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Revealed: Why You Can't Understand What An Opera Soprano Is Singing
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 1-8-2004 | Roger Highfield

Posted on 01/07/2004 5:08:09 PM PST by blam

Revealed: why you can't understand what an opera soprano is singing

By Roger Highfield, Science Editor
(Filed: 08/01/2004)

Physicists have discovered the reason why even operas sung in English are hard to follow. A study has found that in order for sopranos to be heard above the sound of a large symphony orchestra, they tune into resonances in their vocal tract to amplify the sound at the high end of their range.

Although this enables them to make a sound that can fill the Albert Hall, it sacrifices intelligibility because the vowels sung by sopranos in full voice all sound the same.

The discovery, reported today in Nature, was made by Dr John Smith, Elodie Joliveau and Prof Joe Wolfe at the University of New South Wales, Australia. "For sopranos, the price of being heard is a loss in comprehensibility," said Dr Smith.

The physicists studied nine sopranos with an average classical training of nine years and followed up the suspicion that the singers used a resonance effect to boost high notes. "The evidence for this is that they tend to open the mouth and smile more as they sing successively higher notes," Dr Smith said.

The vocal tract (including tongue and mouth) has several resonances that boost or amplify sounds produced in the larynx and the team measured the frequencies of resonances as the sopranos sang ascending scales. In the top half of their range (but not the bottom half), the singers did indeed tune one of the resonances to match the pitch they were singing, producing more sound for the same effort.

But the vowels end up sounding nearly the same, which makes words more difficult to understand, while consonants are affected to different degrees. "The tuning of resonances from their normal values means that different sounds such as la, lore, loo, ler and lee sound very much alike in the high register," said Dr Smith.

"What we've shown is that trained sopranos boost the sound from their vocal chords by 'tuning' or adjusting the shape of their vocal tract so it matches the pitch they are singing," said Prof Wolfe.

"The effect is a little like the amplifying effect you get by singing in the bathroom," he said, adding that even if this did not occur, "the vowels would be hard to distinguish because there just isn't enough frequency information at that high pitch." He added: "It's possibly one reason why local opera houses use surtitles even when the words to an opera are in English."

The effect has been remarked on before, notably by the 19th century French composer Berlioz, whose book about orchestration even warns opera composers to take it into account.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cant; opera; revealed; singing; soprano; understand
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To: LauraJean
But what is the reason behind popular music.

To sell CDs. Duh.     =;^)

101 posted on 01/07/2004 8:20:00 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Hyakugojyuuichi !)
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To: Hon
KHFM in Albuquerque is a 27/7 classical music radio station. It also makes a profit (unlike KNME, one of the various Public Radio Stations.)
102 posted on 01/07/2004 8:23:44 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: Diva One
Yes, we did veer off into operestta, but FR threads often ( more likely than not ), tend to go a wee bit off topic. Sorry that wae offended you .

Thanks for your post...intesresting stuff therein.

103 posted on 01/07/2004 8:25:38 PM PST by nopardons
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To: B-Chan
On the Internet, XELA is a free internet radio 24/7 classicao, out of Mexico City. Lyric Radio from Ireland isn't bad either, but it has news and weather report too.
104 posted on 01/07/2004 8:27:47 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: nopardons
No offense taken. I love G&S! Please pardon the teacher in me.

Ciao!

Diva One

105 posted on 01/07/2004 8:27:59 PM PST by Diva One (Sempre Libera)
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To: Frohickey
Can't these sopranos just use loudspeakers?

Ahem...
<Cliff Claven voice>

Eh...it's a little known fact that Mozart had wanted to do that very thing but as it turns out...
Radio Shack wouldn't be invented for several hundred more years.

</Cliff Claven voice>

106 posted on 01/07/2004 8:28:34 PM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (Hyakugojyuuichi !)
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To: Diva One
I suppose it would be tacky to ask, "How many sopranos does it take to change a lightbulb?"

One. She holds the bulb and the whole world revolves around her.

Of course, Scott Joplin thought that Treemoniasha was an opera. (It's good, but it is very much like Finian's Rainbow.)

