Chapter 9 Further Reading: The Voice as Instrument

Foundational Texts

Fant, Gunnar. Acoustic Theory of Speech Production. Mouton, 1960. The foundational work that established the source-filter model of speech production. Though mathematically dense, chapters 1–3 are accessible to careful undergraduate readers and provide the theoretical basis for everything discussed in this chapter. A landmark of 20th-century acoustic science.

Sundberg, Johan. The Science of the Singing Voice. Northern Illinois University Press, 1987. The most accessible and comprehensive introduction to the acoustics of singing. Sundberg's research on the singer's formant is presented clearly and with musical sensitivity. Essential reading for anyone interested in the physics of operatic and classical voice. Chapters on formant tuning, vibrato, and the singing voice in ensembles are directly relevant to this chapter.

Titze, Ingo R. Principles of Voice Production. National Center for Voice and Speech, 2000. A graduate-level technical treatment of voice science. The chapters on mucosal wave mechanics and glottal aerodynamics are outstanding but require mathematical background. Titze's work on the mucosal wave is definitive.

Story, Brad H. "A parametric model of the vocal tract area function for vowel and consonant simulation." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 2005. A research paper (accessible to motivated undergraduates) showing the relationship between vocal tract geometry and formant frequencies with quantitative precision.

Accessible Science

Sundberg, Johan. "The Acoustics of the Singing Voice." Scientific American, March 1977. An excellent, non-technical introduction to the science of singing voice, with beautiful diagrams. Available through university library databases.

Titze, Ingo R. "The physics of small-amplitude oscillation of the vocal folds." Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 1988. The paper that established the modern understanding of mucosal wave mechanics. The introduction is accessible; the mathematics require graduate-level physics.

Lerdahl, Fred. Tonal Pitch Space. Oxford University Press, 2001. Provides the music-theoretic context for understanding how the harmonic series relates to tonal pitch organization — relevant background for understanding why the overtone series is musically meaningful.

Ethnomusicology and World Vocal Traditions

Levin, Theodore C., and Michael Edgerton. "The Throat Singers of Tuva." Scientific American, September 1999. A highly accessible account of Tuvan throat singing from both ethnomusicological and acoustic perspectives. Includes spectrum analyses and clear explanations of the physics. Available through university databases.

Levin, Theodore C. Where Rivers and Mountains Sing: Sound, Music, and Nomadism in Tuva and Beyond. Indiana University Press, 2006. A comprehensive ethnomusicological account of Tuvan musical culture, including throat singing. Combines cultural context with acoustic analysis. Includes a companion CD and DVD of recordings.

Zemp, Hugo. Tabla, Sitar & Bols: North Indian Classical Music. Harmonia Mundi, 1998. Audio documentary with extensive notes on Indian classical vocal traditions and their acoustic context — useful for the cross-cultural comparisons discussed in the chapter.

Rachiele, Linda. Tibetan Buddhist Chant. Documentary film, various ethnomusicological sources. Tibetan Buddhist monasteries including Gyuto and Gyume perform incredibly low chant traditions with multiphonic qualities. Recordings of these traditions are widely available and acoustically remarkable.

Online Resources

National Center for Voice and Speech (NCVS) — ncvs.org Provides accessible explanations of voice science research, including information on the mucosal wave, formants, and vocal health. Maintained by leading voice researchers.

PRAAT software — praat.org Free, open-source acoustic analysis software used by voice scientists and linguists worldwide. Allows recording and analysis of formants, fundamental frequency, spectrogram display, and much more. No programming knowledge required for basic use. An excellent tool for the "Try It Yourself" exercises in this chapter.

UCLA Phonetics Lab Vowel Chart (search: "UCLA vowel chart" or visit phonetics.ucla.edu) Interactive visualizations of vowels across world languages, with audio examples. Excellent for exploring the F1-F2 vowel space discussed in Section 9.4.

YouTube: "Khoomei" or "Huun-Huur-Tu" The internet contains remarkable recordings of Tuvan throat singing, including high-quality video recordings of Huun-Huur-Tu, individual kargyraa masters, and Mongolian khöömei singers. For academic purposes, also search for spectrogram analyses of throat singing which have been published by several acoustics research groups.

Voice Health and Pedagogy

Miller, Richard. The Structure of Singing: System and Art in Vocal Technique. Schirmer Books, 1986. A comprehensive text on classical vocal pedagogy that attempts to bridge scientific acoustics and practical vocal training. Particularly valuable for understanding how acoustic principles translate into traditional pedagogical metaphors.

Titze, Ingo R., and Katherine Verdolini Abbott. Vocology: The Science and Practice of Voice Habilitation. NCVS Press, 2012. The definitive text on voice therapy and rehabilitation, grounded in acoustic science. Relevant to Section 9.10 on vocal health.

Zangger Borch, Daniel. Ultimate Vocal Voyage. Notfabriken, 2005. A pedagogy text that bridges scientific understanding and practical singing technique, with discussion of acoustic principles behind contemporary commercial music (CCM) styles as well as classical singing.

Evolution of Language and Music

Mithen, Steven. The Singing Neanderthals: The Origins of Music, Language, Mind and Body. Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005. An accessible account of the evolutionary origins of music and language, including discussion of the descended larynx and its implications. Mithen's "music before language" hypothesis is summarized in Section 9.12.

Lieberman, Philip. Uniquely Human: The Evolution of Speech, Thought, and Selfless Behavior. Harvard University Press, 1991. A detailed treatment of the evolution of the human vocal tract and its relationship to language evolution. Technical in parts but accessible overall.

Brown, Steven, Björn Merker, and Nils Wallin (eds.). The Origins of Music. MIT Press, 2000. An edited volume collecting perspectives from evolutionary biology, anthropology, neuroscience, and musicology on the origins of musical behavior in humans.

Listening Suggestions

  • Huun-Huur-Tu: 60 Horses in My Herd (1993) — foundational Tuvan throat singing album
  • Gyuto Monks Tantric Choir: Freedom Chants from the Roof of the World (1989) — Tibetan low chant
  • Various Artists: Deep in the Heart of Tuva — Ellipsis Arts anthology with booklet explaining techniques
  • Maria Callas: Any complete opera recording — study the singer's formant at the heights of Western operatic art
  • Ustad Rashid Khan: Classical Hindustani khyal — for cross-cultural vocal comparison
  • Carlos Núñez: Galician bagpipe and vocal music — drone-based traditions in European folk music

Research Journals

  • Journal of the Acoustical Society of America — primary research journal for voice acoustics
  • Journal of Voice — clinical and scientific research on the singing and speaking voice
  • Phonetica — research on speech production and the acoustics of language sounds
  • Music Perception — cognitive and perceptual aspects of musical sound, including voice