Note-worthy Experiences Music Studio
F E A T U R E
Explore an Instrument: Voice
F E A T U R E
Explore an Instrument: Voice
Overview: Five Components of Vocalism
Although many of us initially believe and/or may be conditioned to think of the voice as simply consisting of three major components – the throat, the facial articulators, and the vocal folds themselves – the actual scope of our instrument is far grander and more complex. It operates on five distinct yet exceedingly synergistic levels:
1. Structural Frame/Support
2. Actuator
3. Generator
4. Phonator/Vibrator
5. Resonator/Articulator
Following is an abbreviated summary of each component, how they relate to one another, and their contribution to the comprehensive workings of the human instrument.
Structural Frame/Support: The Body
Every instrument, including the human voice, requires some sort of structural frame or body of mass to support the needs of its more intricate functions. For humans, our entire body constitutes this support structure. An interconnected musculoskeletal system comprising our bones and muscles undergirds the entire construction of our anatomy, held together by a network of tendons, ligaments, cartilages, and bands of connective fascial tissue that span the corpus from head to toe. The way in which we balance this supportive apparatus (our posture) will therefore greatly impact both the quality of its movement through time and space as well as the integrity of our internal bodily motions. Because singing IS movement (utilizing explicit physical activity in the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory systems) the balance, strength, and agility of the body from the feet and ankle joints up through the knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck, and skull will considerably affect the quality of its total function.
Actuator: The Brain
At the apex of this supportive foundation dwells the brain. While not always closely associated with the vocal mechanism, in reality our brain dictates everything that we do as singers and is therefore undeniably pivotal to all aspects of its function. The specific way in which we choose to employ this almighty organ – that is, our method of cognitive distribution between its conscious, subconscious, and unconscious dimensions – directly affects the
response of our breath, our vocal folds, the organs of our vocal tract and, thus, the overall precision of our singing.
Vocalism, akin to the playing of external instruments, is a motor skill. It demands sufficient training of the brain’s motor cortex in order to execute its many physiologically sophisticated performances. Yet because in singing our body IS our instrument, we must additionally learn to place equal or plausibly even greater emphasis upon developing our sensory cortex. Cognitive sensation feeds the quality of cognitive motor action. When we are fully present and aware of ourselves and our surrounding environs this segment of the brain will always inform us of the caliber of our sound and of our body’s reaction to that sound – whether we are singing healthily with liberation or if we are singing harmfully with constriction.
It is the foremost skill the aspiring vocalist must master.
Generator: The Breath
The first major responder to the electrical signals radiating from the brain is the breath: the power source that the larynx and vocal tract exploit as fuel to create sound waves. The nature of our every breath corresponds to the precise condition of our psychological state at each transient interval of time. Thus, the quality and quantity of respiration in singing (and speaking) will blatantly display the quality and quantity behind the intended expression. In other words, it will reveal the volition, the emotion, the temperament, and the intellect underscoring our every vocal phrase at that exact instant in time.
The primary organs of breathing are the diaphragm for inhalation, the muscles and cartilages of the rib cage for both inhalation and exhalation, and the abdominal muscles for exhalation. Although a plethora of possible vocal breathing techniques exist that manipulate these organs in diversified ways, a healthy breath will always be one where they are all uniformly free, strong, agile, and therefore openly responsive to the motor impulses traveling to them from the nervous system. And while the psychological, emotional, and physical nuances of such an authentic breath will vary across the spectrums of pitch, loudness, duration, genre, style, as well as the anatomical build and intellectual investment of each individual, it will unequivocally display a healthy, acute relationship between physiological and psychological processes. It will involve a particular holistic engagement among the entire support system of body and breath. This free breath, powered by the various dimensions of the mind, will establish the pulmonary conditions to feed the vocal folds with the appropriate degree of air pressure which they will need to produce a healthy, vibrant sound capable of carrying the full intent of the breath.
