Timbre and type of voice. What is common and what is different? What is the timbre of the voice

01.10.2019

Voice timbre- this is the brightness of the sound, its individuality, transmitted during singing. The sound is determined by the fundamental tone and additional sounds, called overtones. The more overtones, the brighter and more colorful the voice will be. The natural amount of overtones, combined with diction training, is the secret to a mesmerizing voice.
Voice timbre, types
The most pleasant timbre is considered to be a voice that has the correct modulation, both in high and low tones. In fact, any voice with the right approach can be placed. And that means giving it a professional sound. To do this, you need to learn to control the frequency of the voice, as well as the emotional coloring. This is easy to do with the help of a vocal specialist. To determine your own timbre, you need to know what voice timbres are in general.
There are several main types:
1. Men's. The timbre of a man's voice is of three types:
tenor. This is the highest male voice. It can be lyrical or dramatic.
baritone;
bass. The lowest timbre of the voice in comparison with the above. It is central or melodious.
2. Women's. The timbres of the female voice also have 3 types:
soprano. This is a very high pitched voice. There is a lyric soprano, dramatic and coloratura.
mezzo-soprano;
contralto. This is a low voice.
What does timbre depend on?
The fundamental factor in the formation of timbre - vocal cords. It is almost impossible to find several people who are able to sing the same way. It is unlikely that you will be able to change your voice drastically. But if you turn to the teacher, then it is quite possible to improve its coloring.
How to determine the timbre of the voice?
Independently, without having certain knowledge and skills, it is almost impossible to determine the timbre. At home, you can only presumably attribute your voice to one or another type of timbre. The most accurate data can be obtained using specialized equipment - a spectrometer. It studies the outgoing sound, and then classifies it in the right direction. You can read more about spectrometers at the end of the article.
How to change the timbre of the voice
Many people would like their voice to sound different. This is especially true for singers, actors, TV presenters and all those who have to communicate for a long time.
The timbre of the voice largely depends on the characteristics of the human body. Great importance have the volume, shape of the trachea and oral resonator, as well as the density of the closure of the vocal cords. Therefore, it is not possible to radically change the sound of the voice.
However, you can give the timbre the desired color by adding low or high overtones and achieving their perfect balance. For this there are various exercises, for example, pronouncing the soft fricative "g".
The shape of the lips and the position of the tongue have a great influence on the timbre. You can experiment, for example, change the position of the jaw and talk with a fixed lower lip.
AT three years old the model of a person's voice changes, it becomes more restrained. We diligently control the volume and intonation, tense the vocal cords, and as a result use only a small part of our capabilities. How to restore the natural voice, how to expand the range of the voice? Exercises and techniques will also help you with this.
What affects the timbre of the voice? 1. First of all, smoking should be noted. The longer the experience of this addiction, the lower the timbre of the voice will be.
2. Improper nutrition, chronic lack of sleep. You need to understand that any mood, be it good or bad, affects the timbre of the voice.
3. Hypothermia, cold. Everything is obvious here. You need to protect yourself from the cold, try not to drink ice-cold drinks and refuse ice cream.
4. The period of growing up. AT transitional age the timbre of the voice becomes coarser. Of course, this process cannot be changed.
Spectrometer and more
The device that is used to determine the timbre of the voice is called a spectrometer. His device includes a microphone. special purpose and sound amplifier. During its operation, the sound is divided into components using electro-acoustic filters. The whole process is displayed on the instrument display. Then the device in certain formats explores the composition of speech sounding, since it is the speech format that has a direct impact on the recognition of voice sounding in singing. Most often, the recognition of the timbre of the voice by the device is carried out by the way the first three vowels are pronounced.
It is desirable to determine the timbre of the voice before starting serious vocal lessons in order to select the most suitable exercises and parts to improve vocal data.
How to know your voice tone?
It is best to sign up for several classes with a qualified specialist in the production of a singing voice. To determine the timbre, they use parameters such as tessitura endurance and some other features. In order to determine the timbre of the voice, the vocal teacher selects works that have different tessitura. This allows you to determine which note pitch best suits a particular vocalist. Singing several pieces of music with different musical octaves, you can determine which of them is sung easily and comfortably, and which one has to be sung with vocal cord tension. Each person tends to take notes of a certain height. Only an experienced teacher will be able to correctly assess the range and timbre of each vocalist's voice by how he sings individual notes in a certain octave, and will name the main differences between a falsetto and a chest voice or a tenor from a baritone.

In the music of the 20th century, such a characteristic of sound as timbre began to play a key role in the concept of new and in the formation of new vocal techniques. What is timbre and what are its varieties?

Timbre in music - what is this category?

"Timbre" is translated from French. as a "sign". Timbre in music is a specific coloring of sound. If you take the same note of the same pitch or volume on different instruments, the sound will still differ significantly due to the timbre characteristics of the instrument. The same vocal parts, performed by two different vocalists, are easy to distinguish by ear due to the special timbre coloring of the voice.

The concept of "timbre" definition in music is far from the only one, but they all boil down to the fact that timbre is the same important characteristic of sound as, for example, loudness, pitch or duration. A variety of adjectives are used to describe the timbre: low, dense, deep, soft, bright, muffled, sonorous, etc.

Types of timbres according to A.N. Sohoru

Timbre in music is a multicomponent phenomenon. The famous musicologist A.N. Sohor distinguishes 4 types of timbre:

instrumental - depends on the structural features of the instrument and the nature of the sound extraction;
harmonic - depends on the nature of the combination of sounds;
register - depends directly on the natural tessitura of the voice or register of the instrument;
textured - depends on the level of density and "viscosity" of sound, acoustics, etc.

Voice timbres

Timbre in music is an important characteristic for a singing voice. Especially in the conditions of pop competition, it is important how memorable the vocalist's timbre is.

Timbre human voice depends primarily on the structure of the vocal apparatus. The degree of development and "training" of the vocal apparatus also has a sufficient influence on the timbre characteristics. Often, after hard work, vocalists change to a higher one, and after suffering diseases of the vocal apparatus, the timbre becomes lower.

Why are timbre characteristics important?

The need to single out one more category among the characteristics of sound - timbre - is dictated by a number of reasons. The most important of them is that the timbre (whether instrumental or vocal) helps to give the musical work the right mood, to place important accents.

When a musical arrangement is made (especially if it is an orchestration), it is simply impossible not to take into account the creative task and the timbre characteristics of the instruments. For example, it will not be possible to give lightness and airiness to the sound if you entrust the performance of a musical passage to a double bass or trombone, in which the sound timbre is different. large quantity low overtones; it is impossible to achieve the effect of forcing the atmosphere using the gentle play of a harp.

The same thing happens during the selection of repertoire for the vocalist. As a rule, blues and jazz parts do not work out well for sopranos or tenors, because this requires a dense, velvety, juicy, low timbre of sound, perhaps even with “hoarseness” - this is required by the very specifics of the genre (the smoky atmosphere of cabaret, cafes and etc.). At the same time, performers with low timbres look unfavorable in many other musical genres and performance techniques (for example, in "screaming", which is designed specifically for high sonorous voices).

Thus, timbre is the characteristic that largely determines the atmosphere of a sounding piece of music, and most importantly, it evokes certain emotions in a person about what he hears.

Singing voices can be classified different ways. The division into groups is carried out taking into account physiological characteristics, timbre, mobility, pitch range, location of transitional notes, and other parameters. The most convenient and popular today, known since the 16th century, is the classification of vocalists by gender and range. In our vocal studio, we distinguish six main types:

baritone;
tenor.

contralto;
mezzo-soprano;
soprano.

Characteristics of the singing voice

Soprano. The highest variety of female vocal voices. It is distinguished by figurativeness, sonority, transparency, flight. The vocalist is characterized by a light, mobile, open sound. Soprano character:

dramatic;
lyrical;
coloratura

There are also singers with lyric-dramatic, lyric-coloratura soprano.

Famous owners of soprano vocals: Montserrat Caballe, Maria Callas. Famous stars of the national opera: Vishnevskaya G.P., Kazarnovskaya L.Yu., Netrebko A.Yu. Parts written for soprano: The Queen of the Night (“The Magic Flute” by Mozart), Violetta (“La Traviata” by Verdi). Variety performers with soprano: Lyubov Orlova, Tolkunova Valentina Vasilievna, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears.

Mezzo-soprano. It is remembered for its rich, rich sound, sonorous, deep timbre. Sounds lower than soprano, but higher than contralto. Subtypes: dramatic, lyrical. Famous owners of this type were Tatyana Troyanos, Obraztsova E.V., Arkhipova I.K. The opera part of Amneris in Aida was written for mezzo-soprano. Variety mezzo-sopranos: Avril Lavigne, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey.

The lowest, rarest female voice is contralto. It is distinguished by a velvety powerful sound, luxurious chest notes. Examples of contralto can be found in Tchaikovsky's operas "Eugene Onegin" (Olga), Verdi's "Masquerade Ball" (Ulrika). The soloist of the Mariinsky Theater M. Dolina was the owner of the contralto. Contralto singers on stage: Cher, Edita Pieha, Sofia Rotaru, Courtney Love, Katy Perry, Shirley Manson, Tina Turner.

