Vocal Production I

The Vocal Production class will introduce you to some basic singing techniques and
terminology with which you should become familiar. Although it is not meant to be completely
comprehensive, the class material has been designed to give you some reference and direction
in learning how to become a better chorus singer. The six areas of instruction include:
Vocal Production I

Ensemble Singing
Posture
Breath Support and Position of the Larynx
Resonation

Vocal Production II
Vowels, Diphthongs and Consonants
Terminology
This instruction should be seen as an opportunity to challenge yourself to improve and raise
your own personal standard by taking individual initiative to grow and contribute to the Saltaires
commitment to musical excellence.

En se m ble Sin g ing

You may have achieved some degree of personal success with your voice; however, the
important thing to understand is that the Saltaires practice choral ensemble singing. There is
great emphasis on producing a uni t sound and being the very best at what we do. And to be
the best requires constant effort and correction.
If you find there are things in this material with which you are unfamiliar or if you are used to
singing another way (such as using inappropriate vibrato, having dissimilar tone quality or
incorrect vowel formation, etc.), you must change and adapt to the group. It must be noted
that performing with this chorus is not a gang sing or a sing-along. This is also true in parts
/ sectional singing. The goal is to blend our individual voices so that we are all contributing to
the oneness of the sound.
We do not sing as individuals, with our individual voice characteristics, nor as we would sing if
we were soloing. (i.e. no vibrato) One unmatched voice in this large ensemble will stick out and
be destructive to the whole. You may hear Dont be a hero and There are no stars here. In
other words, y o u s ho ul d n o t o v er si ng or try to stand out and carry the section.
However, this should not be interpreted that to blend your voice to the section means to just
sing softer, or weak and unsupported. You should sing with intensity rather than singing loudly.
When everyone is singing exactl y in tune and with matching tone quality, only then is the
individual enhancing the collective sound.

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Naturally, times may come when individuals are singled out and corrected. This should not be
taken as a personal affront if it happens to you, nor is it something to get overly upset about.
True, one might feel some personal embarrassment, but you can take comfort in the fact that
practically everyone has been in this position before, and we all
try to pat each other on the back and provide encouragement. The ideal way to respond is to
take any suggestions as an opportunity to get better and say for the good of the chorus. A
favorite battle cry is FIX IT! Take the challenge on as a matter of personal pride to do better.
Seek extra help if you need it, and dont be afraid to ask a question of your section leader
privately.
Often you will hear the phrase practice how you perform. You should not save your maximum
effort (vocal, choreographic or emotional expression) for the day of the performance. Give your
best performance every time you rehearse. Any good trainer will say that if you want to
perform at a high level, especially under stress, you must practice even harder. No one should
feel satisfied to just go through the motions half-heartedly. The director doesnt want any
surprises the day of the performance, and he deserves your attention and focus on the task at
hand w h e n e v e r he is in front of the chorus. Practice doesn t make perfect; practice makes
permanent. Therefore, one must practice at the highest level possible to achieve performance
success. Excellence is a habit.
The Saltaires strive for a discipline that may be unfamiliar to you in such a situation; however,
any personal accommodations w i l l be worth it. As a result, you can expect to share some of
the many wonderful musical experiences that the men of this chorus enjoy and will never forget.

P o stu r e

Posture plays a v e r y large part in the correct vocal process. Your posture should be the first
thing you think about when you hear riser position or the pitch. Your weight must be slightly
forward and on the balls of your feet, not back on your heels. Your feet should be approximately
shoulder width apart. One foot should be slightly forward of the other so you can move
forward and back without twisting or being off balance. (For chorus singers, the forward foot
would be the outside foot, the one closest to the end of the risers.) The knees should be
slightly bent NOT locked. The sound should come up and out, with your weight supported
in the legs and your buttocks tucked under.
The skeleton should always feel lifted. The head and neck should be as if you were dangling
from a string attached to the top of your skull and be balanced as if to fall in any direction. The
head and neck should not be sunk into shoulders and e s p e c i a l l y should not be leaning
forward. The chin should be tucked under s l i g h t l y and not jutting forward or up. Even slight
strain or unusual bending in the neck causes tension on vocal apparatus and can pinch the
sound.
To assist in breath support, the shoulders should be back as if there is a rubber band pulling
your shoulder blades together. Your chest should be like you are showing the audience that
you have the presence of Superman proudly displaying his big S.
Standing with the head and arms slumped forward is simply not acceptable. The small of the
back should have only a slight curve. If you are standing against a wall, there should only be
about a hand thickness between the small of your back and the wall - NOT in what some call

