Singerʹs Formant in Sopranos: Fact or Fiction?

Although it is generally agreed that the singerʹs formant (FS) is a prerequisite for successful stage performance, the results of this research do not support its presence in the soprano voices of trained female singers. Results are based on a recent investigation testing 10 advanced/professional sopranos in two groups singing sustained vowels at three frequencies: high (932 Hz), mid (622 Hz), and low (261 Hz). Spectrographic analysis shows that the nature of harmonic energy varies in relation to pitch. A resonance band somewhat resembling the tenor FS was usually evident in vowels sung at low and mid pitch. However, unlike the FS of typically less than 1 kHz bandwidth associated with tenors, sopranos singing similar pitches produced corresponding bandwidths which were significantly broader, usually at least 2-kHz wide. Vowels sung by sopranos at high-pitch levels exhibited strong fundamental frequency production with strong reinforcement of adjacent harmonics extending to 5 kHz and beyond. This type of production in essence nullifies the necessity for a typical FS. Absence of the FS in strong soprano voices might also imply the adaptation of a sufficiently different overall vocal tract configuration, so that techniques geared to developing maximal projection should not be the same as those developed to maximize the FS in other voices.