107 posted on 01/07/2004 8:32:53 PM PST by Doctor Stochastic (Vegetabilisch = chaotisch is der Charakter der Modernen. - Friedrich Schlegel)
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To: Diva One
And I love opera, the old war horses...CARMEN,TORENDOT(sp ? ),MADAME BUTTERFLY,TOSCA, etc.

You get one of my rare " pardons " and a request that you continue to enlighten us, with your superior knowledge of this topic. :-)

108 posted on 01/07/2004 8:34:26 PM PST by nopardons
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Solution: Just show the lyrics on a screen and the audience can follow the bouncing ball like in the old days.
109 posted on 01/07/2004 8:36:54 PM PST by Consort
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To: Doctor Stochastic
OF COURSE! What do you think the definition of DIVA is?

Complete self-centeredness.

Of course, I am nothing like that.....! ;)

Buona notte -

Diva One

110 posted on 01/07/2004 8:40:52 PM PST by Diva One (Sempre Libera)
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To: nkycincinnatikid
You hillbillies need to give Susannah by Floyd a few listens.

By Pink Floyd?

Wow, I looked through their entire catalog and couldn't find that one....

Yes, I'm kidding.

111 posted on 01/07/2004 8:41:26 PM PST by Terabitten (Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of All Who Threaten It)
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To: Doctor Stochastic; B-Chan
Somebody should tell the on air announcers at KDB 93.7 FM then. They have made this claim for many years.

Last I heard KDB's future wasn't too bright. There was talk of the UC Santa Barbara buying them just to keep them on the air. Sad.

112 posted on 01/07/2004 8:43:02 PM PST by Hon
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To: nopardons
Mille grazie!

I love the old ones too - Tosca is my favorite role to sing, and watch.

Who knew opera would be such a hot topic on Free Republic!

Thanks for the pardon :0

Diva One

113 posted on 01/07/2004 8:47:12 PM PST by Diva One (Sempre Libera)
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To: Diva One
Welcome to FR...a wee late, bujt I havedn"t seen you before.

Opera, Star Trek, G&S...FR is filled, to the brim,with people who have all kinds of different tastes and some are REAL expert on any topic, that comes down the pike. :-)

114 posted on 01/07/2004 8:52:34 PM PST by nopardons
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To: B-Chan
Huh? WRR-FM is located in and owned by the City of Dallas (east of the Trinity, but definitely west of the Mississippi!) and its program is 100% classical music 100% of the time, 24/7.

I think KDP might say that airing church sermons every Sunday morning puts a whole in the 24/7 claim.

http://www.wrr101.com/wrr_info/programs.shtml

115 posted on 01/07/2004 9:00:38 PM PST by Hon
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To: Doc On The Bay
You are asking bigger questions than the thread implied. and that is why I love FR. "regular people and the Grander View"

indeed

For me, I maintain that unless a friend has Kind of Blue in his collection, we should not discuss anything deeper than the weather. Okay, I stole that from Leonard Feather.

A musical foundation used to be a given in a well rounded education.

As I age, I find that I have less and less patience with peers that have no idea of music beyond the obvious hits of their teen years. It's almost like meeting someone who doesn't know -or care- who Babe Ruth was because he was from another era.

I'm no snob, just a guy who had some good teachers over the years, who would drop strong hints to those who cared.
116 posted on 01/07/2004 9:29:48 PM PST by moodyskeptic (weekend warrior in the culture war)
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To: secret garden
Thank you!
117 posted on 01/07/2004 10:59:03 PM PST by Argh
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To: onedoug
Love the music, but hate opera, even Motzart.
118 posted on 01/07/2004 11:03:23 PM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Diva One
Such a wonderful addition to the FR 'family'.........in more ways than one. :)

By the way, DAMNED sorry that The Lovely Wife and I couldn't make the wedding. We do look forward to meeting you, so tell The Shrew to drag you down to NC on his next trip.

Interesting post, by the way; very interesting indeed.

119 posted on 01/07/2004 11:41:51 PM PST by RightOnline
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To: blam
IMHO Dame Joan Sutherlands lack of "correct" diction didn't seem to slow her career much. I care less about correct diction than the voice. All the correct diction in the world can't cover up for cracked or flattened singing. Did anyone catch Renee' Fleming on "Live at Lincoln Center" New Years Eve? Great voice, diction and looks!!
120 posted on 01/08/2004 3:06:25 AM PST by tal hajus
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