# Can opera singers shatter glass with their high notes?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opera-singers-shatter-glass-with-their-high-notes/399279>\
**Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\
**Created:** [April 9, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opera-singers-shatter-glass-with-their-high-notes/399279 "2007-04-09T06:39:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![bananapanic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@bananapanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bananapanic)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opera-singers-shatter-glass-with-their-high-notes/399279/1 "2007-04-09T06:39:09Z")

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On episode 18 of season 2, the Mythbusters showed this was true. They had a vocal instructor sing, unamplified, at the proper frequency and shattered a lead crystal glass.

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**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opera-singers-shatter-glass-with-their-high-notes/399279/2 "2007-04-09T11:48:36Z")

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[QUOTE=bananapanic]  
On episode 18 of season 2, the Mythbusters showed this was true. They had a vocal instructor sing, unamplified, at the proper frequency and shattered a lead crystal glass.  
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Welcome to the Straight Dope Message Board! I assume you are refering to Cecil’s classic column [Can opera singers shatter glass with their high notes?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_333.html). We like to include a link to the column so others reading your post will know what you are discussing. 🙂

The column was from 1990, and obviously should be updated to include the Mythbusters result. Just a minor note: it wasn’t a vocal instructor who did it, if I recall correctly, it was a rock singer. To me, that made it even more impressive. 😃

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**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\
**Post date:** [April 9, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-opera-singers-shatter-glass-with-their-high-notes/399279/3 "2007-04-09T14:51:55Z")

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We had another thread where the Mythbusters episode was brought up and discussed just a couple of weeks ago:

> **[Shattering glasses with the human voice?](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=413610)**
>
> With regard to the column regarding smashing glasses using voice harmonics , I saw this the other day. Just a bit of fun.

It’s probably recent enough that you’d be safe bumping that thread, with discussion intact, instead of starting a new one. Or maybe the mods would be willing to merge them for you.