Is There Any Singer’s Formant? A Name Proposal for a Misconceptualized Phenomenon
The problem with so called "singer’s formant" is not only limited to the name itself.But because terms determine the content of and set a limit to the practice of definition, totackle the problem of the name/concept of "singer’s formant" is the most urgent of theseproblems. Although in studies on various non-operatic singing styles, no evidence of suchformant was found, this phenomenon has continued to be called singer’s formant, and inliterature there is no sign of disapproval in this regard. The act of singing is not unique to anygiven musical genre. The person who sings in any genre is a singer. But, although it wasfound only among the Western opera singers, to decorate this phenomenon with the prefix’singer’, intentionally or unintentionally, restricts one to be a singer of only the Western operasingers. What links music with science, or to put it another way, transforms music intomusicology, is the application of scientifically defined methods on every musical matter. Inthis regard, in this study, an efford was made to offer a scientifically appropriate name to theacoustical phenomenon that called "singer’s formant" until now. It was concluded thatinstead of "singer’s formant", "Western opera singer’s formant cluster" (FCwos) must be usedfor the peak found in the Western opera singer’s.
___
- Atmanspacher, H. & Kronz, F. (1998). Many Realisms. Acta Polytechnica Scandinavica
Ma-91:31-43.
Ackermann, E. (1995). Construction and Transference of Meaning Through Form. In: Steffe
L. and Gale (eds) Constructivist Education. NY:Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 341-354.
Aithal, S., Swathi, S., & Rajasudhakar, R. (2011). Effect of different levels of training on
singing power ratio and singers formant in classical Carnatic singers. ninad:
Journal of the ITC Sangeet Research Academy 25: 45-56.
Austin, S.F. (2005). Provenance: "Like the Squawk of a Capon" - The Tenor "do di petto".
Journal of Singing 61(3): 309-313.
Barefield, R.C. (1991). The passaggio in tenor voice. D.M.A. University of Cincinnati.
Bartholomew, W. (1934). A physical definition of good voice quality in the male voice. J.
Acoust. Soc. Am. 6(8): 25-33.
Bateman, L.A. (2003). Soprano, Style and voice Quality: Acoustic and Laryngographic
Correlates. PhD Thesis, University of Victoria.
Bele, I.V. (2006) The Speakers Formant. Journal of Voice 20(4): 555-578.
Berg, L.D. & Kearns, R.A. (1996). Naming as norming: ’race’, gender, and the identity
politics of naming places in Aotearoa/New Zealand. Environment and Planning D:
Society and Space 14: 99-122.
Berndtsson, G. & Sundberg, J. (1995). Perceptual significance of the center frequency of the
singers formant. Scand J LogopPhoniatr 20: 35-41.
Björkner, E. (2006). Why so different? Aspects of voice characteristics in operatic and musical
theatre singing. PhD Thesis, Stockholm, Sweden.
Borch, D.Z. & Sundberg ,J. (2002). Spectral distribution of solo voice and accompaniment in
pop music. TMH-QPSR 43(1): 31-35.
Boersma, P. & Kovacic, G. (2006). Spectral characteristics of three styles of Croatian folk
singing. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 119(3), 1805-1816.
Brown, O. (1996). Pedagogical Opinion: Falsetto. Journal of Singing 53(2), 25-26.
Buller, J. & Gamble, A. (2002) Conceptualising Europeanisation. Public Policy and
Administration 17(2): 4-24.
Cathcart, R.V. (2013). Do Di Petto: "Covering" the Castrato, the English Counter Tenor, and
the Teachings of Manual Garcia II. The Phenomenon of Singing 3:51-59.
Chandler, D. (2005). Semiotics for Beginners. Available at:
file:///biblioteca/algorithms/Semiotics/sem01.html (accessed 08 August 2016).
de Cillia, R., Reisigl, M. & Wodak, R. (1999). The discursive construction of national
identities. Discourse and Society 10(2): 149-173.
Cleveland, T.F., Sundberg, J. & Stone, R.E. (2001). Long-term-average spectrum
characteristics of country singers during speaking and singing. Journal of Voice
15(1): 54-60.
Daston, L. (1992). Objectivity and the Escape from Perspective. Social Studies of Science
22(4): 597-618.
D’Andrade, R.G. (1982). Cultural Meaning Systems. In: McC Adams R, Smelser NJ and
Treiman DJ (eds) Behavioral and Social Science Research: A NationalResource.
Part II. p. 197-236
Daston, L. (1992). Objectivity and the Escape from Perspective. Social Studies of Science
22(4), 597-618.
