Enunciation and Consonants

A lot of pop singing displays poor enunciation, that is, the words are not clearly articulated and the poem or text is lost, It often takes many hearings to determine the words being sung. Obviously this is being done as a stylistic choice in many cases; in others it is simply inadequate technique and the […]

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Vocal Vibrato Problems and Wobble

I can think of three slightly different “wobbles’ that occur in older voices.  Two of them are problems with vibrato.  The vibrato either become too slow or it becomes two wide.  Slow in the sense of fewer variations in pitch in a given time.  Wide in the sense of too much up and down pitch variation. […]

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Vocal Timbre and Vocal Projection

Sound is transmitted as a wave through a medium such as air.  The “cubic volume” of the air is not a critical matter.  The distance from the stage to the back of the house is more critical because sound dissipates at an inverse ratio to distance from the source. But it is this characteristic of […]

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Male Vocal Fold Function, low to high

Vocal fold function is the source of the voice sound.  It can occur only if the vocal folds are brought together so they may act as a kind of valve that resists the air pressure brought to them by the singer until that air pressure and the vocal fold closure tension meets a balance at […]

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Maintaining Epigastric Position While Singing

This discussion has listed the use of belts or links of chain around parts of the rib cage to insure an expansion of the small ribs at the bottom of the chest.  This use assumes that if the lower ribs are expanded throughout the exhale during singing, the diaphragm will not ascend early in the […]

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Placement versus Formant Tuning Using the Vowel-Mirror

Placement is often taught as a general idea such as put the voice backward or forward.  It is also common to name a place such as put the voice into the nose, just behind the forehead, through the tope of the head, on the roof of the mouth etc, etc. While I was studying with Burton […]

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Balanced Onsets

“Onset” is another word for attack.  It is used by voice scientists because it has less violent meanings than does the word, attack. A glottal onset occurs when one can hear and feel the initial closing of the vocal folds after their initial opening/closing, as found in the disapproving expression in English, “uh, uh”. A breathy […]

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Being Heard Up Close or Far Away

Being heard up close or far away. If the vocal tract is adjusted to emphasize the harmonic that best projects the voice, the voice is heard well in the hall but might be less well heard up close, especially from the side of the performer.  Singers often refer to this as singing “over” or “above” […]

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What Causes Vocal Cracking?

It is my understanding that when the voice cracks the vibration of the vocal folds have become asymmetrical.  That is, the left and right vocal folds are not opening and closing at the same time.  One of the folds will move to close before the other one is ready to do so.  This action implies […]

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Female verses Male Resonance Strategies

Male and female voices do not function in the same way for notes above their highest passaggio.  The primary reason for this difference is the fact that the female voice is singing pitches in E5 to C6 range and male voices are singing pitches in the E4 to C5 range.  The male voice is an […]

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