Formants

Breathing apparatus, vocal folds, cavity system

Three parts of the human voice

Voice source and vocal tract

The acoustic character of the voice is shaped by

Articulation

Changing the shape of the vocal tract

Articulators

Structures that we use to arrange the shape of the vocal tract

Resonance Frequency

The frequency at which a reflected sound with return in the shape pattern as the original

Formants

A naturally occurring range of frequencies that are amplified in the vocal tract

5 formants

Number of formants of interest in the vocal tract

1st and 2nd formants

The formants that determine vowel quality

3rd, 4th, and 5th formants

Determine personal voice timbre

Mandible, tongue, lip opening, larynx, and side walls of pharynx

The articulators of the vocal tract

Mandible

The articulator that changes the 1st formant

Tongue shape

The articulator that changes the 2nd formant

Tip of tongue (between lower teeth and base of tongue)

The articulator of the 3rd formant

More complicated but dependent on vocal tract length and deep pharynx

The 4th and 5th formants

Tunes formant frequency

Changing the length of the vocal tract

Singer’s Formant

A specific resonance in the vocal tract that enhances a singer’s voice allowing it to be heard over an orchestra (around 3000 hertz)

Lowering the larynx

Achieves singer’s formant

Vowel color

The price singers pay for her singer’s formant