swayback posture. This can create back strain and may be one of the reasons that one is
having difficulty standing on the risers for any length of time.
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Breath Support
Whatever you want to call it, breath support, breath management or breath control can
be a misunderstood concept, yet it is one of the most vital aspects of singing correctly.
Let s start by asking the question, How can a dog bark all night long and not become
hoarse? Perhaps the answer is best explained through demonstration. Place a hand on
your sternum and one on your stomach (to observe movement) and then bark like a big
dog with a loud and full voice. The chest should have had lift and expansion at the most
explosive part of the bark and the bellybutton should have pulled in. At that moment you
should have experienced correct support. However, the difficulty is that this condition of
chest/rib expansion should remain lifted in this manner throughout the singing of a
phrase. (It must be noted that the shoulders should not rise unnaturally upon inhalation.
Shrugging your shoulders in the vain hope that you will get a bigger breath wont benefit
you, nor does it look appropriate.)
In technical terms, four groups of muscles are involved in correct support. Two of these
control inhalation:
(1) Those that involve the movement of the diaphragm.
(2) The intercostal muscles that pull the ribs outward.
Two other groups control exhalation:
(3) The abdominal muscles (exert the upward thrust against the diaphragm.)
(4) The intercostal muscles that pull the ribs inward.
Ordinarily these sets of muscles of contrasting motion do not oppose each other strongly.
The set governing inhalation tenses, and then relaxes as the opposing set tenses for
exhalation. However, if these two sets of muscles are applied against each other, so as to
produce a continuous state of tension during the act of measured exhalation, the vocal
chords can be kept in a closed position. This is a condition that is imperative to consistent
tone production.
Here s how it works.
When the inhalation muscles and the exhalation muscles are exerted at the same time, the
colliding action whips the arytenoid cartilages into action by reflex, thus bringing the vocal
cords close together. (See the diagram on the following page that shows the action of the
arytenoid cartilages.)
This is exactly what occurs when an individual barks like a dog. However, the condition in a
bark is extremely transitory because the opposition of the two sets of muscles is
immediately released once the bark has been emitted. Continued application of support
under these conditions must be sustained while singing. Again, perform a few barks, howls,
and staccatos that allow you to experience, in an exaggerated fashion, the feeling of
support. Another element of good breath control is to become aware of the epigastria (just
below the breastbone and above the navel). This area will bulge out during the bark. Try to
keep this area firm while singing. Perhaps you may be reluctant to accept
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that giving this amount of energy is the proper way to bring the vocal cords together and
hence the proper way to sing. In fact, the same condition must be applied even when
singing softly.
It is prudent to learn that there are some very problematic habits to avoid. The
swallowing muscles may also close the glottis (bring the vocal chords together).
However, using the swalowing muscles for singing or speaking is categoricaly wrong!
(Perhaps you understand what can be demonstrated as a glottal attack in producing
sound abruptly.) No closure by the swallowing muscles is either sufficient or consistent.
In fact, physical damage is also inflicted when the singer overindulges in this improper
practice.
The Position of the Larynx
This is an overview adaptation of Speech Level Singing by Seth Riggs. If the larynx stays
down, the vocal cords should stay together from the very bottom of the vocal range to the
very top. This also applies to all vowel and consonant combinations throughout any
phrase. If at any point the larynx jumps up or down or the tone becomes breathy or tense,
then there is something wrong with the vocal process.
The larynx is the big bump (sometimes called the Adam s apple) in the middle of the neck
just below the chin. This houses the vocal cords and controls the process of swallowing.
When the larynx moves up, the muscles around the cords act as a sphincter and close so
as to prevent swallowing down the windpipe and into the lungs. This is a very important
process when you need to swallow, but it is a very poor process when you are trying to
sing. If you place your hand on your larynx and yawn, you will find that you can bring your
larynx down. This is a good way to learn what it feels like to have the larynx in the proper
position. (This is not what some call a depressed larynx position. If you are not
accustomed to the larynx in this position, it will take some effort until the correct muscles
have been retrained and strengthened. You eventually won t even have to think about it.)
The goal is to be able to keep the larynx low and keep it from moving up and down. It
should stay completely still as you raise and lower your voice.