Phonator/Vibrator: The Glottis
Housed within the center of the larynx lie the vocal folds. These two remarkable bands of tissue generate vibrations of air pressure within the body, creating the acoustic quality we recognize as sound and describe as human phonation. Biologically designed to serve as a sphincter shielding the respiratory tract to the lungs from the intrusion of any foreign substance, healthy folds are extraordinarily reactive, expeditious, strong, and malleable. They consist of three sections of contrasting layered tissue: a cover containing a thin layer of skin cells lined with protective mucus; a membranous transition area known as the lamina propria which evolves increasingly in cellular composition from elasticity in its upper layers to greater rigidity in its lower layers where the vocal ligament provides firm support to the folds; and a body which contains a pair of muscles known as the thyroarytenoids that comprise the bulk of the folds’ mass. Spanning the length of the folds, these muscles take their name appropriately.
The vocal folds lie horizontally suspended between attachments in the front to the thyroid cartilage – the largest cartilage in the larynx whose shield shaped outer prominence we can easily identify as the Adam’s apple – and in the back to the frontal processes (or forward extensions) of the arytenoid cartilages – two cone shaped vertical cartilages sitting atop the cricoid cartilage, a ring-like figure we can feel beneath the thyroid cartilage.
The intrinsic laryngeal muscles operating amid these cartilages govern (in part) the manner in which the vocal folds vibrate. The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle opens the space between the vocal folds – also known as the glottis – by rotating the arytenoid processes away from the glottal center. The lateral cricoarytenoid muscles reverse this process, bringing the folds together. Two additional muscles known as the interarytenoids complete the closure of the glottis by drawing the two arytenoid cartilages fully together. The thyroarytenoids both shorten and thicken the vocal folds, lowering the pitch as well as heightening the intensity (or loudness) of the sound, respectively. These latter muscles grouped with the adductory actions of the lateral cricoarytenoids and interarytenoids are largely responsible for the glottal configuration we commonly identify as “chest” register. The other primary register, which we commonly identify as “head” register, derives from one additional set of muscles that exist inside the larynx known as the cricothyroids. Upon contraction they bend the thyroid cartilage forward and downward towards the cricoid cartilage, lengthening, thinning, and tensing the vocal folds and thus raising the pitch in the process. When the cricothyroids dominate laryngeal muscular activities our sound becomes not only higher but also softer.
In all forms of phonation, the laryngeal muscles respond to the demands placed upon them by posture, by the breath and by the impulses sent to them from the brain. When the body is in physical balance, the mental concept is clear, and the breath flow to pressure ratio matches the appropriate pitch, loudness, and duration of the phrase, the thyroarytenoids and cricothyroids will work together in harmony with each other and with the other intrinsic muscles to produce a balanced registration, a sonic manifestation of healthy vocalism across all styles.
Resonator/Articulator: The Tract
Traversing the area from within the larynx immediately above the glottis through the upper throat to the aperture of the mouth, the vocal tract amplifies and enriches the sound waves emanating from the glottal sound source. Within this teeming part of our body dwell a number of prominent cavities, organs, muscles, and bones that profoundly shape this transmission of sound to the outer world in an acoustic phenomenon we define as resonance. Included among the back space resonators are the epilarynx – the small space within the larynx above the glottis (plus the epiglottis cartilage) – and the pharynx – the larger space ranging from behind the larynx to the upper throat at the rear of the mouth and nose. Intermediate between them and the frontal resonators hangs the soft palate, a muscular structure responsible for opening and closing the space between the nasal and oral passages. Finally, in front we have the tongue, the jaw, the lips, and the cheeks. The muscles that constitute these latter structures (plus the soft palate) also uniquely serve as phonetic articulators, the generators of our speech sounds. Although sometimes treated as a separate system from the resonance structures of the throat, in the human instrument articulation and resonation are in truth utterly inseparable. The movement of each of these articulators (for example, the way in which we use the tongue, lips, jaw, and soft palate to form and modify vowels across our range) directly affects the comprehensive shape of the entire vocal tract to a given extent, hence impacting the way in which it magnifies the sound.
