Summary
Objectives
Selecting the appropriate repertoire for an opera singer may be crucial for both the
prevention of voice disorders and the career progression. Here, we reviewed the score
of 14 Verdi's operas to gain the data for the creation of the vocal score profile
of each role.
Materials and Methods
Seven musicians were involved in the analysis process. Notes were counted and reported
as absolute and relative frequency. Pitch measurements included pitch range, percentage
of high-pitched notes, percentage of medium-pitched notes, percentage of low-pitched
notes, high-pitched and low-pitched notes rate, percentage of the notes in the passaggio, identification of the prevalent octave, percentage of notes in the prevalent octave,
and percentage of notes in a moderate range tessitura. The total phonation time was
calculated for each character.
Results
A heterogeneity among pitch and duration measurement was found among roles within
the same voice type, leading to highly different vocal efforts required by the performer.
Conclusions
Data on 67 Verdi characters were gained, and the vocal demand of each role was discussed.
Potentially, these results may support singers, singing teachers, and vocal coaches
in the selection of the repertoire. The data may also assist clinicians in the conduction
of counseling and during eventual voice therapy. Future studies must investigate the
predictive value of the vocal score profile in appraising the risk of vocal injury.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: July 10, 2018
Accepted:
March 16,
2018
Footnotes
Conflict of interest: All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Author contributions: Nicole Pizzorni, speech and language pathologist, conception and design, drafting the article, final approval of the version to be published; Antonio Schindler, phoniatrician, conception and design, final approval of the version to be published; Matteo Sozzi, neuropsychologist, conception and design, final approval of the version to be published; Massimo Corbo, neurologist, conception and design, final approval of the version to be published; Marco Gilardone, phoniatrician, conception and design, data collection and analysis, final approval of the version to be published.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
