pitch is the primo passaggio, or the first register transition. The vibratory sympathetic chest rumble of the voice tends to lessen or stop. The untrained singer produces pitches beyond this pivotal point, but often resorts to laryngeal elevation to do so.
As the untrained singer continues to ascend the scale, quality change becomes more audible. At pitches about the interval of a fourth above the top of the comfortable speaking range (the point at which the need to elevate the larynx was originally felt), the untrained voice will either break off or resort to a fudden falsetto. This point is the secondo passaggio, or the second register transition.
Between the primo passaggio and the secondo passaggio register points lie pitches often used in the calling voice, that require an increase in breath energy, as well as heavier mechanical action than takes place below the primo passaggio. In the singing voice, this area is termed the zona di passaggio (register transition zone), or the zona intermedia. Any tendency to carry the unmodified "call" of the speaking voice over into the singing voice must be completely negated, however.
Male voices of every category experience registration events of similar nature, at correspondingly higher and lower pitches. The basso profondo relies on the same principles of registration as does the tenore lirico, albeit at lower pitches. Differences in location of the passaggi reflect differences of structure and timbre between the bass and tenor voices. This viewpoint is in conflict with the following assumption that basses sing chiefly in chest voice, and that tenors sing in chest until F4 or F#4, after which they pass into head....
The approximate register events are fairly predictable for all categories of voice, although individual variations should not be ruled out.
The approximate register events for primo passaggio occur in a range from A3 to F4 (bass to tenor) and for secondo passaggio in a range from C4 to B4.
Ordinarily, voce di petto (chest voice) corresponds to the comfortable speaking range and terminates in the region of the primo passaggio. For the baritone, the normal use of the speaking voice lies from B3 downward, and that of the lyric tenos at about the interval of a minor third higher, near D4. The baritone, using his speaking voice to call out loudly, extends the chest range to E4, by pushing his voice through added breath pressure and sustained thyroarytenoid function, he may manage an additional half-tone extension. In the process, he will experience considerable vocal discomfort. The tenor, unless he is a high-pitched reggiero, seldom inflects the speaking voice much above D4, although he is able to "yell" up to G4, or even a semitone or two beyond. The tenor also experiences vocal discomfort in so doing. Neither the baritone nor the tenor makes shouting sounds in speech much above the secondo passaggio, unless resorting to a loud falsetto production.
"orientational metaphors [...] have to do with spatial orientation: up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral. These spatial orientations arise from the fact that we have bodies of the sort we have and that they function as they do in our physical environment. Orientational metaphors give a concept a spatial orientation; for example, HAPPY IS UP. The fact that the concept HAPPY is oriented UP leads to English expressions like "I'm feeling up today." Such metaphorical orientations are not arbitrary. They have a basis in our physical and cultural experience. Though the polar oppositions up-down, in-out, etc., are physical in nature, the orientational metaphors based on them can vary from culture to culture. For example, in some cultures the future is in front of us, whereas in others it is in back."
Iamwhomiam » Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:31 pm wrote:I think someone slipped me some mushrooms...
we're standing on the perimeter of a circle. At any point on the perimeter, a vertical jump is one that moves away from the perimeter. A horizontal jump moves parallel with the perimeter. Standing at the top of the circle, a counter-clockwise jump goes to our left, clockwise to our right. At the bottom of the circle, it's the opposite.
Doing a Q&A at a Toronto movie theater, Murray is asked, "How does it feel to be Bill Murray?" – and he takes the extremely meta query seriously, asking the audience to consider the sensation of self-awareness. "There's a wonderful sense of well-being that begins to circulate up and down your spine," Murray says. "And you feel something that makes you almost want to smile. So what's it like to be me? Ask yourself, ‘What's it like to be me?' The only way we'll ever know what it's like to be you is if you work your best at being you as often as you can, and keep reminding yourself that's where home is." As the audience applauds, Bill Murray smiles inscrutably, alone in a crowded room, safe at home.
minime » Mon Mar 13, 2017 10:07 pm wrote:Sorry, really, that I can't understand it for you, and can't feel it for you--how the up and down of the pitch has a location which informs the metaphor, however imperfectly. For some, it's self-evident and goes without saying. For others, too many words are not enough.
I thought that the quote above, from the book The Structure of Singing made that clear. Guess not.
Found the following this evening just wandering around the Net, the reason for responding to you now (maybe at all).
dada » Mon Mar 13, 2017 6:44 pm wrote:Iamwhomiam » Sat Mar 11, 2017 4:31 pm wrote:I think someone slipped me some mushrooms...
One side will make you grow larger, the other side will make you grow smaller... (smile, smile)
Am I a good trip, or a bad one? Feel free to explain, this isn't social media. Don't be shy!
dada » Fri Mar 10, 2017 11:04 pm wrote:"Inner-outer" might be the technically more accurate metaphor. It might be. We shall see.
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