The shape and composition of the vocal tract dictate the acoustic timbre, or color, that we emit. Timbre is the sonic imprint of resonance. It characterizes the specific way in which our pitch along with its multiple harmonics (also known as overtones) interact with the properties within each particular configuration of the tract. Timbre thus varies markedly not only with vocal technique (such as different vowel modifications) but also between each individual person. However, several significant factors do exist universally: a narrower epilarynx – the aryepiglottic sphincter or upper laryngeal outlet – will amplify a greater number of higher harmonics causing what we recognize as a brighter timbre; a raising of the entire larynx, a
constriction of the pharynx, a forward protrusion of the tongue, a widening of the lips, the engagement of the buccinator muscles of the cheeks, and a lowering of the jaw will all further brighten the tone, creating in some instances a nasal or twang-like quality. Brighter timbres arise furthermore from a physical state of pressed phonation featuring vocal folds squeezed tightly together during their closed phase of vibration. A darker timbre results when the reverse processes of all of the above formations occur, as well as typically when excess air passes through the vocal folds in a state of breathy phonation. The latter quality concentrates most of its acoustic energy in the fundamental pitch and features a much more rapid decline in amplified higher harmonics across its sound spectrum.
Much as healthy, liberated singing will exhibit an ideal balance between the muscles of phonation it will also display equilibrium in the resonance bandwidth between the elements of darkness and brightness as well as the frontal and dorsal dimensions that define acoustic registration. While the specific strategy for resonance tuning varies greatly across genre and style (classical typically utilizes a longer, darker vocal tract while many commercial and musical theatre styles employ techniques that shorten and brighten the resonance space) both strategies as well as the numerous shadings of color that exist in between can be executed healthily within a liberated, neutral throat space when they respond to a correct adjustment of air pressure, laryngeal physiology, and the appropriate mental concept to trigger these actions – all operating within a bodily alignment that is free, responsive, strong, and agile. The holistic synergy of each of these five components of vocalism when amalgamated with expressive intent fashions an artistic instrument unprecedented in its complexity, power, and affinity.
To learn more about voice instructors, please visit our Voice Page.
Although many of us initially believe and/or may be conditioned to think of the voice as simply consisting of three major components – the throat, the facial articulators, and the vocal folds themselves – the actual scope of our instrument is far grander and more complex. It operates on five distinct yet exceedingly synergistic levels:
1. Structural Frame/Support
2. Actuator
3. Generator
4. Phonator/Vibrator
5. Resonator/Articulator
Following is an abbreviated summary of each component, how they relate to one another, and their contribution to the comprehensive workings of the human instrument.
Structural Frame/Support: The Body
Every instrument, including the human voice, requires some sort of structural frame or body of mass to support the needs of its more intricate functions. For humans, our entire body constitutes this support structure. An interconnected musculoskeletal system comprising our bones and muscles undergirds the entire construction of our anatomy, held together by a network of tendons, ligaments, cartilages, and bands of connective fascial tissue that span the corpus from head to toe. The way in which we balance this supportive apparatus (our posture) will therefore greatly impact both the quality of its movement through time and space as well as the integrity of our internal bodily motions. Because singing IS movement (utilizing explicit physical activity in the respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory systems) the balance, strength, and agility of the body from the feet and ankle joints up through the knees, hips, spine, shoulders, neck, and skull will considerably affect the quality of its total function.
Actuator: The Brain
At the apex of this supportive foundation dwells the brain. While not always closely associated with the vocal mechanism, in reality our brain dictates everything that we do as singers and is therefore undeniably pivotal to all aspects of its function. The specific way in which we choose to employ this almighty organ – that is, our method of cognitive distribution between its conscious, subconscious, and unconscious dimensions – directly affects the
response of our breath, our vocal folds, the organs of our vocal tract and, thus, the overall precision of our singing.
