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Mark Van Tongeren : Presentation of the Tyva Kyzy - Tuva

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 13, 2008 at 20:30

Mark Van Tongeren, Amsterdam, 2002, p.110

One of the most controversial recent developments of khoomei is the growing popularity of female throat singing.....
.....Women and khoomei are a bad combination according to Tuvans. Khoomei is an utterly masculine matter, which is clearly reflected in a number of taboos for women. Tuvan men and women, as well as a Western overtone practitioner who demonstrated her skills in Tuva have told me about the many alleged side effects of female throat singing. There is a general idea that a woman who sings khoomei is unhappy and brings misfortune of various kinds. Her khoomei may affect her brothers, her husband and her father who may fall ill or be deprived of material well-being. She gets problems in her abdomen or she will encounter great difficulties when she gives birth to a child. The child of a female khoomei singer itself isn't any better off either as it can fall ill of her singing khoomei. The most common concern about female throat singers, however, is that they may become infertile. In the worst case scenario her khoomei leads to the death of her male relatives. Taboos abound in almost any aspect of Tuvan life. It isn't just khoomeithat may have adverse effects on pregnant women. To name an example: the introduction of the Latin alphabet in 1930 was also believed to impose a threat on the health of women expecting a child.47 One could fill a book listing all Tuvan taboos. But in a society with such an abun¬dant folklore of superstitious beliefs things would only really be wrong if taboos were not broken. Valentina Salchak was hailed in 1979 as the first woman to sing khoomei in public.48 But a small-scale investigation learns that every epoch has its female throat singers that were considered as exceptions to the rule that women cannot and do not sing khoomei. During the 1990s Valentina Chuldum received much attention as a throat singer. Close relatives of famous singers, like Khunashtaar-ool's niece (in the 1960s) and Kombu's daughter (in the 1940's or 1950s), have performed khoomei in public more than once with their father. The wife of the throat-singing shaman Bilek-ool from Manchurek, Aldinsova Tortoyavna, told us that she has always sung khoomei 'because it was innate to her from birth.' She could not resist singing khoomei after she got married and had children, and sang khoomei in public in the 1950s and 1960s. But her sister, who also sang khoomei as a girl, gave up when others repeatedly reminded her of the dangers.50 In response to Khunashtaar-ool's wish, a group of female throat singers has now started a group called Tyva Kyzy. Unfortunately he didn't live to see this group, which formed around one his students, Aylangma Dambyrang (from Aylang, 'nightinggale'). This is how shy Aylangma began to sing khoomei, in the words of Tyva Kyzy spokeswoman Choduraa Tumat:

"She simply started to sing. She was born in Bai Taiga and was raised in a family of herdsmen. She has been singing as of her childhood time. In the morning or evening she pulled the blankets over her head, so that no body would bear her, and sang for herself. Then she entered art school and Khunashtaar-ool became her teacher. She took a few lessons when she was seventeen. He gave khoomei classes there during the last year of his life, in 1993. Then she performed on the Republican Festival of Chadan in 1995, in the competition preceding the large festival. She received a special prize for women."......

Mark Van Tongeren music Holand

R.I.P.

MARK VAN TONGEREN, biography

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 13, 2008 at 20:30

Mark van Tongeren is a sound explorer and ethnomusicologist who has worked independantly for theatre, radio, clubs, universities and conservatories as a performer, music teacher, dj and researcher.

He feels equally at home ‘in the field’ to study and practice indigenous vocal techniques, as in cutting-edge experimentation in sound and vision, using his voice and a wide array of instruments small and large.

He divides his time equally between the performing arts and music research. He specializes in the performing arts of Turco-Mongol peoples and extended uses of the voice. He is well-known as an author, singer, teacher and speaker in the ancient Turco-Mongolian art of throat singing (or khöömei) and its contemporary, western variant called overtone singing.

He founded his own enterprise Fusica in 1998. In 1999 he co-founded the North Asia Institute Tengri, which is dedicated to the study, dissemination and exchange of the cultural traditions of this little-known part of Asia.

Mark gives workshops, concerts and private lessons in overtone- and throatsinging and other extended vocal techniques upon request.

Email: mark@fusica.nl

Yo-Yo Ma and Mark at the Smithsonian Silk Road Festival, Washington, D.C., june/july 2002
photo by
Shoko Sasaki

R.I.P.

Growl Voice in Ethnic and Pop Styles

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 13, 2008 at 19:00

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31st to April 3rd 2004 (ISMA2004), Nara, Japan

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara^1,2, kis@brl.ntt.co.jp
Leonardo Fuks³, leofuks@serv.com.ufrj.br
Hiroshi Imagawa⁴, imagawa@m.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Niro Tayama^5,2 ntayama@imcj.hosp.go.jp

¹NTT Communication Science Laboratories, NTT Corporation, Japan
²Department of Otolaryngology, The University of Tokyo, Japan
³School of Music, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
⁴Department of Speech Physiology, The University of Tokyo, Japan
⁵International Medical Center of Japan, Japan

Abstract

Among the so-called extended vocal techniques, vocal growl is a rather common effect in some ethnic (e.g. the Xhosa people in South Africa) and pop styles (e.g. Jazz, Louis Armstrong-type) of music. Growl usually consists of simultaneous vibrations of the vocal folds and supraglottal structures of the larynx, either in harmonic or subharmonic co-oscillation.
This paper examines growl mechanism using videofluoroscopy and high-speed imaging, and its acousitcal
characteristics by spectral analysis and model simulation. In growl, the larynx position is usually high and
aryepiglottic folds vibrate. The aryepiglottic constriction is associated to a unique shape of the vocal tract, including the larynx tube, and characterizes growl.

1. Introduction

The term growl is originally referred to as low-pitched sounds uttered by animals, such as dogs, or similar sounds by humans, and therefore is mainly described by auditory-perceptual impression. Growl is widely observed in singing as well as in shouting and aroused speech.The growl phonation has been also referred to as the phonation observed in some singing styles, such as the jazz singing style of Louis Armstrong and Cab Calloway, [2, 3]. Many jazz, blues, and gospel singers often use growl in a similar manner. Besides such pop musics from North America, growl styles are widely found in pop music of other areas: in Brazil, samba singers, particularly in carnival lead voices, pop star Elza Soares, and country singing duo Bruno & Marrone; in Japan, Enka (a popular emotive style) singers, such as Harumi Miyako, employ it frequently. Some singers use growl extensively through a song, while others use it as a vocal effect for expressive emphasis.

In ethnic music, one of the most prominent use of growl is found in umngqokolo, which is a vocal tradition of the Xhosa people in South Africa [11]. In Japanese theatre, Noh percussionist’s voice, Kakegoe, may present growl at the beginning of phonation. Growl may have perceptual similarities with the rough or harsh voice. In terms of phonetics, growl is sometimes described as the voiced aryepiglottic trill [3]. However, there is no clear evidence of its production mechanism, such as physiological observation of the aryepglottic vibration.

In throat singing (Tyvan khöömei and Mongolian khöömij), ventricular and vocal fold vibration was observed for the two different laryngeal voices (drone and kargyraa) [4, 9]. In drone, the basic voice in throat singing with a whistle-like high overtone, the ventricular fold vibration is at the same frequency as the vocal fold vibration. In kargyraa, which usually sounds one octave (or more) lower than the modal register, the ventricular folds vibrate at f₀/2 when the vocal folds vibrate at f₀. Moreover, some singers can do triple-periodic kargyraa in which the ventricular folds vibrate at f₀/3. In this paper, the phonation mode with ventricular and vocal fold vibration is called VVM (vocal-ventricular mode) [4]. In growl, there is no clear evidence of the ventricular fold vibration.

The growl, drone, kargyraa, as well as vocal fry, and some pathological voices may have similar perceptual
characteristics related to roughness, creakiness, or harshness. Their acoustics may also have similar features. Therefore, clarifying differences among these phonations requires careful physiological observation.
In this paper, we examine the production mechanism of the growl phonation. Some of the authors (KIS, LF), who can utter several phonation modes, including the VVM, produced the growl phonation by carefully listening to and imitating various samples, as mentioned above. Observation of the laryngeal adjustment using endoscopic high-speed imaging and X-ray videofluoroscpy (partly reported in [1]), confirm the aryepiglottic vibration in growl. We also discuss the acoustical characteristics and differences between VVM (in particular, kargyraa) and growl.

2. Three-tiered sphincter of the larynx

In the human larynx, there is a three-tiered sphincter comprising the vocal folds, the ventricular folds (false vocal folds), and the aryepiglottic sphincter [7] (Fig. 1). The ventricular folds are incapable of becoming tense, since they contain very few muscle fibres. However, the ventricular folds can be constricted by the action of certain intrinsic laryngeal muscles. In the aryepiglottic region, the constriction is caused by the approximation of the tubercle of the epiglottis (anterior), aryepiglottic folds (lateral), and arytenoids (posterior). In normal phonation, the vibration of the ventricular and aryepiglottic folds is not observed.

Figure 1: Coronal view of the larynx, as seen from behind.

3. X-ray observation

We observed the vertical laryngeal configuration of three different types of phonations (modal, raquo;metallic«, and growl) using X-ray cinematography. Fig. 2 shows a lateral X-ray view of the phonatory apparatus at rest. A wide pharyngeal space between the epiglottis and the arytenoids is observed. The cricoid cartilage is located at about the level of the fifth cervical vertebrae.

Figure 2: X-ray image of phonatory apparatus at rest, lateral view (subject: LF)

Fig. 3 shows the lateral X-ray views of three different voices: modal (left), “metallic” (center), and growl
(right), in /y/ (close front rounded vowel). The metallic voice has a perceptually metallic impression and, in
terms of usual phonetic usage, can be interpreted as pharyngealized, a little pressed (not necessarily tense), and raised-larynx. White lines are traced along the edges ofthe cricoid, arytenoid, epiglottis, and cervical column. In modal phonation, a wide pharyngeal space is observed. The epiglottis doesn’t depress and its position is almost similar to that when it is at rest. In metallic and growl, the larynx is raised to about the level of the fourth cervical vertebrae. The epiglottis and arytenoid approximate very closely. There is no significant difference of the laryngeal adjustments between metallic and growl.

Figure 3: X-ray images of three different phonations of /y/ about in F3 = 177 Hz, lateral views. Left: modal. Center: metallic. Right: growl (Subject: LF).

4. High-speed images

We observed laryngeal movements in growl directly and indirectly by simultaneous recording of high-speed digital images, EGG (Electroglottography) waveforms, and sound waveforms. The high-speed digital images were captured at 4500 frames/s through a endoscope inserted into the mouth cavity of a singer. Sound and EGG waveforms were sampled at 12 b/s and 18 kHz sf. In growl phonation, the aryepglottic region is compressed antero-posteriorly, and the tubercle of the epiglottis and the arytenoid cartilages come into contact (Fig. 4). This antero-posterior compression is in good agreement with the lateral view of growl phonation in Fig. 3. Twosided chinks generated by the contact of the epiglottic tubercle and arytenoids were observed. Each chink is surrounded by the epiglottis, arytenoid, and aryepiglottic fold. In some cases, both aryepiglottic folds vibrate in almost same phase (Fig. 5), and in other cases, the phases of both seem to be slightly different. Furthermore, in some cases, the vibration of the aryepiglottic folds is unstable
and seems to be aperiodic.

Figure 4: Aryepiglottic region in growl, as seen from above. Upper part is posterior (subject: KIS)

Fig. 5 shows the sound waveform (top), EGG waveform (middle, ordinate corresponds to total contact area
of the larynx), and high-speed images. Vertical lines in the sound and EGG are synchronous to the last frames in each column of the high-speed images. The vibrations of the aryepglottic folds are observed in the high-speed images. In this case, the aryepiglottic fold vibration is likely to be periodic and the vibration of each side is mostly synchronous.

Figure 5: High-speed images of growl. Top: sound. Middle: EGG. Bottom: images. In images, frame step is 1 / 4500 ms (subject: KIS).

From the EGG and sound waveform, it is reasonable to conclude that the vocal folds vibrate alf-periodically
to the aryepiglottic fold vibration. This vibration pattern of the vocal and aryepiglottic folds is same as the VVM with f₀/ 2, i.e. kargyraa. The period-double vibration of the aryepiglottic folds generates subharmonics.

Neither the vocal nor ventricular folds were directly observed because the aryepiglottic folds were strongly
constricted. Therefore, it is difficult to prove whether the vocal and ventricular fold vibrate or not. However,
we conclude that the vocal and aryepiglottic folds vibrate and ventricular folds do not. The basis of this conclusion is as follows.
Smooth transition from modal to growl is frequently achieved by various singers and the subjects, therefore, it is reasonable to claim that, in growl, the vocal folds vibrate at almost opposite phases. To take account of the delay of the sound to the EGG, we consider that the maximal excitation of sound and the shape of the EGG waveform were mainly due to the vocal fold vibration. Next, if all three folds had simultaneously vibrated, the phases of their vibration would most likely have been different from each other by aerodynamical constraint. However, it is difficult to ascertain this phenomena from EGG waveform
alone. To verify our claim, it is necessary to directly observe the movements of the three folds.

5. Acoustical analysis

Fig. 6 shows a spectrogram of the growl voice. Subharmonics appeared in growl. Similar subharmonic oscillation has been observed in kargyraa [4, 6, 9], and in some cases of vocal fry [10]. Perceptual clarification of differences among these phonations is important. Here, however, we focus on acoustical differences between growl and kargyraa.

Figure 6: Spectrogram of modal to growl (subject: LF)

Figure 7: Power spectrum of growl (left) and kargyraa (right) of /o/ (subject: LF)

Figure 8: Inverse-filtered source of growl (top) and kargyraa (bottom). Left: sound waveform. Right: power spectrum. Subject: LF.

Fig. 7 shows the power spectra and spectral envelopes of growl and kargyraa. In growl, the range from above 2 kHz has very weak power. Fig. 8 shows the inversefiltered source and its power spectrum of growl and kargyraa. In growl, a pole is observed at about 1.5 kHz, whereas, in kargyraa, below 4 kHz, the power moderately decreases.

Physiologically, generation of subharmonics is concluded to be caused by the vocal fold vibration in vocal
fry, ventricular fold vibration in kargyraa, and the aryepiglottic vibration in growl. In karygraa, the ventricular fold constriction contributes to the generation of the laryngeal ventricle resonance, which appears as a zero in the laryngeal source. In growl, the aryepiglottic constriction constructs a deeper and larger cavity consisting of the laryngeal ventricle, ventricular fold region, and laryngeal vestibule (Figs. 1, 3, 4). Therefore, the resonance frequency of the cavity must be lower than that of the laryngeal ventricle. Fig. 9 shows the spectra of the synthesized laryngeal source obtained using the two-by-two mass model [8]. For simplicity, the aryepiglottic and ventricular fold vibration and vocal tract are omitted. The pole in the source of growl is at about 1.5 k Hz and is lower than in kargyraa.

Figure 9: Synthesized sources and spectra of growl (top) and kargyraa (bottom) using the two-by-two mass model.

We also roughly calculated the resonance frequencies of the laryngeal ventricle for kargyraa and the laryngeal cavity for growl by using a Helmholtz resonator. In kargyraa, we assume that the body cylinder (the laryngeal ventricle) has 0.4 cm height and 1.5 cm² area and the neck cylinder (the ventricular fold region) 0.8 cm height and several areas. In growl, we assume the body has 2.0 cm height and a 1.02 cm² cross-sectional area, and the neck (the aryepiglottic area) 0.4 cm height and several areas (Table 1). If the constricted regions have equal area, the resonance frequency of the source in growl is always lower than that in kargyraa.

Table 1: Resonance frequencies in growl and kargyraa, calculated by a Helmholtz resonator.

6. Discussions and conclusions

In growl, the larynx position is higher than in the modal case, and the aryepiglottic region is strongly approximated. The aryepiglottic folds vibrate, as well as vocal folds, and contribute to the subharmonic oscillation. The resonance frequency of the cavity induced by the aryepiglottic constriction is lower than that of the laryngeal ventricle, and this characterizes the growl voice. The mechanism of the supraglottal constriction is still controversial. The supraglottal constriction is widely considered to be caused by an activity of the aryepiglottic muscle, however, from our physiological observations and previous histological observation of the supraglottal muscles [5], the constrictions of the aryepiglottic and ventricular folds are presumably caused by different mechanisms.
The power of the subharmonics in growl is seemingly lower than in kargyraa, but further analysis is needed to clarify this. Perceptual evaluation of differences among various subharmonic phonations, such as growl, kargyraa, and vocal fry, will be addressed as future work. Analysis of other perceptually similar singing styles, such as Sardinian singing, will also be addressed as future work. Acknowledgments We thank Samuel Araújo, Parham Mokhtari, Seiji Niimi, Makoto Ogawa, Satoshi Takeuchi, and MamikoWada for
their helpful discussions.

References

[1] S. Araújo and L. Fuks. Prácticas vocais no samba carioca: un di´alogo entre a acústica musical e a etnomusicologia, In N. M. Claudia and T. M. Refnanda and T. Elizabeth Ed., Ao encontro da Palavra Cantada: poesia, m´usica e voz, pp.278–288, Viveiros de Castro Ltda., 2001.
[2] J. C. Catford. Fundamental Problems in Phonetics, Edinburgh Univ. Press., 1977.
[3] J. H. Esling. Pharyngeal consonants and the aryepiglottic sphincter, J. International Phonetics Association, 26(2):65–88, 1996.
[4] L. Fuks, B. Hammarberg, and J. Sundberg. A self-sustained vocalventricular phonation mode: acoustical, aerodynamic and glottographic evidences, KTH TMH-QPSR,3/1998:49–59, 1998.
[5] M. Kimura, K.-I. Sakakibara, H. Imagawa, R. Chan, S. Niimi, and N. Tayama. Histological investigation of the supra-glottal structures in human for understanding abnormal phonation, J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 112:2446, 2002.
[6] P.-A . Lindestad, M. Sodersten, B. Merker, and S. Granqvist. Voice Source Characteristics in Mongolian "Throat Singing" Studied with High-Speed Imaging Technique, Acoustic Spectra, and Inverse Filtering, J. Voice, 15(1):78–85, 2001.
[7] J. J. Pressman. Sphincters of the larynx, A. M. A. Arch. Otolaryngol., 59(2):221–236, 1954.
[8] K.-I. Sakakibara, H. Imagawa, S. Niimi, and N. Osaka. Synthesis of the laryngeal source of throat singing using a 2x2-mass model, Proc. ICMC 2002, 5–8, 2002.
[9] K.-I. Sakakibara, T. Konishi, K. Kondo, E. Z. Murano, M. Kumada, H. Imagawa, and S. Niimi. Vocal fold and false vocal fold vibrations and synthesis of khöömei, Proc. of ICMC 2001, 135–138, 2001.
[10] R. L. Whitehead, D. E. Metz, and B. H. Whitehead. Vibratory patterns of the vocal folds during pulse register phonation, J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 75(4):1293–1297, (1984).
[11] H. Zemp, Ed. Les Voix du Monde — Une anthologie des expressions vocales. 3 vol. CDs with book, CMX374 1010.12, CNRS/Mus´ee de l’Homme, 1996.

R.I.P.

