Why doesn any C sound like Pavarottis?
The limits of pitch and sound are set by the size, shape and symmetry of the vocal folds and the strength and control of the chest and voice muscles. “If you poke a singer between the ribs, you’ll find that the muscles are rock hard,” said Katherine Harris, professor of speech and hearing sciences at the City University of New York. ‘Also the way the muscles work can be trained.” Sounds are not produced in the throat alone. The cavern of the mouth can change shape rapidly, sculpting the vibrating air into different patterns – varying pitch and intensity. “But the discerning shower-singer will now ask plaintively. “how come my C note doesn’t sound like Luciano Pavarotti’s or Whitney Houston’s?” Even assuming two people sing exactly the same note at exactly the same loudness, they will sound very different. That’s because of the same reason that the C note on a piano sounds different from a C on a guitar. It’s because of a property of sound called harmonics. When we sing a note or play i
