Jerry Friedman wrote, and Greg Morrow responded: > > Another > >example is that sopranos are often pretty big--Joan Sutherland, for > >example, had no trouble with the high notes. I believe the throat, > >mouth, and sinuses are more important to sopranos' high notes than > >the trachea and chest. > > Very true, but given the likely morphology of Dragaeran height (they're > beanpoles), I think that's like to result in longer air columns (lower base > frequency) particularly. The resonating cavities might not be too much > larger, though; that's a good point. <Operatic Theory, as I'm remembering it from my training oh-so-many years ago...:> To perform Operatic singing correctly requires a number of specific mechanics, including proper breath support; a relaxed, lowered larynx; the correct position of the soft palate (raised); the tongue's formation of vowels; the placement of the "sound" in connection to the sinus passages; etc. When singing (or speaking, for that matter), the air passes through the vocal cords, which vibrate, creating the tone. This tone passes through the rest of the instrument (throat, mouth, sinuses, etc), which creates the overtones and the specific sound we hear from Opera singers. The tighter the vocal cords can stretch without losing vibration or letting too much, or too little, air to pass through, determines pitch. In the case of Dragaeran opera singers, I suspect they would have more overtones, as the air passes through a larger "instrument". If their vocal cords are smaller, they could reach higher pitches, but I suspect they're not. (If you wish a good example of "overtones", sing a note with the larynx at speaking-height, then yawn, feel where the larynx is when you do, keep it in that position, and sing the same note. The pitch is the same, but the overtones make it sound deeper, more resonant.) As for size, anyone who has studied opera can tell you it takes a *great* amount of muscle control in the upper-half of the body. One may be surprised at how strong the chest and stomach muscles are on opera singers.... Body mass has little to do with how high or low one can sing (though, in truth, the size of all the various parts does control, to a certain extent, what your abilities are. Hence, sopranos are sopranos, and not altos. Their physical makeup determines what they can do). Chris (who may have made a mistake in some of the above, as it's been quite a few years since he learned all of this, and so tenders his apologies if that is the case....:) "Life is the nightmare that leaves its mark upon you in order to prove that it is, in fact, real." -Thomas Ligotti- 'The Sect of the Idiot'