Spectral envelope consistency singing diatonic scales with different dynamics contours

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-250
Author(s):  
Allan Vurma
Keyword(s):  
Sound Level ◽  
Alternative Strategy ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Acoustical Parameters ◽  
Vocal Technique ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Classical Style ◽  
Singer's Formant ◽  
Empirical Experiment ◽  
The Voice

This study was motivated by the frequently expressed opinion that in the classical style of singing one of the main objectives is the evenness of the voice over wide pitch and dynamic ranges. With an empirical experiment, we aimed to discover whether and how the acoustical parameters related to voice timbre change when professional male vocalists fulfil vocal tasks with changing pitch and dynamics. We asked 11 participants to produce one-octave D-major ascending diatonic scales in three different ways: (1) with their habitual dynamics, (2) with sempre crescendo, and (3) with sempre diminuendo. The values of the corresponding parameters varied systematically in the case of all the singers tested. Some of these changes occurred for purely acoustical reasons that are unrelated to the vocal technique of the singer. Several singers used vocal strategies whose purpose appeared to be the improvement of the perceived evenness of the voice. One such technique was the creation of a difference between the piano and forte dynamics primarily by changing the voice timbre without varying the sound level significantly. An alternative strategy was varying the sound level while minimizing the variation in the level of the singer’s formant (which is related to the brightness and carrying power of the voice).

Contemplating Compilations

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joseph Pate ◽  
Brian Kumm
Keyword(s):  
Music Making ◽  
Van Manen ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Pass Through ◽  
Sound Objects ◽  
Meaningful Experiences ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Max Van Manen

Through this chapter the crafting of compilations is explored as an act, art, and expression of music making, illuminating the listeners’ and compilers’ positions as cocreators of meaning, function, and purpose. Music becomes repositioned and repurposed as found or sound objects that pass through Gaston Bachelard’s triptych of resonance, repercussion, and reverberations, a process of music speaking to so as to speak for individuals’ deeply personal and significantly meaningful experiences. The chapter addresses the question, “What motivates someone to partake in this personally meaningful, vulnerable, and artistic endeavor?” Using Josef Pieper’s conceptions of leisure as celebration, an orientation toward the wonderful, and an act of affirmation, the chapter concludes that the creation and crafting of compilations (e.g., mix tape) affords poetic spaces for connection, enchantment, felt-aliveness, or what Max van Manen called an “incantative, evocative speaking, a primal telling, [whose] aim [is] to involve the voice in an original singing of the world.”

The ‘Deaf Ear’ of Classicism: Searching for the Female Voice in French Tragédie Lyrique

2006 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-128
Author(s):  
SARAH NANCY
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Female Voice ◽  
The Feminine ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Artistic Performance

This article considers the paradoxical manifestations of rejection or suspicion concerning the voice and the feminine at the very moment of the creation of tragédie lyrique at the end of the seventeenth century in France. It examines the relationship between these elements and asks what they have in common that may be perceived as threatening. What is at stake is not only the period's capacity to experiment with pleasure through the elaboration of rules, but also, beyond this delimited historical perspective, the appreciation of the element of danger that is inherent in the experience of any artistic performance, and the roles played by the voice and the feminine in such an experience.

scholarly journals Voice-awareness control for a humanoid robot consistent with its body posture and movements

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Takuma Otsuka ◽  
Kazuhiro Nakadai ◽  
Toru Takahashi ◽  
Kazunori Komatani ◽  
Tetsuya Ogata ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Body Motion ◽  
Spectral Envelope ◽  
Balance Model ◽  
Head Motion ◽  
Axis Rotation ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Horizontal Head

AbstractThis paper presents voice-awareness control consistent with robot’s head movements. For a natural spoken communication between robots and humans, robots must behave and speak the way humans expect them to. The consistency between the robot’s voice quality and its body motion is one of the most especially striking factors in naturalness of robot speech. Our control is based on a new model of spectral envelope modification for vertical head motion, and left-right balance modulation for horizontal head motion. We assume that a pitch-axis rotation, or a vertical head motion, and a yaw-axis rotation, or a horizontal head motion, effect the voice quality independently. The spectral envelope modification model is constructed based on the analysis of human vocalizations. The left-right balance model is established by measuring impulse responses using a pair of microphones. Experimental results show that the voice-awareness is perceivable in a robot-to-robot dialogue when the robots stand up to 150 cm away. The dynamic change in the voice quality is also confirmed in the experiment.