High male voice types are represented by lyric, dramatic or lyric-dramatic tenor. Characterized by mobility, melodiousness, lightness, softness. An example of a lyrical tenor is Lensky in Eugene Onegin, a dramatic one is Manrico from Il trovatore, a lyrical-dramatic one is Alfred (the hero of La Traviata). Famous tenors: I. Kozlovsky, S. Lemeshev, Jose Carreras. Tenors on the stage: Nikolai Baskov, Anton Makarsky, Jared Leto, David Miller.

The name "baritone" in Greek means heavy. The sound is between bass and tenor. Differs in great power, brightness in the upper half of the range. There are lyrical (Figaro in Rossini's The Barber of Seville) and dramatic (Amonasro in Verdi's Aida) baritones. Of the famous opera singers, the baritone was owned by Pasquale Amato, Hvorostovsky D.A. Variety baritone singers: Iosif Kobzon, Mikhail Krug, Muslim Magomayev, John Cooper, Marilyn Manson.

The voice is an important part of the image business man. A beautiful voice tends to bewitch the mind, enchant and dispose the owner to any person. This explains the popular love for hearing and singing songs. Television and radio journalists, lawyers, politicians and other public figures, thirsting for fame and universal recognition, at the dawn of their careers do not spare money and effort on.

Interesting! Experts have long known that a correctly set timbre determines almost 30% of success. However, if you try with training, this figure can reach 100%. Everyone knows that when recruiting radio presenters, special education is relegated to the background, and the presence of a colorful timbre comes first.

The timbre that exists now is determined by many factors, the main of which are the anatomical features of the ligaments and the current psychological condition person. Among people whose profession does not involve attracting the attention of the public, perhaps exercises for developing the voice are not relevant. Although in vain. After all, the timbre refers to communication, that is, it in itself can arrange a person or, conversely, repel him, regardless of the words spoken.

The good news is that everyone can train their vocal cords and achieve a great tone that the audience will be ready to listen to for hours. Or perhaps working with the respiratory tract will open up new facets of personality and pave the way for a vocal career.

How to explain the concept of "timbre of voice"?

What can be taught for years in music educational institutions? Why is musical education necessary for a stage career? The fact is that the theoretical part of music contains a lot of interesting things. They cannot be repeated without the help of a specialist and without the participation of tools, but it will be useful for everyone to know about this.

Perhaps not everyone knows that tonality is not completely subject to genetic factors. Can be shared with parents and relatives only the structure of the upper respiratory organs. Given their plasticity, the ligaments can be trained through vocal exercises to develop the voice.

In timbre, two factors are distinguished: the leading tone and its specific shade - the overtone. If the tone of the leading tone is low and warm, the person's voice has the same characters.

The timbre of the voice tends to change frequently, especially for. For example, depending on the mood of a person. Also, a significant influence is played by the current psychological state of a person, his level of health and the degree of fatigue. In the presence of such factors, the voice loses its brightness and becomes monotonous.

Stress causes tension in the shoulder muscles and upper back. Heaviness appears in the tissues, which prevents a bright sound.

When pronouncing sounds, several organs are involved, which determine its final sound. Here are the factors that affect the quality of sound reproduction:

ligament closure density;
trachea size;
the shape of the trachea;
resonator volume.

These are fundamental characteristics. In addition, there are factors that spontaneously change the tone of the sound. These include:

age factor. If children always have a bright sound, then as they grow older, it changes to coarser tones;
diseases respiratory tract, cold. With a cold, the reproduction of sounds becomes low and hoarse;
bad habits. Smoking and alcohol greatly irritate the receptors of the respiratory tract and ligaments. The voice gradually becomes rough, the timbre decreases. Therefore, artists are strictly forbidden to smoke;
psychological stress.

But these factors are temporary. During this period, there is no need to bother yourself by resorting to exercises to develop the voice. The timbre will be restored as soon as the annoying factor is eliminated.

Voice types

When a person is in a calm mood and emotionally stable, his manner of speaking and timbre also seem attractive to others. Some people have this property by nature. Others need to make an effort so that the tone of speech does not betray everything. internal problems. But voice training works wonders - a person can very easily learn to control it.

At the same time, the role of emotions, feelings and even body position cannot be discarded. It is not for nothing that future singers are taught not only to develop a voice for singing, but also to control body movements and. All these factors together produce the desired effect in the minds of the audience.

