Singing and Vocal Technique

113 flashcards by MentisLibrary

The instrument and how to use it: vocal anatomy, breath support, registers and the passaggio, resonance and vowel shaping, diction, ensemble singing, vocal health, and the terms on any choral score.

What are the vocal folds?
Two bands of muscle covered by a layered mucous membrane, stretched across the larynx. Air pressure from below blows them apart, and their elasticity and the airflow bring them back together, hundreds of times a second.
What is the glottis?
The space between the vocal folds. It is open for breathing, closed for holding the breath, and opening and closing rapidly during phonation.
What is the larynx, and where is it?
The cartilage box at the top of the windpipe that houses the vocal folds. Its front, the thyroid cartilage, is the Adam's apple you can feel in the neck.
Which muscle lengthens the vocal folds to raise pitch?
The cricothyroid muscle, which tilts the thyroid cartilage forward over the cricoid and stretches the folds longer and thinner.
What does the thyroarytenoid muscle do?
It forms the body of each vocal fold; when it contracts it shortens and thickens the folds, which is the muscular basis of chest voice.
What are the arytenoid cartilages?
A pair of small pyramid-shaped cartilages at the back of the larynx that the vocal folds attach to; their movement brings the folds together (adduction) or apart (abduction).
What is the diaphragm, and what does it do when you breathe in?
A dome-shaped sheet of muscle under the lungs. On inhalation it contracts and flattens downward, drawing air in and pushing the abdominal wall outward; on exhalation it relaxes.
What are the intercostal muscles?
The muscles between the ribs. The external intercostals lift and expand the rib cage on inhalation; the internal intercostals help pull it down on exhalation.
What is the vocal tract?
The air passage above the vocal folds: the pharynx (throat), the mouth, and, when the soft palate is open, the nasal cavity.
What is the soft palate, and when is it raised?
The muscular back part of the roof of the mouth, also called the velum. It lifts to close off the nasal cavity on most vowels and consonants and lowers for the nasal consonants m, n and ng.
How long are adult vocal folds?
Roughly 17 to 25 mm in men and 12.5 to 17.5 mm in women, which is one reason male voices sit about an octave lower.
What is the epiglottis?
A leaf-shaped flap of cartilage at the top of the larynx that folds down to cover the airway when you swallow.
What is appoggio?
The Italian-school breath technique (from 'to lean'): you keep the posture of inhalation, ribs expanded and sternum comfortably high, while singing, so the exhale is slow and the pressure under the folds stays steady.
What does breath support actually mean?
Controlling the pressure of air under the vocal folds with the abdominal and rib muscles so it stays steady and matched to the pitch and volume, rather than pushing more air.
Where should the breath go when you inhale for singing?
Low: the abdominal wall and lower ribs expand while the shoulders and upper chest stay quiet.
What is subglottal pressure?
The air pressure just below the closed vocal folds. Higher pressure makes the folds vibrate with more amplitude, so the note gets louder.
What is a catch breath?
A quick, silent partial inhale taken in a short rest between phrases when there is no time for a full breath.
What is the hissing exercise for?
Sustaining an 's' on one steady stream of air teaches an even, slow release of breath and shows how long your support lasts.
Why is a noisy inhale a warning sign?
It means the throat is narrowed while air is coming in, so the larynx and tongue are already tense before the note starts.
What is staggered breathing in a choir?
Section members breathe at different moments so the sound never stops during a long held note or phrase.
How does posture affect breathing?
A long spine, open chest and released knees give the ribs and diaphragm room; a slumped or over-arched posture squeezes the lungs and pulls the larynx out of its neutral position.
What is a semi-occluded vocal tract exercise?
Any exercise that partly closes the mouth or lips (lip trills, tongue trills, humming, phonating through a straw) so that back-pressure in the tract helps the folds vibrate efficiently. Often abbreviated SOVT.
What is a formant?
A resonant frequency band of the vocal tract. There are several; the lowest two, F1 and F2, mostly determine which vowel is heard, and the higher ones colour the tone.
What is the singer's formant?
A strong cluster of energy around 3,000 Hz in trained classical voices, described by Johan Sundberg, that lets a singer be heard over an orchestra without amplification.
What is chiaroscuro?
The classical ideal of a tone that is bright and dark at once ('light-dark' in Italian): ring from the narrowed epilarynx combined with depth from an open pharynx and a low larynx.
What is twang?
A bright, edgy quality produced by narrowing the space just above the vocal folds. In the Estill model it is a named 'figure', and it boosts the higher formants.
What is vowel modification?
Gradually adjusting a vowel toward a neighbouring one as pitch rises so the vocal tract's formants stay in a good relationship with the pitch; Italian teachers call it aggiustamento.
Why do sopranos open the mouth wider on very high notes?
In the upper range the sung pitch rises above the first formant of most vowels; opening the jaw raises that formant to meet the pitch so the note keeps its power. The vowel becomes nearly an 'ah' regardless of the text.
What is placement, or singing 'in the mask'?
An imagery term for the sensation of vibration in the front of the face (nose bridge, cheekbones) that accompanies a well-resonated tone. The sound is not literally placed there; the feeling is a by-product of good tract shape.
What is nasality, and how do you test for it?
Tone leaking through the nose on vowels because the soft palate is low. Pinch the nose while sustaining a vowel: if the tone changes, it is nasal.