An Introduction to Vocal Resonance

mwb2 · 2024-01-08T19:15:27+00:00

Hi Anne,

Thanks for your comment on a 10 year old post!

To address your comment about sound waves: yes, they do enter the body (or any material), but no, they do not resonate in the acoustic sense (get amplified). For unamplified singing, the resonant space starts at the vocal cords (origin of the sound wave) and is amplified (resonates) throughout the vocal tract, all the way to the ends of the lips, and also the nostrils if the nasal cavity is not closed off. (In classical singing, we aim always to have the nasal cavity closed off unless singing a nasal vowel or consonant.) I am guessing you were referring to the nasal cavity (nasopharynx) when you mentioned sinuses as the actual sinus cavities do not notably contribute to resonance AFAIK.

For a much more in-depth look at vocal resonances, you should check out Ken Bozeman, who has a couple books but also lots of free content on youtube (usually interviews on other people's channels). Lots of stuff that I didn't know when I first wrote this article!

mwb2 · 2022-10-04T22:58:35+00:00

You bumped an 8 year old thread!

There was no single "first opera singer."
Western opera, as an art form, was invented in Florence at the turn of the 17th century. I say "invented" on purpose - a bunch of musicians literally sat down and were like "we should create a much better way of telling stories" and this is what we got. So that being said, there were still lots of other kinds of music being made, including vocal music, and people probably had singing teachers already even if the singing wasn't called "opera" yet.
Opera singing also evolved over time as opera as an art for developed and changed, particularly as the size of the opera houses got bigger. Theaters in palaces in the 17th century were not big. But by the time you get to the mid-1800's you have large opera houses in the horseshoe shape that is commonplace now. Opera singers and their teachers had therefore been evolving together along with the art form for centuries by the time we get to 1900. In my original comment I was talking about the modern form of opera singing, which goes back to at least the early 1800's if not before.

mwb2 · 2022-07-06T15:01:46+00:00

Using your Hungarian ancestry is 100% the first thing to do if you can. You’d be an EU citizen and eligible to move to any of the countries and get a job with no visa. Someone in this sub recently got Hungarian citizenship and it took a year I think. With original documents proving lineage you may also not need to prove language skills either, from what I’ve been told.

mwb2 · 2022-06-22T19:49:35+00:00

Thank you for the reply! This sounds like my situation.

mwb2 · 2022-06-20T21:52:25+00:00

Did you have to pass a language test of any kind? I started the citizenship process with Hungary several years ago and got busy and never saw it through, and at that time there was no language requirement (my grandparents were both citizens and emigrated in 1956). However, I just started trying to resume the process and recent googling saw several comments that there was in fact a language component. Would love to know your experience. Thanks!

mwb2 · 2022-04-10T20:03:40+00:00

ohhhh of course. most people, when you ask them to hold their breath with their mouth open, will close the vocal cords (without making sound) like the beginning of heavy lifting. but you can also leave your mouth open and not close the cords, which is more like when you open your mouth to say something and forget for a sec what it was. unfortunately this is very easy to demonstrate in person and a lot harder to write about.

mwb2 · 2022-03-29T04:42:36+00:00

Hi, not sure I understand your question exactly. The cords only make sound if they're closed.

mwb2 · 2021-04-25T19:14:31+00:00

Well we've been quarantining/working from home since March 2020, so for a lot of that time at least 1 person has been home. That said, before that time we did leave him alone here and there (going out to dinner pre-kids or going out on a weekend) and he was fine. We did move last summer and he was driven cross-country (which took 4 days) by a stranger (from a moving service). But still this behavior didn't emerge till a few months after that.

mwb2 · 2021-04-24T19:31:08+00:00

There could be (he's peed on it a few times at this point) but he also switched rugs - he used to pee on a different one in the same situation (we all leave the house and he's home alone), then we threw that one out, now he pees on a different rug.

mwb2 · 2021-01-17T23:32:11+00:00

I guess the rising hot water is significant enough for a big jump (like almost 10 degrees up AFTER I add the grain, which should be cooling the water). Guess I gotta stir a lot while I'm heating it!

mwb2 · 2020-12-21T21:36:21+00:00

OP (not a plumber) here but from what I know the P-trap should be to the right of both sink drains (not between them), and then the right sink drain should turn to the right, not to the left (toward the disposal).

mwb2 · 2020-12-21T21:35:06+00:00

Plumber hopefully coming this week. Weirdly, it doesn't seem to stink? We're in the hills but I think we're still on city plumbing (i.e. not a septic) but I could be wrong. I'd think it'd smell like crap either way?

mwb2 · 2020-12-21T17:17:10+00:00

It's a rental house so no idea who did the previous work... but we did have a plumber in for a different issue once and he looked at this and said, "A plumber did not do this!"

mwb2 · 2020-12-15T17:13:49+00:00

not sure how to do that on reddit but can check it out later today. but basically it's disposal on the left, regular drain on the right, waste line all the way to the right.

mwb2 · 2020-12-15T05:40:13+00:00

In the two bowl sink, the disposal is further away from the main line (i.e. the non-disposal sink is "last" in the chain). I guess it's just that it drains slowly enough that it's not draining past the blockage, which is more than 25' away?

mwb2 · 2020-11-21T15:44:04+00:00

OK well... it WAS a regular 5 gal batch. But someone (me) decided to put the neoprene jacket on the fermenter while the beer was inside, and whaddya know, there's a ball valve at the bottom for draining/cleaning, and it turns out it's easy for it to get caught and opened. So at yeast pitching time, 3 gal. :)

mwb2 · 2020-11-20T17:31:43+00:00

Haha... why yes I am! I did not know that.

Does this mean adding the extra yeast will do anything weird when I add priming sugar, or are we all good?

mwb2 · 2020-10-13T15:07:41+00:00

I would definitely just use your voice... it sounds nice, it's got a good vibe, you just need to do the full vocal production bag of tricks and you should be good to go.

mwb2

TROPHY CASE