scholarly journals Templating as a Strategy for Translating Official Documents from Spanish to English

2007 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sylvie Lambert-Tierrafría
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Strategy ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Translation Memory ◽  
Spanish Translation ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Birth Death

Abstract This article examines the case of translation of official documents from Spanish into English in Canada. The article begins by providing some background information about immigration in Canada and in the Ottawa region in particular, and discussing the impact that this is having on translation needs. It then describes the types of official documents that need to be translated (e.g., birth, death, marriage certificates). Next, a type of translation tool known as a Translation Memory is briefly introduced, followed by an explanation of why, contrary to expectations, such a tool is not necessarily suitable for translating official documents. Finally, an alternative strategy that entails the creation and application of templates is presented. This templating approach is being developed and taught in Spanish translation courses at the University of Ottawa in Canada.

““Das verlassene Määgdlein””: Grief Partaken

2009 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-192
Author(s):  
Karen M. Bottge
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Sustained Attention ◽  
Musical Settings ◽  
Musical History ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Insight Into

Abstract Perhaps the most influential abandoned woman to surface in the musical history of the nineteenth century was that conceived by Biedermeier poet Eduard Möörike. Since its initial publication in 1832, his ““Das verlassene Määgdlein”” has engaged the sustained attention of composers, performers, and even music analysts and critics. Not only did his Määgdlein prompt the creation of numerous nineteenth-century volkstüümliche varianten throughout Germany and Austria, but she also inspired 130 musical settings dating between 1832 and 1985. Yet, although Möörike is just one of many figures within a long tradition of male poets writing on female abandonment, there seems to be something to this particular poem, that is, to Möörike's Määgdlein, that has compelled composers to retell her tale again and again in song. My discussion begins by first revisiting the poem's original novelistic context, Maler Nolten: Novelle in zwei Theilen (1832). Thereafter I follow Möörike's Määgdlein from her poetic beginnings to two of her best-known musical reappearances: Robert Schumann's ““Das verlassne Määgdelein”” (op. 64, no. 2) of 1847 and the work it inspired forty years later, Hugo Wolf's 1888 ““Das verlassene Määgdlein”” (also op. 64, no. 2), perhaps the most renowned setting of them all. Through the juxtaposition of these two settings we may not only uncover their potential textual and musical interconnections, but also gain insight into the tacit cultural understandings and ideologies surrounding those who take up the voice of the abandoned.

Optimal Selection of Long Time Acoustic Features Using GA for the Assessment of Vocal Fold Disorders

2012 ◽  
Vol 239-240 ◽  
pp. 65-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sindhu Ravindran ◽  
Neoh Siew-Chin ◽  
Hariharan Muthusamy
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Fold ◽  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Feature Reduction ◽  
Optimal Selection ◽  
Acoustical Parameters ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Reduction Methods ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Selection Of

In recent times, vocal fold problems have been increasing dramatically due to unhealthy social habits and voice abuse. Non-invasive methods like acoustic analysis of voice signals can be used to investigate such problems. Various feature extraction techniques are used to classify the voice signals into normal and pathological. Among them, long-time acoustical parameters are used by many researchers. The selection of best long-time acoustical parameters is very important to reduce the computational complexity, as well as to achieve better accuracy with minimum number of features. In order to select best long-time acoustical parameters, different feature reduction methods or feature selection methods are proposed by researchers. In this work, genetic algorithm (GA) based optimal selection of long-time acoustical parameters is proposed to achieve higher accuracy with minimum number of features. The classification is carried out using k-nearest neighbourhood (k-NN) classifier. In comparison with other works in the literature, the simulation results show that a minimum of 5 features are required to classify the voice signals by GA and a better accuracy of 94.29% is achieved.

scholarly journals Acoustical Design and Noise Control in Metro Stations: Case Studies of the Ankara Metro System