Vocalism, akin to the playing of external instruments, is a motor skill. It demands sufficient training of the brain’s motor cortex in order to execute its many physiologically sophisticated performances. Yet because in singing our body IS our instrument, we must additionally learn to place equal or plausibly even greater emphasis upon developing our sensory cortex. Cognitive sensation feeds the quality of cognitive motor action. When we are fully present and aware of ourselves and our surrounding environs this segment of the brain will always inform us of the caliber of our sound and of our body’s reaction to that sound – whether we are singing healthily with liberation or if we are singing harmfully with constriction.
It is the foremost skill the aspiring vocalist must master.
Generator: The Breath
The first major responder to the electrical signals radiating from the brain is the breath: the power source that the larynx and vocal tract exploit as fuel to create sound waves. The nature of our every breath corresponds to the precise condition of our psychological state at each transient interval of time. Thus, the quality and quantity of respiration in singing (and speaking) will blatantly display the quality and quantity behind the intended expression. In other words, it will reveal the volition, the emotion, the temperament, and the intellect underscoring our every vocal phrase at that exact instant in time.
The primary organs of breathing are the diaphragm for inhalation, the muscles and cartilages of the rib cage for both inhalation and exhalation, and the abdominal muscles for exhalation. Although a plethora of possible vocal breathing techniques exist that manipulate these organs in diversified ways, a healthy breath will always be one where they are all uniformly free, strong, agile, and therefore openly responsive to the motor impulses traveling to them from the nervous system. And while the psychological, emotional, and physical nuances of such an authentic breath will vary across the spectrums of pitch, loudness, duration, genre, style, as well as the anatomical build and intellectual investment of each individual, it will unequivocally display a healthy, acute relationship between physiological and psychological processes. It will involve a particular holistic engagement among the entire support system of body and breath. This free breath, powered by the various dimensions of the mind, will establish the pulmonary conditions to feed the vocal folds with the appropriate degree of air pressure which they will need to produce a healthy, vibrant sound capable of carrying the full intent of the breath.
Phonator/Vibrator: The Glottis
Housed within the center of the larynx lie the vocal folds. These two remarkable bands of tissue generate vibrations of air pressure within the body, creating the acoustic quality we recognize as sound and describe as human phonation. Biologically designed to serve as a sphincter shielding the respiratory tract to the lungs from the intrusion of any foreign substance, healthy folds are extraordinarily reactive, expeditious, strong, and malleable. They consist of three sections of contrasting layered tissue: a cover containing a thin layer of skin cells lined with protective mucus; a membranous transition area known as the lamina propria which evolves increasingly in cellular composition from elasticity in its upper layers to greater rigidity in its lower layers where the vocal ligament provides firm support to the folds; and a body which contains a pair of muscles known as the thyroarytenoids that comprise the bulk of the folds’ mass. Spanning the length of the folds, these muscles take their name appropriately.
The vocal folds lie horizontally suspended between attachments in the front to the thyroid cartilage – the largest cartilage in the larynx whose shield shaped outer prominence we can easily identify as the Adam’s apple – and in the back to the frontal processes (or forward extensions) of the arytenoid cartilages – two cone shaped vertical cartilages sitting atop the cricoid cartilage, a ring-like figure we can feel beneath the thyroid cartilage.
The intrinsic laryngeal muscles operating amid these cartilages govern (in part) the manner in which the vocal folds vibrate. The posterior cricoarytenoid muscle opens the space between the vocal folds – also known as the glottis – by rotating the arytenoid processes away from the glottal center. The lateral cricoarytenoid muscles reverse this process, bringing the folds together. Two additional muscles known as the interarytenoids complete the closure of the glottis by drawing the two arytenoid cartilages fully together. The thyroarytenoids both shorten and thicken the vocal folds, lowering the pitch as well as heightening the intensity (or loudness) of the sound, respectively. These latter muscles grouped with the adductory actions of the lateral cricoarytenoids and interarytenoids are largely responsible for the glottal configuration we commonly identify as “chest” register. The other primary register, which we commonly identify as “head” register, derives from one additional set of muscles that exist inside the larynx known as the cricothyroids. Upon contraction they bend the thyroid cartilage forward and downward towards the cricoid cartilage, lengthening, thinning, and tensing the vocal folds and thus raising the pitch in the process. When the cricothyroids dominate laryngeal muscular activities our sound becomes not only higher but also softer.
