John F. Michel

Speaking Fundamental Frequency Characteristics of 15, 16 and 17 Year-Old Girls:

The purpose of this research was to obtain speaking fundamental frequency data on a large number of high-school age girls in order to determine the age at which adult female speaking fundamental frequencies are established. Forty-four 15 year-olds, 115 16 year-olds and 148 17 year-olds were recorded reading a standard passage. The mean fundamental frequencies for these age groups were 207.5, 207.3 and 207.8 c.p.s., respectively. These results indicate that females attain adult speaking fundamental frequencies by 15 years of age. It seems necessary, therefore, to study girls 14 years of age and younger in order to determine when adult frequencies are first evidenced.

The effects of crescendo on vocal vibrato

Summary The purpose of this research was to investigate the effects of crescendo and decrescendo on the width of vocal vibrato. A second interest was whether the frequency at which the crescendo or decrescendo occurred would be a factor. Nine singers each produced nine phonations. The first set of three phonations was crescendo from pp to ff at low, medium, and high frequency. The second set of three was decrescendo from ff to pp at the three frequencies and the third set was from pp to ff to pp at each frequency. The vibrato width during each phonation was measured via a Kay Visipitch. The results generally indicated that vibrato width increased with increasing crescendo. With decrescendo, however, the vibrato width tended to remain constant even though the intensity was decreasing. The greatest vibrato width occurred at the middle frequencies.

Vibrato and pitch transitions

Summary There are at least two timing variables to be considered in vocal music performance. The first is the note changes associated with the meter signature (4/4, 2/4, etc.) and the second is the vibrato rate of the performer. Because the probability is not great that these two temporal variables will always be in perfect synchrony, it was the purpose of this investigation to determine what singers do when these two timing variables come into conflict during singing. Six singers recorded a series of alternating upward and downward interval shifts of a third while singing whole notes, half notes, quarter notes and eighth notes. The same notes were then recorded with intervals of a fifth. The recorded samples were converted to a visual trace and examined for interactions between vibrato and meter. Analysis of the tracings indicated that, in the majority of the cases, the singers would alter their vibrato in order to adhere to the timing of the musical line.