Articulatory Activity Of The Tongue, Jaw, And Lips During The Second Passaggio Acoustic Transition Of Female Singers
Thursday 15th September 2022, 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (London Time)
Sopranos typically exhibit an acoustic modification between 600 and 700 Hz (on /ɑ/) during which second resonance (R2) tracking of the second harmonic (2fo) changes to first resonance (R1) tracking of the fundamental (fo).
To quantify the alteration, the sound pressure level difference between the first two harmonics (L1-L2) was measured for chromatic scales sung between C5♮ and G5♮ (523 to 784 Hz) by 17 sopranos (9 judged by the first author as “techniqued” and 8 as “untechniqued” and confirmed by perceptual experiment).
Techniqued sopranos shifted from negative to positive values of L1-L2 as early as D5♮ (587 Hz), while the least techniqued singers did not make the change at all.
Articulatory correlates were measured using ultrasound of the tongue and optical tracking.
Head-corrected tongue contours showed the most critical articulatory factor to be the size of a triangular area between two points on the hard palate and the most anterior tongue point.
Sopranos who made the change earliest exhibited the largest anterior oral cavities whereas sopranos who never made the acoustic change had significantly smaller anterior cavities.
Larger anterior oral cavities appear to accommodate lower frequencies of R2, presumably lowering L2 and increasing L1-L2. [Supported by NIH grant DC-002717.]
Dr Richard Lissemore
Dr. Richard Lissemore is a well-known performer, educator, and researcher of the singing voice. Educated at two of America’s finest conservatories, he holds an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard Opera Center and a Master of Music from Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music. Additionally, he is a Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude graduate of Rutgers University with a degree in microbiology and music.
Sorry, this is an archived short course...
We have plenty of upcoming short courses coming soon. See details of some of them below or look at the full list of short courses.
Wednesday 14th October 2026
3:00 PM - 5:00 PM
(London Time)
Thinking Outside the Voice Box: Adolescent Female Voice Change
Dr Bridget Sweet-Manternach
Join Dr Bridget Sweet for this 2 hour session as she unpacks this fascinating topic. The purpose of this course is to bring attention to adolescents who experience an estrogen-dominant voice change and to encourage new and holistic ways of thinking about [assigned at birth] female voices. While considering physical changes during adolescence, we will unpack basic vocal anatomy and physiology and then discuss what happens to the vocal mechanism during voice change for females vs. [assigned at birth] males.
Monday 19th October 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Tuesday 20th October 2026
2:00 PM - 4:00 PM
(London Time)
Introduction to Vocal Acoustics for Spoken and Sung Voice
Gökçe Kutsal
This course is designed to break down the fundamentals of acoustics for both spoken and sung voice in a beginner-friendly, accessible way — so you can easily understand and apply these concepts to your teaching or research.
Tuesday 20th October 2026
5:00 PM - 7:00 PM
(London Time)
Practical Magic*: The Art & Science of Balancing Voices with SOVTs and VFEs
Melanie Tapson
Through live demonstrations, group practice, and peer coaching, you’ll learn how to teach SOVTs and VFEs with clarity and precision, integrate their principles to support vocal health, recovery, and stylistic flexibility and troubleshoot challenges and adapt exercises for individualized results.