Sarah Wallin: Tuvan Throat Singing and the Legend of the Horse Head Fiddle"

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 13, 2008 at 14:00

Sarah Wallin

Tuvan Throat Singing
and the Legend of the Horse Head Fiddle

At the geographical center of Asia, surrounded by the Altai-Sayan mountain system, lies the
country of Tuva. Fifty percent of its mountainous territory is covered with forests of firs, Siberian
larches, cedars, pines, and poplars. Four hundred lakes spot the region, many of which are glacial,
(though Tuva is also known for its warm, curative waters); and the Jenisej river, one of the longest
rivers of our planet, originates in the territory of Tuva and flows over two thousand miles north to
the Arctic Ocean. Additionally, more than 1,500 species of plants, 240 types of birds, and a large
variety of animal species (including the lynx, the glutton, the sable, the beaver, the yak, and the
camel) inhabit Tuva. (Geography 1) “Tuva is a country of great variety with almost every type of
landscape: luxuriant meadows, green taiga [or, forests], boundless steppes, medicinal springs,
beautiful lakes, rushing mountain rivers fed in spring by melting snows, dusty semi-desert and snowy
chains of mountains.” (Tuva 2)
There is archaeological evidence of tribal warfare and settlement in the Tuvan region since
the Paleolithic era, but in the year 1207 AD, when Genghis Khan swept through the area with his
troops, Tuva was brought under Mongolian rule and remained a state of Mongolia for the next five
centuries. Then, from the mid-eighteenth century until 1911, after the dissolve of the Mongolian
empire, the people came under the Chinese Ch’ing or Manchu dynasty. From 1914 to 1917, Tuva
was a Russian protectorate, and, in 1921, the independent Tuvinian People’s Republic, with the city
of Kyzyl as its capital, was established. Then, “[i]n 1944, Tuva was brought into the USSR as an
Autonomous Region of the RSFSR and in 1961 became the Tuvinian Autonomous Soviet Socialist
Republic (ASSR)” (Nomads, pg. 44). Today, Tuva remains a republic within the Russian Federation.
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 1
At 170,500 square kilometers, Tuva supports about 308,000 inhabitants, two-thirds of whom
are of Turkish decent and one-third of whom are of Russian decent (Tuvan/Mongolian 2). For eons,
the Tuvan people have remained sheltered within this natural reserve, nestled within the boundaries
of the mountains. Thus, due to its isolation from the great trade routes of old, to the Soviet Union’s
restriction of the area to the outside world for nearly half a century, and to the general inaccessibility
of the landscape, Tuvan culture has remained virtually untouched. (Tuva 4)
The economic-cultural way of life of the Tuvan people can be categorized into three distinct
types: the pastoralists of the steppe zone, the hunters and reindeer-herders of the taiga zone, and the
pastoralist hunters of the taiga-steppe zone. The steppe zone pastoralists base their existence on the
herding of cattle, sheep, goats, horses, and camels, supplemented by land cultivation and occasional
hunting, fishing, and gathering. The hunters and reindeer-herders base their economic life on hunting
for meat and fur, gathering, occasional fishing, and reindeer-breeding, which animals are used for
carrying loads, riding, milk, and, in cases of extreme necessity, meat. Finally, the pastoralist hunters
base their existence on both pastoralism and hunting, depending on the numbers of livestock
available. (Nomads, pg. 49-50) Whatever shape their economic culture takes, a majority of Tuvans
still follow a nomadic way of life, migrating their homes and property with the cycle of the seasons
in search of hunting grounds or pastures for their livestock.
True to the ways of other nomadic peoples, the horse remains a most cherished possession
for the Tuvans, and is of particular importance to their way of life. Aside from its primary role of
transportation and pack animal, the horse provides the nomadic herdsman with meat, milk, leather,
and hair. “It is quite logical, [then,] that the number of horses kept by a Tuvan herdsman [is] a direct
measure of his wealth.” (Nomads, pg. 65) More than a mere possession, the horse is accorded a high
place of honor beside its master, for the modern Tuvans still carry on the ancient nomadic custom
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 2
of burying a horse with its deceased rider, and, in epic Tuvan literature, the hero of the tale “does not
even bear a name until he acquires a horse.” (Nomads, pg. 66)
Dwelling in this natural haven, where their existence is dependent on the land and
surrounding animals, the Tuvans and, thus, “Tuvan pastoral music, [are] intimately connected to an
ancient tradition of animism, the belief that natural objects and phenomena have souls or are
inhabited by spirits . . . According to Tuvan animism, the spirituality of mountains and rivers is
manifested not only through their physical shape and location but also through the sounds they
produce or can be made to produce by human agency. The echo off a cliff, for example, may be
imbued with spiritual significance. Animals, too, are said to express spiritual power sonically.
Humans can assimilate this power by imitating their sounds” (Scientific American, pg 80-82).
Stemming from both this profound system of belief and the nomad’s love for his horse, the
Horse Head Fiddle is an important part of Tuvan pastoral music. According to ancient Mongolian
legend, this special fiddle was brought into existence by the desperate grief of a poor shepherd boy
named Suho. The tale says that when Suho was young, he lived with his grandmother and tended
their small flock of sheep. One evening, the boy was late in returning home, for he had come across
a newborn foal, abandoned and alone. For the next months and years, Suho cared for the beautiful
white horse, who became to him “as dear as his own life”. (Suho, pg. 8) Then, one spring, news
spread among the local shepherds that the governor (or, according to other versions, the khan) was
holding a big race in the city, promising the winner his daughter’s hand in marriage. Suho’s
comrades admired his horse very much and urged him to enter the race, which he did. Naturally,
Suho’s brilliant white horse out-raced the others and won, but the governor was unwilling to make
this poor shepherd his son by marriage. So, the governor offered Suho three pieces of silver for his
horse and demanded that he leave. But, when Suho adamantly refused, the governor then ordered
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 3
that Suho be beaten and his glorious horse confiscated! Suho’s comrades carried the broken and
unconscious boy home, where his grandmother tended his wounds. Meanwhile, proud of his new
possession, the governor attempted to ride the white horse in the sight of his noblemen; however, the
horse would not have it and bucked until the governor had fallen off. Swiftly, the horse galloped
away, but the irate governor commanded that the horse should not get away alive. His guards drew
their bows and shot relentlessly at the fleeing creature, yet the horse did not stop, though the arrows
struck its flanks and bristled from its back. Finally, the horse made its way to Suho’s loving home,
and, though Suho carefully watched over the ailing animal, the horse grew weaker
and soon died. Suho spent many sleepless nights, struck with grief, until one evening
when his beautiful white horse appeared to him in a dream. It spoke kindly to Suho
and told him that if he would take its bones, hide, and sinews “and use them to make
an instrument to play on . . . then [it would] be able to stay by [Suho’s] side forever”
and would always bring him peace and delight. (Suho, pg. 40) “The moment Suho awoke, he set
about making a new kind of musical instrument. He did just as the white horse had told him to do,
fashioning the instrument from the bones, sinews, hide, and hair of his beloved horse.” (Suho, pg.
42) When he finished his work, he ornamented his creation with a carving of a horse’s head, and,
when he played the instrument, he could sense the white horse beside him, listening.
According to Seth Augustus in his paraphrase of the liner notes from Huun-Huur-Tu's
recording, “60 Horses in My Herd”, there are only slight differences in the Tuvan version of the tale,
namely that a peasant named Oskus-ol in ancient Tuva “rescued a colt that was abandoned by a
wealthy landowner--a Noyon.” When the Noyon found that the horse could outrun all of his own
horses, he became jealous and had the horse put to death. Everything else in the legend from then
on is the same, except that, when Oskus-ol finally played his new instrument, “the clouds parted at
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 4
the top of a high mountain and the horse's double came charging down along with a whole herd of
horses just like it” (Igil 2), illustrating, again, the equivalence of many horses to
great wealth. Thus, even after the death of his horse, Oskus-ol was rewarded in his
grief with prosperity, perhaps equal or greater to that of the Noyon.
The extent of Mongolian contact with Tuva naturally gave Tuvan culture an
instrument of equivalent background and construction, though it is uncertain who
first influenced who. Called the igil (pronounced ih-GILL), this horse head fiddle
is Tuva’s version of the Mongolian morin khuur and dates back about one thousand
years. The slender, tear-shaped body is made from a soft wood (such as pine) and
skin, and supports two strings of horsehair. The bow is also of horsehair and wood,
and is not fixed to the strings. The neck is fret-less, and, when playing the
instrument, the player’s fingers or nails touch the strings without pressing down
onto the surface of the neck. With the use of specific bowing techniques, such as
“the galloping horse, the walking horse, the walking camel (kind of like the walking horse, but
slower)” (Brubeck 2), the igil can be “used to re-create equine sounds.” (Scientific American, pg 80)
According to Stefan Kamola, “the igil is used by singers to search for melodies, and the voice
of the instrument works along with the human voice to present khoomei [throat singing] not just as
song, but as a distinct and deeply meaningful type of sound.” (Music and Language 7) The igil,
therefore, is an integral part of Tuvan culture, and it is one of the several different instruments that
can accompany throat singing. “The Igil has a hauntingly beautiful sound and goes very well with
throat singing . . . as it is in a similar frequency range.” (Igil 1)
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 5
Throat singing, also commonly referred to as
overtone or harmonic singing, is a type of folk singing
whereby the singer may enunciate a series of specified
harmonics above a fundamental pitch, a drone. In the
pure nature of sound, any fundamental frequency, or
pitch, will inherently ring with a series of harmonics,
specifically lined up in ascending order above the
fundamental. “In normal speech and song, most of the
energy is concentrated at the fundamental frequency, and harmonics are perceived as elements of
timbre – the same quality that distinguishes the rich sound of a violin from the purer tones of a flute
– rather than as different pitches. In throat singing, however, a single harmonic gains such strength
that it is heard as a distinct, whistlelike pitch.” (Scientific American, pg. 84) In other words, the
throat singer, by careful maneuvering of
the vocal tract, tongue, lips, and jaw is able
to single out one of the many overtones
above this fundamental pitch: “[b]y
refining the resonant properties normally
used to articulate vowels”, the throat singer
can “strengthen the harmonics that align
with the narrow formant peak [or, the narrow region of frequency within a sound spectrum], while
simultaneously weakening the harmonics that lie outside this narrow peak. Thus, a single overtone
can project above the others.” (Scientific American, pg. 84) Additionally, when “[s]ingers draw on
organs [throughout the vocal tract] other than the vocal folds to generate a second raw sound,
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 6
typically at what seems like an impossibly low pitch” (Scientific American, pg. 84), they are able to
reinforce two separate harmonics at the same time, one above each of the two “fundamental pitches”
– in essence, singing in two voices, with the drones below them. As complex as this whole
phenomenon may seem, “[t]hroat-singing is not taught formally (as music often is) but rather picked
up, like a language.” (Scientific American, pg. 82)
“Variation in the character of throat singing styles is dictated by careful positioning and
movement of the tongue, lips, and jaw.” (How To’s 3) Though there is no widespread agreement,
due to discrepancies between the few studies that exist on the subject and the continuing
development of modern hybrids and variations, most scholars yet agree on three to five basic styles
of Tuvan throat singing: khoomei, kargyraa, sygyt, borbangnadyr, and ezengileer. At the heart of
every style is xorekteer, meaning “chest voice”, a harsh, bright tone of voice which is often used to
launch the singer into the khoomei and sygyt styles. While the term khoomei can be used to mean
Tuvan throat singing in general, it is also a style unto its own. It is “a soft-sounding style, with clear
but diffused-sounding harmonics above a fundamental usually within the low-mid to midrange of
the singer's voice. In Khoomei style, there are two or more notes clearly audible . . . The pitch of the
melodic harmonic is selected by moving the root of the tongue and the epiglottis.” (Types 3, after
intro) Kargyraa is distinctive for its heavy, croaking chest drone; the formation of this style is closely
linked to the shape of sung vowels, for both throat manipulations and the shape of the mouth cavity
affect the harmonic pitch. It is the style for which Paul Pena (of Genghis Blues fame) took first place
in the second international Khoomei Symposium and contest in Kyzyl, “and became known as
'Earthquake' for his amazingly deep voice.” (Pena 8).
Sygyt “is usually based on a mid-range fundamental. It is characterized by a strong, even
piercing, harmonic or complex of harmonics above the ‘fundamental,’ and can be used to perform
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 7
complex and very distinct melodies, with a tone similar to a flute.” (Types 11, after intro) The
formation of this style is akin to that of khoomei, with a drastic increase in tension. To filter out
unwanted harmonics and gain that desired clean, piercing tone, the tongue must rise around the gums
and completely seal off the mouth cavity, save for a small hole left open on one side of the mouth
or the other, behind the molars, which then sends the sound between the teeth, producing the
sharpening effect. The technique for changing the pitch is the same as that for khoomei, “and in
sygyt, it is possible to nearly remove the fundamental.” (Types 12, after intro)
It is debatable whether borbangnadyr and ezengileer are two more distinct styles, or merely
enhanced versions of the previous three. Borbangnadyr consists of a combination of wide trills and
warbling effects on, most often, the Sygyt style (the result being termed Sygyttyng Borbangnadyr),
though it has been applied to the lower-pitched styles as well. “Ezengileer comes from a word
meaning ‘stirrup,’ and features rhythmic harmonic oscillations intended to mimic the sound of metal
stirrups clinking to the beat of a galloping horse. The most common element is the ‘horse-rhythm’
of the harmonics, produced by a rhythmic opening-and-closing of the velum.” (Types 14, after intro)
“The popularity of throat singing among Tuvan herders seems to have arisen from a
coincidence of culture and geography: on the one hand, the animistic sensitivity to the subtleties of
sound, especially its timbre, and on the other, the ability of reinforced harmonics to project over the
broad open landscape of the steppe.” (Scientific American, pg. 82) The true origins of Tuvan throat
singing remain obscure; however, “legends . . . assert that humankind learned to sing in such a way
long ago. The very first throat-singers, it is said, sought to duplicate natural sounds whose timbres,
or tonal colors, are rich in harmonics, such as gurgling water and swishing winds.” (Scientific
American, pg. 82) And, according to Tom Vitale, reporter for the National Public Radio station, “It
is said to have begun with a monk hearing overtones produced by a waterfall in a particularly
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 8
acoustic canyon in Western Mongolia.” (Tuva or Bust!, pg. 66)
While, according to Scientific American, many male herders can and do throat sing, though
“not everyone is tuneful” (Scientific American, pg. 82), there is a taboo within Tuvan society
concerning throat singing and women. It is strongly believed that if a woman engages in throat
singing:
“[She] is unhappy and brings misfortune of various kinds. Her khoomei may affect her brothers, her
husband and her father who may fall ill or be deprived of material well-being. She gets problems in
her abdomen or she will encounter great difficulties when she gives birth to a child. The child of a
female khoomei singer itself isn't any better off either as it can fall ill of her singing khoomei. The
most common concern about female throat singers, however, is that they may become infertile. In the
worst case scenario her khoomei leads to the death of her male relatives.” (Overtone Singing, pg. 110)
In spite of continual verbal warnings of these dangers, from men and women alike – Tuvans
who instinctively feel that women and khoomei are an unnatural combination – women may have
actually been throat singing for their own personal enjoyment behind the men’s backs, for many
years now. Afterall, “every epoch has its female throat singers that were
considered as exceptions to the rule that women cannot and do not sing
khoomei.” (Overtone Singing, pg. 110) Aylangma Dambyrang – a member
of the first and, so far only, all-women’s group of traditional Tuvan folk
music and throat singing – was born to a family of herdsmen and has been
throat singing since childhood. “In the morning or evening she pulled the
blankets over her head, so that nobody would hear her, and sang for
herself.” (Overtone Singing, pg. 110, quote from Choduraa Tumat) Some, like the former
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 9
Khunashtaar-ool Oor-zhak, a master throat singer and teacher, proclaim that women were actually
the first to sing khoomei. Indeed, true to the nature of a nomadic society, the men’s place is out in
the wilderness, the forests and the steppes, while the women are left to tend domestic affairs in the
yurt or aal (nomadic dwellings). “This age-old division of labour maintained marked differences in
a male and a female world, each with secrets of their own for the opposite sex.” (Overtone Singing,
pg. 110).
With a modern, growing openness toward women, however, and the general lightening of
women’s household loads, more and more women are performing in public. The aforementioned
women’s performing group, Tyva-Kyzy (“Daughters of Tuva”), was established in 1998 and, to
many, “their appearance on the stage was a brave step of delicate women . . . The group has been
valued for the originality of its repertoire and instrumentation. They have recently been recognized
as the best players of national instruments”. (Tyva-Kyzy 8)
Another notable Tuvan throat singer is Sainkho Namtchylak, a
woman born to a Tuvan family of nomadic ancestry. According to Yu
Sen-lun, reporter for the Taipei Times, “Namtchylak grew up singing and
later studied vocals in Moscow. Apart from classical training, she also
learned traditional Tuvan throat singing (khoomei) and Tibetan Buddhist singing. In 1989, she first
crossed into the European avant-garde improvisatory music scene, dedicating herself to expanding
the potential of throat singing in combination with various musical styles. The same year she worked
and toured with former Soviet Union avant-garde jazz band Tri-O.” (Taipei 6) Namtchylak is known
for her “unique throat singing technique and her experimental spirit” (Taipei 2); however, her own
people do not appreciate her incomparable sound, and instead view her as a traitor to their longstanding
traditions. In 1997, “Namtchylak was physically assaulted and hospitalized in Moscow by
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 10
a group of people claiming to be Tuvans. The 2001 album ‘Time Out’ was released after her
rehabilitation from the assault. She wrote in the CD that the album is dedicated to Tuva and its
people. ‘I hope one day my fellow countrymen can understand, that I am an artist belonging to the
whole world. The music I create has no boundaries,’ she said.” (Taipei 12-14)
A final important figure in the world of women and khoomei
is Moon Heart, a female Tuvan shaman, born to a celestial shamanwoman
and a horse thief. Moon Heart’s mother passed away when she
was only a child, and she was given unto the care of relatives who did
not understand nor appreciate the girl’s shamanic gift. When this gift
began revealing itself to her at an early age through persistent voices and visions, Moon Heart’s
relatives punished her by locking her in a cellar. Prior to Mikhail Gorbachev's Perestroika economic
reform in Russia of 1987, atheism was the established “religion” of the Marxist-Leninist-Stalinist
totalitarian state, and “the shamans were persecuted, considered charlatans, drunkards, seen like the
scum of the society” (Moon Heart 3). After trying to “heal” Moon Heart of this gift passed down
from her mother, to no avail, the family had her committed to a psychiatric hospital. This proved
useless, however, “and Moon Heart started to foretell events, to diagnose diseases, and in some cases
she foresaw the death of her relatives. At this point, they accused her of being a witch and . . . sent
her to Moscow.” (Moon Heart 5) With the voices constantly harassing her and the spirits revealing
themselves to her, Moon Heart felt neglected and alone in Moscow; however, she did meet her
husband during her time there, and, when Perestroika was instituted, Moon Heart and her new
family returned to the capital city of Kyzyl in Tuva, where she still works today as a serious shaman.
Moon Heart’s story is intriguing, as is this whole other dimension to the Tuvan connection
with animism: shamanism. As with everything else in Tuva, shamanism has been preserved in its
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 11
original form, and the people still strongly respect the traditions and ancient rituals.
“The Tuvan shamans have various lineages: there are the celestial shamans, those who come from the
mermaid of the steppe, or the taiga, there are the shamans who come from the waters and those who
derive from the spirits of the demons. All of them have a common task: to help the people. In order
to [achieve] this, they use the secret language of the animals, of the khoomei, throat singing, of the
drum and the trance, of the fumigation with the junip er of the taiga, artish. Every Tuvan shaman
considers himself the continuation of the life of his own fathers and grandfathers.” (Tradition 3)
According to Moon Heart:
"In order to cure and in order to calm a person or in order to recall the positive spirits, I use
the khoomei and the drum. The contact with the spirits happens mentally, in an altered state of
consciousness, through the use of the voice. We believe that the narration and the music have a
magical force; in fact the spirits of the mountain love music and the stories and listen to us gladly .
. .” (Moon Heart 8) “To get in touch with the spirits of the mountains and to soothe them, we use our
traditional throat singing chants whose melodies derive from our contemplation of life, of the sound
of nature, of the birds, of the whistling of the steppe wind, of the mountain's draft." (Women of Power
5)
Here, we discover another interesting facet of the Tuvan tradition of
throat singing. For one, Moon Heart, though she be a woman, she is also a
shaman, one who is deeply in tune with the spirits; so, who can possibly
bring any taboos against her for her throat singing, which she uses to help her own people? For
another, connected to the spiritual power running through Nature around them, the Tuvan shamans
utilize khoomei in reaching the plane where contact with those spirits happens.
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 12
As Moon Heart stated in the quote above, the shaman’s drum also plays a vital role in the
ancient ceremonies. To most Siberian shamans, the drum is a horse and the drumstick is a whip to
drive that horse forward. (Tuva or Bust!, pg. 140) In one ceremony, as the shaman falls into an
otherworldly trance, his beating of the drum becomes faster and more rhythmic, and the shaman may
begin roaming violently about, “flushing out evil spirits . . . yelling at them while beating his drum”,
until he has corralled them into his drum and wrestled them into submission before utterly destroying
them. (Tuva or Bust!, pg. 140)
In conclusion, the people of Tuva, secluded in a natural haven in the center of Asia, have an
intimate, multi-faceted relationship with their environment. According to Scientific American,
“Sound mimicry, the cultural basis of Tuvan music, reaches its culmination in throat singing . . . [It
is] one of the many ways the pastoralists can interact with and represent their secluded aural
environment . . . [It is] the quintessential achievement of their mimesis, the revered element of an
expressive language that begins where verbal language ends. For the herders, it expresses feelings
of exultation and independence that words cannot.” (pg. 80, 87)
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 13
Bibliography
< Allione, Costanzo. “Geography & History”.
http://www.siberianshamanism.com/inglese/tuvasing.html
< Sklar, Steve. “Types of Throat-Singing”.
http://khoomei.com/types.htm
< Vainshtein, Sevyan. Nomads of South Siberia: The Pastoral Economies of Tuva.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980.
< “Tuva - Introduction”.
http://www.ewpnet.com/tuvados.htm
< Dunnick, Jamie. “Tuvan and Mongolian Throat Singing”.
http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/j/n/jnd126/mongolia.html
< Levin, Theodore C. and Edgerton, Michael E. “The Throat Singers of Tuva”. Scientific
American. September 1999: 80-87.
< Augustus, Seth. “The Igil”.
http://www.sethaugustus.com/igils.html
< Otsuka, Yuzo. Suho and The White Horse. New York: The Viking Press, 1981.
< Kamola, Stefan. “Brubeck, Subodai, and the Wine Dark Sea”.
http://www.fotuva.org/travel/stefan/brubeck_etc.html
< Kamola, Stefan. “Music and Language”.
http://www.fotuva.org/travel/stefan/music_and_lang.html
< Emory, Michael. “Khoomei - How To's And Why's”.
http://www.fotuva.org/music/emory.html
< “Paul Pena: Biography”. http://www.paulpena.com/bio.html
< van Tongeren, Mark. Overtone Singing - Physics and Metaphysics of Harmonics in East
and West. Amsterdam: Fusica, 2002.
< Leighton, Ralph. Tuva or Bust!. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1991.
< “Tyva-Kyzy: History . . .”. http://www.tyvakyzy.com/history.html
< Sen-lun, Yu. “The voice that crosses all boundaries”. Taipei Times.
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2004/11/12/2003210769/
© 2005 Sarah Wallin 14
< Allione, Costanzo. “Ai-Tchourek Ojun (Moon Heart)”.
http://www.siberianshamanism.com/inglese/tuvasing.html
< Allione, Costanzo. “Tradition and Godliness”.
http://www.siberianshamanism.com/inglese/tuvasing.html
< Allione, Costanzo. “Women of Power: Moon Heart”.
http://www.siberianshaman

