The magical sound of choristers singing has filled the UK\u2019s chapels and cathedrals for centuries. But what gives their voices that spine-tingling quality?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In an attempt to quantify what makes their voices \u2018shimmer\u2019, Professor David Howard of the University of York carried out a study on children\u2019s voices.<\/p>\n

By placing young volunteer singers in an anechoic chamber \u2013 a room designed to prevent reflection of sound \u2013 and measuring the acoustic frequencies of their singing, he hoped to identify exactly what gives their voices an \u2018angelic\u2019 quality. Although it seems clear that how choristers are trained \u2013 and there are as many different approaches as there are choir trainers \u2013 will affect the sound, Howard found certain acoustic frequencies recurring.<\/p>\n

\u2018In our experiments it looks as if that particular \u2018ring\u2019 is happening above the normal speech area, in the region up around 8,000Hz, where there is something appearing when you get this really shimmery sound,\u2019 says Howard to BBC News.<\/p>\n

The use of such research could lead to developments in choir training methods to hone the voice to produce these frequencies. Professor Howard even suggests that it could allow a computer to synthesise a beautiful choral sound.<\/p>\n

\u2018Maybe you can get to the point where maybe the computer could be at the back of the choir,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s a speculative thought, and I think we might get the acoustic right. But what we don\u2019t know is the emotional driver \u2013 and I think that I think is a long long way off.\u2019<\/p>\n

\n
The best cathedral and abbey choirs across the UK<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
10 best choirs in the world<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n
A history of Cambridge mixed choirs<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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By BBC Music Magazine Published: Saturday, 30 July 2022 at 12:00 am The magical sound of choristers singing has filled the UK\u2019s chapels and cathedrals for centuries. But what gives their voices that spine-tingling quality? In an attempt to quantify what makes their voices \u2018shimmer\u2019, Professor David Howard of the University of York carried out […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":18412,"template":"","categories":[1,17],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/08\/what-makes-a-choristers-voice-distinctive.jpg",200,200,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By BBC Music Magazine Published: Saturday, 30 July 2022 at 12:00 am The magical sound of choristers singing has filled the UK\u2019s chapels and cathedrals for centuries. But what gives their voices that spine-tingling quality? In an attempt to quantify what makes their voices \u2018shimmer\u2019, Professor David Howard of the University of York carried out…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/18411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcmusicmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}