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The Development of the Operatic Voice

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The Development of the Operatic Voice Sponsoring Committee: Dr. Aaron M. Johnson, Chairperson Dr. Agnieszka Roginska Dr. Ronald C. Scherer Dr. Ana Flavia Zuim THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE OPERATIC VOICE DURING THE 20th CENTURY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECT OF EARLY RECORDING TECHNOLOGY Joshua D. Glasner Program in Voice Performance Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development New York University 2019 Copyright © 2019 Joshua D. Glasner ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Neither this dissertation, nor this degree would have been possible without the abundant support, mentorship, and encouragement that I have received from so many people throughout my professional and personal life. While I know that the completion of this project only marks the beginning of a career as a singing voice researcher, I want to take this moment to thank a few of the many individuals who have helped me to see this dream through to the end. My dissertation chair, Dr. Aaron Johnson, for coming to the rescue when there was no one else at NYU to push this dissertation forward. Thank you for taking a chance on me, for pushing me to reach beyond the confines of what I thought I “knew,” and for countless hours helping to turn this document into something about which I can be proud (especially through the flu in the last couple of weeks before submitting to the committee!). Gerald Fabris, the Thomas Edison National Historical Park (West Orange, NJ), and Michael Devecka for donating their time and expertise to this project. Thank you, as well, to all of the wonderful singers who participated by lending their time and their voices. This project would not have been possible without your help. iii The rest of my committee members: Dr. Agnieszka Roginska, Dr. Ronald Scherer, and Dr. Ana Zuim, for being there when I had questions that reached into areas with which I wasn’t familiar. Thank you for your expertise, for the generous gift of your time, and for your encouragement throughout this process. All of my past vocal pedagogy teachers, mentors, and colleagues who encouraged me to strive for excellence and to keep asking questions: Dr. Brian Gill, Dr. Kathy Price, Dr. Christopher Arneson, Prof. Margaret Cusack, Prof. Thomas Faracco, Dr. Noël Archambeault, Dr. Blake Smith, Dr. Nicholas Perna, and Dr. Ian Howell. Thank you for helping me to grow and to mature as a teacher, as a student, as a colleague, and as a scholar. Francine, Richard, and Tammy Black: there is no possible way any of this could have happened without you. Thank you for your kind, gracious hearts, and for doing more than what can be expected of any human beings. You have all of my respect and love. Thank you to Kristen Ruiz and William Wesbrooks for fighting for me. I will forever be in your debt. Thank you to my friends and family—too many to mention by name—for your support through the ups and downs of academic life throughout this entire process. I could not have done this without you. Finally, thank you to Dr. Daniel and Elaine Glasner who have never ceased to find ways to convince me that I could accomplish this feat, and anything else I put my mind to. Thank you for always being there for me, even in spirit. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii LIST OF TABLES viii LIST OF FIGURES x CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND 1 1.1 Introduction 1 1.2 Problem Statement 3 1.2.1 Statement of Sub-Problems 3 1.3 Hypothesis 6 1.4 Background 7 1.4.1 Wax Cylinders 7 1.4.2 Spectral Analysis of Voices 11 1.4.3 Acoustic Correlates to Voice Quality 18 1.4.4 Impulse Responses 27 1.5 Need for Study 28 1.6 Significance 33 2 RELATED LITERATURE 34 2.1 Introduction 34 2.2 The Development of the Operatic Voice 35 2.3 Musicological Methods 38 2.4 Quantitative Methods 43 3 METHODS 50 3.1 Overview 50 3.2 Participant Selection 50 continued v 3.3 Equipment 53 3.3.1 Historical Recording Equipment 53 3.3.2 Modern Recording Equipment 56 3.3.3 Test Signal Recording Equipment 59 3.3.4 Transfer Equipment 60 3.4 Protocol 61 3.4.1 Phase One: Test Signal Recording 61 3.4.2 Phase Two: Singer Recordings 66 3.4.3 Phase Three: Cylinder Digitization 75 3.5 Data Analysis 79 3.5.1 Pre-Processing Audio Files 79 3.5.2 Analysis of Vibrato 81 3.5.3 Spectral Analysis 86 3.6 Statistical Analysis 87 4 RESULTS 89 4.1 System Analysis: Wax Cylinder Phonograph 89 4.1.1 Frequency-Modulated Sinewave Test Signal 89 4.1.2 Sinewave Test Signals 91 4.1.3 White Noise Test Signal 93 