Week 8! Velum/Soft Palate and Laryngeal/Thyroid Tilt

 This week's anatomical concepts are a lot to wrap the mind around. We covered the soft palate (velum) and the concept of laryngeal and thyroid tilt. Let's just get some basic conceptual reminders:

Velum

-located at the back of the mouth and into the throat, you can palpate it with your tongue where the roof of the mouth transitions from hard and gum-like (the hard palate) to spongey and soft. It also includes the uvula. 

-The position of the velum determines whether sound is coming through the mouth, nasal passages, or both

---Four positions:

------Low: soft palate down, feel by humming or phonating on "ng"

------Mid: air is coming through nose and mouth, true nasal sound comes from this position

------High: "raised" soft palate, can be typical for speech, nasal port is closed

------Super High: even higher velum that engages more space for the sound and higher harmonics come through

The soft palate is a very common topic of discussion in choral singing. When a choir is singing with inaccurate intonation or a "spread" or immature, flattened shape, they are instructed to raise their soft palate and create more space inside the mouth. This can be helpful, but does not account for other issues that may be occurring such as laryngeal position or squeezing/tightness in the pharynx. On a basic anatomical level, though, it does invite higher harmonics and a richer tone color when the soft palate is engaged and lifted. 

Laryngeal/Thyroid Tilt

-thyroid is cartilage in the throat located in the vocal fold region (included in most laryngeal models used by voice teachers/students)

-different muscles are theorized to pull the thyroid up and forward, impacting the sound of the voice

---geniohyoid muscle^^

-2 positions: neutral (relaxed) and tilt

---Tilt position "sweetens" the sound with a "cry-like" quality

---also potentially thins the folds

---tilt is also thought to be the position that allows vibrato to happen

------thyroid isn't causing the vibrato, but the change in the muscles allows free vibration and the wavering of pitch we perceive as vibrato

------vibrato can also be forced in unhealthy ways, or fabricated with chin movement. This science is not set in stone yet!

Summary

As we have seen from previous weeks, there are many factors at play with any sound created: vocal fold adduction and abduction, fold mass, resonating space, laryngeal and pharyngeal positions, and several more to come! Familiarizing yourself with both the anatomical information and the sounds produced by all these changes is crucial to teaching and singing.