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia: Kargyraa and Meditation

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 23:00

Kargyraa and meditation

Chen-Gia Tsai

Pipe model of a Kargyraa singer's vocal tract
The melody pitch f1 (the center frequency of the first formant) in Kargyraa voices is determined by the mouth opening. A perturbation method predicts the resonance shift caused by a bore enlargement at a position x0 of a pipe with a irregular geometry (e.g., Fletcher & Rossing 1991). During a performance of Kargyraa, the bore diameter of the vocal tract changes at the lips, a pressure node for all modes. Hence, an enlargement of mouth opening leads to an increase in the center frequencies of the first and second formants (Tsai 2001).

Figure: (a) Spectrogram of a Kargyraa song "the far side of a dry riverbed" (Audio file). (b) and (c) are two snapshot spectra of (a). They show f2=2f1.

This pipe model does not predict (1) the small bandwidth of the first and second formants, and (2) "mode-locking" f2=2f1. I hypothesize that periodic vorticity bursts at the diffuser-like supraglottal structures are responsible for producing the strong components at f1 and 2f1.
Subharmonic generation
In Kargyraa, there is a nonlinear coupling between the two pairs of the vocal folds, which can lead to either entrainments or chaos. While 1:2 entrainment can produce beautiful voices of Kargyraa, pathological voices with the involvement of chaotic vibration of the ventricular folds have a hoarse quality (ventricular dysphonia).

Based on recordings of high-speed images of the laryngeal movement, Lindestad and collogues (2001) reported that during Kargyraa singing the ventricular folds vibrated with complete but short closures at half the frequency of the true vocal folds, thus contributing to subharmonic generation.

Autonomic functions

It seems that stiffness of the ventricular folds cannot be manipulated by will, because they contain very few muscle fibres. However, the constantly increased ventricular function and repetitive closure may lead to new functional and anatomical changes in the interior of the larynx (such as ventricular hypertrophy) and, possibly, to a new system of innervation.

On the other hand, evidence of psychoemotional, cerebellar or midbrain (e.g., parkinsonism) types of ventricular dysphonia suggests sub-cortical influences of the ventricular folds.

It is interesting to note that Tibetan monks do not practice their vocalization. They improve the control of the ventricular folds through meditation! Meditaion is a conscious mental process that induces a set of integrated physiologic changes termed the relaxation response. The elastic property of the ventricular folds may be affected by meditation through autonomic functions. They become so relaxed that they vibrate with complete closures at half the frequency of the true vocal folds. In contrast, emotional stress can lead to adduction and vibration of the stiff ventricular folds with incomplete closures. Because lower subharmonics are weak in such melancholic voices, they sound rough (see "Roughness induced by subharmonics").

Tibetan monks stated repeatedly that while singing overtones one should always make a special effort to attune heart and mind to the meaning of the holy moment (Smith and Stevens 1967).

An overtone singer and researcher related the psychological mechanism underlying overtone singing during meditation to "a higher sound awareness":

When we meditate by way of singing the need to make pleasant or even beautiful sounds moves to the background. It is not the singing that decides whether we enter a truly meditative state of mind. More important is that we listen to ourselves, that we search for the voice inside. We are not concerned with personal judgments about our voice, nor with the personality in our voice. Singing harmonics automatically focuses the mind more than most other types of singing, because we essentially sing just one tone and listen to its internal dynamics. Overtones demand from us a higher than normal sounds awareness. They fulfil a service in certain spiritual traditions and have a built-in symbolic association with 'thing high'. They have the exceptional ability to unite voices to the highest degree and a tendency to unify the body and the mind. (van Tongeren 2002:207)

It is my hypothesis that overtone singing focuses the mind automatically on the weak pitch of the prominent nth harmonic. This form of meditation is designed to lead one to a subjective experience of absorption with the object of focus. From a viewpoint of neuroscience it seems appropriate that a model for this kind of meditation begins with activation of the prefrontal cortex and the cingulate gyrus. Brain imaging studies have suggested that tasks requiring sustained attention are initiated via activity in the prefrontal cortex, particularly in the right hemisphere, and the cingulate gyrus appears to be involved in focusing attention. In an excellent review paper on the neural basis of meditation, Newberg and Iversen (2003) proposed a neurophysiological network possibly underlying meditative states. They discussed the prefrontal cortex effects on thalamic activation, posterior superior parietal lobule deafferentation, hippocampal and amygdalar activation, hypothalamic and autonomic nervous system changes, autonomic-cortical activity, and neurotransmitter activity. Although their model may provide a general framework for studying the neural basis of meditation, it should be noted that there are categories and subcategories of meditation that may be associated with different neural activity. For example, overtone singing by Tibetan monks belongs to the meditation category in which the subjects focus their attention on a particular object. When the object is the melody composed of overtones, the mental task and thus neural activity may differ from the meditation technique that focuses the mind on an image, phrase, or word, because of the involvement of supraglottal structures.

Nitric oxide mechanisms

Nonadrenergic, noncholinergic (NANC) nerves, which cause relaxation of airway smooth muscle, have been described in several species including man. Nitric oxide appears to account for all the NANC response in human central and peripheral airways in vitro. A recent review on meditation stressed the importance of the involvement of nitric oxide during meditation (Esch et al. 2004, see also Kim et al. 2005). Based on these findings I propose a model for Tibaten overtone chanting:
The loop underlying Tibaten overtone chanting can be described as: (1) a monk adducts and relexes the ventricular folds; (2) he sings overtones; (3) he focuses his mind on the weak pitch of reinforced overtones; (4) this concentration triggers autonomic functions and nitric oxide mechanisms that in turn lead to a relexation of the smooth muscles in the supraglottal structures.

References
Andersson K, et. al. (1998) Etiology and treatment of psychogenic voice disorders: results of a follow-up study of thirty patients. J Voice 12: 96-106.

Doersten PG, Izdebski K, Ross JC, Cruz RM. (1992). Ventricular dysphonia: a profile of 40 cases. Laryngoscope 102: 1296-1301.

D'Antonio L, et. al. (1987) Perceptual-physiologic approach to evaluation and treatment of dysphonia. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 96: 187-190.

Esch T, Guarna M, Bianchi E, Zhu W, Stefano GB. (2004) Commonalities in the central nervous system's involvement with complementary medical therapies: limbic morphinergic processes. Med Sci Monit. 10(6):MS6-17.

Hisa Y, Koike S, Tadaki N, Bamba H, Shogaki K, Uno T. (1999) Neurotransmitters and neuromodulators involved in laryngeal innervation. Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol Suppl. 178:3-14.

Kim DH, Moon YS, Kim HS, Jung JS, Park HM, Suh HW, Kim YH, Song DK. (2005) Effect of Zen Meditation on serum nitric oxide activity and lipid peroxidation. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2005 Feb;29(2):327-31. Epub 2004 Dec 29. Lazar SW, Bush G, Gollub RL, Fricchione GL, Khalsa G, Benson H. (2000) Functional brain mapping of the relaxation response and meditation. Neuroreport 11(7):1581-5.

Newberg AB, Iversen J. (2003) The neural basis of the complex mental task of meditation: neurotransmitter and neurochemical considerations. Med Hypotheses 61(2):282-91.

van Tongeren, M. (2002) Overtone singing - physics and metaphysics of harmonics in East and West. The Netherlands: Fusica, Amsterdam.

Yuceturk AV, Yilmaz H, Egrilmez M, and Karaca S. (2003) Voice analysis and videolaryngostroboscopy in patients with Parkinson's disease. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2002 259(6):290-3.

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia : False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: a theoretical study

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 23:00

False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: a theoretical study

Chen-Gia Tsai

1. Introduction

Overtone singing is a vocal technique found in Central Asian cultures such as Tuva and Mongolia, by which one singer produces a high pitch of nF0 along with a low drone pitch of F0 (F0 is the fundamental frequency, n = 6, 7, ...13 in typical performances). The voice of overtone singing is characterized by a sharp formant centered at nF0.

There are two approaches of physical modeling of overtone singing: (1) the double-source theory (Chernov and Maslov 1987), which asserts the existence of a second sound source that is responsible for the melody pitch; and (2) the resonance theory, which asserts that a harmonic is emphasized by an extreme resonance of the vocal tract. The fact that the melody pitches producible by the singer are limited to the harmonic series of the drone was regarded as robust support of the resonance theory (Adachi and Yamada 1999).

From a psychoacoustic point of view, a small bandwidth of the prominent formant is critical to a clear melody in Sygyt singing. A preliminary study using an autocorrelation model for pitch extraction suggested that the pitch strength of nF0 increased along with the Q value of this formant, with the formant magnitude playing a secondary role (see Perception of overtone singing). The amplified harmonic in a Sygyt voice can be 15 dB stronger than its flanking components. If the amplification of this harmonic cannot be explained in terms of vocal tract impedance, it should be attributed to the source signal.

Figure 1: Spectrum of a Sygyt voice produced by a singer from Tuva. The 18th harmonic is 15 dB stronger than its flanking components. It is likely that the false vocal folds generate the 9th, 18th, and even 27th harmonics.
The insufficiency of the resonance theory is notable in the spectra shown in Figs 1 and 2. The formant at 3 kHz of the Sygyt voice (Fig. 1) is so sharp that it may not be explained by tract filtering. On the other hand, the center frequencies of the first and second formants of Kargyraa voices always stand in the ratio of 1:2 (Fig.2). This strange phenomenon suggests hte existence of an unknown glottal source that produces the outstanding component at F1, and its second harmonic.

Figure 2: Two snapshot spectra of a Kargyraa song "the far side of a dry riverbed" (Audio file) .

The goal of this study is to offer a physical model based on a nonlinear loop that explains the harmonic amplification in Sygyt. This model asserts that surface waves (Rayleigh waves) of the adducted false vocal folds can actively amplify a harmonic. In this theoretical study I discuss the interactions between the false vocal fold surface waves (FVFSWs), the glottal flow and acoustic waves.
2. Theory
2.1 Rayleigh surface waves
The Rayleigh surface wave is a specific superposition of a transverse wave and a longitudinal wave of an elastic solid (see, e.g. Achenbach 1984). Its amplitude is significant only near the surface and attenuates exponentially with the depth. The trajectories of material particles are ellipses. At the surface the normal displacement is about 1.5 times the tangential displacement. The velocity of Rayleigh waves, independent on the wavelength, is about 0.9 times the transverse wave velocity. Rayleigh's theory of surface waves has been generalized to viscoelastic solids (see, e.g. Romeo 2001).

The assumption of Rayleigh surface wave on the false vocal folds is supported, although indirectly, by recent measurements of the medial surface dynamics of the vocal folds (Berry et al. 2001). The trajectories of surface fleshpoints were approximately ellipses, with the length ratio of the two axes varying in the range of 1.5-2.0. This value is in remarkable agreement with Rayleigh's theory of surface waves.

2.2 Surface wave instability
The mucosal wave grows in amplitude when propagating in the same direction as the glottal flow. It is a phenomenon of wave instability with similarity of a fluttering flag in the wind. Mathematically, it can easily be shown that the mucosal wave and the flag wave absorb the kinetic energy of the flow through the effects of the Coriolis force. Other effects contributing to wave instability are (1) the centrifugal force and (2) the viscous force at the separation point. Unfortunately, these effects have not been taken into account in two-mass or three-mass models of the vocal folds.

Fluid-structure interaction (Paidoussis 1998) is important in biomechanics (Carpenter et al. 2000, Huber 2000, Fenlon and David 2001). In the field of voice research, the fluid-structure interactions occurring around the true/false glottis are poorly understood. It is instructive to compare them to the system of fluttering flags in the wind ( Chang et al. 1991, Chang and Moretti 1991, Tang et al. 2003, Watanabe et al. 2002, Zhang et al. 2000, Zhu and Peskin 2002, Zhu and Peskin 2003 ).

It has been proposed that flag flutter is caused either by vortex-shedding from the flagpole, or else by pressure-feedback from the vortex-street in the wake of a flat plate or sheet. However, observed flutter does not match either Strouhal frequency (Zhang et al. 2000). Hence, one should looks for an instability phenomenon.

The pressure difference across the flag generated by a potential flow field can be described by aerodynamic mass terms resembling the "gyroscopic" inertia, Coriolis, and centrifugal coeffcients:

where w is the displacement of the flag, U the far-field flow velocity. This equation can be dated back to Bourrieres (1939) in a paper on the dynamics of pipes conveying fluid. This paper, published in the year of the outbreak of the Second World War, was effectively 'lost', and researchers rederived this equation in 1950s and 1960s (see Paidoussis 1998, page 59).

I suggest that the second term, which corresponds to the effect of the Coriolis force, contributes to the surface wave (dynamic) instability, which has been shown in the measurement of the medial surface dynamics of the vocal folds (Berry et al. 2001). This is consistent with the vocal fold model proposed by Horáček and Švec (2002), who regard the term of the Coriolis force as the aerodynamic damping. The surface wave instability can be attributed to a negative aerodynamic damping. Moreover, the centrifugal force may also plays a role in wave (static) instability (Moretti 2003). Further investigations are needed to quantify the glottic fluid-structure interactions.

2.3 Physical modeling of Sygyt
We suppose that the surface wave is triggered at the narrowing of the false vocal folds where the flow velocity is high enough to induce significant surface wave instability. The FVFSW grows in amplitude while traveling upward, significantly modulating the flow at the point of flow separation.

Based on the assumption of elliptic movements of fleshpoints on the false folds, snapshots of this wave can be obtained. The ellipses in Figs. 3a and 3b represent the trajectory of fleshpoints. We estimate the energy exchange between the flow and the tissue occurs at one point. In Fig. 3a the work done by the viscous flow at this point is positive. In Fig. 3b the flow separates upstream, performing no work (or positive work, if back-flow appears) at this point. It can easily be seen that over a period the FVFSW absorbs energy from the flow in the vicinity of the flow separation point, which moves back and forth at a crest of the FVFSW, modulating the flow through the false folds at frequency of nF0. This leads to a varicose jet producing the harmonic at nF0 in the source signal. This harmonic is in turn reinforced by the strong vocal tract resonance at nF0.

To sum up, a loop for Sygyt is established in terms of (1) linear resonator: the vocal tract with resonance at nF0, (2) energy source: pressure difference across the false glottis, and (3) nonlinear amplifier: the fluid-structure interaction around the false glottis. This self-sustained oscillator differs from the true vocal folds in that the false fold mucosa does not vibrate at any intrinsic resonance, but rather respond to the acoustic pressure.

The present model of "varicose jet oscillations induced by surface waves of curved walls in the vicinity of the flow separation point" could be regared as a counter-part of the jet-resonator model discussed by Meissner (2002). It should be noted that both the jet blown by a flute player and the false fold mucosa do not vibrate at their intrinsic resonance, but respond to the acoustic field. That is why their vibration frequency can be changed rapidly by manipulating the resonators (the fingering for flute playing and the tongue position for Sygyt singing).

