Anatomy and Physiology series: Applying the concepts to singing (a summary)

I believe the end-goal of operatic training is to resonate the voice over the sound of the orchestra while having the technical freedom to effectively meet the musical demands and communicate with the audience for however many hours long the performance is.  (Luckily for us, technical freedom and resonating over an orchestra are not mutually exclusive.)  Although many singers are able to accomplish this, I believe keeping up to date on vocal science can make vocal training more effective, thereby allowing motivated singers to accomplish this goal in a shorter period of time than our current model of training.  (Especially since the days of intense, one-on-one training with voice teachers multiple days a week are probably not coming back…at least in the US.) 

We should be taking already built-in biological functions:  using muscles of inhalation during the checking action (or appoggio), it’s relationship to adjustments of medial compression to air flow, neurologicalconstructs of articulation, and a basic understanding of the relationship of some cognitive process to motor control can help teachers to stream-line their training and can help students to better monitor their technique when out on the professional performance circuit.  Bel canto technique did not develop in a bubble, nor where those old master’s of singing granted some great vocal wisdom that was lost to history.  So how did they develop this technique?  I hypothesize that healthy singing technique was developed to meet the vocal demands of the opera house and increasing orchestral size by observing and building upon the already-existing healthy function of the human voice.  (Just as any Olympic athlete builds on the body's natural abilities while training to do amazing things.)

Much of the healthy coordination, the minute adjustments our body makes throughout our day, happen in the background of our consciousness.  To train, we must bring some conscious awareness to the adjustments required, but once the proper coordination is in place, we must remove it from our consciousness once again.  When I took vocal pedagogy classes, the function of the brain and nervous system was never mentioned.  What a fallacy in training future teachers to leave out the “boss” of the whole system!  The great pedagogs of the past cannot be blamed for this.  The greatest discoveries into the functioning of the brain are rather new thanks to improved imaginging technology.  The fault is our own for thinking the pedagogs of the past offered all the information we needed to know.  I don't believe those great pedagogs ever intended for their work to be the end-point, I believe they wanted it to be a beginning:  A beginning of continued discovery between voice science and voice teachers.  (But enough of my rant.)  

There are neurological constructs that aid in healthy vocal production:  checking action, articulation, etc., and there are some that counteract healthy vocal production:  engaging pharyngeal constrictors, contractingthe abdominals while singing, etc.  This is why it would be equally important for voice teachers to also be aware of biological relationships that counteract proper singing, such as the rigid support system which involves abdominal contraction and laryngeal closure.  Eliciting that response by making the abdominals rigid might initially produce an impressive sound, but is asking for vocal trouble down the line.

I’m going to get into some posts on the physics of resonance, but for now, just remember that the way to maximize vocal resonance is by maximizing space in the vocal tract.  However, space in the vocal tract is not maximized by trying to create space.  Rather, it is maximized when the entire vocal system is functioning efficiently.  The kicker is:  When it is functioning efficiently, there isn’t a sensation of “work” being done by the throat or articulatory system, you actually feel nothing happening in the throat.  In fact, the little bit of sensory feedback we get from the laryngeal area is only there to tell our brain when something isn’t right…so if you feel something adjusting in your throat while singing, it more than likely is a sign of tension.  Healthy production feels like “doing nothing,” or feels “as easy as speaking” (if you have a healthy, unstrained speaking voice).  Indeed, the only direct sensations most high-level singers talk about feeling are either sensations of resonance or sensations in their “breath support” system (i.e. ribcage, upper back, lower back, etc.).

So here's a summary of what re-learning to sing seemed like to me after learning all of this stuff:  When my checking action (or appoggio) is engaged, I feel a sensation of my ribcage staying elevated.  To do this, I consciously think in opposites:  I think of making my ribcage larger and larger as the air is going out.  The result is a slow, but consistent, exhalation.  Because air is going out, my ribcage is going down, I just don’t have a sensation of it going down.  Because of the neurological connection of the checking action to medial compression, I don’t feel anything happening in my larynx at all as long as the checking action is engaged.  But must be engaged constantly while I sing, in every part of my range and at the end of every phrase going into my next inhale.  This is the closest thing to straight-up strength training a singer will do, because maintaining contraction of the muscles of inhalation is very tiring to those muscles at first, which is why I would suggest practicing it in short bursts at first:  5 full minutes for a few days, going to 10 full minutes, to 15, and so on.  And remember, the muscles of inhalation are more than just the intercostals, which might be why some people feel it in their upper back, some near the lower ribs, some feel it near their sternum.  I don't think any of those sensations are wrong as long as the result, i.e. free vocal production, is present.  (What was difficult for me, though, was training to feel the sensation of the checking action throughout my range…even all the way up and down fast-moving scale, or during large jumps from low to high to low again, so it might take a little "play time" with this concept to accomplish it consistently.)  If I obsess too much about any part of my articulatory system, I personally start to feel strain near the root of my tongue, so what I do is pause, speak through the text, and then sing through it with the idea that everything above the larynx is just “talking” the text.  That tends to free up the resonance and tongue for me right away.  There is more to my current technique than just that, but these are the main concepts from physiology that I apply consistently in my singing and my teaching.

As a teacher, I see the biggest gains early on in my student's training once we train in the checking action throughout the range.  The exhalation will increase as a person goes up the scale, but maintaining the sensation of resisting exhalation, even as exhalation increases, really opens everything up...once it is attained.  It takes a while for folks to get used to thinking in opposites like that, but think of it like a yin and yang, two opposing ideas sometimes allows you to find the proper balance.  (Oh, and always remember that biologically, the larynx is a valve, so if you throw too much air at it, the valve will close off to try to control that airflow.  And closing off the valve gets the pharyngeal constrictors involved, which results in a "pushed" vocal production.)

So there is, of course, a little more to it than what I outlined there, but that gives some idea of how these concepts from anatomy and physiology of the whole communication system can be applied to singing.  I think I covered everything, but if you've got any questions, please feel free to post them.  I might have accidentally left something vital out.

Continuing on, I’m going to write more on the physics behind the resonance of our voice, and I’m going to go a bit into the ear and why we hear our voice the way we hear it…and also why “not listening to yourself” seems like such an impossible concept for so many beginning singers; the answer to that might just surprise you.