Yorkshire Philosophical Society

Event Information

The Science of the Singing Voice (and why it’s tough being a soprano)

Professor Helena Daffern, School of Physics, Engineering and Technology, University of York.

“The Human Voice is the most beautiful instrument of all, but it is the most difficult to play”

Richard Strauss.

Every voice is unique. Beyond enabling humans to communicate uniquely through speech, your voice is also a powerful and versatile musical instrument.  To understand how the voice works we must combine knowledge of physiology, acoustics and psychoacoustics (how we perceive acoustic signals based on our hearing system and brain).

This talk will explore the complex processes involved in voice production, and how the physical and acoustic properties of the vocal system are used in different musical styles. Live demonstrations will illuminate the intricacies of the human voice  – and how different types of sound are produced and perceived.

Analytical techniques that are used to understand the voice, including realtime acoustic analysis and Magnetic Resonance Imaging, will illustrate how different styles of singing are achieved. These techniques will also reveal the physical properties of different voice types and why they require different vocal techniques and manipulations of the voice system to achieve similar goals. Amid this scientific and practical exploration of the singing voice, finally the truth will be uncovered with proof that sopranos have the hardest job in a choir… (maybe).

7pm in the Tempest Anderson Lecture Theatre in the Yorkshire Museum

Member’s report

Professor Daffern joined a choir at age 15 and has a PhD in Music Technology as well as performing as a singer with groups such as Northern Sinfonia and Yorkshire Baroque Soloists. Singing is an incredible thing, and we were asked to think about how we do this including physiology and acoustics – how we create sounds and how we hear them.  For voice production our lungs act as an air source like a set of bellows to draw air in which then travels through the windpipe.  We can modify this sound by learning to make small changes. The vocal folds vibrate when air from the lungs passes through them. These vocal folds are in the larynx which is there also to protect us from food going the wrong way.

We were also invited to listen to examples of using vocal chords to change pitch and phonation i.e. frequency of vibration.  Male voices are between 90Hz – 155Hz and female between165Hz-255Hz and we heard examples of different voices including Janet Baker singing Dido’s Lament.  Singers can shape the sound by learning to use their whole vocal tract including lips, tongue and larynx.   Research including MRI scanning is yielding more information about the science of singing.

Catherine Brophy