In all forms of phonation, the laryngeal muscles respond to the demands placed upon them by posture, by the breath and by the impulses sent to them from the brain. When the body is in physical balance, the mental concept is clear, and the breath flow to pressure ratio matches the appropriate pitch, loudness, and duration of the phrase, the thyroarytenoids and cricothyroids will work together in harmony with each other and with the other intrinsic muscles to produce a balanced registration, a sonic manifestation of healthy vocalism across all styles.
Resonator/Articulator: The Tract
Traversing the area from within the larynx immediately above the glottis through the upper throat to the aperture of the mouth, the vocal tract amplifies and enriches the sound waves emanating from the glottal sound source. Within this teeming part of our body dwell a number of prominent cavities, organs, muscles, and bones that profoundly shape this transmission of sound to the outer world in an acoustic phenomenon we define as resonance. Included among the back space resonators are the epilarynx – the small space within the larynx above the glottis (plus the epiglottis cartilage) – and the pharynx – the larger space ranging from behind the larynx to the upper throat at the rear of the mouth and nose. Intermediate between them and the frontal resonators hangs the soft palate, a muscular structure responsible for opening and closing the space between the nasal and oral passages. Finally, in front we have the tongue, the jaw, the lips, and the cheeks. The muscles that constitute these latter structures (plus the soft palate) also uniquely serve as phonetic articulators, the generators of our speech sounds. Although sometimes treated as a separate system from the resonance structures of the throat, in the human instrument articulation and resonation are in truth utterly inseparable. The movement of each of these articulators (for example, the way in which we use the tongue, lips, jaw, and soft palate to form and modify vowels across our range) directly affects the comprehensive shape of the entire vocal tract to a given extent, hence impacting the way in which it magnifies the sound.
The shape and composition of the vocal tract dictate the acoustic timbre, or color, that we emit. Timbre is the sonic imprint of resonance. It characterizes the specific way in which our pitch along with its multiple harmonics (also known as overtones) interact with the properties within each particular configuration of the tract. Timbre thus varies markedly not only with vocal technique (such as different vowel modifications) but also between each individual person. However, several significant factors do exist universally: a narrower epilarynx – the aryepiglottic sphincter or upper laryngeal outlet – will amplify a greater number of higher harmonics causing what we recognize as a brighter timbre; a raising of the entire larynx, a
constriction of the pharynx, a forward protrusion of the tongue, a widening of the lips, the engagement of the buccinator muscles of the cheeks, and a lowering of the jaw will all further brighten the tone, creating in some instances a nasal or twang-like quality. Brighter timbres arise furthermore from a physical state of pressed phonation featuring vocal folds squeezed tightly together during their closed phase of vibration. A darker timbre results when the reverse processes of all of the above formations occur, as well as typically when excess air passes through the vocal folds in a state of breathy phonation. The latter quality concentrates most of its acoustic energy in the fundamental pitch and features a much more rapid decline in amplified higher harmonics across its sound spectrum.
Much as healthy, liberated singing will exhibit an ideal balance between the muscles of phonation it will also display equilibrium in the resonance bandwidth between the elements of darkness and brightness as well as the frontal and dorsal dimensions that define acoustic registration. While the specific strategy for resonance tuning varies greatly across genre and style (classical typically utilizes a longer, darker vocal tract while many commercial and musical theatre styles employ techniques that shorten and brighten the resonance space) both strategies as well as the numerous shadings of color that exist in between can be executed healthily within a liberated, neutral throat space when they respond to a correct adjustment of air pressure, laryngeal physiology, and the appropriate mental concept to trigger these actions – all operating within a bodily alignment that is free, responsive, strong, and agile. The holistic synergy of each of these five components of vocalism when amalgamated with expressive intent fashions an artistic instrument unprecedented in its complexity, power, and affinity.
To learn more about voice instructors, please visit our Voice Page.
