“Tracking the Air Exhaled by an Opera Singer” [by Philippe Bourrianne, Paul R. Kaneelil, Manouk Abkarian, and Howard A. Stone, Physical Review Fluids, vol. 6, no. 11, 2021] is one of the studies featured in “Viruses Research Review: Group Sex, Singer, Saint, Count“, which is a featured article in the special Viruses and Pandemics issue […]
The airflow from a trained opera singer has been studied intensively. It led to this video, a year ago, and now to a published study (and a new video, too). The study is “Tracking the Air Exhaled by an Opera Singer,” Philippe Bourrianne, Paul R. Kaneelil, Manouk Abkarian, and Howard A. Stone, Physical Review Fluids, […]
A beautiful or not-so-beautiful voice can be made more beautiful by sticking Carpi’s voice rectifier in one’s mouth, perhaps. The well-more-than-century-old device is enshrined in a patent: “Voice Rectifier,” US patent 527235, granted to Vittorio Carpi, 1894. Carpi explains: Be it known that I, VITTORIO CARPI, of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State […]
Which (opera) singers tend to live longer – sopranos, contraltos, tenors or basses? This question was formally investigated in 2011 by researchers Abel EL, Kruger MM and Pandya K. of the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, US. Pertinent answers may be found in : Sopranos but not tenors live […]
Are you a singer? Are you endeavouring to reach ever higher notes? With the assistance of helium inhalations? Maybe think again. “A 23-year-old singer inhaled helium from a high-pressure tank to produce a change in his voice. The last of the eight inspiratory efforts was accidentally done without pressure reduction. As described by his colleagues, […]
“Are People Bad Singers?”, in the special Music issue of the Annals of Improbable Research, gathers research about that high-pitched question. Read the article free (PDF). Then, if you dare, purchase the issue, or subscribe to the magazine.
The insides of a singer singing are on display in this video, produced by researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry. And here’s a look inside a talker talking: The Max Planck Institute is celebrating some of the work that made this kind of video possible. In particular, they say: The European Patent […]
Some scientific papers seem meant—because of their topic—to be sung aloud, if only the wording were adjusted to make them easier to sing. Here’s one such study: “‘Ring’ in the Solo Child Singing Voice,” David M. Howard, Jenevora Williams [pictured here], Christian T. Herbst, Journal of Voice, epub November 11, 2013. The authors, at the […]
When singers sing high notes, their eyebrows go higher than when they sing low notes. While that may not be an absolute physiological rule, a team of Danish and American researchers discovered that it happens pretty consistently. They lay out the evidence, and explain what it may mean, in a study called Facial Expression and Vocal […]