Klarinet Archive - Posting 000060.txt from 2000/06

From: Joe Fasel <jhf@-----.gov>
Subj: Re: [kl] Special kind of a tone
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 16:38:35 -0400

I'm a little late responding to this thread. My excuse is that
it has taken me a while to catch up on reading klarinet since
returning to work after the Cerro Grande fire

Lelia writes:

> "White tone" is a term of art among classical singers. It means a voice
> without vibrato. For practical purposes, among adult singers, it means a
> voice that sounds like a clarinet, instead of a violin.

I don't think that's quite right, or rather, I don't think that's
everything. I think singers mean by "white tone" a sound devoid of
_any_ distinguishing features, vibrato among them. For example, in
a mixed choir, if we have altos and tenors in a piano context, they
may be asked to sing with a white sound if the director is looking
to get the same muted, androgynous sound from both sections.

I think it means a vocal sound without any "push" or any particular
brilliance or projection. This probably means foregoing a lot of
the technique that singers are trained in, like raising the soft palate,
and so forth. (To a "natural singer" this would probably be a
very unnatural way to sing, though, alas, not for the rest of us!)
In some cases, it _may_ mean a slightly breathy sound, or sotto voce.
Perhaps the best description is a sort of innocent, immature sound,
such as one would expect from a 15-year-old soprano (that is, unless
she has been coerced by some so-called voice teacher to try to ruin
her voice by producing a sound inappropriate to her stage of
physiological development, but that's another topic--Don't get
me started ;-).

--Joe

Joseph H. Fasel, Ph.D. email: jhf@-----.gov
Technology Modeling and Analysis phone: +1 505 667 7158
University of California fax: +1 505 667 2960
Los Alamos National Laboratory postal: TSA-7 MS F609
Los Alamos, NM 87545

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