Detweiler, R. (1994). An investigation of the laryngeal system as the resonance source of the
singers formant. Journal of Voice 8: 303-313.
Detweiler, R. & Detweiler, G. (1995). Investigation of the laryngeal system as the resonance
source of the singers formant: Data from a pedagogically heterogeneous
population. Paper given at the 24th Annual Symposium Care of the Professional
Voice, Philadelphia June 1995.
Dmitriev, L. & Kiselev, A. (1979). Relationship between the formant structure of dif-ferent
types of singing voices and the dimension of supraglottal cavities. Folia Phoniatrica
et Logopaedica 31(4): 238-241.
Dong, L., Kong, J. & Sundberg, J. (2014). Long-Term-Average Spectrum Characteristics of
Kunqu Opera Singers Speaking, Singing and Stage Speech. Logopedics
Phoniatrics Vocology 39(2):72-80.
Duit, R. (1996). The Constructivist View in Science Education What it has to Offer and
What Should not be Expected from it. Investigações em Ensino de Ciências V1(1):
40-75.
Ekholm, E., Papagiannis, G.C. & Cagnon, F.P. (1998). Relating objective measurement to
expert evaluation of voice quality in Western Classical Singing: Critical perceptual
parameters. Journal of Voice 12(2): 182-196.
Furfey, P.H. (1945). The Sociologist and Scientific Objectivity. The American Catholic
Sociological Review 6(1): 3-12.
Gadamer, H-G. (1994). Truth and Method, New York: Continuum.
Gerring, J. (1999). What Makes a Concept Good? A Criterial Framework for Understanding
Concept Formation in the Social Sciences. Polity 31(3): 357-393.
Gingras, Y. (2010). Naming without necessity. On the genealogy and uses of the label
historical epistemology. Revue de synthèse: tome 131(3): 439-454.
von Glasersfeld, E. (2008). An Introduction to Radical Constructivism. Antimatters 2(3): 5-
20.
Hamdan, A., Tabri, D., Deeb, R., Rifai, H., Rameh, C. & Fuleihan, N. (2008). Formant
frequencies in Middle Eastern singers. American Journal of Otolaryngology 29(3):
180-183.
Hamman, M. (1999). From symbol to semiotic: Representation, sign, and the composition of
music interaction. Journal of New Music Research 28(2): 90-104.
Hirsch, E.D. (1965). Truth and method in interpretation. The review of Metaphysics 18(3):
488-507.
Johnson, A. (1984). Voice Physiology and Ethnomusicology: Physiological and Acoustical
Studies of the Swedish Herding Song. Yearbook for Traditional Music 16: 42-66.
Johnson-Read, L., Chmiel, A., Schubert, E. & Wolfe, J. (2015). Performing Lieder: Expert
Perspectives and Comparison of Vibrato and Singers Formant With Opera
Singers. Journal of Voice 29(5): 645.e15-645.e32.
Jordan, G., Halpin, D. & Maloney, W. (2004). Defining Interests: Disambiguation and the
Need for New Distinctions? BJPIR 6: 195-212.
Kawasaki, K. (1996) . The Concepts of Science in Japanese and Western Education. Science
and Education 5: l-20.
Keele, R. (2004). Valentinus et Nomina: Saussure, Plato, and Signification. Alif: Journal of
Comparative Poetics 24: 68-92.
Kovacc, G., Boersma, P. & Domitrevic, H. (2003). Long-Term Average Spectra in
Professional Folk Singing Voices: A Comparison of the Klapa and Dozivacki
Styles. Institute of Phonetic Sciences, University of Amsterdam. Proceedings 25:
53-64.
Kuhn, T.S. (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press.
Laclau, E. & Mouffe, C. (1985). Hegemony and socialist strategy: Towards a radical
democratic politics. Verso, Second ed.
Lamesch, S., Expert, R., Castellengo, M., Henrich, N. & Chuberre, B. (2007). Investigating
voix mixte: A scientific challenge towards a renewed vocal pedagogy. CIM07
proceedings.
Lee, S-H., Kwon, H-J., Choi, H-J., Lee, N-H., Lee, S.J. & Jin, S-M. (2008). The Singer’s
Formant and Speaker’s Ring Resonance: A Long-Term Average Spectrum
Analysis. Clinical and Experimental Otorhinolaryngology 1(2): 92-96.
Maines, D.R. (2000). The Social Construction of Meaning. Contemporary Sociology 29(4):
577-584.
