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Vocal variety

Why does every voice sound different? Tenor Nicky Spence investigates how anatomy, language, accent and technique combine to create our unique vocal identities.

No two voices are exactly alike. They carry traces of where we've come from, the languages we speak, the music we love, and the identities we choose to express.

In this essay, tenor Nicky Spence explores the astonishing variety of human voices and asks what gives each one its unique character. With voice specialist Declan Costello, he examines the anatomy and techniques that shape vocal colour, from regional accents to the distinctive sounds of singers from different musical traditions around the world.

Alongside impressionist and voice artist Jan Ravens, Nicky explores the art of vocal mimicry, discovering how subtle changes can transform one voice into another. Jan reveals how we recognise familiar voices and what happens when we deliberately reshape our own.

Produced by Calantha Bonnissent

Release date:

14 minutes

Broadcast

  • Tue 15 Sep 202621:45

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