Real Time MRI for detection of the passaggio of professional singers
Matthias Echternach , Johan Sundberg, Tobias Breyer, Bernhard Richter
Beside the question how many registers in professional classical singers exist there are only rare data concerning the passaggio between two of them. Especially the role of the vocal tract shape in singers` handling the passagio is not yet well understood.
We report preliminary results of professional singers, who were examined with a new real time MRI technique. The singers sang across their passaggio under different conditions (scales and glissandi into the falsetto or into the "voix mixte" and also an aria). The real time MRI was run with a resolution of 4 or 10 frames per second. The images of the resonatory system were combined with the acoustically derived fundamental frequency data. Preliminary results reveal that female and male singers use different articulatory strategies with respect to the passagio.
Matthias Echternach1, Johan Sundberg2, Tobias Breyer3, Bernhard Richter1
1Center for Musicians` Medicine, Freiburg University Medical Center, Germany
2KTH Music Acoustics, Department of Speech Music Hearing, Stockholm, Sweden
3Institut for Radiology and Neuroradiology, Freiburg University Medical Center, Germany
Correspondence:
Matthias Echternach, M.D.
Center for Musicians' Medicine
Freiburg University Medical Center
Breisacher str. 60
79106 Freiburg
Germany
Tel.: 0049- 761- 270- 6161 Fax: 0049- 761- 270- 4199
matthias.echternach@uniklinik-freiburg.de