Vocal Pedagogy Blog

 After working through fold mass options, adduction, and our other noise-causing affectations in the past few weeks, I wanted to watch an old masterclass video of mine from last spring. In it, I worked on Faure's Prison and "The Long Grift" from Hedwig and the Angry Inch . The goal was to find a smooth vocal transition between the contrasting styles while still having a convincing dramatic and stylistic shift for the audience. You can watch the whole video for comments and work through "The Long Grift" or skip to approximately 9 minutes to hear the engagement of false vocal folds that I was not previously aware of! I remember the feeling and excitement distinctly, and understanding it anatomically now is quite rewarding. I will also attach the initial performances at the start of class. Enjoy! Masterclass work The Long Grift Faure

 Summary- The science of acoustics explains the sounding of pitch and overtones or harmonics. This applies to earlier posts (week 1 or 2?) about the formation of sound waves, frequency, and the physics of singing! These overtones are also responsible for the timbre of a sound. Physics basics: ---the fundamental  is the notated pitch being played/perceived/sung/heard ------>the fundamental is also the first harmonic   ------>adding the fundamental frequency to this harmonic gets the second harmonic  or first overtone. It is easier to refer to it as the first overtone because it is otherwise confusing to number the overtones including the fundamental, and unless it's being looked at in a strictly mathematical sense I like to keep it as simple as possible!  How? ---as the sound waves oscillate in space, they produce these additional harmonics whether or not they are perceived by the human ear!  ------>not only are some harmonics too high for us to per...

  Summary Semi-occluded vocal tract exercises, or SOVTs, are partially blocked vocal ease practices that are very popular for working with vocal fatigue and injury or perceived effort. Common examples are straw work, cup and straw, or voiced consonant phonation.  What ? --- SOVT techniques operate with higher air pressure on closed folds to create a smaller sound. What? This means that the folds adduct and oscillate and air passes as if about to sing or intone, but the mouth functions differently or does not open at all.  ------> This is a practice best explained through examples (in my teacher opinion) ----------these can all be applied to warmup exercises or melodic fragments of actual literature -------------->I like using octave slides or slides of a fifth over pesagio  in particular  Examples of SOVT exercises: -singing into a straw ---avoid tight lips like a brass or woodwind embouchure -lip trills/buzz or humming -voiced consonants ---v as in vampir...

 Summary This week we discussed the three options for starting and stopping sound, also known as onsets and offsets. These are glottal, aspirate, or simultaneous, and depend on the coordination of the breath and meeting of the folds. We also discussed the variety of fold mass options which adjust volume and sound quality perceived: the fold mass options are thick and thin, and stylistic choices can be made with br-ick and br-in combinations as well. The 3 houses of onset- 1) Glottal ---hardcore house ---demonstrated with "uh oh" ---vocal folds close, there is a buildup of subglottic pressure, then a release at the moment of sound ---folds close, air flows! 2) Aspirate ---the laid back house ---demonstrated with "Hey" ---air passes through open folds creating "fuzz" noise, then phonation follows with closing of the folds ---much lower subglottic pressure, hence the "laid-back" nickname, there's no pressure here, man! Easy, breezy! ---can be ab...

 

 Summary The creation of sound is a very complex scientific process, but as singers it is important to have a basic grasp on sound physics to understand how our voices execute the sounds we hear. This comes in conjunction with many anatomical features of the vocal folds as well as the application of breath options from our previous week.  What even is sound? ------> sound is the disturbance  of air (NOT air "traveling") ----------->the air is disturbed by sound waves  that oscillate air molecules from their source to our ears -there are lots of very cool physics equations that can calculate and explain the speed, size, frequency, and loudness of sound waves/sound, but I will provide just the bare bones understanding here as to not overwhelm the learning singer! I personally love physics, and recommend checking out Khan Academy's website and YouTube page for more in-depth information.  ---a sound wave's shape is broken into units called a period (one "chunk...

Summary Breathing is fundamental to life, and crucial to singing technique. The foundation of every singer's success is built on his or her concept of breath and power, and that is why it is so important to correct misconceptions to prevent injury or re-training of the body. The vocal folds control the breath, not all breathing must be low and full, and you do not always need a full tank of air to create a big sound; in fact, that can be detrimental.  Breathing Basics -How do we breathe?  ------> the body wants to equalize pressure and volume, and we allow air to enter past the vocal folds to the lungs to help achieve equilibrium. We do not suck in air, and the lungs are not air-sac balloons. The lungs rely on the movement of muscles and bones around them to inflate and release, and this is the movement we feel when we are kinesthetically aware of our breathing.  -Who moves? Where? What? ------> the ribs  (via intercostal muscles) move up and outward on inhalat...