Music theory considers masculine, feminine, and childish tones separately. Each of them has its own names. Male sounds are of three types:

Baritone, represented by Dmitry Hvorostovsky.
A low male tone is called "bass". Fyodor Chaliapin's voice is of this type.
The high tone is called the tenor. The representative of this type is the singer Placido Domingo.

Types of female tonalities of sound:

Mezzo-soprano. To distinguish this type aloud, you should listen to the singer Cecilia Bartoli.
The high female timbre is called soprano. Representative of this type Opera singer Montserrat Caballe.
A low feminine tone is called a contralto. This type is best characterized by the singer Adele.

Children's sound tones are divided into two types: viola and treble.

This terminology is used exclusively in professional circles. A simpler and more understandable classification divides voices into soft, cold, hard, hard, weak and other types. However, it cannot be said that each of these types is characteristic of one person. Professional singers are able to reproduce each type of timbre.

Determine the sonority of a tone professional knowledge quite difficult. But those who have an idea about the types of timbre can assume that the timbre belongs to one or another type.

There is a special device - a spectrometer. It gives more accurate results. The device analyzes the tonality of the sound and will help to attribute it to one or another category. It consists of a microphone and a voice amplifier. The filters built into the device perceive sound signals, divide them into small components and give the result. You don't have to sing to determine your voice type. The device is able to analyze even at the usual pace of conversation.

Many are interested in how they sound from the outside. Some, when they first hear themselves from the outside, are surprised or shocked. The point is that in view of anatomical features, we hear ourselves differently, through internal sound channels. Our middle ear distorts sounds.

There is simple options definitions. The most accessible of them is to record your speech on a voice recorder and listen to it. It is best if the other person does it, discreetly. This will be a more natural version.

Another way is to cover one ear with the palm of your hand and speak or sing. This simple technique reduces distortion through the inner ear, and we will hear our own persona as close as possible to how others hear us.

The same effect will be given by two pieces of cardboard paper applied to the ears at the time of singing or speaking.

If you do not like your own tone, then do not be upset. It can be completely corrected with the help of special exercises or voice training for singing.

How to measure the timbre of a voice?

As already mentioned, a spectrometer will help with this. After the type of voice is determined, it is necessary to decide - how do you want to hear it? Depending on these desires, songs for voice development and other exercises are selected.

Also, many IT specialists know that the voice can be changed beyond recognition with the help of computer programs. There are even rumors that some famous singers do not have a natural singing talent, but use a technically synthesized sound.

To set the correct tonality, several conditions are necessary:

relaxed state of the shoulders, abdomen and chest;
healthy condition;
plasticity of the tongue and lips;
repetition of certain sounds.

If everything is clear with the first two points, then the second ones require clarification. The plasticity of the tongue and lips is achieved through the expressive pronunciation of consonants. To cleanse the ligaments, vowels should be pronounced loudly and for a long time: ii, ee, yy, yy, etc.

Experts believe that regular training for 2-3 weeks will give tangible results.

The voice of each person is unique in its sound and features. If we talk about the characteristics of singing voices, then here distinctive features such as timbre, range, pitch and personality.

How to determine the type of voice? The classification of male and female voices according to vocal characteristics, which exists today, was invented in the Italian opera school. It is not difficult to find out what type of voice the performer has while listening. Experts pay attention to its timbre, tonality, features and tessitura, and then draw a conclusion.

Timbre

The timbre of the voice is called its individual coloring and brightness. The voice may sound rich or soft, the coloring may be dark or light. Teachers distinguish the following types of voice timbre: sharp and soft, chest, head, mixed.

A vocalist who has a soft and pleasant timbre to the ear will be more in demand than one who has a harsh and repulsive manner of singing. In fact, it depends on the timbre of the voice whether a person can practice vocals.

The timbre of each of us is unique, so we can easily determine sounding voice one of my favorite singers thanks to his individual characteristics.

About tonality

It is worth considering that in each work the voice may sound differently, so it is better to sing in your working range. We, in turn, call them the range of notes to which the vocalist is able to give a beautiful color and high-quality sound. Here we are not talking about the full range of notes that a person can hit with his voice. So, based on the working range, it is worth choosing the key for a particular work.

What is a range?

The range of each type of voice is determined during singing, as well as in the process of performing a song in a key that is convenient for a person. In most cases, singing voices have a specific range, thanks to which it is easy to determine its type. Particularly appreciated are performers who have a wide working range and can therefore replace one of their colleagues with a different voice.

About tessitura

A tessitura is a part of the range in which the singer is comfortable singing. That is, it can be comfortable or uncomfortable for a certain voice. It happens that a song can be comfortable for one performer, but not for another, although both have the same range. This means that they have different parts of the range for comfortable singing. Therefore, the wider it is, the more convenient it is to sing.