Helmholtz resonator - Sinuous jet

Acoustic flow acting on the free jet
Flow separation - Jet instability
Coriolis force: acoustic flow/jet interaction

Helmholtz resonator - Varicose jet - Surface wave

Acoustic pressure acting on the surface
Surface wave instability - Flow separation
Coriolis force: surface wave/jet interaction

Table 1: A comparison of the feedback loop of a flute-like system (left) and Sygyt (right).

3. Discussion
The present model explains the crucial role of the adduction of the false folds in Sygyt technique. Because of this adduction the flow velocity over their mucosal layers is high enough to induce FVFSW instability. It is interesting to note that FVFSWs have been observed in patients suffering from ventricular dysphonia (Nasri et al. 1996), although their frequencies appeared to be much lower than those during Sygyt singing.

From an empirical standpoint, learning Sygyt is much more difficult than it is implicated by the resonance theory. In workshops of overtone singing, it has been repeatedly observed that only very few people are able to produce voices with a clear melody pitch. The present model predicts that one cannot sing Sygyt well even when manipulating the tract shape perfectly, because his false folds are not correctly adducted, or their mucosal layers do not have a proper shape, thickness, and viscoelastic properties.

During a 4 kHz pure tonal vocalization, significant surface waves of the false vocal folds have be detected (Tsai et al. 2004). This provides indirect evidence supporting my Sygyt model.

Figure 5: Spectrum of a pure tonal voice produced by me. During this vocalization, strong surface vibrations of the false vocal fold were detected by color Doppler imaging (Tsai et al. 2004).

4. Concluding Remarks
The surface wave of the false folds may appear in some Sygyt singers. However, a general conclusion could not be given because there appear different types of Sygyt technique.

The resonance theory and the double-source theory are not exclusive. The loop described in our model tends to "unify" these two theories of overtone singing. Whereas the true vocal folds and the vocal tract are, as usual, viewed as the independent source and filter, the false fold mucosa plays a key role in introducing acoustic feedback into the loop for harmonic amplification. This loop may also occur for other constrictions in the vocal tract, such as the soft palate (see velar-like voice with a sharp singer's formant).

Our model may also shed new light on the physical modeling of the vocal folds and the possible effect of acoustic feedback, especially for the phonations with large open quotient values. The model of Rayleigh waves and the effects of Coriolis force/centrifugal force in the glottic fluid-structure interaction demand further research.
References

Achenbach, J.D. 1984. Wave propagation in elastic solids. Elsevier, New York.

Adachi, S.; and Yamada, M. 1999. An acoustical study of sound production in biphonic singing, Xoomij. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105(5), 2920-2932.

Berry, D.A.; Montequin, D.W.; and Tayama, N. 2001. High-speed digital imaging of the medial surface of the vocal folds. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110(5), 2539-2547.

Chang, Y.B.; Fox, S.J.; Lilley, D.G.; and Moretti, P.M. 1991. Aerodynamics of moving belts, tapes, and webs, ASME Machinery Dynamics and Element Vibration DE-Vol. 36.

Chang, Y.B.; Moretti, P.M. 1991. Interaction of fluttering webs with surrounding air, Tappi J, March 1991.

Carpenter, P.W.; Davies, C.; and Lucey, A.D. 2000. Hydrodynamics and compliant walls: Does the dolphin have a secret? Current Science 79(6), 758-765.

Chernov, B.; and Maslov, V. 1987. Larynx double sound generator. Proc. XI Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Tallinn 6, 40-43.

Fenlon, A.J.; and David, T. 2001a. Numerical models for the simulation of flexible leaflet heart valves, Part 1-computational methods. Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering 4, 323-339.

Fenlon, A.J.; and David, T. 2001b. Numerical models for the simulation of flexible leaflet heart valves,Part 2-valve studies. Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering 4, 449-462.

Horáček, J; Švec, J.G. 2002. Instability boundaries of a vocal fold modelled as a flexibly supported rigid body vibrating in a channel conveying fluid. ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition, 2002.

Huber, G. 2000. Swimming in Flatsea, Nature 408, 777-778.

Kob, M. 2002. Physical modeling of the singing voice. PhD thesis, Aachen University (RWTH).

Kob, M.; and Neuschaefer-Rube, C. 2004. Acoustic properties of the vocal tract resonances during Sygyt singing. Proc. of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, Nara, Japan.

Meissner, M. 2002. Aerodynamically excited acoustic oscillations in cavity resonator exposed to an air jet. Acustica 88, 170-180.

Moretti, P.M. 2003. Tension in fluttering flags. 10th International Congress on Sound and Vibration 7-10 July 2003, Stockholm, Sweden.

Nasri, S.; Jasleen, J.; Gerratt, B.R.; Sercarz, J.A.; Wenokur, R.; and Berke, G.S. 1996. Ventricular dysphonia: a case of false vocal fold mucosal traveling wave. Am. J. Otolaryngol. 17(6), 427-431.

Pagneux, V.; Amir, N.; and Kergomard, J. 1996. A study of wave propagation in varying cross-section waveguides by modal decomposition. Part I. Theory and validation. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 2034-2048.

Paidoussis, M. P. 1998. Fluid-Structure Interaction, Vol.1, Academic, San Diego.

Romeo, M. 2001. Rayleigh waves on a viscoelastic solid half-space. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 110 (1), 59-67.

Tang, D.; Yamamoto, H.; and Dowell, E.H. 2003. Flutter and limit cycle oscillations of two-dimensional panels in a three-dimensional axial flow. Journal of Fluids and Structures 17, 225-242.

Tsai, C.G., Shau, Y.W., and Hsiao, T.W. (2004) False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: A hypothesis. International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, Marseille (France), August 18-20, 2004.

Watanabe, Y.; Suzuki, S.; Sugihara, M.; and Seoka, Y. 2002a. An experimental study of paper flutter. Journal of fluids and Structures 16, 529-542.

Watanabe, Y.; Isogai, Y.; Suzuki,S.; and Sugihara, M. 2002b. A theoretical study of paper flutter.Journal of Fluids and Structures 16, 543-560.

Zhang, J.; Childress, S.; Libchaber, A.; and Shelley, M. 2000. Flexible filaments in a flowing soap film as a model for one-dimensional flags in a two-dimensional wind. Nature 408, 835-839.

Zhu, L.; and Peskin, C.S. 2002. Simulation of a flapping flexible filament in a flowing soap film by the immersed boundary method, J. Comput. Phys. 179, 452.

Zhu, L.; and Peskin, C.S. 2003. Interaction of two flapping filaments in a flowing soap film. Physics of Fluids 15(7), 1954-60.

http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/%7Egim/gia/overtonesinging/fvfsw.html

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia: Physical Modeling of the vocal tract of a Sygyt singer

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 21:30

Physical Modeling of the vocal tract of a Sygyt singer

Chen-Gia Tsai

Source theory v.s. Resonance theory

Two types of overtone-singing should be distinguished: Sygyt and Kargyraa. In Sygyt performances, the rising tongue divides the vocal tract into two cavities, which are connected by a narrow channel, whereas the tongue does not rise in Kargyraa performances.

Up until now, two major theories have been proposed on the production of the melody pitch: (1) The 'double-source' theory (Chernov & Maslov 1987), which asserts the existence of a second sound source such as a whistle-like mechanism formed by the narrowing of the false vocal folds (ventricular folds) in addition to the true vocal fold vibration; and (2) the 'resonance' theory, which asserts that only a glottal sound source exists, but that an upper harmonic is so emphasized by an extreme resonance of the vocal tract that it is segregated from the other components and heard as another pitch. The fact that the melody pitches producible by the singer are limited to the harmonic series of the drone supports the resonance theory (Adachi & Yamada 1999).

Physical modeling of the resonance of the vocal tract of Sygyt singers includes: (1) rear cavity theory, (2) front cavity theory, and (3) resonance-matching theory. The glottal sound source of Sygyt voices is rich in harmonics. This has been attributed to the short open duration of the glottis (Bloothooft et al. 1992, Adachi & Yamada 1999).

Rear cavity theory

Based on vocal tract shape measurements by MRI, Adachi and Yamada (1999) reported that the resonance of the rear cavity, that was from the glottis to the narrowing of the tongue, produced the sharp formant Fk. The resonance of the front cavity, that was from the articulation by the tongue to the mouth exit, was not critical to the production of the melody pitch. The length of the rear cavity decreases as fk increases.

Adachi and Yamada (1999) synthesized tones from transfer functions calculated with and without the front cavity, finding that the front cavity did not affect the formant frequencies, although the magnitude of Fk decreased due to the lack of the front cavity resonance. It is important to note that Adachi and Yamada calculated the transfer functions of a Sygyt singer's vocal tract using a one-dimensional model, in which the tract shape was approximated as a succession of cones. While such models are widely used in speech research, I argue that the change in the tract shape at the articulation point is so abrupt that the assumption of planar-wave fronts clearly breaks down. Theoretically, one-dimensional models are unsuitable for a Sygyt singer's vocal tract.

In practice, the rear cavity theory is not supported by a non-traditional technique of ovetone-singing used by Tran Quang Hai, who calls it 'one-cavity technique' because the tongue does not rise to divide the vocal tract into two cavities. However, there is an articulation point at the soft palate, as to pronounce the velar /ng/. The melody of fk is produced by manipulating the opening of the front cavity, while the rear cavity, that is from the glottis to the soft palate, remains unchanged. This technique suggests that the front cavity may be more important for the production of fk.
Front cavity theory
Based on preliminary impedance measurements of vocal tract by a Jew's harp, Tsai (2001) reported that the resonance of the front cavity determined fk. The author modeled the front cavity as a Helmholtz resonator driven by a flow source U1 at the articulation point. The transfer function can be calculated according to Eq. (6.65) in [Fletcher & Rossing 1991].

Owing to the tract shape at the articulation point, the flow U1 is presumed to be incompressible. It is known that in regions of fast change in pipe geometry, such as a tone hole or the pipe termination, the Helmholtz number He<<1 implies that the wave equation can locally be approximated by the Laplace equation, which describes an incompressible potential flow (Hirschberg & Kergomard 1995). In overtone-singing, the acoustic flow at the articulation point is therefore incompressible (compact region). This is not true for normal phonations.

The front cavity theory failed to explain the small bandwidth of Fk. Fig. 2 compares the matched theoretical spectral envelops and recorded spectra of a Sygyt voice and a Jew's harp tone, which were produced by me with the same front cavity. It can be seen that the Fk bandwidth of the voice is smaller than that of the Jew's harp tone. The latter was produced without the rear cavity because the rising tongue completely closed the channel between the front and the rear cavities. This discrepancy suggests that the rear cavity may play a role in sharpening Fk.

Figure 2: Spectra of a Sygyt voice (left) and a Jew's harp tone (right) produced with the same front cavity.
Resonance-matching theory
The resonance-matching theory takes into account the contributions of both the front and the rear cavities, whose resonances are more or less matched to produce a sharp Fk. Kob (2002) reported that an improvement of the second resonance by about 15 dB was achieved by matching two resonance frequencies, which was fulfilled by manipulating the mouth opening. Although this theory appears to 'unified' the theories of rear/front cavity, it should be noted that according to Table 6.1 in [Kob 2002], the resonance of the front cavity was just close to the second resonance of the rear cavity; Fk could be sharp enough for pitch production without an exact resonance-matching.

Discussion
Kob (2002) calculated the transfer functions of a Sygyt singer's vocal tract using an improved method of continuous-time interpolated multiconvolution (Barjau et al. 1999), which was originally developed to calculate the impulse response of wind instruments with tone-hole discontinuities. However, this approach does not predict the flow field at the articulation point. Fig. 3 displays the shape of a Sygyt singer's vocal tract and the potential field at the articulation point. As can be seen from the isobar (equal-potential) lines, the acoustic flow has a higher velocity near the tongue. This contradicts the assumption of planar-wave fronts in Kob's calculation.

Figure 3: Shape of a Sygyt singer's vocal tract (left) and the isobar lines at the articulation point (right).
The limitations of one-dimensional models of the vocal tract or the bore of wind instruments should be borne in mind: even at low frequencies evanescent cross-modes will be excited in the rapidly flaring bell section because of strong mode coupling (e.g., Pagneux et al. 1996). In a Sygyt singer's vocal tract, one-dimensional models are suitable only for the rear cavity.

The vocal tract sould be divided into four regions, in which the wave equations have different forms for approximation. In light of Matched Asymptotic Expansions, the global solution can be obtained by 'gluing' the local solutions together (Hirschberg & Kergomard 1995). The four regions are (1) the rear cavity, (2) the compact region at the articulation point, (3) the front cavity as a Helmholtz resonator, and (4) the compact region at the mouth opening. The rear cavity is approximated as a succession of cones, where the acoustic field is governed by the Webster equation for He<<1. At the articulation point and at the mouth opening, the incompressible air is approximated as a piston. The front cavity is a Helmholtz resonator with a short neck.

If the transfer function of a Sygyt singer's vocal tract does not predict the small bandwidth of the second formant, one should consider the possible effect of acoustic feedback to the glottal source (Levin and Edgerton 1999). This may be related to the nonlinear effect of the adducted ventricular folds.

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia : Perception of Overtone Singing

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 21:30

Perception of Overtone Singing

Chen-Gia Tsai

Pitch strength

Voices of overtone-singing differ from normal voices in having a sharp formant Fk (k denotes Kh??mei), which elicits the melody pitch fk = nf0. For normal voices, the bandwidths of formants are always so large that the formants merely contribute to the perception of timbre. For overtone-singing voices, the sharp formant Fk can contribute to the perception of pitch.

A pitch model based on autocorrelation analysis predicts that the strength of fk increases as the bandwidth of Fk decreases. Fig. 1 compares the spectra and autocorrelation functions of three synthesized single-formant vowels with the same fundamental frequency f0 = 150 Hz and formant frequency 9f0. In the autocorrelation functions the height of the peak at 1/9f0, which represents the pitch strength of 9f0, increases as the the formant bandwidth decreases. Fig. 1 suggests that the pitch of fk is audible once the strongest harmonic is larger than the adjacent harmonics by 10 dB.

Stream segregation
Next to the bandwidth of Fk, the musical context also plays a role in the perception of fk. During a performance of overtone-singing, the low pitch of f0 is always held constant. When fk moves up and down, the pitch sensation of f0 may be suppressed by the preceding f0 and listeners become indifferent to it. On the contrary, if f0 and fk change simultaneously, listeners tend to hear the pitch contour of f0, while the stream of fk may be more difficult to trace.

The multi-pitch effect in overtone-singing highlights a limitation of auditory scene analysis, by which the components radiated by the same object should be grouped and perceived as a single entity. Stream segregation occurs in the quasi-periodic voices of overtone-singing through the segregation/grouping mechanism based on pitch. This may explain that overtone-singing always sounds extraordinary when we first hear it.
Perception of rapid fluctuations
Tuvans employ a range of vocalizations to imitate natural sounds. Such singing voices (e.g., Ezengileer and Borbannadir) are characterized by rapid spectral fluctuations, evoking the sensation of rhythm, timbre vibrato or trill.
http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/%7Egim/gia/overtonesinging/perception.html

R.I.P.

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, bio, Japan

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:30

NTT Communication Science Laboratories

3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi,
243-0198, Japan

phone: 81 46 240 3657
fax: 81 46 240 4716
email: kis(at)brl.ntt.co.jp

Japanese version

Curriculum Vitae

Bibliography

Music

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara
Curriculum Vitae
Personal Information
Name in Passport: KENICHI SAKAKIBARA
Gender: male
Date of Birth: Feb. 11, 1968
Place of Birth: Nara, Japan
Nationality: Japanese
Current Position: Research Scientist,
Human and Information Science Laboratory,
NTT Communication Science Laboratories,
NTT Corporation
Work Address: NTT Communication Science Laboratories,
3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi,
Kanagawa, 243-0198, Japan.
Phone (office): +81-46-240-3657
Fax (office): +81-46-240-4725
email: kis@brl.ntt.co.jp
WWW: http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/people/kis/
Education

* B.Sc. in mathematics, Kyoto University, 1991
* M.Sc. in mathematics, Kyoto University, 1994
"On Mordell-Weil lattices of higher genus fibration on rational surfaces" (Supervisor: Prof. Masaki Maruyama)

Employment

* NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation), April 1994 -- date
* NTT Basic Research Laboratories, August 1994 -- 1999
* NTT Communication Science Laboratories, January 1999 -- date
* Visiting Researcher, ATR Human Information Science Laboratories, July 2003 -- March 2005.
* Visiting Researcher, Department of Otolaryngology, The University of Tokyo, September 2003 -- September 2004, January 2005 -- date
* Part time lecturer, Department of Performing Arts, Ochanomizu University, February 2004 -- date

Research Projects

* Singing Voice: Physiology, Analysis, Synthesis
* Voice Quality
* Musical Acoustics: Analysis/transformation/synthesis of musical sounds
* Computer Music: Musical sound synthesis system, Composition

Bibliography

* List of papers

Committee Memberships

* A member of the board of directors, The Japan Association of Vocalization Instructors, 2003 --.
* A member of the International Scientific Commitee, International Conference: Speech Prosody 2004, 2003 -- 2004.
* A member of the International Scientific Commitee, International Conference: Speech Prosody 2006, 2005 -- 2006.
* A member of local organizing committe, International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics 2006, 2005 -- 2006.

Academic Memberships

* Acoustical Society of Japan
* Acoustical Society of America
* Japan Society of Logopedics and Phoniatrics
* The Japan Association of Vocalization Instructors
* The Phonetic Society of Japan

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara
Bibliography
Papers

1. Masa-Hiko Saito and Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "On Mordell-Weil lattices of higher genus fibrations on rational surfaces", J. Math. Kyoto Univ. 34, pp 853 -- 871, (1994). [PDF file]
2. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "Vibrato control using a sinusoidal model", J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn., 21-5, pp. 279 -- 281, Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (2000).
3. Naotoshi Osaka, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Takafumi Hikichi, "A sound synthesis system `Otkinshi' on Windows", Trans. IEIC Infomation and Communication Eng. D-II, Vol. J84-D-II, No.6, pp. 946--954, IEIC, (in Japanese), (Jun. 2001).
4. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Tomoko Konishi, Hiroshi Imagawa, Emi Z. Murano, Kazumasa Kondo, Masanobu Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Observation of the laryngeal movements for throat singing -- Vibration of two pairs of folds in human larynx", Lay Language Paper for First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics in Cancun, Acoust. Soc. Am. World Wide Press Room , (Dec. 2002).
5. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Production mechanism of voice quality in singing," J. Phonetic Soc. Jpn, 7(3):27--39. (Dec. 2003).
6. Satoshi Takeuchi, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "Application and study of new high-speed digital camera for laryngeal region," J. Jpn. Broncho-Esoph. Soc., 55(4):357--361, (in Japanese), (2004).