4.1.4 Sinesweep Test Signal 96 4.1.5 Noise Floor 98 4.1.6 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) 100 4.2 Vibrato Analysis 101 4.3 Spectral Analysis: In-Context Singing 103 4.4 Spectral Analysis: Steady-State Singing 109 4.5 Spectral Analysis: Female Chest Voice Singing 116 4.6 Regression Analysis 120 4.6.1 L1-L2 120 4.6.2 Harmonic-to-Noise Ratio (HNR) 124 4.6.3 Spectral Mean (M1) 124 4.6.4 Spectral Standard Deviation (M2) 124 4.6.5 Spectral Skewness (M3) 125 4.6.6 Spectral Kurtosis (M4) 125 4.7 Summary 127 4.7.1 System Analysis 127 4.7.2 Vibrato Analysis 129 4.7.3 Spectral Analysis 130 4.7.4 Regression Analysis 133 5 DISCUSSION 135 continued vi 5.1 Introduction 135 5.2 Limitations of Wax Cylinder Phonographs 135 5.2.1 Noise Floor 136 5.2.2 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) 137 5.2.3 System Frequency Response 138 5.2.4 Sinewave Test Signal 151 5.2.5 Frequency-Modulated Test Signal 155 5.3 Vibrato 157 5.3.1 Vibrato Rate 157 5.3.2 Vibrato Extent 158 5.3.3 Average Fundamental Frequency 160 5.3.4 Impact on Analysis 162 5.4 Spectral Analysis 164 5.4.1 L1-L2 165 5.4.2 Harmonic-to-Noise Ratio (HNR) 171 5.4.3 Spectral Mean (M1) 177 5.4.4 Spectral Standard Deviation (M2) 185 5.4.5 Spectral Skewness (M3) 188 5.4.6 Spectral Kurtosis (M4) 190 5.5 Regression Analysis 194 5.6 Case Study 195 5.7 Limitations 202 5.8 Future Research 204 5.9 Conclusion 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY 210 APPENDICES 222 A PARTICIPANT RECRUITMENT LETTER 222 B PARTICIPANT CONSENT FORM 224 C MICROPHONE AND MONITOR FREQUENCY RESPONSE CHARTS 226 D MATLAB AND PRAAT SCRIPTS 228 E VOCAL TASK LIST (PREPARATION DOCUMENT) 234 F PARTICIPANT QUESTIONNAIRE 246 G VOCAL TASK LIST (PERFORMANCE SHEET) 248 vii LIST OF TABLES 1 Common Degradations found in Historical Recordings 47 2 Selected Descriptive Statistics of Participants Arranged by Voice Type 51 3 Contents of the Test Signal Recording 61 4 Test Signal Suite from Feynberg (2014) 61 5 Test Signal Suite from Zakaria (2016) 62 6 Approximate Registration Events for Female Voices, Adapted from R. Miller (1996) 74 7 Approximate Registration Events for Male Voices, Adapted from R. Miller (1996) 74 8 Adjusted Levels Based on Noise Floor Estimates from Individual Recordings 80 9 Mean Values for Frequency-Modulated Test Signal Measurements 88 10 Mean Frequency Values for the 440 Hz Sinewave Test Signals 89 11 Averaged Fundamental Frequency (fo) Measurements for Three 440 Hz Sinewaves 90 12 Averaged Spectral Measurements of the LTAS across Three Tokens of the 440 Hz Sinewave Test Signal 92 13 Spectral Moments (of the LTAS) and HNR Measurements for the White Noise Test Signal 93 continued viii 14 Noise Floor Measurements Based on Measured Sound Intensity Level (SIL) with Level Adjustments 98 15 Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) Measurements for each Recording Condition 100 16 Descriptive Statistics for Vibrato Measurements during the messa di voce Task 101 17 Descriptive Statistics of Spectral Measurements of the LTAS of In- Context Singing (Phrase from "Caro mio ben") by Recording Condition and Participant Sex 105 18 Descriptive Statistics of Spectral Measurements of the LTAS of Steady-State Singing (Middle 1-2 s of messa di voce Task) by Recording Condition and Participant Sex 109 19 Descriptive Statistics of Spectral Measurements of the LTAS during the Chest Voice Task (Female Participants only) Organized by Recording Condition and Voice Type 115 20 List of Significant Differences based on Recording Condition 119 21 Results of Regression Analysis of Spectral Measurements of the Lduring Different Tasks 120 22 Estimated Resonance Frequencies of the Phonograph Horn Compared with Measured Local Spectral Maxima 145 ix LIST OF FIGURES 1 Side-view of an Edison Recorder (Diagram by Michael Devecka). Reprinted from “Modern Contact Transfer: Assessing Its Effect On Wax Cylinder Audio).” (p. 19), by R.Y. Feynberg, 2014, New York University, New York, NY: Unpublished Master’s Thesis. 8 2 An Edison Standard Phonograph (identical to the one used for this study) from a 1903 National Phonograph Company catalogue (National Phonograph Company, 1903). 9 3 Self-portrait of Enrico Caruso during a recording session (attributed to RCA Records) (Torick, 1977). 10 4 A power spectrum from the singing of Luciano Pavarotti (top trace) and Placido singing (bottom trace) a Bb4 from the aria “Celeste Aida.” Reprinted with permission from Resonance in Singing: Voice Building through Acoustic Feedback (p. 2), by D.G. Miller, 2008, Princeton, NJ: Inside View Press. Copyright [2008] by Donald Gray Miller, and Inside View Press.
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