Is There Any Singer’s Formant? A Name Proposal for a Misconceptualized Phenomenon

Özet

The problem with so called "singer’s formant" is not only limited to the name itself.But because terms determine the content of and set a limit to the practice of definition, totackle the problem of the name/concept of "singer’s formant" is the most urgent of theseproblems. Although in studies on various non-operatic singing styles, no evidence of suchformant was found, this phenomenon has continued to be called singer’s formant, and inliterature there is no sign of disapproval in this regard. The act of singing is not unique to anygiven musical genre. The person who sings in any genre is a singer. But, although it wasfound only among the Western opera singers, to decorate this phenomenon with the prefix’singer’, intentionally or unintentionally, restricts one to be a singer of only the Western operasingers. What links music with science, or to put it another way, transforms music intomusicology, is the application of scientifically defined methods on every musical matter. Inthis regard, in this study, an efford was made to offer a scientifically appropriate name to theacoustical phenomenon that called "singer’s formant" until now. It was concluded thatinstead of "singer’s formant", "Western opera singer’s formant cluster" (FCwos) must be usedfor the peak found in the Western opera singer’s.