Technical Reports

1. Naotoshi Osaka, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Takafumi Hikichi, "Otkinshi: Sound Synthesis System on Windows for music creation", NTT R&D, 672 -- 681, (in Japanese), (Sep. 2001).
2. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "On mechanism of voice production in throat singing Khoomei and Khoomij", NTT R&D, 655 -- 662, (in Japanese), (Sep. 2001).
3. Naotoshi Osaka, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Takafumi Hikichi, "Timbre synthesis methods for communication technology", NTT Tech. J. , Vol.14, No. 8, 63 -- 66, (in Japanese), (Aug. 2002).
4. Naotoshi Osaka, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Takafumi Hikichi, "Timbre synthesis technology that serves communication", NTT Tech. Review, Vol. 2-1, 45--49.(May 2003)

Conferences
International

1. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Tomoko Konishi, Kazumasa Kondo, Emi Z. Murano, Masanobu Kumada, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "Vocal fold and false vocal fold vibrations and synthesis of khoomei ", Proc. of ICMC, pp. 135 -- 138, (Sep. 2001).
2. Masanobu Kumada, Noriko Kobayashi, Hajime Hirose, Niro Tayama, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Takaharu Nito, Mamiko Wada, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Chieko Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Quantitative analysis of vocal fold vibration during register change by high speed digital imaging system", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 111, p. 2477, (June. 2002).
3. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Naotoshi Osaka, " Synthesis of the laryngeal source of throat singing using a 2x2-mass model", Proc. of ICMC, pp. 5 -- 8, (Sep. 2002).
4. Naotoshi Osaka, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Takafumi Hikichi, " The sound synthesis system 'Otkinshi': its Data Structure and Graphical User Interface", Proc. of ICMC, (Sep. 2002). 188--191.
5. Masanobu Kumada, Noriko Kobayashi, Hajime Hirose, Niro Tayama, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Takaharu Nito, Mamiko Wada, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Chieko Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Analysis of vocal fold vibration during register change by high speed digital imaging system", Proc. Forum Acusticum Sevilla 2002, (Sep. 2002).
6. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Tomoko Konishi, Hiroshi Imagawa, Emi Z. Murano, Kazumasa Kondo, Masanobu Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Observation of the laryngeal movements for throat singing", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 112, p. 2264, (Dec. 2002).
7. Masanobu Kumada, Noriko Kobayashi, Hajime Hirose, Niro Tayama, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Takaharu Nito, Mamiko Wada, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Chieko Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Analysis of vocal fold vibration on prosodic events by high speed digital imaging system", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 112, p. 2445, (Dec. 2002).
8. Miwako Kimura, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Roger Chan, Seiji Niimi, and Niro Tayama, "Histological investigation of the supra-glottal structures in human for understanding abnormal phonation", J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 112, p. 2446, (Dec. 2002).
9. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Naotoshi Osaka, "The laryngeal flow model for pressed-type singing voices", Proc. Stockholm Musical Acoustics Conf. 2003 , Vol.II, pp. 495 -- 498, (Aug. 2003).
10. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimin "The effect of the hypopharyngeal and supra-glottic shapes for the singing voice", Proc. Stockholm Musical Acoustics Conf. 2003 , Vol.II, pp. 471 -- 474, (Aug. 2003).
11. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Hiroshi Imagawa, "Acoustical interpretation of certain laryngeal settings using a physical model," Proc. Speech Prosody 2004 , (Mar. 2004).
12. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Leonardo Fuks, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Niro Tayama, "Growl voice in pop and ethnic styles," Proc. International Symposium on Musical Acoustics 2004 , (Mar. 2004).
13. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "The laryngeal voices in throat singing," Proc. International Congress on Acoustics , (Apr. 2004).
14. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Niro Tayama, "Physiological study of the supraglottal structure," Proc. International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics , (Aug. 2004).
15. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Hiroshi Imagawa, "A many-parameter model of laryngeal flow with ventricular resonance and supraglottal vibration," Proc. Forum Acusticum 2005 , (Aug. 2005).

Japan Domestic

1. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "On concatination of musical sounds using a sinusoidal model," Proc. Study Group on Musical Info., 98-MUS-24, pp. 47--52, (in Japanese), Info. Processing Soc. Jpn., (Feb. 1998).
2. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "On concatination of musical sounds using a sinusoidal model," Proc. Spring 1998 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 629--630, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Mar. 1998).
3. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "On a control of vibrato using a spectral modeling," Proc. Fall 1998 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 643--644, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 1998).
4. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "On analysis and control of vibrato using a sinusoidal modeling," Tech. Rep. Musical Acoust., Vol.17, No.5, pp. 29--36, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Nov. 1998).
5. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Naotoshi Osaka, "Extraction and control of vibrato for sounds of some instruments," Tech. Rep. Musical Acoust., Vol.18, No.4, pp. 47--54, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 1999).
6. Masahiko Todoriki, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Naotoshi Osaka, and Seiji Adachi, "Throat singing in Tyva, Khoomei," Tech. Rep. Musical Acoust., Vol.18, No.5, pp. 119--126, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Nov. 1999).
7. Ken Ito, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Ryoko Aoki, and Naotoshi Osaka, "Analysis and creation of Noh using a sinusoidal model," Proc. of Study Group on Musical Info., 99-MUS-34, pp. 79--82, (in Japanese), Info. Processing Soc. Jpn., (Feb. 2000).
8. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Seiji Adachi, Tomoko Konishi, Kazumasa Kondo, Emi Z. Murano, Masanobu Kumada, Masahiko Todoriki, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "Analysis of vocal fold vibrations in throat singing," Tech. Rep. Musical Acoust., Vol.19, No.4, pp. 41--48, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 2000).
9. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Seiji Adachi, Kazumasa Kondo, Tomoko Konishi, Emi Z. Murano, Masanobu Kumada, Masahiko Todoriki, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "Observation of vocal fold vibrations in Tyvan and Mongolian throat singing," Proc. Fall 2000 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 171--172, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 2000).
10. Kazumasa Kondo, Tomoko Konishi, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Masanobu Kumada, Emi Z. Murano, Masahiko Todoriki, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "Laryngeal adjustment in throat singing," Proc. of 14th General Meeting of Phonetic Soc. Jpn., pp. 37--42, (in Japanese), Phonetic Soc. Jpn., (Oct. 2000).
11. Tomoko Konishi, Kazumasa Kondo, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Masanobu Kumada, Emi Z. Murano, Masahiko Todoriki, Hiroshi Imagawa, and Seiji Niimi, "Laryngeal adjustment in throat singing," Proc. of 45th General Meeting of Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr. Soc. Jpn., pp. 22, (in Japanese), Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr. , (Nov. 2000).
12. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Tomoko Konishi, and Seiji Niimi, "Throat singing synthesis by a laryngeal voice model based on vocal fold and false vocal fold vibrations," Proc. of Study Group on Musical Info., 01-MUS-39, pp. 71--78, (in Japanese), Info. Processing Soc. Jpn., (Feb. 2001).
13. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Exploring the possibility of the singing voice --- through a research of throat singing," Pamphlet of NTT Computer Music Symp. II , pp. 20--24, (in Japanese), NTT CS Labs., (Mar. 2001).
14. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Tomoko Konishi, and Seiji Niimi, "Laryngeal voice model of throat singing based on vocal fold and false vocal fold vibrations," Proc. Spring 2001 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 255--256, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Mar. 2001).
15. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Naotoshi Osaka, "Evaluation of synthesized sounds by using thoat-singing laryngeal voice model," Proc. Fall 2001 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 293 -- 294, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Oct. 2001).
16. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, and Seiji Niimi, "Voice source estimation of throat singing by Tyvan singers," Proc. Fall 2001 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 295 -- 296, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Oct. 2001).
17. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagwa, Tomoko Konishi, Seiji Niimi, and Niro Tayama, "Estimation of subglottal pressure using esophageal pressure," Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr., vol.43, no.1, pp. 57 -- 58, (in Japanese), Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr.,(Nov. 2001).
18. Masanobu Kumada, Noriko Kobayashi, Hajime Hirose, Niro Tayama, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Takaharu Nito, Mamiko Wada, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Chieko Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Quantitative analysis of vocal fold vibration during register change by high speed digital imaging," 2nd report on the study of prosody and the interaction between articulators and phonators, pp. 125--128, (Jan. 2002).
19. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara and Hiroshi Imagawa, "Simulation of pressed voice phonations using 2 by 2 mass model," Proc. Fall 2002 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., pp. 293 -- 294, (in Japanese), Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 2002).
20. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "Simulation of the vocal fold and ventricular fold vibrations using 2 by 2 mass model," Proc. of 47th General Meeting of Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr., (in Japanese), Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr., Vol. 44, No. 1, p. 45, (Oct. 2002).
21. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "Acoustical effect of the adduction of the supra-glottal structure," Proc. of 47th General Meeting of Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr., (in Japanese), Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr., Vol. 44, No. 1, p. 40, (Oct. 2002).
22. Miki Saito, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Mamiko Wada, Mitsuhiro Mori, Kenichi Nibu, Mutsuro Amatsu, and Niro Tayama, "Observation of the vibrations of the neoglottis using high-speed digital imaging," Proc. of 47th General Meeting of Jpn. Soc. Logop. Phoniatr., (in Japanese), Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr., Vol. 44, No. 1, p. 87, (Oct. 2002).
23. Masanobu Kumada, Noriko Kobayashi, Hajime Hirose, Niro Tayama, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Takaharu Nito, Mamiko Wada, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Chieko Kumada, and Seiji Niimi, "Qualitative and Quantitative analysis of vocal fold vibration during register change by high speed digital imaging," 3rd report on the study of prosody and the interaction between articulators and phonators, pp.133--136, (Feb. 2003).
24. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "The effect of the adduction of the supra-glottal structure," Proc. of Study Group of the Brain Function for Communication, (in Japanese), (Feb. 2003).
25. Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "The effect of the shapes of the hypopharynx and larynx tube on voices," Proc. Fall 2002 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 2003).
26. Sayoko Takano, Kiyoshi Honda, Shinobu Masaki, and Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Observation of the tongue-larynx interaction using highresolution MRI," Proc. Fall 2002 Meeting of Acoust. Soc. Jpn., (Sep. 2003).
27. Satoshi Takeuchi, Hiroshi Imagawa, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Niro Tayama, and Seiji Niimi, "Clinical application of a new high-speed digital camera," Japan Broncho-esphagological society
28. Mamiko Wada, Mami Sato, Satoshi Takeuchi, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Niro Tayama "Physiological investigation of onsets in voice therapy ," Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr.,(2003).
29. Satoshi Takeuchi, Mamiko Wada, Mami Sato, Shin'ichi Kakurai, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, Hiroshi Imagawa, Seiji Niimi, and Niro Tayama "Fibrescopic observation of laryngeal adjustment in voice therapy," Jpn. J. Logop. Phoniatr. (2003).

General Articles

1. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Mieko Shiomi talks about Fluxus, I," Ongaku-geijutsu, Jan 1994, pp. 80--85, (in Japanese), Ongaku-no-tomo-sha, (1994).
2. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Mieko Shiomi talks about Fluxus, II," Ongaku-geijutsu, Feb. 1994, pp. 80--84, (in Japanese), Ongaku-no-tomo-sha, (1994).
3. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Concert Review: Recital of Hiroaki Ooi'," Ongaku-geijutsu, Apr 1994, p. 119, (in Japanese), Ongaku-no-tomo-sha, (1994).
4. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "World-Art Web," SoundArts No.2, Xebec, (June 1995).
5. Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "NTT InterCommunication Center," SoundArts No.3, Xebec, (July 1995).
6. Kengo Kuma, Ken-Ichi Sakakibara, "Soundscape for the memorial garden," SD, 9711, (in Japanese), Kashima-shuppankai, (1997).

Research Project

* Singing voice
* Voice production
* Voice synthesis
* Physical model of phonation
* Voice quality
* Comparative anatomy of the larynx

* Throat singing
* Language acquisition
* Timbre
* Emotional vocalization
* Sensory-motor interaction in singing

Recently interested hobby

Cooking, Soccer, Doing subject

Selected Publications

* K.-I. Sakakibara and H. Imagawa, "A many-parameter model of laryngeal flow with ventricular resonance and supraglottal vibration," Proc. Forum Acusticum 2005, (Aug. 2005). (PDF:190kB).
* K.-I.Sakakibara, H.Imagawa, S.Niimi, and N.Tayama, "Physiological study of the supraglottal structure," Proc. ICVPB2004, (Aug. 2004), (PDF:1.5MB).
* K.-I.Sakakibara, L.Fuks, H.Imagawa, and N.Tayama, "Growl voice in ethnic and pop styles," Proc. ISMA 2004, (Apr. 2004). (PDF: 470 kB)
* K.-I.Sakakibara and H.Imagawa, "Acoustical interpretation of certain laryngeal settings using a physical model," Proc. Speech Prosody 2004, (Mar. 2004). (PDF: 370 kB)
* K.-I. Sakakibara, "Production mechanism of voice quality in singing," J. Phonetic Soc. Jpn, 7(3): 27--39.(Dec. 2003).
* K.-I. Sakakibara, H. Imagawa, S. Niimi, and N. Osaka, "The laryngeal flow model for pressed-type singing voices," Proc. Stockholm Music Acoustics Conf. 2003 , pp.495--498. (PDF: 32 kB)
* H. Imagawa, K.-I. Sakakibara, N. Tayama, and S. Niimi "The effect of the hypopharyngeal and supra-glottic shapes for the singing voice," Proc. Stockholm Music Acoustics Conf. 2003 , pp.471--474. (PDF: 18 kB)
* K.-I. Sakakibara, T. Konishi, H. Imagawa, E. Z. Murano, K. Kondo, M. Kumada, and S. Niimi, "Observation of the laryngeal movements for throat singing -- Vibration of two pairs of folds in human larynx," Lay Language Paper for First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics in Cancun, Acoust. Soc. Am. World Wide Press Room , Dec. 2002. (HTML)
* K.-I. Sakakibara, H. Imagawa, S. Niimi, and N. Osaka, " Synthesis of the laryngeal source of throat singing using a 2x2-mass model," Proc. of International Computer Music Conference 2002 , pp. 5 -- 8, Sep. 2002. (PDF: 558 kB)
* K.-I. Sakakibara, T. Konishi, K. Kondo, E. Z. Murano, M. Kumada, H. Imagawa, and S. Niimi, Vocal fold and false vocal fold vibrations and synthesis of khoomei, Proc. of International Computer Music Conference 2001, pp. 135 -- 138, Sep. 2001., (PDF: 622 kbytes)
* K.-I. Sakakibara and N. Osaka, Vibrato control using a sinusoidal model, J. Acoust. Soc. Jpn., Vol. 21, No. 5, pp. 179--181, Acoust. Soc. Jpn., 2000.
* M.-H. Saito and K.-I. Sakakibara, On Mordell-Weil lattices of higher genus fibrations on rational surfaces, Journal of Mathematics of Kyoto University, Vol. 34, pp 853 -- 871, 1994., (PDF: 198 kbytes)

Created: Mon Feb 13 12:35:06 JST 1995
Last modified: Wed Dec 21 16:19:40 JST 2005

R.I.P.

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara & others:Observation of Laryngeal Movements for Throat Singing / Vibrations of two pairs of folds in the human larynx

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:30

First Pan-American/Iberian Meeting on Acoustics, Cancun

[ Lay Language Paper Index | Press Room ]

Observation of Laryngeal Movements for Throat Singing
Vibrations of two pairs of folds in the human larynx

Ken-Ichi Sakakibara*1, Tomoko Konishi, Emi Zuiki Murano*2, Hiroshi Imagawa*2, Masanobu Kumada*3, Kazumasa Kondo*4, and Seiji Niimi*5

*1 NTT Communication Science Laboratories, 3-1, Morinosato Wakamiya, Atsugi-shi, 243-0198, Japan
http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/people/kis/ ,kis@brl.ntt.co.jp or k_i_s@hotmail.com
*2 The University of Tokyo, Japan
*3 National Rehabilitation Center for the Disabled, Japan
*4 Asian University, Japan
*5 International University of Health and Welfare, Japan

Popular version of paper 2pMUa1
Presented Tuesday Afternoon, December 3, 2002
144th ASA Meeting, Cancun, Mexico

1. Singing voices of the world
In the world, there are various styles of singing. These variations in voices are mainly associated with variations in timbre. Such diversity of singing voices might have arisen due to cultural diversity such as climate, geography, language, racial physical feature, religion, musical structure, and so on. As a matter, we can find considerable differences between European traditional or classical singing voice, such as bel canto and German lied, and the Asian traditional pressed singing voices, such as throat singing around the Altai mountains, Japanese Youkyoku, and Korean Pansori. For instance, European traditional singing styles were developed as a result of performing in stone-made acoustical environment. Therefore, it requires constant timbre. On the other hand, most Asian singing styles were developed as result of performing in acoustical environment of softer material such as wood and mud. Therefore, it requires a rich and varied timbre. It's possible to infer that singing styles and music structures (polyphonic in Europe and homophonic in Asia) have evolved by interacting with each other. Here, we study throat singing, which is one of the most sophisticated styles of pressed-type singing voices, and how its laryngeal voice is generated.
2. Throat singing
Throat singing is the traditional singing style of people who live around the Altai mountains. Khöömei in Tyva and Khöömij in Mongolia are representative styles of throat singing. Throat singing is sometimes called biphonic singing, or overtone singing because two or more distinct pitches (musical lines) are produced simultaneously in one tone. One is a low sustained fundamental pitch, called a drone, and the second is a whistle-like harmonic that resonates high above the drone. Sometimes throat singing mean wider styles including all the biphonic singing styles not restricted to the styles around the Altai mountains: e.g. Inuit, Xhosa, and so on. But here we use the term "throat singing" for the common styles around the Altai mountains: Khöömei, Khöömij, Kai in Altai, and so on.

The production of the highly pitched overtone of throat singing is mainly due to the pipe resonance of the cavity from the larynx to the point of articulation in the vocal tract, which appear as the 2nd formant in its sound spectrum. On the other hand, the laryngeal voice of throat singing has a special pressed timbre and supports the generation of the overtone.

The laryngeal voices of throat singing can be classified into two voices: (i) squeezed voice (soundfile); and (ii) kargyraa voice ( soundfile). based on the listener's impression, acoustical characteristics, and the singer's personal observation on voice production. The pressed voice is the basic laryngeal voice in throat singing and used as drone. The equivalent voice is used in Japanese Naniwabsuhi. The kargyraa voice is a very low pitched voice that ranges out of the modal register. The kargyraa voice is very basic in Kai and perceptually identical to Tibetan chant.

3. Ventricular folds (or false vocal folds): Another pair of folds than vocal folds in human larynx
The ventricular folds or false vocal folds (VTFs) are a pair of soft and flaccid folds which exist above the vocal folds (Fig. 1). While the vocal folds (VFs) have a mechanism that change the stiffness, thickness, and longitude by the muscles (mainly by the action of thyroarytenoid muscle), the VTFs are incapable of becoming tense, since they contain very few muscle fibres. It seems that the VTFs are capable of moving with the arytenoid cartilages. They are also abducted and adducted by the action of certain laryngeal muscles. The VTFs as well as the VFs act as air traps from lungs and prevent foreign substances from entering the lower respiratory tract. In normal phonation, the VTFs do not vibrate. But among some patients with dysphonia, the vibration of the VTFs is sometimes observed.

4. Vocal fold and ventricular fold vibrations
We observed laryngeal movements in throat singing directly and indirectly by simultaneous recording of high-speed digital images, and EGG (Electroglottography) and sound waveforms (Fig. 2). The high-speed digital images were captured at 4500 frames/s through a flexible endoscope inserted into the nose cavity of a singer.

