Some Opera Really Is Hard to Follow, Study Finds
Some australian physicists went to work on why opera sopranos are unintelligible when they sing above certain notes at certain volume levels.
...A study published in the Nature journal Thursday (www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/soprane.html) examined how sopranos boost the sounds coming from their vocal cords by adjusting the shape of their vocal tract. The vocal tract is a fleshy tunnel, including the mouth and tongue, through which sound travels and resonates. It has several resonances that boost or amplify sounds produced in the larynx. "It's a bit like a megaphone except that we can change the megaphone's shape and different frequencies get amplified," Professor Joe Wolfe, a physicist at the university, told Reuters. The study measured four specific vowel sounds -- "la," "lore," "loo" and "le" -- and found that in the top half of their range sopranos tuned vocal tract resonances quite accurately to the pitch they were singing. This makes the voice louder and more homogenous, but the vowels end up sounding very similar, explaining why opera is difficult to understand even for those who speak the language in which it is sung...
The vocal tract is a fleshy tunnel, including the mouth and tongue, through which sound travels and resonates. It has several resonances that boost or amplify sounds produced in the larynx.
"It's a bit like a megaphone except that we can change the megaphone's shape and different frequencies get amplified," Professor Joe Wolfe, a physicist at the university, told Reuters.
The study measured four specific vowel sounds -- "la," "lore," "loo" and "le" -- and found that in the top half of their range sopranos tuned vocal tract resonances quite accurately to the pitch they were singing.
This makes the voice louder and more homogenous, but the vowels end up sounding very similar, explaining why opera is difficult to understand even for those who speak the language in which it is sung...
yes, but does this account for Marissa Marchant's "Green Tea" or "Emu"?
― Kingfishee (Kingfish), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:56 (twenty-two years ago)
― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 14:59 (twenty-two years ago)
I think...
― mark grout (mark grout), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:00 (twenty-two years ago)
― the voxfox, Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― Luigi Vampa (Horace Mann), Tuesday, 13 January 2004 15:53 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:43 (twenty-two years ago)
― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:48 (twenty-two years ago)
― Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:53 (twenty-two years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:55 (twenty-two years ago)
― luna (luna.c), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:57 (twenty-two years ago)
― the surface noise (electricsound), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 02:58 (twenty-two years ago)
― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 07:44 (twenty-two years ago)
I'm walking into the jungleWhen everything is rightwhere does one goI walk into the jungleSometimes I run-sometimes I stumbleI'm talking to a saved manWhen you are sanewhere does one goBack into the jungleOut, out, out of the tunnelBack, Back, to the jungleOut, out, out of the tunnelTake me back to my jungle"
-The Germs
― nickn (nickn), Wednesday, 14 January 2004 08:51 (twenty-two years ago)
― youn, Wednesday, 14 January 2004 09:24 (twenty-two years ago)