Toward a Characterization of Western Operatic Singing Voices

Objective: One can easily recognize the musical style of a singer by listening to his/her sung performance. Several acoustical parameters of the Western operatic singing technique have been studied. However, the number of parameters could be extended and the effect of melody on these parameters remains unclear. By observing the effects of melody and technique on acoustical and musical parameters of the singing voice, this study aims at further characterizing the Western operatic singing technique.
Methods: Fifty professional singers performed two contrasting melodies (popular song and romantic melody) with two vocal techniques (with and without operatic singing technique). The common quality parameters (energy distribution, vibrato rate and extent), perturbation parameters (standard deviation of the fundamental frequency, signal-to-noise ratio, jitter and shimmer) and musical features (fundamental frequency of the starting note, average tempo, and sound pressure level) of the 200 sung performances were analyzed.
Results: The results show that the choice of melody had a limited impact on the acoustical and musical parameters observed, whereas a particular vocal profile appeared depending on the vocal technique employed. By examining these parameters in a theoretical model, this study highlights the relevance of vibrato rate, sound level, energy distribution, fundamental frequency of the starting note and tempo in describing the Western operatic singing technique.
Conclusions: This study confirms that vocal technique affects most of the parameters examined and that the effect of melody is limited. In addition, the observation of quality and musical parameters contributes to a better understanding of the operatic singing technique. Conversely, the perturbation parameters don’t seem to take part in the characterization of operatic singing voices. Although the suggested theoretical model needs to be further developed in future research, it already generates implications for research and teaching.