We obtained the following results from our observation. The common features of the squeezed and kargyraa voices which are an overall constriction of the supra-structures of the glottis and vibration of the VTFs. The difference lies in the narrowness of the constriction and the manner of VTF vibration. In the squeezed voice, the VTFs vibrate at the same frequency as the VFs and both vibrate in the opposite phase (Fig. 3). In the kargyraa voice, the VTFs can be assumed to close once for every two periods of closure of the VFs, and contribute to the generation of the subharmonic tone of kargyraa (Fig. 4).

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia : Overtone Singing

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:30

Overtone Singing
Chen-Gia Tsai

* Perception of overtone singing
* Physical modeling of the vocal tract of a Sygyt singer
* False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: A hypothesis
* Kargyraa and meditation

The voice of overtone singing is characterized by a prominent formant. In this spectrum of a sound produced by a Taiwanese overtone singer, the 10th harmonic is stronger than its flanking components by more than 25 dB. It is not fully understood how the formant becomes so sharp.
Introduction
Overtone singing, also known as throat singing, is a vocal technique found in Central Asian cultures, by which one singer produces two pitches simultaneously. When listening to the performance, a high pitch of n*f0 can be perceived along with a low drone pitch of f0.

References
Adachi, S., and Yamada, M. (1999). An acoustical study of sound production in biphonic singing, Xoomij. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 105(5), 2920-2932.

Bloothooft, G., Bringmann, E., Capellen, M., Luipen, J., Thomassen, K. (1992). Acoustics and perception of overtone singing. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 92(4), 1827-836.

Chernov, B. and Maslov, V. (1987). Larynx double sound generator. Proc. XI Congress of Phonetic Sciences, Tallinn 6, 40-43.

Fletcher, N.H., and Rossing, T.D. (1991). The Physics of Musical Instruments. Springer-Verlag.

Hirschberg, A., and Kergomard, J. (1995). Aerodynamics of wind instruments. In: Mechanics of Musical Instruments. Springer-Verlag, 291-369.

Kob, M. (2002). Physical Modeling of Singing Voice. Dissertation, University of Technology Aachen, Logos Berlin.

Levin, T.C., and Edgerton, M.E. (1999). The throat singers of tuva. Scientific American. Sep-1999, 80-87.

Lindestad, P.A., Sodersten, M., Merker, B., Granqvist, S. (2001). Voice source characteristics in Mongolian "throat singing" studied with high-speed imaging technique, acoustic spectra, and inverse filtering. J. Voice 15(1), 78-85.

MacDonald, A.W., Cohen, J.D., Stenger, V.A., and Carter, C.S. (2000). Dissociating the role of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex in cognitive control. Science 288, 1835-1837.

Pagneux, V., Amir, N., and Kergomard, J. (1996). A study of wave propagation in varying cross-section waveguides by modal decomposition. Part I. Theory and validation. J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 100, 2034-2048.

Tsai, C.G. (2001). Physical foundations of overtone-singing. Science Monthly 375, 209-216. [in Chinese]
Links

* http://www.avantart.com/postcards/etuva.html
* http://www.acoustics.org/press/144th/Sakakibara.htm
* http://www.scs-intl.com/cgi-bin/webzonetuva/zone.cgi?list

R.I.P.

Seiji ADACHI : The Secret of Throat Singing, 2000 Congress ASA, USA

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:23

Seiji ADACHI : The Secret of Throat Singing, 2000 Congress ASA, USAAcoustical Society of America140th Meeting / NOISE-CON 2000 Press ReleaseTHEME PARK ACOUSTICS,ELECTRONIC NOSES,AND THE SOUNDS OF LIPOSUCTIONAT UPCOMING ACOUSTICS MEETINGFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMelville, New York, November 1, 2000What are some ways of solving the noise problems on the space station? How does liposuction work at the nanometer scale? How can sound waves "smell" the amount of specific chemicals in a beer brew?These and other questions will be addressed at the Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and NOISE-CON 2000 to be held December 3-8, 2000 at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel in Newport Beach, California, about 30 miles south of Los Angeles. Over 850 papers will be presented. The ASA is the largest scientific organization in the United States devoted to acoustics, with over 7000 members worldwide. NOISE-CON is arranged through the Institute of Noise Control Engineering of the USA (INCE-USA).PRESS LUNCHEON AT NEWPORT BEACH MEETINGSCIENCE WRITING AWARDSASA will present three science writing awards at a plenary session on Wednesday, December 6. The Science Writing Award in Acoustics for Journalists will be presented to Kathryn Brown, a freelance science writer in the U.S., for several articles published in New Scientist magazine; and to Roland Pease and Radek Boschetty for the program "Soundworks," aired by BBC World Radio Service. William Hartmann, a professor of physics at Michigan State University, will receive the Science Writing Award for Professionals in Acoustics for his article "How We Localize Sound" (http://www.aip.org/pt/nov99/locsound.html) which appeared in the November 1999 issue of Physics Today.WORLD WIDE PRESS ROOMWe encourage you to visit ASA's "World Wide Press Room" (http://www.acoustics.org) before and during the meeting. Starting the week of November 12 the site will contain lay-language versions of selected papers to be presented at the meeting.PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTSHere are some highlights from among the many papers being given at the meeting. Full abstracts of the papers mentioned below can be viewed by typing in the last name of the author or the appropriate paper code at the ASA Meeting Abstracts database: http://asa.aip.org/asasearch.htmlThe Sounds of LiposuctionSoundscapes in Mainstream American FilmsA Kingdom of SoundsSpeech Privacy in Office SpacesArtificial Ears and NosesInternational Noise Control EffortsThe Secret of Throat SingingSpace Program AcousticsUltrasonic EyeGlasses for the BlindTheme Park AcousticsUltrasound Contrast AgentsAcoustic Refrigerators: The 2000 Model YearMusic in the Age of Confucius and Other Asian DynastiesAcoustical Land Mine DetectorsMusical Illusions in Different PopulationsAcoustics of Toll BoothsThe Sounds of LiposuctionUCLA researchers have discovered a link between a popular form of cosmetic surgery and a hot topic in physics research. This link may help researchers to develop new noninvasive forms of surgery using ultrasound. Hospitals around the world are now offering ultrasound-assisted liposuction (UAL), in which a probe shines intense ultrasound to liquefy fat tissue, which is then easier to remove with a vacuum pump. But how does it work? Carlos Camara and his colleagues at UCLA realized that the tip of the UAL probe emits a blue glow which indicates temperatures hotter than those on the sun. The researchers have matched this glow to that produced in a phenomenon known as sonoluminescence (SL), in which sound aimed at a substance (such as liquid water) creates bubbles which implode and release a flash of energy . This conversion of sound into light---representing a trillionfold concentration of energy into a nanometer-scale region---appears responsible for liquefying the fat cells in liposuction. Curiously, the researchers have noted that the SL mechanism appears to preferentially liquefy fat cells over other kinds of cells which surgeons wish to keep intact. (2aBB12)Soundscapes in Mainstream American FilmsWhether or not we consciously realize it, we have come to expect a certain acoustical "vocabulary" in mainstream films. Barbara Flueckiger (zauberklang@bluewin.ch) at the University of Zurich's Institute of Film Theory will present a study of 96 American films produced from 1926 to 1995. Many of these films won Academy Awards for Best Sound. Flueckiger studied the techniques that the films employ to establish fictional, yet natural-seeming "soundscapes." She concludes that the film industry "developed a rather restricted vocabulary" to depict the sounds of specific places. She reasons that "film soundscapes have a clear communicative function in contrary to natural soundscapes, which contain random noises." For 1930s and 1940s movies, she found that filmmakers avoided any sounds that were extraneous to the narrative, but this changed dramatically with the advent of widescreen formats and multi-channel sound systems, with different sounds emanating from different speakers to create panoramic environments. (2aNSa2)A Kingdom of SoundsMany animal vocalizations contain important components in the realm of infrasound, acoustical signals that are often too low-pitched for humans to hear, with frequencies of 20 Hertz and below. Elizabeth von Muggenthaler of the Fauna Communications Research Institute (fauna@rtpnc.net) in North Carolina will present a study of infrasound-containing vocalizations in 22 Siberian and Bengal tigers. While the tigers' low-pitched roars may help them to mark territory, their ability to hear low-frequency sounds may also help them detect and locate prey in dense jungles having limited visibility. When played back, the infrasonic roars also elicited distinct behavioral responses in other tigers (3aABb1). Von Muggenthaler will also describe a portable instrument which she has used to analyze, in real-time, the infrasound-containing vocalizations of tigers and numerous other animals including elephants, rhinoceroses, and giraffes (4aAB2).Speech Privacy in Office SpacesWith our increasingly information-based economy, and the growth in the number of "knowledge workers" who need silence to concentrate, it becomes even more important to develop work spaces free of disruptive noises. Acoustics researchers are working to increase speech privacy in offices. Heakyung C. Yoon of Carnegie Mellon University (hcy@andrew.cmu.edu) studied the effect of noise on the performance of workers in three arrangement plans of open workplaces, and found that an arrangement known as the "triangular configuration in open plan" produced significantly different results than did a rectangular configuration and a combination of open and closed office spaces (5aAA5). Kenneth P. Roy, an acoustical consultant in Pennsylvania, will present results of lab and field measurements of the noise conditions in closed office spaces, and will discuss potential design solutions (5aAA3).Artificial Ears and NosesFlavio Noca of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California (flavio.noca@jpl.nasa.gov) and his colleagues will describe acoustic sensors which are based on stereocilia, the hairlike inner ear structures that are involved in motion detection. Their devices may ultimately be small and sensitive enough to measure the sounds generated by moving microorganisms and nano-scale biological processes such as those responsible for metabolism. Arrays of these devices could possibly lead to an artificial cochlea, or inner ear. In addition, the devices could function like insect "stridulators," the body parts which rub together to produce sounds useful for their communication. To demonstrate the potential of this design, the researchers have built acoustics sensors based on arrays of carbon nanotubes (2aEA2). Edward J. Staples of Electronic Sensor Technology in California (staples@estcal.com), will present the zNose, a device that can precisely analyze the chemical content of vapors in seconds. Sending a stream of helium gas and the vapor of interest through a specially coated column causes the vapor's constituent chemicals to split up and travel at different velocities. Emerging from the column at different times, each constituent lands on an acoustical detector, which changes its frequency of vibration depending on how much of the particular chemical is present. Sutter Home is using zNose to monitor its wines, and beer companies are employing the device to determine the quality of brews. The sensor can detect pollutants, explosive materials and other volatile and semi-volatile compounds with up to part per trillion sensitivity. (2aEA4).International Noise Control EffortsThe World Trade Organization has identified international standardization as a key for worldwide free trade. Klaus Brinkmann of PTB in Germany (klaus.brinkmann@ptb.de) will present an overview of efforts for setting international standards in acoustics (0pNSe1). Many other talks at the meeting center on efforts by international organizations to set standards for the control of noise. Inspired by recent guidlines issued by the World Health Organization, acoustical consultant David Lubman (dlubman@ix.netcom.com) and his colleagues will describe an international initiative to assist developing nations in their efforts to achieve proper acoustics for their classrooms (1aNSc1). Researchers are responding creatively to a European Union goal for reducing road noise in densely packed cities. Tor Kihlman of the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden proposes the concept of identifying quiet zones in cities and protecting them, similar to the way that government agencies preserve wilderness areas in national parks. Rather than trying to reduce the noise levels at all points of a city, this concept would amount to exploiting its "spatial noise level variations" (2aNSa6).The Secret of Throat SingingMost singers can produce only one tone, or note, at a time. But the late physicist Richard Feynman, an avid musician, introduced many people in the Western world to the throat singers of Tuva, a small Central Asian republic near Mongolia. The Tuvan singers can simultaneously produce two distinct tones--an eerie, low-pitched drone and a higher-pitched voice which carries the melody. Presenting magnetic resonance images of a throat singer's vocal tract, Seiji Adachi of the ATR Human Information Processing Research Laboratories in Japan (adachi@hip.atr.co.jp) and a colleague have concluded that a specific portion of the rear vocal tract enables the singers to carry on a melody while enabling the drone. To check their hypothesis, the researchers have successfully produced artificial electronic versions of the two simultaneous tones, by developing a computer model of the vocal tract. (3aMU6)Space Program AcousticsThe International Space Station (ISS) is a work environment like any other. Controlling acoustics is important because the crew will be confined to the station and exposed to the sounds for a long time. The station has suffered from noise problems due to loud fans, reverberating surfaces and glitches in the communications system. But acoustical scientists have been working overtime with space station designers to solve these problems and reduce noise to acceptable levels. Jerry R. Goodman (jerry.r.goodman@jsc.nasa.gov), leader of ISS acoustics for the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, will discuss the challenges of developing the proper acoustics for the space station (1pNSc8). Other efforts are underway to develop next- generation technologies for space missions. Michael E. Hoenk (michael.e.hoenk@jpl.nasa.gov) of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) will present an atmospheric humidity sensor that takes measurements 10 times faster than conventional designs. Tested in Atlantic hurricanes, the acoustics-based sensor is also being developed as a portable instrument for monitoring humidity in the space station (2aEA3). Yoseph Bar-Cohen of JPL (yosi@jpl.nasa.gov) will describe the emerging technology of ultrasonic motors (USM). These light, compact, low-power devices will play important roles in future space missions. Aiming to develop technologies for the Mars environment, the researchers have created a robotic arm with such motors, which can operate at temperatures below -235 degrees Fahrenheit and pressures that are a fraction of those on Earth (2aEA1).Ultrasonic Eyeglasses for the BlindBats and dolphins perceive their world with built-in sonar systems that broadcast ultrasound waves to detect objects in their environment. Researchers intensively study these natural sonar systems for reasons beyond learning more about these particular animals. There is the possibility of applying this knowledge to aid people who are vision-impaired. In a special invited lecture, Leslie Kay of Sonicvision in New Zealand will discuss ultrasound devices that can provide auditory information about spatial environments. In the past, Kay has designed the KASPA sensing system, consisting of head-mounted eyeglasses that broadcast ultrasound waves, which then reflect from surrounding objects. The ultrasound reflections produce audible sounds that tell the wearer about obstacles in the environment. Kay is currently taking things a step further, by investigating the possibility of connecting such a device directly to the auditory channels of the brain. In principle, ultrasound information could be sent directly to the auditory centers of the brain and converted into information that help a person "see" the environment. Kay will discuss the very first explorations of this possibility. (2pABa1)Theme Park AcousticsAmusement parks strive to saturate all of our senses--and sound is an important part of the equation. At its best, sound can suspend our disbelief as we experience a sense-defying ride. At its worst, it can create a noise hazard for visitors and residents of surrounding communities. Describing 20 years of experience in designing soundscapes for theme park rides, California-based acoustical consultant Marshall Long (m_long@pacificnet.net) will discuss theme park soundscapes that illustrate creative use of scientific principles (4aAA1). Robert Bronsdon of the Walt Disney Company will discuss how wind and temperature changes can markedly alter the acoustics of an outdoor ride (4aAA5). Acoustical consultant Steven J. Thorburn (SJT@TA-Inc.com) will discuss lessons learned from the indoor theme park at the West Edmonton Mall, where noise levels were so high that complaints were frequent and guest visits were very short. He and his colleagues applied these lessons to the design of a "theme park under glass": the Knott's Camp Snoopy at the Mall of America in Minneapolis (4aAA3).Ultrasound Contrast AgentsOne of the greatest breakthroughs in medical ultrasound in recent years is the development of "contrast agents," tiny bubbles typically injected into the bloodstream for medical applications. The bubbles reflect high-pitched sound so well that they improve the images in traditional ultrasound. But researchers are exploring exciting new therapeutic applications for the bubbles. For example, Junru Wu of the University of Vermont (jwu@zoo.uvm.edu) will discuss how the contrast agents, when broadcast with ultrasound, dramatically increase the efficiency of gene therapy in test-tube studies (1pBB2). Sessions 1aBB and 1pBB comprise a "topical meeting" in which the latest advances in contrast agents will be described.Acoustic Refrigerators: The 2000 Model YearResearchers continue to make advances in thermoacoustic refrigerators, devices that chill objects with sound waves and harmless inert gases instead of moving parts and potentially hazardous refrigerants. Thomas J. Hofler and Jay Adeff of the Naval Postgraduate School (tjhofler@nps.navy.mil) are developing a miniature thermoacoustic refrigerator for cooling computer circuits below their failure temperature in hot environments (3aPA6). The researchers and others are developing solar-powered thermoacoustic refrigerators which could cool objects in remote desert environments (3aPA8, 3aPA9). Ray Scott Wakeland of Penn State (wakeland@psu.edu) will present a thermoacoustics design that leaves out a usual component known as the stack, a honeycomb-like device where heat gets deposited and temperature differences get built up. Although these "no-stack" refrigerators can operate over a potentially limited temperature range, they offer the promise of increased efficiency (3pPA5).Music in the Age of Confucius and Other Asian DynastiesBo Lawergren of Hunter College (bo.lawergren@hunter.cuny.edu) will describe string instruments known as zithers which were discovered in the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng, the ruler of a small, previously unknown state in ancient China. Dating from 400 B.C.-200 A.D, some of the instruments went extinct and others led to important Chinese instruments of the last two millennia such as the qui and zheng. Although the tomb was discovered in 1978, Lawergren published the first Western-language book on the ancient instruments just this year (3aMU4). Robert W. Bagley of Princeton (rwbagley@princeton.edu) will present findings on an extraordinary set of 65 bells also found in the tomb. With a range of 5 octaves and an unusual scale, it has been a mystery as to how these bells were designed and cast, but Bagley will present a hypothesis on their construction (3pMU2). Yang-Hann Kim of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology will present studies of ancient Korean bells from the Silla and Korea dynasties. These bells are unique in that they create beats when struck. They also contain pipes acting as a "high-pass filter" which dissipate high-frequency sound very rapidly (3pMU3).Acoustical Land Mine DetectorsImprovements continue in the use of sound waves to detect buried land mines. Stephane Guyonic of DCE/GESMA in France (guyonic@gesma.fr) will present the first results of a new sonar technique for detecting and classifying mines in shallow and very shallow water. Conducting experiments in a shallow water area with a sea floor made of rough sand, Guyonic reports that "three-dimensional imaging techniques have been used to process the data and very good results have been obtained." (5pPA1). Dimitri Donskoy of the Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey will discuss further development of a system for discriminating mines from other objects, such as pipes and containers (5pPA2)Musical Illusions in Different PopulationsResearchers will present the latest studies on a "musical illusion" known as the tritone paradox, which consists of a sequence of specially generated musical tones. Earlier studies have shown that those with Californian mothers tend to hear the tritone sequence as rising in pitch, while those who had grown up in the South of England typically hear the tones as descending. The paradox suggests that early exposure to speech influences how we perceive music and spoken words later in life. To better understand this phenomenon, researchers are now studying the tritone paradox in other populations. Meredith Haugen of Minnesota State University has found that Midwesterners tend to hear the paradox similar to those from California (3pPP13), while Magdalene H. Chalikia of Minnesota State has found that Swedish listeners tend to perceive the tritones similarly to British listeners (3pPP12). She has also found that Greek bilingual listeners hear the tritone paradox differently than either California or English populations (3pP11). Diana Deutsch of UC-San Diego (ddeutsch@ucsd.edu), who helped to pioneer the original studies, has found that bilingual speakers perceive a musical illusion in accordance with their first language (4aMUb1).Acoustics of Toll BoothsOne of the toughest outdoor working environments, from an acoustical point of view, is the highway toll booth. Jeffrey P. Feist of Purdue University (feistj@ecn.purdue.edu) and colleagues are developing solutions to improve the acoustical conditions for these work spaces. Toll booths are partially open enclosures with reflecting walls that may even amplify traffic noise. The traffic noise creates unpleasant working conditions and hampers communication between attendants and drivers. Since low-frequency vehicle noises are believed to play a large role in hampering the communication, the researchers are developing specially designed noise-canceling headsets for eliminating those frequencies. The researchers are also running computer models evaluating structural changes that may improve acoustical conditions in the booths. (5aAA6)REPLY FORMPlease return the REPLY FORM if you are interested in attending the meeting or receiving additional information.REPORTER'S REPLY FORM

R.I.P.

