The voice - from a physiological perspective
Filmic approaches to numerous physiological processes associated with voice production.
The Fribourg Institute of Music Medicine has published an extremely informative DVD-ROM. Not only is the actual vocal apparatus examined in clear and well-structured short presentations, but many related details are clearly presented in short film sequences. Seeing the processes involved in breathing, singing and speaking on film is much clearer and easier to understand than studying physiological drawings and illustrations, which can only show the complex, three-dimensional model of the respiratory tract and larynx to a limited extent and, above all, not in its function.
The DVD-ROM is essentially divided into three main sections: The first deals with the "instrument voice". Here there are subsections on breathing, the larynx and the vocal tract. Each of these sections is again divided into several sub-chapters. All relevant processes are illustrated in detail and vividly using magnetic resonance imaging and animated 3D models. We can observe singers singing while various aspects are commented on and explained, we learn details about consonant and vowel formation as well as their sound propagation in space. Information about speech and singing breathing, messa die voce, subglottic pressure and many other interesting details associated with vocal production are also presented in a realistic way.
The next chapter is dedicated to "vocal forms of expression". Here we learn more about prosody (the musical elements of speech), different vocal genres and different singing styles from yodeling and art song to pop and musical singing. We find sub-chapters on children's and choral singing, as well as on vocal expressions when laughing or crying.
In a final chapter, voice science has its say: it presents examination methods, voice measurement processes and computer programs.
This DVD-ROM is a helpful tool for interested singers and amateurs as well as singing teachers and students of didactics, providing comprehensive and clear information in either German or English in 160 minutes!
The voice. Insights into the physiological processes involved in singing and speaking, Freiburg Institute for Musicians' Medicine (Bernhard Richter, Matthias Echternach, Louisa Traser, Michael Burdumy, Claudia Spahn), DVD-ROM, 160 min., Fr. 45.40, Helbling, Esslingen, ISBN 978-3-86227-258-7