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 203-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zühre Sü ◽  
Mehmet Çalışkan
Keyword(s):  
Computer Simulation ◽  
Nonwoven Material ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Reverberation Time ◽  
Acoustical Parameters ◽  
Transmission Index ◽  
Speech Transmission ◽  
Absorbing Materials ◽  
Practical Design ◽  
Metro System

The aim of this research is to demonstrate the importance of initial strategies in acoustical design of underground metro stations. The paper searches for practical design solutions by evaluating different materials for providing optimum acoustical conditions in such spaces. Acoustical designs of three metro stations on a new expansion line in Ankara including Sogutozu, Bilkent and ODTU metro stations are presented through computer simulation. Predictions of room acoustical parameters are presented for both platform and ticket office floors in terms of parameters like reverberation time (RT), speech transmission index (STI) and A-weighted sound level (SPL) distribution within spaces. Simulated reverberation times are evaluated in view of legislative requirements. The study confirms the importance of using sound absorbing materials on the ceiling and sidewalls together. The nonwoven material, used behind perforated metal suspended ceilings, has proved effective in reverberation control.

scholarly journals Intersecciones entre Texto e Imagen: Alexander Kluge y el Tratado Iconográfico

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Jacobo Sucari
Keyword(s):  
Sound Emission ◽  
Text And Image ◽  
Critical View ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Alexander Kluge ◽  
Written Word ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Special Case

There is a field of intersection between text and image that throughout the history of cinema has been configured as a space of subtle architectures where the typographic sign (the letter) and its sound emission (the voice) in conjunction with the image, they form a terrain of new audiovisual grammars, a space for experimentation in the creation of meaning and original associations.Alexander Kluge's work is undoubtedly a special case in forcing this relationship between the dimensions of text and image, not only because he has dedicated much of his work to both disciplines, that of writer and that of filmmaker, but because in this space of intersection of the written word and the fluorescence of the image, a renewed dialogue emerges around the meaning of history and the always enriching links between the archive, the document, the function of memory and a critical view of the Present.This article emphasizes the semiotic characteristics of this relationship between text and image in Kluge's work, as well as his peculiar conception of the audiovisual treatise.

Priorities in Voice Training: Carrying Power or Tone Quality

2000 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-93 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allan Vurma ◽  
Jaan Ross
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Analysis ◽  
Voice Quality ◽  
Symphony Orchestra ◽  
Vocal Music ◽  
Voice Training ◽  
Tone Quality ◽  
Average Spectrum ◽  
Singer's Formant ◽  
The Voice

The voices of 42 students studying classical opera singing at the Estonian Academy of Music were investigated to find any objectively definable qualities possibly correlating with the length of training. Each student's singing of a four-bar seven-word initial phrase from a well-known Estonian classical solo was recorded. The recordings were digitalized and subjected to acoustic analysis yielding the long-term average spectrum (LTAS) for each voice studied. It turned out that the longer a singing student had been trained professionally, the higher was the level of the so-called singer's formant in her/his LTAS. Subsequently the voice quality in each recording was evaluated by four experts using a five-point scale, five points marking the best quality and one point the poorest. It turned out that the average ratings did not show any positive correlation with the length of training, rather, a slightly negative trend (notstatistically significant) could be observed. The results seem to support the critical remarksmade bysome Estonian specialists about domestic teaching of vocal music being perhaps inadequate in some respects (Pappel, 1990). The teaching process seems to be focused on the development of those qualities that enable the singer to be audible in large halls and with a symphony orchestra, while the timbral qualities recede into the background.

5. Poets and readers

2019 ◽  
pp. 112-124
Author(s):  
Bernard O'Donoghue
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Reader Response ◽  
The Creation ◽  
The Voice

‘Poets and readers’ is concerned with the respective roles of poets and readers in the creation of meaning as well as the function of critics and readers: a function that has attained increasing prominence in the 20th century and since, with the emergence of theories of reader response and the reception of poetry. Is the term poet reserved for a kind of elect or is it a name anyone can aspire to? The whole question of authorship and authority is also considered: whether the poem generally—or ever—speaks in the voice of the poet, and how that voice may relate to its audience.

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