'Mixing' the registers: glottal source or vocal tract?

Electroglottograph and microphone signals are examined of scale passages crossing the boundary between chest and middle registers in the female singing voice. From a protocol executed by professional classical singers, the examples are selected to illustrate differing approaches to the chest-middle transition, as well as to illuminate varying theories on the female middle register, specifically the question of 'mixing' the primary registers, chest and falsetto. The results suggest that the skillful tuning of the resonances of the vocal tract contributes more toward the pedagogical goal of smoothing the register transition than does a presumed mixing of the registers at the glottal source. (c) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel