Is There Any Singer’s Formant? A Name Proposal for a Misconceptualized Phenomenon

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 5 Sayı: 2, 1535 - 1553, 15.09.2017

Şahin Saruhan

Öz

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, to

tackle the problem of the name/concept of "singer’s formant" is the most urgent of these

problems. Although in studies on various non-operatic singing styles, no evidence of such

formant was found, this phenomenon has continued to be called singer’s formant, and in

literature there is no sign of disapproval in this regard. The act of singing is not unique to any

given musical genre. The person who sings in any genre is a singer. But, although it was

found 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 opera

singers. What links music with science, or to put it another way, transforms music into

musicology, is the application of scientifically defined methods on every musical matter. In

this regard, in this study, an efford was made to offer a scientifically appropriate name to the

acoustical phenomenon that called "singer’s formant" until now. It was concluded that

instead of "singer’s formant", "Western opera singer’s formant cluster" (FCwos) must be used

for the peak found in the Western opera singer’s.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Singer’s formant, Concept misformation, Scientific name, Misconceptualization, FCwos

Kaynakça

• 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 singer’s 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 Speaker’s 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 singer’s 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 singer’s formant. Journal of Voice 8: 303-313. Detweiler, R. & Detweiler, G. (1995). Investigation of the laryngeal system as the resonance source of the singer’s 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 Singer’s 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. Kovac
  c, 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 ‘Actor’s 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). What’s 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): 3532–3539. Ruskola, T. (2002). Legal Orientalism. Michigan Law Review 101:179-234. Said, E.W. (2003). Orientalism. Penguin Books. Sandelowski, M. (2010). What’s 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 “meleksi’den hayali yarat
  k’a dönüs” hikâyesi: Kastratolar. Akademik Sosyal Arast
  rmalar Dergisi, 2(1), 561-572. Saruhan, S. (2014b). Opera sark
  c
  l
  g
  nda bir dönüm noktas
  : Do di Petto. Tarih Okulu Dergisi, 7(17), 661-679. Saruhan, S. (2014c). Kad
  n opera sark
  c
  lar
  nda formant uyarlama teknigi örnegiyle, sark
  c
  l
  kta t
  n
  n
  n olusum baglamlar
  .. Uluslararas
  Sosyal Arast
  rmalar Dergisi, 7(32), 675-689. Saruhan, S. (2014d). Opera sark
  c
  l
  g
  nda metinsel anlas
  l
  rl
  k problemi ve nedenleri. The Journal of Academic Social Science Studies, 27(Autumn I), 553-573. Saruhan, S. (2014e). Türkiye’de geleneksel sark
  c
  l
  k türleri arast
  rmalar
  nda sark
  c
  formant
  parametresinin kullan
  m
  na yönelik bir öneri. Uluslararas
  Avrasya Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 5(17), 163-190. Saruhan, S. (2014f). Opera-d
  s
  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 aç
  dan vokal registerler. Duzce Medical Journal, 2016; 18(1): 23-29. Saruhan, S. (2016b). ark
  c
  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
  sark
  c
  l
  g
  nda sark
  c
  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: 838–844. Sundberg, J. (1979). Perception of singing. STL-QPSR 20(1): 1-48. Sundberg, J. (1990). What’s 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 Singer’s 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). Singer’s 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). Singer’s 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. Wakef
  eld, G.H. (2003). Vocal pedagogy and pedagogical voices. Proceedings of the 2003 International Conference on Auditory Display, Boston, MA, USA, pp. 6-9.