Where Is a Singerʹs Voice if It Is Placed “Forwardâ€‌?

Singing teachers sometimes characterize voice quality in terms of “forwardâ€‌ and “backwardâ€‌ placement. In view of our traditional knowledge about voice production it is hard to explain any possible acoustic or articulatory differences between the voices so “placed.â€‌ The analysis of the teachersʹ expert opinions demonstrates that, in general, a voice placed “forwardâ€‌ indicates a desirable quality that students should attain by the end of their studies. Productions that were perceived as “forwardâ€‌ and “backwardâ€‌ were selected from the listening test. The acoustic analysis of those productions reveals that the voice quality in the case of “forwardâ€‌ placement correlates with higher frequencies of the second (F2) and third (F3) formants, as well as with a more salient “singerʹs formantâ€‌ in the voice. The five basic vowels were included in the investigation.