TSAI Chen-Gia, Ph.D. Acoustics, Taiwan

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:00

TSAI Chen-Gia, Ph.D. Acoustics, Taiwan

Vocal fold vibration and singing

* Ultrasonic imaging of vocal folds
* Vocal fold vibration as sea waves on a porous seabed
* Overtone singing & high-frequency vocalization
* Growl voice & spine stability

Chen-Gia Tsai
Assistant Professor, Graduate Institute of Musicology
National Taiwan University, Taipei, TAIWAN

Ph.D., Musikwissenschaft
Humboldt-University Berlin, Germany
Research Interests
Mechanics of the Chinese membrane flute

* Acoustic effects of the dizi membrane
* Linear effects of the membrane: impedance
* Nonlinear effects of the membrane I: jump phenomena and wrinkles in the membrane
* Nonlinear effects of the membrane II: spectral features

Perception of musical sounds

* Brightness and spatial effects
* Helmholtz's hollowness and nasality
* Roughness induced by subharmonics

Vocal fold vibration and singing

* Ultrasonic imaging of vocal folds
* Vocal fold vibration as sea waves on a porous seabed
* Overtone singing & high-frequency vocalization
* Growl voice & spine stability

Biomusicology

* Absolute pitch
* Music & biological motor system
* Chinese opera music & memetics

Selected Publications
Journal papers

C.G. Tsai (2004) Absolute pitch: studies in cognitive psychology. Guandu Music Journal 1, 77-92.

C.G. Tsai (2005) Chaotic behavior of performer's vocalizations: an interdisciplinary study of growl voices. Taipei Theatre Journal 2, 39-62.

C.G. Tsai (2006) Disease and Composing: Syphilis in Smetana, Wolf, and Schubert. Formosan Journal of Music Research 3, 91-106.

Chen-Gia Tsai, Yio-Wha Shau, Hon-Man Liu, and Tzu-Yu Hsiao. Laryngeal mechanisms during human 4 kHz vocalization studied with CT, videostroboscopy, and color Doppler imaging (accepted by Journal of Voice)
Conference papers

C.G. Tsai (2003) Relating the harmonic-rich sound of the Chinese flute (dizi) to the cubic nonlinearity of its membrane (poster). Stockholm Music Acoustics Conference 2003, August 6-9.

C.G. Tsai (2004) Helmholtz's nasality revisited: physics and perception of sounds with predominance of upper odd-numbered harmonics (poster). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

C.G. Tsai (2004) Auditory grouping in the perception of roughness induced by subharmonics: empirical findings and a qualitative model (oral). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

J.H. Chen, and C.G. Tsai (2004) Experimental research of the flow field in a brass mouthpiece-like channel using Particle Image Velocimetry (poster). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31-April 3, Nara, Japan.

C.G. Tsai, Y.W. Shau, and T.Y. Hsiao (2004) False vocal fold surface waves during Sygyt singing: a hypothesis (oral). International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, August 18-20, Marseille, France.

C.G. Tsai (2004) The timbre space of the Chinese membrane flute (dizi): physical and psychoacoustical effects (invited). 148th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America, November 15-19, San Diego.

C.G. Tsai (2005) Multi-pitch effect on cognition of solo music: examples of the Chinese flute, Jew's harp and overtone singing (oral). International Symposium on Body & Cognition, June 4-5, Taipei, Taiwan.

C.G. Tsai, W. Auhagen (2005) Intonation, tone range and timbre of the Chinese flute (dizi): a Duffing oscillator model of the dizi membrane (oral). Conference on Traditional Music Instruments, September 10-11, Taipei, Taiwan.

C.G. Tsai (2005) Disease and composing: syphilis in Smetana, Wolf, and Schubert (oral). Taiwan Symposium on Musicology, November 11-12, Taipei, Taiwan.

C.G. Tsai, T.Y. Hsiao, Y.W. Shau, and J.H. Chen (2006) Towards an intermediate water wave model of vocal fold vibration: Evidence from vocal-fold dynamic sonography (oral). International Conference on Voice Physiology and Biomechanics, July 12-14 2006, Tokyo, Japan.

C.G. Tsai, Y.W. Shau, and T.Y. Hsiao (2006) Vocal fold wave velocity in the cover and body layers measured in vivo using dynamic sonography (oral). 7th International Conference on Advances in Quantitative Laryngology, Voice and Speech Research, October 6-7, 2006, Groningen, the Netherlands.

C.G. Tsai (2006) Inharmonic sounds of bowed strings in Western music and Beijing opera (oral). 4th Joint Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the Acoustical Society of Japan, 28 November-2 December, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA.
Links

* Music Acoustics Laboratory at UNSW (impedance measurements of the dizi were performed there)
* Mitzi Meyerson's homepage (my favorite harpsichordist)
* Introduction to the Qin
* Learn traditional Chinese painting
* Liu Fang's pipa and guzheng music world

[Chinese version]
Latest update: 12/2006

http://homepage.ntu.edu.tw/~gim/gia/index.html

R.I.P.

Theodore LEVIN Biography

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:00

Theodore Levin
Professor
PhD, MFA Princeton University
BA Amherst College

Theodore Levin is an ethnomusicologist whose research has focused on the traditional music of Central Asia, Siberia, and Slavic Russia. He is an active record producer, concentrating on folk music and classical music repertory from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. For five years he worked as an impresario in US-Soviet cultural exchanges and arranged major entertainment events in the Soviet Union. His book, The Hundred Thousand Fools of God, was published in 1997.

Hundred Thousand Fools of God

Hundred Thousand Fools of God
• Theodore Levin
MUSIC • 1999 • PAPER • 346 PAGES

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An engaging account of adventures in ethnomusicology in contemporary Central Asia, Levin is a wonderful guide to musical traditions in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. With an accompanying CD featuring the traditional music of Central Asia. (CAS59, $29.95)

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The Hundred Thousand Fools of God $29.95
The Hundred Thousand Fools of God
Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York)
Theodore Levin
An ambitious and compelling musical ethnography of Central Asia with accompanying CD.
"This erudite, absorbing volume chronicles the travels of ethnomusicologist Theodore Levin through urban and rural Transoxania . . . He writes in evocative, imaginative, personalized prose that vividly captures the flavor of his everyday experiences, providing plush visual detail, trenchant character profiles, attention to perplexing local hospitality codes and the shaping hand of gender, throughout." —Slavic Review

". . . extremely informative, using music as a platform for a much wider discussion of cultural and political issues." —Times Literary Supplement, London

"The subject is music, but Levin uses it to cast a wider light, revealing places of considerable sorrow long hidden in the shadows of Soviet power, and to create a travelogue with wide potential appeal. . . . Candor about his own uncertainties and personal struggles helps make this a personal as well as a scholarly adventure." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Not to be missed by those interested in music and world culture . . . " —Library Journal

". . . may be destined to become the definitive work on the music of this newly accessed region." —Dirty Linen

The Hundred Thousand Fools of God assembles a living musical and ethnographic map by highlighting the fate of traditions, beliefs, and social relationships in Muslim and Jewish Central Asian cultures during and after seventy years of Soviet rule. Theodore Levin evokes the spectacular physical and human geography of the area and weaves a rich ethnography of the life styles, values, and art of the musical performers. Photographs, maps, and an accompanying CD (featuring 24 on-site recordings) make The Hundred Thousand Fools of God a unique reading and listening experience.
Theodore Levin is Associate Professor of Music at Dartmouth College. He began conducting musical and ethnographic research in Uzbekistan in 1978. His recordings of music from Central Asia and other parts of the former Soviet Union appear on Smithsonian Folkways, Nonesuch, Ocora, and other labels.
Distribution: worldwide
Publication date: 3/1/1999
Format: paper & CD 352 pages, 33 b&w photos, 8 figures, 7 maps, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4

R.I.P.

Leonardo FUKS : curriculum vitae

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 19:00

Leonardo FUKS : curriculum vitae
Curriculum vitae of Leonardo Fuks, Ph.D.

Leonardo Fuks,

born in 1962, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Address: Av. Osvaldo Cruz 112, apto. 801, Flamengo, 22250-060, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

Rio de Janeiro - BRASIL

Telephone: + 55 (21) 5511582 ; Fax: +55 (21) 5514723

Undergraduate Education

* Mechanical Engineering - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ 1980-1987
* Music (Oboe Performance) - State School of Music and Fine Arts of Paraná 1986- 1987
* Music (Oboe Performance) -University of Rio de Janeiro-UNIRIO - 1987

Graduate Education

* Production Engineering M.Sc.- Federal University of Rio de Janeiro - UFRJ - COPPE 1989-1993
* Music Acoustics Ph.D.- KTH- Royal Institute of Technology- Stockholm-SWEDEN- 1996-1999

Languages

* Portuguese, English and Spanish: fluent speaking, reading and writing
* Italian and Swedish: fluent speaking and reading
* German and French: basic conversation and reading

Jobs in Engineering :

* Digiponto, industry of electronic equipment (computer keyboards) , 1983-1984, working in mechanical manufacturing, development of prototypes, design of plastic injection moulds and quality control.
* Schlumberger International, from September 1987 to November 1988. Working in Scotland, Colombia and Ecuador as field engineer, supervising the assembly and maintenance of well testing equipment, doing geophysical measurements and reservoir analysis.

Educational Jobs:

* Mechanical Systems for Industrial Design course; consultant in projects by graduating students. Also taught Elements of Musical Language in the Journalism and Communications course, during 1992.
* Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro- School of Music :
Substitute professor: 1991-1993
Assistant professor: from 1993 on, in the disciplines of Musical Acoustics and Physiology of Voice.
* Brazilian Conservatory of Music - teacher of Musical Acoustics for undergraduate students and Psychoacoustics for Music Therapy students, since August 1994, to the present day.

Main activities in Music:

* Paraná Symphony Orchestra: oboe and english horn player, from 1985 to 1987.
* Camerata Antiqua de Curitiba: 1986, playing mostly the baroque repertoire.
* Brazilian Music Orquestra (OMB) ; an orchestra for Brazilian popular music, principal oboe since its foundation in 1984.
* Rio de Janeiro Municipal Theatre Orchestra: 1990, as oboe and English horn player.
* Ensemble Ars Eletronica: member of the group dedicated to contemporary music as performing oboist, under the direction of the Brazilian composer Jocy de Oliveira, from 1993 up to the present time.

Leonardo Fuks (oboe), is Associate Professor of Music Acoustics and Voice Physiology at Universidade do Brasil/ UFRJ in Rio de Janeiro. His musical studies were carried out at Villa-Lobos Music School and Uni-Rio University. He has been a professional oboist in several Brazilian orchestras and chamber music groups. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering, a MSc degree in design engineering, and a Ph.D. in music acoustics from the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm. His main research topics include wind instrument physics and performance, and vocal techniques in ethnic and contemporary music. He has created a novel process for making clarinet and saxophone mouthpieces and a number of low-cost wind instruments for music education, particularly the Tuboe. Mr. Fuks is the founder and director of a bicycle orchestra, the Cyclophonica.

R.I.P.

Sven GRAWUNDER

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 18:30

Sven Grawunder is a researcher on phonetics and sprechwissenschaft at Martin-Luther Universitat in Halle-Wittenberg, Institut für Sprechwissenschaft und Phonetik. He wrote his dissertation

"Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs - Obertongesang vs. Kehlgesang"

in 1999 in Halle-Wittenberg, Germany and has studied the problem of overtones and undertones in throat singing .

Grawunder, Sven. 2003.

Comparison of Voice Production Types of ‘Western’ Overtone Singing
and South Siberian Throat Singing.

Proceedings of the 15th ICPhS, Barcelona.

Grawunder, Sven. 2003.

Der südsibirische Kehlgesang als Gegenstand phonetischer Untersuchungen.

In Gegenstandsauffassung und aktuelle Forschungen der halleschen Sprechwissenschaft,

eds. Eva-Maria Krech and Eberhard Stock, 53-91. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

1999

Grawunder, Sven. 1999.

Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs - Obertongesang vs. Kehlgesang.

Diplomarbeit, unveröffentl., Inst. f. Sprechwiss. u. Phonetik, Martin-Luther-Univers. Halle-Wittenberg.

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Darstellungsgröße ändern.

Mitarbeiter

Sven Grawunder

Sprechzeit: do 13.00-14.00 Uhr oder auf Anfrage per e-Mail

Telefon: Institut - 0345 / 55 24465

Zi.-Nr.: 3.16

e-Mail zu grawunder@sprechwiss.uni-halle.de

zur Homepage von Sven Grawunder

Publikationen:

2004

Grawunder, Sven. 2004. (In Vorb).

Überlegungen zur Ethnographie paraliguistischer Merkmale des Sprechens.

In: Anders, L. C. / Hirschfeld, U. (2004): Probleme und Perspektiven sprechwissenschaftlicher Arbeit.

Halleschen Schriften zur Sprechwissenschaft und Phonetik Band xxx. Peter Lang.

2003

Grawunder, Sven. 2003.

Comparison of Voice Production Types of ‘Western’ Overtone Singing
and South Siberian Throat Singing.

Proceedings of the 15th ICPhS, Barcelona.

Grawunder, Sven. 2003.

Der südsibirische Kehlgesang als Gegenstand phonetischer Untersuchungen.

In Gegenstandsauffassung und aktuelle Forschungen der halleschen Sprechwissenschaft,

eds. Eva-Maria Krech and Eberhard Stock, 53-91. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

1999

Grawunder, Sven. 1999.

Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs - Obertongesang vs. Kehlgesang.

Diplomarbeit, unveröffentl., Inst. f. Sprechwiss. u. Phonetik, Martin-Luther-Univers. Halle-Wittenberg.

Projekte:

*

Zur Physiologie und Akustik des südsibirischen Kehlgesanges (Promotionsvorhaben, vorauss. bis 9/2004)
o

prototypische Untersuchungen des laryngographischen und subglottischen Stimmsignals an ca. 15 Sängern aus Chakassien und Tuva
o

akustische Analyse einiger substilistischen Besonderheiten
o

Versuch der Beschreibung einer Vokaltrakt-/ Brustresonanzfunktion für die Kehlgesangsstile
*

phonetische Struktur der velaren, uvularen, epiglottalen und glottalen Verschlusslauten im Darginischen (in Zusammenarbeit mit MPI EVA, Leipzig) (seit 2001)
o

auditive, akustische und laryngographische Untersuchung an einem kleinen Korpus zweier darginischer Varietäten
*

Varietätenausprägung in einzelnen Dialekten des Mansfelder Seekreises (seit 2004)
o

altersspefischer Gebrauch dialektaler Marker
o

"language obsolessence" im Dialekt
o

Sprachwandel in den letzen 150 Jahren (nach Wenker)

Anfang

Liste aller Mitarbeiter

R.I.P.

Leonardo FUKS : biography

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 18:30

Leonardo FUKS : biography
at the lab with reed woodwindsfakir oboist (by L.F.)

Leonardo Fuks, PhD

Leonardo Fuks is a Brazilian engineer and musician who has just finished his doctoral thesis at the Department. His research project Breathing and blowing in the woodwinds: musical, acoustical and physiological aspects was supervised by prof. Johan Sundberg and supported by a CAPES grant. Back to Rio de Janeiro, he has resumed the position of associate professor at UFRJ - School of Music from January 1999.

* Publications
* Curriculum vitae
* Research project
* the Music Group staff
* the Music Acoustics home page
* THE THESIS INTRODUCTION - FROM AIR TO MUSIC: Acoustical, Physiological and Perceptual Aspects of Reed Wind Instrument Playing and Vocal-Ventricular Fold Phonation
* Sundry Sounds produced by me (including Tibetan-like voice)

Addresses:

In Sweden:

KTH - Royal Institute of Technology

TMH - Department of Speech, Music and Hearing

Drottning Kristinas v. 31
SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden

In Brasil:

UFRJ-Rio de Janeiro Federal University, School of Music

Rua do Passeio 98, 20021-290, Brasil

Home:

Av. Osvaldo Cruz 112, apto. 801, Flamengo, 22250-060, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

phone +46 (8) 790 92 66 fax +46 (8) 790 78 54

+55 (21) 5514723 leonardo@speech.kth.se

R.I.P.

Sven GRAWUNDER : bio and research interests

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 12, 2008 at 18:30

Sven GRAWUNDER : bio and research interests

Sven Grawunder, PostDoc Research fellow, speech scientist, phonetician, has been working at Department of Linguistics Max Planck institut for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA),LEIPZIG, GERMANY.

