03.02.2025 | VOCAL REGISTERS: An Update

Description

Learn the latest scientific findings on vocal registers

Vocal registers are one of the most controversial topics in voice pedagogy. Teachers, singers, and singing methods often disagree about their definition and description. Currently, voice practitioners turn to science to understand what happens within the voice during different registers. However, even within voice science, it’s not possible to reach a consensus regarding this topic.

Some of the current trends in studying voice registers focus on the physiology of the larynx and the acoustics of the vocal tract. Studies show that different registers are typically related to different vibrational patterns of the vocal folds, while others report acoustic phenomena that impact voice perception. The patterns of the vocal folds are altered according to muscle activation, vocal fold geometry, and proximity (adduction type and degree), but these distinctions are often unnoticed and/or misunderstood.

During this workshop, you will learn
During this lecture, participants will receive updated information about laryngeal physiological control and how vocal registers can be better understood when observed from a multiparametric point of view, especially regarding the difference and complementarity between vocal fold mass (laryngeal mechanisms) and the types and degrees of vocal folds adduction (phonation types). Concepts such as vocal health in different voice types, vocal efficiency, and their application toward vocal interpretation and communication will also be addressed.

You will be invited to access and explore

Participants will be invited to practice and experience all vocal possibilities with a practical approach, using perceptual and visual tools.

Prof. Mauro Fiuza

is a Brazilian singing teacher and voice researcher currently completing his PhD in Singing Voice Education in Madrid, Spain, at the Voice, Music, and Language Laboratory of UNED, with a research stay at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Sweden). He holds a degree in Music Education and a Master’s in Speech Pathology. Mauro is a guest teacher in various postgraduate courses in Brazil, Colombia, and Spain, and has presented workshops, courses, and lectures on voice science and pedagogy both online and in-person in many countries, including Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Colombia, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Latvia, Peru, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and the USA. He is also a founding member of the Brazilian Association of Teachers of Singing, former coordinator of the World Voice Day Website (2018–2023), and the pedagogical coordinator of the Voice Science and Pedagogy Online Course and the Voice Education Institute (Instituto de Formação em Voz – IFV/Brazil).

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