Marek, D.H. (2006). Singing: the first art. Scarecrow Press.
Master, S., De Biase, N., Chiari, B.M. & Laukkanen, A-M. (2008). Acoustic and Perceptual
Analyses of Brazilian Male Actors and Nonactors Voices: Long-term Average
Spectrum and the Actors Formant. Journal of Voice 22(2): 146-154.
Mendes, A.P., Rothman, H.B., Sapienza, C. & Brown, W.S. (2003). Effects of vocal training
on the acoustic parameters of the singing voice. Journal of Voice 17(4): 529-543.
Merriam, A.P. (1977). Definitions of "Comparative Musicology" and "Ethnomusicology":
An Historical-Theoretical Perspective. Ethnomusicology 21(2): 189-204.
Milani, T.M. (2010). Whats in a name? Language ideology and social differentiation in a
Swedish print-mediated debate. Journal of Sociolinguistics 14(1): 116-142.
Miller, R. (2008). Securing Bariton, Bass-Baritone and Bass Voices. Oxford university
Press.
Mohapatra, P.R. (2013). Metallo--lactamase 1 - why blame New Delhi and India? The
Indian Journal of Medical Research 137(1): 213-215.
Nijhof, G. (1998). Naming as naturalization in the medical encounter. Journal of Pragmatics
30: 735-753.
Pabst, F. & Sundberg, J. (1992). Tracking multi-channel electroglottograph measurement of
larynx height in singers. STL-QPSR 33(2-3): 67-78.
Peteet, J. (2005). Words as interventions: naming in the Palestine Israel conflict. Third
World Quarterly 26(1): 153-172.
Popeil, L. (1999). Comparing belt and classical techniques using MRI and videofluoroscopy.
Journal of Singing 56(2): 27-29.
Putnam, H. (1980). Reason, Truth, and History. Cambridge.
Putnam, H. (1987). The Many Faces of Realism. Open Court, LaSalle.
Ross, J. (1992). Formant frequencies in Estonian folk singing. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 91(6):
35323539.
Ruskola, T. (2002). Legal Orientalism. Michigan Law Review 101:179-234.
Said, E.W. (2003). Orientalism. Penguin Books.
Sandelowski, M. (2010). Whats in a Name? Qualitative Description Revisited. Research in
Nursing and Health 33: 77-84.
Sartori, G. (1970). Concept Misinformation in Comparative Politics. American Political
Science Review 64(4):1033-1053.
Saruhan, S. (2014a). Bir meleksiden hayali yaratka dönüs hikâyesi: Kastratolar.
Akademik Sosyal Arastrmalar Dergisi, 2(1), 561-572.
Saruhan, S. (2014b). Opera sarkclgnda bir dönüm noktas: Do di Petto. Tarih Okulu
Dergisi, 7(17), 661-679.
Saruhan, S. (2014c). Kadn opera sarkclarnda formant uyarlama teknigi örnegiyle,
sarkclkta tnnn olusum baglamlar.. Uluslararas Sosyal Arastrmalar Dergisi,
7(32), 675-689.
Saruhan, S. (2014d). Opera sarkclgnda metinsel anlaslrlk problemi ve nedenleri. The
Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 27(Autumn I), 553-573.
Saruhan, S. (2014e). Türkiyede geleneksel sarkclk türleri arastrmalarnda sarkc
formant parametresinin kullanmna yönelik bir öneri. Uluslararas Avrasya Sosyal
Bilimler Dergisi, 5(17), 163-190.
Saruhan, S. (2014f). Opera-ds vokal icra türlerinde bir akustik görüngü: konusmac/aktör
formant. The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 29(Autumn III), 293-
312.
Saruhan, S. (2016a). Laringeal açdan vokal registerler. Duzce Medical Journal, 2016;
18(1): 23-29.
Saruhan, S. (2016b). arkc formant: bir zorunluluk mu yoksa tercih mi? The Journal of
Academic Social Science Studies, 50 (Autumn II), 273-296.
Saruhan, S. (2017). Is it the speaker’s formant, actor’s formant, shouting formant or calling
formant cluster?: A proposal for a more proper name/concept. Researcher: Social
Science Studies, 5(9), 368-377.
Saruhan, S. (In Review). Spectrographic and electroglottographic findings of two traditional
singers.
Saruhan, S. & Parlak, E. (2013). Orta Anadolu abdallar sarkclgnda sarkc formant
bulgular. Porte Akademik, 8, 212-225.