Contact: grawunde@eva.mpg.de

Sven Grawunder

PostDoc research fellow

[speech scientist, phonetician]

Department of Linguistics
Max Planck Institut for evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA),
Leipzig, Germany

contact: grawunde_at_eva.mpg.de

short CV:

* 1990-1999 study of Speech Science, Phonetics, German Linguistics, Japanology at Halle University and Netherlands Studies and Central Asian Studies at Leipzig University
* 1992-1993 civilian service at the clinics for Otorhinolaryngology, University Halle
* 1998-1999 therapist work as speech pathologist/therapist
* 1999 diploma in speech science at Halle University
* 1999-2000 study of Medical Physics at Halle University
* 2000-2004 research associate at Institute for Speech Science & Phonetics, Halle University
* 2000-2004 team member of the ALTAI-SAYAN-LANGUAGE-and-ETHNOGRAPHY-PROJECT [ASLEP (TOFA)]
a DOBES Project funded by Volkswagen-Stiftung and hosted at MPI EVAN Leipzig
* 2006 PhD in Speech Science at Halle University
* 2005- postdoctoral researcher at MPI EVAN Leipzig

research interests:

* speaker & speaking variability and learning
* typoplogy of linguistic voice quality / phonation types and tonal feature composition
* dialectology, areal typology and (socio)linguistic accomodation
* ethnography and linguistic anthropology of endangered language communities
* phonetic lab work (EPG, EGG, ultrasound, aerodynamics)
* articulatory and physiological investigation in linguistic phonetic fieldwork (EPG, EGG, ultrasound, aerodynamics)
* human paralinguistic vocal behaviour and phonetics of throat singing, throat games, overtone singing

current research projects:

* phonetics and tonology of Ket [joint work with Ed Vaijda, U Washington]
* phonetic-phonemic variation in Vilela [joint work with Lucia Gallucio, U Buenos Aires]
* gemination and sibilants in Bangla (Bengali) [joint work with Arunkumar Ghosh, Burdwan University]
* phonetic description of Santali & Gata' (Munda languages in NE-India) [joint work with Arunkumar Ghosh, Burdwan University]
* Ingush, Dargi [initially joint work with Helma van den Berg(†)]
* phonetic description of Ghulfan [joint work wit Robert S. Williams, The American University in Cairo]
* Tsez, Beshtl'a [joint work with M. Khalilov (AcadSc Makhachkala, Daghestan), A. Abdulaev, I. Maddieson]
* Varieties of Tofa, Tuvan, Khakas [joint work with K. David Harrison, Swarthmore and Gregory D. Anderson]
* phonetics (phonation types, laryngeal-velar coordination) of Western !Xóõ [joint work with Christfried Naumann, MPI EVAN, Leipzig]
* prosodic and morphophonemic features in NE-Thuringian (Mansfelder Mundart) and N-Saxonian (Ostmeissnisch)[ongoing data collection and description, joint field work Christoph Walter]
* acoustic-phonetic correlates of rhythmic features [joint work with René Schiering, U Leipzig]

fieldwork:

* Tuva 1998, 2000, 2001 (Tyvan)
* Khakassia 1998, 2000 (Khakas)
* Tofalaria 2001, 2002 (Tofa)
* Mongolia 2002 (varieties of Tyvan in Mongolia)
* Germany 2004, 2005, 2007 (Saxonian and Thuringian varieties of German)
* India 2006 (Santali, Gata', Bangla)
* Namibia 2006 (Western !Xóõ)

publications:

* Grawunder, S. (1999). Die Erforschung eines besonderen Stimmgebrauchs - Obertongesang versus Kehlgesang.
Unpublished Diploma, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Halle/S. (HTML-Version) (PDF)
* Grawunder, Sven. 2003. Comparison of Voice Production Types of ‘Western’ Overtone Singing
and South Siberian Throat Singing. Paper presented at 15th ICPhS, Barcelona.(PDF)
* Grawunder, Sven. 2003. Der südsibirische Kehlgesang als Gegenstand phonetischer Untersuchungen. In:
Gegenstandsauffassung und aktuelle Forschungen der halleschen Sprechwissenschaft, eds. Eva-Maria Krech and Eberhard Stock, 53-91. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang. (Manuskript)
* Grawunder, Sven. 2006. On the Physiology of Voice Production in South-Siberian Throat Singing - Analysis of Acoustic and Electrophysiological Evidences.
PhD thesis, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle.
* Grawunder, Bose, Hertha, Trauselt, Anders (2006): Perceptive and acoustic measurement of average speaking pitch of female and male speakers in German radio news.
Proceedings of the Interspeech 2006 — ICSLP , Pittsburgh 9/2006 (PDF)

forthcoming papers:

* Grawunder, Bose : Perceptive measurement and self evaluation of average speaking pitch of female and male speakers in German radio news.
* Grawunder, Bose : Perception of average speeaking pitch and (F1-F0) formant relation.
* Grawunder, Ghosh : Preliminary Description of Gta' (Munda) phonetics.
* Grawunder, Ghosh : Initial Consonant Clusters and Sesquisyllabic Structure in Gta' (Munda, India)
* Grawunder : Homogeneity of rhythmic measures within a homogeneous corpus - retesting nPVI and %V / ΔC for various modes of speech
* Grawunder, Vajda : Prosodeme realisations in Ket (Yeniseic) - inter- and intra-speaker variability

talks & presentations:

* (11/2001) invited talk at Ehrenkolloquium in the honour of Prof. Eva Maria Krech : „Zur Ethnographie der paralinguistischen Eigenschaften des Sprechens“
* (06/2002) invited talk at Linguistics Dep. of Ulan-Baator University "Phonetic Features and Typology of South Siberian and Mongolian Throat Singing"
* (11/2002) invited talk at Berlin overtone singing festival "Throat-singing in South Siberia"
* (5/2003) Linguistisches Kolloquium at Halle University "Tofa - Documenation of an endangered language in Siberia"
* (8/2003) 15th ICPhS, Barcelona "A comparison of voice production types of 'western' overtone singing and South Siberian throat singing" (PPT, 2,5MB)
* (6/2004) "Dialektskizze der Mundart von Höhnstedt im Saalkreis" Seminar "Dialektgeographie des Deutschen", Germanistik, Uni-Halle (Handout)
* (5/12/2005) dissertation defense presentation "Zur Physiologie der Stimmproduktion im südsibirischen Kehlgesang" (PPT, 11MB)
* (1/2006) workshop at LSA meeting in Albuquerque "How to make good audio recordings in the field?" (PPT, 8MB)
* (6/2006) 19. Sprechwissenschaftliche Fachtagung 100 Jahre Fachgeschichte an der Universität Halle
"Charakterisierung des R-Lauts im Nordostthüringischen - ein Werkstattbericht" (PDF, 2,5MB)
* (9/2006) Ethnografie von Paralinguistika bei Sprach- und Dialektobsoleszenz. Jahrestagung der GAL 2006, Münster, Germany(Abstract PDF>)
* (11/2006) Akustische Analyse initialer Konsonant-Cluster und sesquisyllabischer Strukturen im Gta' (Süd-Munda, Indien). Workshop ZAS, Berlin
* (1/2007) Pharyngealized Prosodeme Quality in Ket (Yeniseic). Poster presentation at the LSA meeting in Anaheim, CA
.

teaching:

* supervised diploma thesis:
o Franziska Blumtritt (2003) "Verschiedene Gesichtspunkte zum Problem 'Stimme bei Mann-zu-Frau-Transsexuellen'"
o Birgit Hertha (2005) "Auditive und akustische Untersuchungen zur den mittleren Sprechtimmlagen von Nachrichtensprechern im öffentlich-rechtlichen und privaten Rundfunk"
o Christoph Walter (presum. 2007) 'Phonetische Beschreibung der Umgangssprache in Blochwitz (Sachsen) [prelim. title]'
* seminars:
o phonetic segmental transcription (undergraduate level)(WS 2001/2; SS 2003)
o phonetic suprasegmental transcription (SS 2002; SS 2004) (undergraduate & graduate level)
o introduction to acouctic phonetics (undergraduate level) (SS2003)
o paralinguistic analysis (WS 2003/4, WS 2005/6) (graduate level)
o phonetic analysis (graduate level) (WS2002/3, SS 2005)
o experimental phonetics (graduate level)(WS 2004/5)
o pathophonetic analysis [clinical phonetics](WS 2001/2; SS 2005, WS 2006/7) (graduate level)
* courses
o Acoustic and prosodic analysis - Using Praat as a universal tool (University of Sonora, Hermosillo, Mexico)(8-12/1/2007)

scripts & stuff:

* PRAAT
* TIPA cheat sheet ( draft version 0.1 )
* Table note-hertz-cent ( *.xls )

links (to my other websites):

* www.fonetik.de
* www.kehlgesang.de
* www.retikulum.net

R.I.P.

Nathalie Henrich, John Smith and Joe Wolfe: Harmonic singing (or overtone singing) vs normal singing

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 11, 2008 at 8:00

Harmonic singing (or overtone singing) vs normal singing

Harmonic singing shares techniques with diphonic singing, overtone singing, xoomi singing, sygyt singing, throat singing, Tuva singing etc. We explain some of the acoustics of this style of singing in terms of the measured acoustical response of the vocal tract. In this technique, the singer emphasises one high harmonic of the voice to such an extent that it is heard separately from the low pitched note being sung. Different notes in the harmonic series may be chosen by changing the frequency of the resonance in the vocal tract that gives rise to it.

For background information on speech and ordinary singing, see our introduction to the acoustics of the vocal tract. For background about our research and techniques, see this link. On this page, we begin by looking at how the vocal tract behaves for a whisper, where the resonances of the tract are most clear, then for normal singing, then for harmonic singing.

Whisper. In the first figure, a subject whispers the vowel in 'hoard'. We show the frequency response of the vocal tract (For an explanation of the measurements, follow this link.) The sound of the whisper itself is masked by the injected signal used to measure the vocal tract resonances. The figure shows several peaks, indicated by the arrows. At these frequencies, the sound produced at the vocal folds is most effectively transmitted as sound produced in the external air. (Technically, these are peaks in the acoustic impedance of the vocal tract. At these resonant frequencies, the tract operates most effectively as an impedance transformer between the relatively high acoustic impedance of the tract and the low impedance of the radiation field at the mouth.)

graph showing the frequency response of the vocal tract for a whisper

Normal singing. In the figure below, the subject sings the same vowel at the pitch Bb3 (117 Hz). In this graph, you can see the harmonics of the voice, and you can see that the fourth and sixth harmonics appear stronger in the sound spectrum because they are near resonances of the tract.

graph showing the frequency response of the vocal tract for a sung vowel OR

Over the range shown and for this vowel, this subject's vocal tract has six resonances, which are indicated by the arrows. Note that the subject changes the first two resonances a little between whispering and singing. The frequencies of these two resonances determine the vowel in a particular accent. It is not unusual for people to have different accents when whispering, speaking and singing. The higher resonances are also substantially changed, probably because rather different vocal mechanisms are used in whispering and singing.

Harmonic singing. The next graphs show two examples of harmonic singing. In this technique, one of the vocal tract resonances is made much stronger, while all the others are weakened. The strong resonance can be made so strong that it selects one of the harmonics and makes it so much stronger than its neighbours that we can hear it as a separate note. Hear it is the eighth harmonic that is amplified. Although the fundamental is only 8 dB lower than the selected harmonic, the fundamental lies in a range in which our ears are much less sensitive, so it sounds much less loud.

graph showing the frequency response of the vocal tract for harmonic singing

How do you do it? With some difficulty! One way to strengthen the second resonance, at the expense of the others, is to make a small mouth opening and also a relatively tight constriction between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. But mainly it takes a lot of practice, using feedback. Usually the feedback comes from finding a reasonably reverberant environment (bathroom, stairwell) and listening for the individual harmonics. (Another type of feedback is to use a of the spectrum, using your computer's sound card. Yet another display uses the graphs shown here, but this last is not readily available.)

In traditional practice, some singers hold the sung pitch (fundamental) constant, and then tune the vocal tract resonances to choose one or another harmonic. They can therefore play the 'instrument' using the natural harmonics, just like players of the natural trumpet or horn. Skilled practitioners can vary the voice pitch and the resonant frequency independently. In the next graph, the fundamental has been lowered and the resonance has been raised, with the result that it is the twelfth harmonic that is amplified.

<

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/RAVE/harmonicsinging2.gif
graph showing the frequency response of the vocal tract for armonic singing

For some harmonic singers, more complicated effects than those described here may be involved. It has been suggested that, for some sygyt singers, the strong resonance in the vocal tract may drive an oscillation in the false vocal folds. This could produce a stronger signal at the high pitch. Further, because the false vocal folds would be nonlinear oscillators, they would produce strong components at integral multiples of the high pitch frequency, ie at n*f0, 2n*f0, 3n*f0 etc. An example of such a spectrum and an explanation of the false vocal fold mechanism is given by Chen-Gia Tsai at this link.

This research is part of a project investigation the acoustics of singing in general. It is undertaken by Nathalie Henrich, John Smith and Joe Wolfe.

Some related pages and explanatory notes

* This style of singing was first popularised in the West by David Hykes, whose page is at this link. He points out that "harmonic singing" refers to a broader range of techniques than just the emphasis of an overtone.
* Chen-Gia Tsai's page on "acoustics of overtone singing"

* Some interesting results about the tuning of the vocal tract by sopranos.
* An introduction to the acoustics of the vocal tract (including wavefiles of helium speech)
* Our research on voice acoustics

Some explanatory notes

* What is a decibel?
* What is a sound spectrum?
* What is acoustic impedance and why is it important?
* "Music acoustics"
* "Basics": a list of introductory pages in acoustics.

* Dr Malte Kob, in Aachen, has recently developed a system working on similar principles to the one we use. See a photograph of the hardware

http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/jw/xoomi.html

R.I.P.

Michael EMORY : Khoomei - How To's And Why's

Posted by Tran Quang Hai on April 11, 2008 at 7:58

Khoomei - How To's And Why'sDuring the past year I have learned techniques of some throat-singing styles as practiced in Central Asia. With guidance from Maj. P.C. (Ret.), and access to his collection of vocal recordings from that part of the world, I have experienced fair success in executing the forms described below. The following is intended to offer instruction to anyone with interest and patience enough to learn a way to refine self-generated sound. Previous voice training is not required. I would be delighted to hear of someone able to throat-sing while having listened to no recordings.Much of learning to throat-sing is dependent upon the recognition of an existing subtlety of one tone among many. When you hear this and find where it is and is not, you may listen as it gains clarity and power. In this manner I was able to produce two harmonics with melody soon after hearing the khoomei-borbangy of Mr. Kaigal-ool Khovalyg. I already had been ending medleys of style with the required position simply because it felt correct.Variation in the character of throat singing styles is dictated by careful positioning and movement of the tongue, lips, and jaw. These control pitch, timbre, and (in one case) suppression of harmonic overtones. Also necessary is a tightening of throat muscles to restrict the fundamental (lower, normal) tone. This allows generated overtones to dominate that which is heard. A faint harmonic melody can be produced above a relaxed and normally sung tone. With recognition of this possibility comes a realization that many singing styles consciously utilize harmonics for dramatic effect.The style of kargyraa differs in that another vibration is required of the throat.Khoomei, basic - begin by producing a long, steady note with an open, relaxed mouth and throat. by altering lip and tongue positions to say vowels, ``oooo... ohhh.... ayyy.... ahhh..... eeee....'', you will hear different overtones in ascending pitch. Cupping a hand to your ear may help you to identify these initially. Maintain one tone as you tighten your throat and stomach muscles slightly. If you choke, try a lower fundamental. If you begin coughing, go into this tightening over a period of time to avoid damage to your voice. Hard coughing is punishing to vocal cords.You should now be making ``electronic'' sounding vowels. If any of these are extended with subtle changes to the tongue, lips, or jaw (changing one element at a time as in any controlled experiment), separate overtones will gain definition. The sounds you create are feedback leading to finer mouth control.It may be difficult to sort out the overtones created by each position. Discover them as you work out a scale above one steady fundamental. Eventually simple melodies will emerge within a limited range. As you consciously create melody, avoid the temptation to alter the fundamental. This is basic khoomei.Sygyt - with your throat tightened, sing an ``e'' vowel at a comfortable pitch. Shift the jaw slightly forward and partially close the mouth with lips protruded. You should hear a drop in the pitch of the harmonic. As the sides of the tongue are held against upper premolars push sound between tongue and palate. By adjusting your lips different notes will emerge. Flexing the middle of the tongue up and down lends a wider range, greater definition and more drive to produced tones. Keep the tongue sides in contact with teeth to maintain a separate upper cavity in which overtones are generated. This is the position for sygyt used by Tuvan singers.A similar style places the tongue higher on the palate or with the tongue-tip folded back. I believe that Mongolian singers favor this position.Khoomei-borbangy - if you are able to produce a very relaxed and clear khoomei melody by varying tongue position but without jaw or lip shifts, you may begin hearing a second overtone. This is audible at a pitch between the fundamental and the melodic overtone. A third, higher, ringing overtone may also emerge (most people find it a painful curiosity only, some people think that of all throat-singing). Tongue movement to create melody must remain low in the mouth to avoid interference with the lower, more subtle harmonic. It is simplest to keep the tip rested at the base of the lower incisors while gently flexing the middle of the tongue. With practice comes greater freedom of movement. The jaw should be held forward and fairly rigid as the lips are held loosely at an ``ohh'' position. On the verge of relaxation your lips should quiver lightly and rapidly. A slight opening or closing movement of the jaw may help initiate this movement. This fine balance is an elusive state and should be allowed to happen passively on your part. If it once happens, simply try to recreate the conditions which led to its occurrence. Warm up by singing in the other styles, your lips may respond more readily.Fine control will take time to develop. The result is a pulsating overtone adding richness to a remote sounding, fluting melody.Kargyraa - this style relies upon vibrations other than those normally produced by the vocal cords. A low fundamental is used to create a powerful percussive sounds. Harmonics are created in an open mouth as in basic khoomei. Use jaw and lip changes freely. It is easy to combine this with sygyt to create chylandyk.While able to perform kargyraa, I cannot explain the mechanism used in its production. A tightening of part of the throat is involved as is a push from the diaphragm. [Forcing more air through a restricted passageway would accelerate it and may act to overload the vocal cords, changing their vibration frequency?] As my singing practice continues I realize that an ability to relax the lower portions of the throat allows surfaces deeper in the chest to resonate and enhance tonal quality. Sygyt singing is a very good warm up for kargyraa.Kargyraa may be learned by ``huffing'' air forcefully at the lowest pitch you can create, or at some level below that recognizable note. In time you should feel a regular percussive movement. When you find that you can engage that ``motor'', rise the pitch until clear overtones emerge. The amount of expelled air needed to sing passages of length may seem daunting at first. With practice you will expend less breath in generating desired sounds and can sing for longer periods. Achieving the correct throat movement is the more difficult aspect of kargyraa. As I shift from a normally sung vowel into this movement, I tighten my throat and stomach slightly, As I go from khoomei to kargyraa, I open the upper throat.Bicycle kargyraa - closely related to steppe-kargyraa but performed best on a smoothly paved road of little traffic. I am presently at work on this technique and leave it to the affluent to develop ``convertible kargyraa''.Staircase khoomei (all forms) - good acoustics if enclosed. This is a fine practice environment, better if you live alone. This and ``kitchen kargyraa'' are actually subdivisions of ``home khoomei''.Dairy products should be avoided before singing as they create mucous in the throat. Milk chocolate seems to be especially effective at this.As mentioned above, the new sensations your throat will experience was you initially try throat-singing will likely bring on coughing; it tickles. Until your throat becomes accustomed to this you should not push too rapidly. Do only a little each day. Throat-singing is good for your voice, sustained coughing is not.Why?Therapeutic aspects - as a biological feedback element khoomei has much advantage over other indicators. It is portable and needs no external power source --- just add atmosphere. It is invisible and may (or should) be as private as you wish. It reflects nicely from the inside of an auto windshield - when stuck in traffic, sing. The best Tuvan throat singers started as truck drivers.Vitality - khoomei will add color you your cheeks. Diligent practice of khoomei will enrich your speaking voice. Two out of three women prefer a khoomei man.Inter-specific effects - sygyt will freeze a squirrel and bring about a floor-belly slink in a cat. Kargyraa will cause a dog to seek an oblique horizon or to counter vocalize.Guerilla khoomei - stand near people as a motor or other humming thing passes, match its fundamental frequency, and see how much secret singing can be done. Sygyt can be easily denied: ``it came from elsewhere!''. Got guts? Try kargyraa.Thrill seeking - [see ``bicycle kargyraa'' above].Khoomei - How To's And Why'sby Michael Emoryhttp://www.fotuva.org/music/emory.html

Proceedings of the International Symposium on Musical Acoustics, March 31st to April 3rd 2004 (ISMA2004), Nara, Japan

Abstract

1. Introduction

2. Three-tiered sphincter of the larynx

3. X-ray observation

4. High-speed images

5. Acoustical analysis

6. Discussions and conclusions

References

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.