ResearchprojectfundedbytheGermanResearchFoundationDFGPF669411LomaxRuddGrauerBerkowitzHawesKulig1976 TiloH ID: 201192
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DepartmentofMusicologyWeimar|Jena«Voices&SinginginPopularMusicintheU.S.A.(1900–1960)»AnalysisofVocalRecordings:TWANGTiloHähnelAbstractThedenitionsoftwangaremanifold.Twangisusedtocharacteriseasoundqualityinspeechandsinging,butalsoinacousticsignalsingeneral.Regard-ingthesingingvoice,whichisofinteresthere,«twang»canrefertotheper-ceivedsoundaswellastothephysiologicalbasiswhichproducesthissound.Moreover,twangusedtobeseenasadecientvocalfeature,whichshouldbetreatedinspeechtherapy.Today,twangisameansofvocalexpressioninmusictaughtinsingingworkshopsandtoday'sspeechtherapistsusetwangtoimprovethevoicequalityofpatients.1THETWANGSOUND«Twang»referstoasound,whichisoftendescribedasnasal,butitmayalsore-fertothephysiologicalcauseofthatsound.Twangisdifculttodenenotonlybecauseofthesetwoperspectives,butalsobecausetwangysoundsaswellastheirphysiologicalbasesaremanifoldthemselves.Lomaxusestheterminhisdescriptionofnasality:Traditionally,nasaltonehasbeendescribedasoneproducedbyaspeakerwithacleftpalateorabadcold,orasasoundproducedwhenthesoftpalatedropsandtheairisforcedthroughthenose.Thesoundproducedis«honky»or«twangy.»1 ResearchprojectfundedbytheGermanResearchFoundation(DFG)PF669/4-1.1Lomax,Rudd,Grauer,Berkowitz,Hawes&Kulig(1976) TiloHähnel Figure1:Self-experimentwiththevocal«a»,startinginarelaxedposition,thenin-creasingthetwangbyappingtheepiglottisandconstrictingthearyepiglotticmus-clesandreleasingitagain.Attheveryendtheauthorloweredhislarynx.Duringthetwangphase,theenergyofcertainovertonesincreases(dashedline),whichcausesasharpertimbreandanincreaseofvolume.ButhealsoremarksthatAtanyrate,twangy,honky,nasalizedtoneisastrongcharacterizerofsomesingingstylesevenintheabsenceofnasalsyllables,probablysingingisnormallylouderandmoreforcefulthanspeaking.Whenawidesampleofrecordedsongisexamined,theabsenceofnasalizationisalsostriking2«Twang»,asasharpsound,canbeproducedbynasality,butdoesnothaveto.Thatiswhyonecanndtheterm«nasaltwang»,whichseemstobemoreprecise,whenitdescribesatwangysoundproducedbytheinvolvementofthenasalcavities.Inthenineteenthcentury,«nasaltwang»wasatermwhichwasrelatedtovocaldisordersinspeech(Bell1890)orwhichwasusedtodescribethesingingvoicethatwastrainedinawrongwayoruntrainedatall(Novello1859).2NASALITYAvoicesoundsnasalwhenairowsthroughthenose.Theconsonant[n],forinstance,isproducedcompletelybyanairowthroughthenose.Avowel,onthecontrary,needsthemouthbutcanalsoinvolveacertainamountofthenasalcavities.Themorethenasalpartisinvolvedintheproductionofavocalsound,themorenasalitsounds. 2Lomaxetal.(1976)2 TWANG Figure2:RosettaTharpe.«FourorFivetimes».·ThespectrogramshowstherichovertonesinTharpe'svoice,whichareproducedbyhertwangyvoice.Onecanforcetheairgoingthroughthenosebyloweringthesoftpalate.Iftheair,whichshouldowthroughthemouthisjustblocked,thisnasalitydampstheenergy.Normally,thiseffectisnotwantedinsinging,forsingersattemptbeingloud.3INCREASINGINTENSITYANDTHE«RINGING»VOICEThesharpsoundofthetwangcanbeusedtoincreasetheintensityofasinger'sorspeaker'svoice,whenitisproduceddifferently.Therefore,theterm«oralTwang»canbeusedanddistinguishedfrom«nasalTwang»3.Physiologically,theincreaseiscausedbynarrowingthe«channel»ofthethroatbyappingtheepiglottisandconstrictingthearyepiglotticsphincter.Thesound-ltereffectofthetwangcanbeseeninFigure1.Inspeech,thissharptoneisoftenassociatedwiththesouthernstateaccentintheU.S.,andalsorelatedto«country»or«hillbillymusic»(Yanagisawa,Estill,Kmucha&Leder1989).However,twangcanbefoundinanumberofrecordingsinotherstyles.Forinstance,RosettaTharpedisplaysanintensetwang,whichsoundslikeaquackofaduck4whentakenoutofitscontext,asinthesampleshowninFigure2.Interestingly,Wald(2005)linksTharpe'sstyletocountrymusic.Thetwangyvoiceisanimportantpartinthisrelationship.Thephysiologicalcauseoforaltwangisnotrestrictedtotheconstrictionofthearyepiglotticsphincter.Thisconstrictionscanbefoundinallintensevocals,like 3SeeKmucha,Yanagisawa&Estill(1990),p.347.Theauthorsdistinguishnasal,nasaltwangandoraltwang,besidesatotallynasalsoundlikeinñ.4SeeYanagisawaetal.(1989),p.343.3