Formants

 I really enjoyed the topic of formants that we covered this week.  It was a lecture that really hit home for me. We discussed that formants are split into two formants and that two passagios are mixed in between the formants and together they make up the vocal range. The most important part I took from everything was the definition of fachs, or area of study, pertaining to the voice. These fachs can change depending on the age of the singer, their developmental progress, what voice part they are or try to be and even assigned at birth gender. As educators, we are to not pressure our students or keep them in a box with their ranges because the body is fluid and the voice is no exception.

In high school I was projected to be a bass, but sophomore year hit and my voice went completely the other way. I would be granted tenor parts occasionally, but my high school director and pianist to this day still deny that I am truly a tenor. I believed I was a baritone until freshman year of college when Dr. Durlam and Dr. Hoffman came to the same conclusion I think on the same day, that I was in reality a tenor. That experience caused somewhat of an identity crisis in myself and I can't imagine scenarios worse than mine happening to other singers and yet they still do. So Dr. Hoffman is making sure that all of us as educators, know to keep our students needs and fluid capabilities a priority over our perceived authority over what part our students sing.

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