Resonance and Articulation

Resonance is integral to vocal music. A piano will always sound like a piano because of its shape and the way it is made. For singers, our bodies and our individual anatomy, as well as the shape of our vocal tract will impact the way we sound. 

To understand resonators, think of a guitar and other stringed instruments. The pitch originates from the string, but it is the shape of the instrument's body that affects what we hear. You can pluck an A string on an acoustic guitar, and the sound resonates through the body to give it the guitar timbre (pronounced: "TAM-bur"), but an A string plucked on a violin or banjo will sound vastly different, even though it is the same pitch, because the body - or resonator - is a different shape. 

We have several resonator structures in the throat and head that affect our singing sound. We can alter the shape of the resonating tract, or vocal tract, in order to modify that sound based on the individual quality, comfort, or stylistic properties of what we are singing. We often feel this kinesthetically, but can also see some by self-observation in a mirror or on a video. 

As the sound wave (fundamental pitch) from your vocal folds travels through your resonating tract, the sound waves bounce off the structures in your throat, creating what is called a "spectral envelope" - or a series of different reflected sound waves that add to the uniqueness of a person's individual voice. These harmonics working together are called formants and they have a large impact on the sounds that are perceived by the audience, such as what vowels we are singing, and the tone of our voices. 

Resonators

Pharynx

The pharynx, or pharyngeal space, is all of the region within the mouth and throat. You have several pharyngeal constrictor muscles whose primary purpose is to aide you in swallowing and regurgitation. The upper portion of the Pharynx begins just below the opening to the nose and connects to the cheeks, and the lower portion of the pharynx extends all the way down to the cricoid cartilage.  

We often hear the term sing with an "Open Throat" (or Italian, "Gola apperta") This means that we try to sing without any tension in the pharyngeal constrictors - or with relaxed swallowing muscles. 

Jaw

Many of us singers are familiar with the feeling of jaw tension, or clenching the jaw when we are stressed or tense. The jaw is a single bone across the bottom of the skull. The jaw tilts backward and down to open the mouth. It connects to the top of the skull at the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) just in front of the ear holes. You can find this joint by placing your fingers gently in front of your ears and beginning a yawn. There will be a small pocket of space released in this action. The muscles that control the opening of the jaw are located behind the ears and tilt the jaw bone down and back. 

The Tongue

We all have a basic idea of what our tongues do - they are essential to eating (and tasting!) food, and they are made up of 8 distinct muscles that control the up, down, forward, and back movements of the tongue as well as assist in the articulation of vowels and consonants for speech. At its base, the tongue connects to the hyoid bone, and at the front, just behind the chin. All movements of the tongue for speech can be created without undue tension. The position of the tongue can alter the harmonics of the singing voice (i.e. changing the shape of the vocal tract, and therefore the shape of the resonator). The tongue can move independently from the jaw, and as singers, we should be made aware that we can form all the needed vowels and consonants without overly "chewing" on our words. 

Soft Palate (Velum)

The soft palate, called the velum, is a valve that opens and closes the passageway between the mouth and sinuses. When the soft palate is neutral, it allows air to flow freely into the nose and mouth. When the soft palate is raised, it allows air to only travel through the mouth, and when lowered only through the nose. The position of the soft palate regulates the nasality of a singer's tone. To sing with a less nasal tone, we strive to lift the soft palate. Explore the position of your soft palate by inhaling through an "oo" shape, feeling for a cool spot at the back of the throat. Visualize lifting that cool spot up in-between your eyes! For a more nasal tone, in character voices for musical theater or bluegrass and country music, we want to reduce the space between the roof of the mouth and the tongue, allowing more air to pass through the nasal cavity. Awareness of your soft palate positioning gives you more choices in character voices, tone color, and musical styles. 

The Lips and Cheeks

The muscles of the lips and cheeks are crucial to good diction. They are also the muscles of smiling and frowning, as well as assist in eating. Keeping the lips and cheeks relaxed but ready for engagement in classical singing is a skill that is important to develop. There is a careful balance between the tension of a smile and the relaxation of the cheeks and jaw. The positioning of the lips can often be explored through singing different vowel shapes. The shape of the lips will also affect the length of the vocal tract, and therefore the timbre of a voice. Awareness of these shifts is important for singers to understand.