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which means that the spectrograph 220hz is produced by the vocal folds, will help move the sound towards
will not always display a spectral we are actually hearing the implied one spectral envelope or another.
envelope in the expected shape of fundamental, as it is generated by For instance, a bright [æ] vowel will
a given sound. The [o] vowel, for the upper harmonics. The spectral naturally narrow the vocal tract and
example, boosts frequencies around shape of any pitch below 220hz will boost higher harmonics, which can
440hz. Pitches sung with that vow- inevitably show a weak fundamental aid in creating the Narrow Band
el and at that frequency will clearly (Image 8). sound, even when the Overtone

reflect the Fundamental Dominant Recall that the Fundamental Dominant notehead is employed.
sound in a spectrograph. Pitches Dominant sound is created by em- Similarly, the presence of a retro-
sung on [o] below that frequency phasizing the fundamental and at- fl ex [ɹ] shape in the mouth, like in
will still show a frequency boost in tenuating upper harmonics. The the word “near,” will push the sound

440hz range, affecting the visual rep- above image might imply that the towards the Overtone Dominant
resentation of the spectral envelope. sung pitch is closer to the Narrow sound.
If one were to sing an [æ] vowel at Band sound, with attenuated upper
440hz, the spectral envelope would and lower harmonics, rather than
show a boost in upper harmonics, the Fundamental Dominant Sound. Conclusion
requiring adjustments to the vocal For frequencies below 220hz, how- The diverse possibilities of hu-
tract to maintain the Fundamental ever, the Fundamental Dominant man sound are complex, exciting,
Dominant Sound. This is why vowel Sound is created by emphasizing the and not easy to place in confi ned
choice and vowel modifi cation are lowest boosted harmonics, typically boxes. This categorization of vocal
an integral part of creating the vari- the 2nd through 4th harmonics in sounds is only a fi rst step towards
ous timbres discussed. the series, while continuing to atten- understanding and utilizing timbres
In addition, the typical vocal tract uate higher frequency bands. for vocal ensembles. My hope is that
can lengthen only so far, which re- Finally, it is important to note that by categorizing certain sounds cou-
sults in the boosting of lower fre- there are many possible vocal tim- pled with this visual notational tool
quencies, and is generally unable bres beyond the four listed above, will encourage the use of timbral ex-
to boost frequencies below ~220hz. including hybrid timbres. Use of ploration in vocal ensemble compo-
When a fundamental lower than certain vowel shapes and consonants sition, and will empower conductors
and ensemble singers alike to expand
their range of expressive singing.

Appendix
For those interested in replicating
the images provided in this paper, I
have included in this appendix the
technical settings I used while creat-
ing the spectrographic images. The
images come from the Voce Vista
software using a vertically oriented
spectrum on a logarithmic scale. The
visual and audio settings I chose for
Image 8. A2 (110 hz) sung by a male voice on an [u] vowel. Note the relative strength the images taken from the software—

of the fundamental pitch to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th harmonic. Spectrograph shows a range all of which can affect the shape of
of 80hz-1,000hz. the spectrograph output—include:

62 CHORAL JOURNAL April 2021 Volume 61 Number 9