Whistle register

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The whistle register (also flageolet register is called) the highest vocal register of the human voice . It is used to produce tones from around the 3-stroke  c ("high C") with a tone frequency of 1046.50  Hz . Apart from vibrato, these tones no longer allow articulation and vowel differentiation, as the human ear is no longer capable of spectral differentiation based on the few still audible formants . Very few people can sing in this register.

physiology

In terms of physiology, the whistle register is the least explored register of the voice into the 21st century. It was previously assumed that these tones arise when the vocal folds are maximally tense and closed except for a small residual opening. They would therefore not vibrate or hardly vibrate, and the sound would be produced by the turbulence behind the remaining opening, similar to whistling with the mouth .

It was not until 2012 that the phoniatrist Matthias Echternach was able to use modern endoscopic methods to show that this assumption was wrong; With the help of a laryngoscope, he provided evidence that the vocal folds still vibrate at these pitches, at least up to a pitch of 1568 Hertz (3-dashed g ). Echternach was awarded the European Phoniatrics Voice Award 2014 for this research .

application

Classical music - soprano arias

In European classical music , the whistle register is used in many coloratura arias for soprano . It is sung to create tones from around the 3-bowed  d . The best known example is the second aria of the Queen of the Night in Mozart's opera Die Zauberflöte , “ Hell's vengeance is boiling in my heart ”. This calls for a few notes above the 3-stroke  c , the highest is the 3-stroke  f . But the arias of Konstanze and the blonde from Mozart's Abduction from the Seraglio also use the whistle register. Mozart also wrote many of his concert arias at pitches that require the use of the female whistling voice, with the aria Popoli di Tessaglia composed for Aloisia Lange being one of the most demanding roles. Likewise, for example, the aria of Zerbinetta from the opera Ariadne auf Naxos by Richard Strauss , the bell aria of Lakmé in the opera of the same name by Léo Delibes or some vocal passages by Gepopo from György Ligeti's opera Le Grand Macabre demand the highest tones of the female voice.

Pop music and records

The whistle register is also used in modern popular music . The pop singer Mariah Carey (4-slashed  g ) and the jazz interpreter Rachelle Ferrell are known as examples of mastering this demanding technique . Georgia Brown , an artist of the Música Popular Brasileira , achieved the 7-crossed g in 2004 using the whistle register  .

There are also men who have the whistle register, such as the Australian pop singer Adam Lopez (5-bowed  c sharp ). The Guinness Book of Records registered since 2019 the Iranians Amir Hossein Molaei as record holder of the highest sound produced by a man (5-coated  fis ).

Remarks

  1. ↑ Note input and chord naming. In: Keyboard and Frequencies. SengpielAudio. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  2. ↑ As recently as 2017, apparently in ignorance of the more recent research, Tomasz Kurianowicz: The competition for the highest notes , Zeit online , blog particles , November 9, 2017; accessed May 6, 2020.
  3. ↑ Helga Rietz: Arias for Science , in: NZZ , December 24, 2014; accessed May 6, 2020.
  4. ↑ 2014 European Phoniatrics Voice Award goes to Prof. Dr. Matthias Echternach , web presence XION , archive 2014; accessed May 6, 2020.
  5. ↑ Alice Vincent: Mariah Carey: how she hits those highs , in: The Telegraph , May 6, 2015; accessed May 7, 2020.
  6. ↑ Rachelle Ferrell , AAE Music Agency ; accessed May 7, 2020.
  7. ↑ Greatest vocal range by a female , measured on August 8, 2004, entry in the Guinness Book of Records ; accessed May 7, 2020.
  8. ↑ Tomasz Kurianowicz: The competition for the highest notes , Zeit online , blog particle , November 9, 2017; accessed May 6, 2020.
  9. ↑ Highest vocal note by a male , measured on July 31, 2019, entry in the Guinness Book of Records ; accessed May 7, 2020.