Saruhan, S., Guclu, E. & Ertugrul, A. (In Press). Spectrographic and Electroglottographic
Findings of Religious Vocal Performers in Düzce Province of Turkey. Journal of
Voice.
de Saussure, F. (2004). Course in General Linguistics. In: Rivkin J and Ryan M (eds)
Literary theory: An anthology. 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing, pp.59-71.
Schudson, M. (1989). How Culture Works: Perspectives from Media Studies on the Efficacy
of Symbols. Theory and Society 18(2): 153-180.
Slobin, D.I. (2005). Linguistic representations of motion events: What is signifier and what
is signified? Iconicity Inside Out: Iconicity in Language and Literature, 4:307-322.
Smith, J.N. (2002). ’Making Culture Matter’: Symbolic, Spatial and Social Boundaries
between Uyghurs and Han Chinese. Asian Ethnicity 3(2): 153-174.
Smith, C.G., Finnegan, E.M. & Karnell, M.P. (2005). Resonant Voice: Spectral and
Nasendoscopic Analysis. Journal of Voice 19(4):607-622.
Sing, A.R. (2011). Science, Names Giving and Names Calling: Change NDM-1 to PCM. In:
Singh AR and Singh SA (eds.) Brain, Mind and Consciousness: An International,
Interdisciplinary Perspective, MSM 9(1):294-319.
Singh, A.R. (2012). Proposal about Scientific Names Giving. Mens Sana Monogr 10: 181-
183.
Sundberg, J. (1968). Formant frequencies of bass singers. STL-QPSR 17(1): 1-6.
Sundberg, J. (1970). The level of the ’singing formant’ and the source spectrum in
professional bass singers. STL-QPSR 4: 21-39.
Sundberg, J. (1972a). A perceptual function of the ’singing formant’. STL-QPSR 2-3, 61-63.
Sundberg, J. (1972b). An articulatory interpretation of the ’singing formant’. STL-QPSR
13(1): 45-53.
Sundberg, J. (1974). Articulatory interpretation of the singing formant. J Acoust Soc Am.
55: 838844.
Sundberg, J. (1979). Perception of singing. STL-QPSR 20(1): 1-48.
Sundberg, J. (1990). Whats so special about singers? Journal of Voice 4(2): 107-119.
Sundberg ,J. (1991). Comparisons of pharynx, source, formant and pressure characteristics in
/o/. STL-QPSR 32(2-3): 51-62.
Sundberg, J. (2001). Level and Center Frequency of the Singers Formant. Journal of Voice
15(2): 176-186.
Sundberg, J. (2003). Research on the singing voice in retrospect. TMH-QPSR 45(1): 11-22.
Sundberg, J. (2006). The KTH Synthesis of Singing. Advances in Cognitiev Psychology 2(2-
3):131-143.
Sundberg, J., Gu, L., Huang, Q. & Huang, P. (2012). Acoustical study of classical Peking
opera singing. Journal of Voice 26(2): 137-143.
Swidler, A. (1986). Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies. American Sociological
Review 51(2): 273-286.
Titze, I.R. (2007). Belting and a High Larynx Position. Journal of Singing 63(5): 557-558
Tulving, E. (2000). Conceps of Memory. In: Tulving E and Craik FIM (eds) The Oxford
Handbook of Memory. Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, pp.33-43.
Vennard, W.L. (1967). Singing: the mechanism and the technic. New York: Carl Fischer.
Vest, J.C. (2009). Adolphe Nourrit, Gilbert-Louis Duprez, and transformations of tenor
technique in the early nineteenth century: Historical and physiological
considerations. PhD Thesis, University of Kentucky.
Vest, J. (2014). The Weightier Matters: Low Larynx Positioning and Adolphe Nourrit.
Journal of Singing 71(1): 27-34.
Wang, S. (1986). Singers high formant associated with different larynx position in styles of
singing. J Acoust Soc Jpn 7(6):303-314.
Welch, C., Rumyantseva, M. & Hewerdine, L.J. (2016). Using Case Research to Reconstruct
Concepts: A Methodology and Illustration. Organizational Research Methods
19(1): 111-130.
Weiss, R., Brown, W.S. & Morris, J. (2001). Singers formant in sopranos: fact or fiction?
Journal of Voice 15(4), 457-468.
Wells, B. (2006). On the voice-Belt Technique: Research, Acoustics, and Possible World
Music Applications. Choral Journal 46(9): 65-77.
Wakefeld, G.H. (2003). Vocal pedagogy and pedagogical voices. Proceedings of the 2003
International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA, USA, pp. 6-9.