Moreover, the performer must learn correct technique singing. The wrong one distorts the voice. To make it sound beautiful and convincing, you need to pay attention to the following technical features:

You should breathe with the diaphragm, that is, the stomach should rise when you inhale, and fall when you exhale. This will give you more control over
Save correct posture while singing. It is better to keep the neck straight and relaxed. If you stand up straight, it will be easier to breathe.
The back of the throat should be open while singing, sing the vowels clearly.

Any person can put his singing technique. If we talk about vocal technique, then development will depend on the presence of concentration of memory and attention, lung capacity and characteristics of the vocal cords. In fact, no matter what a person's physiological features and vocal data, it is possible to develop a singing voice.

For voice development

Do not set too high standards for yourself in anticipation of progress, be patient and continue to train your voice.
Sing simple songs first, and then take on more complex ones.
Cold and hot drinks harm the vocal cords. It is better to drink water at room temperature, and when you sing, moisten your throat with warm water from time to time.
Feel what you are performing, try to feel and convey the emotions of this song.
It is important to determine which musical style is more native to you, for this, practice singing different styles music.
It is good for the ear to play notes on the piano and sing along.
Avoid orange juice and milk drinks as they coat your throat and make it difficult to sing.
Speak in your normal intonation, as both whispering and shouting can harm your vocal cords.

Characteristics of female voice types

First, consider the types of female voices. Most female vocalists have a soprano voice. By the way, it is he who has the largest number of varieties. It has a sonorous and transparent character, as well as expressiveness, the sound is open and light.

There are dramatic, lyric and coloratura soprano.

The mezzo-soprano is known for its rich sound and deep timbre. The sound of such a voice is lower than that of a soprano. This voice can also be dramatic or lyrical.

Main types of male voices

If we talk about the baritone, then this is a heavier type of voice than the tenor. It has a bright and strong sound in the upper part of the range. Baritones are lyrical and dramatic.

Some misconceptions about the classification of voices by type

Some researchers are of the opinion that supposedly there are no types of voice at all, and only female and male are distinguished. They believe that the sound of the voice depends only on the specific features of the methods and performances, in other words, any woman can be a contralto, a mezzo-soprano, and a soprano.

However, the vocal data of many performers confirm the absurdity of these statements. Only in very rare cases can a person have special vocal abilities that allow him to sing different types votes. In most cases, the performer cannot overcome differences in tessitura, such as thirds. Moreover, a tessitura too high or too low by only one tone can harm the voice.

Let's mention other misconceptions regarding voice types. There is an opinion that pop singers do not need to determine the type of voice, and that they are classified only for academic singing. But such an opinion differs from reality, since the types of human voice are divided by nature into three female and three male.

In addition, some confuse the timbre and type of voice, although these are completely different terms. The type of voice refers to pitch features, and varieties of timbre do not play a special role in this delicate matter, as the definition of the type of voice. Individual timbre indicators are important for choosing your singing style, and for marking the artistic characteristics of the voice. So, voice types are its pitch indicators, determined using the scale of the scale.

About the features of the voice

The human voice cannot be replaced by any known to us musical instruments, nor the voice of any other creatures, therefore the human soul reacts very subtly to live singing, receiving promptings for the heart and mind.

In the past, there was an opinion that phoniatry is capable, by examining the size and shape of the Adam's apple, to determine the type of voice of the performer. It was believed that the tenor would have a less noticeable Adam's apple, while the bass had a more prominent one. But after numerous examinations and scientific research it became clear that the structure of the Adam's apple and larynx does not affect the type of voice. If we talk about ligaments, their structure can play a role, but you need to evaluate the thickness, strength, size and elasticity.

So, there is a specific complex external signs and personal feelings that help determine the type of voice while singing. Vocal cords people are very sensitive, they are quite easy to damage, which will harm the voice, or it may completely disappear.

Since teachers sometimes make mistakes too, it is better not to strain your voice too much during the hearings, for example, by performing a song in a not very comfortable tessitura. If someone's voice seems to you more vivid and expressive than yours, do not forget that each of us has a unique voice, so sing only in your own manner.

It's interesting that when law enforcement they are looking for criminals, they are given out by the features of the voice. To search for offenders, special services use specially developed speech identification methods. Thanks to the individual sound, which is called overtones, it is not difficult for us to recognize the voice of one or another familiar person.

In fact, it is an indicator of mental and emotional state each individual, an expression of our internal forces. It is thanks to the voice that one can hear fear of the public, depression, delight, hysteria, feel gratitude or hatred.