Vocal Kindness

In an article written by Ingo R. Titze in the March/April 2019 issue of the Journal of Singing, the idea of vocal kindness being quantified is the question at hand. Mr. Titze describes how when speaking, aside from singing, there is a factor of kindness that is present when two or more people take turns talking. The idea of thinking before speaking allows for one to have informed thoughts before sharing them.

Obviously, spoken discourse is different than singing, and so what are the factors of vocal kindness when singing? The articles references a previous study (Schere et al.) where eight professional opera singers were asked to sing ascending and descending musical scales. First, they were asked to do so emotionless, and then to add various emotions the second time. There was a stark contrast between the first and second times, where meaning was naturally imposed by the addition of assigned emotions, such as sadness, anger, and joy. Their voices changed depending on the emotion, where anger had a “roughness” associated with the sound, as opposed to joy.

Titze was writing this article while in Sweden, where he heard great examples of vocal kindness. He felt that the language and the ways in which the Swedish people communicated were inherently kind. This brings up the question of whether culture can have an impact on vocal kindness.

Please share your comments below, both with opinions on the referenced article and your own thoughts on vocal kindness.