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The vocal cords, also known as vocal folds, are a pair of soft tissue cords that are joined at
the front of the larynx and extend back. When they close, the back end of the cords come
together (connect), and the flow of air is temporarily stopped. When the pressure of air
from the diaphragm overcomes the pressure of the muscles holding the cords together,
they are blown apart and sound is made when they close again due to the resonation
created. Then, once again, the air pressure overcomes the muscle pressure and the
process begins again. If a singer is singing an A above middle C, this process happens
440 times every second.
If the vocal cords begin to come apart, the tone becomes breathy and the muscles
around the outside of the larynx begin to tense. This becomes what is called a

constricted phonation and is quite harmful for the voice. If the larynx is permitted to rise
and lower, this can cause a change in vocal quality. It can be very harmful also because
the muscles in the larynx must compensate by pressing the cords together from the side,
which causes them to come together unevenly. This inconsistent muscular tension
pushing the vocal cords together can be a primary cause of fatigue, hoarseness and
serious problems such as nodes.
You will probably find that there is a certain area of your voice where it is easy to sing,
and others that are more difficult. These harder areas are called bridges. A bridge is a
spot where resonation shifts from one area of your body to another (for example, from
your chest to your head.) Another term for a bridge is the Italian word for passage,
passag gi o. Knowing where your bridges are can really help you smooth out the
resonation from one area of your body to the next. Bridges take place in different spots,
but they are fairly universal within a gender.
One way to deal with this is to record yourself; then play back what you ve recorded. You will
hear the difference between how you really sounded and the sound you heard resonating
in your head. Many singers get used to feeling that they have to muscle notes. As you
learn to master the bridges, you ll feel very little pressure. There is compression from the
diaphragm and resistance from the vocal cords being held together, but there will not be any
tightness in the neck or under the chin. This lack of pressure can be unfamiliar and
uncomfortable for many singers and even feel a bit precarious, especially if the strength is
not quite there. Once again, recording an arpeggio that ascends into the head voice and
playing it back can shed some light on the relationship between what a certain note sounds
like and what it should feel like as you sing it.

Another group of muscles that can interfere with support are certain muscles in the
abdomen - those that enable a bowel movement or pass gas and, hence, pull downward.
To understand the distinction between the breathing muscles that allow the diaphragm to
ascend naturally and the l o w e r abdominal muscles, you might try this demonstration while
lying down. You should first observe how the breathing muscles function in this horizontal
resting position - the chest remains relatively motionless; the abdominal muscles just below
the sternum move. Continue one of the exhalations to a great extreme by blowing out all
the air you can. This exercise will bring into play those correct abdominal muscles that form
the basis for support to move the abdominal bulk forcibly

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but smoothly up against the diaphragm. (In other words, try to sing an even tone until
you have expended all your air out and then pretend to try and pass gas!)
When the l o w e r abdominal muscles are exerted during singing, the effect on support is
analogous to applying the emergency brake on a car while driving. All the components of
the singing track are jerked out of place and that critical center, the larynx, is sent into
spasm. In practicing breath management, any force must come from below, pressing
upward.
To hear someone say just sing or sing as you speak is an insidious understatement
because it completely ignores the concept of support. The act of speech is performed
where less effort is required. Singing is quite different.
One can say sing as you speak only when speech is completely correct; and still we must
understand how to sustain the vocal sound for the desired length of time. (Can you imagine
a top golf instructor telling a person that picks up a golf club like a bat and muscles a
swing to just swing the club?) Sometimes things just happen naturally for some singers,
but others may need to build up strength. Even the act of breathing may take some
concerted effort to retrain ineffective habits! It should be noted that nothing can take the
place of individual instruction from an instructor to determine just what you need
personally.
You may not easily digest all the technical anatomical information, but hopefully you can
understand the purpose of the demonstrations. That s whats important. It may take
several years until correct muscle memory is perfectly instilled. Be patient. Some must
learn to overcome many years of incorrect built in coordination and voice production.
Without support, you lack the firm foundation upon which to develop other components of
the voice.

Re s o n a tio n
A very important point in resonance is the necessity of achieving as open a throat as
possible, with a minimum of interference of the antagonistic muscles of the neck, the jaw,
and tongue. (During speech, the throat is not as open as required for singing.) When a
singer s voice sounds weak at a distance or has improper tone quality, it may be that he is
attempting to use his mouth as a major resonator. The mouth is not a good resonator
because its walls are too flexible and too changeable for consistent reinforcement. Singers
who employ the mouth as their main resonator may have short ranges (limited to little over
an octave and a half), and demonstrate different qualities of sound within this range. They
often complain that their high notes are not free.
The correct cavity for the formation of a vowel, if the sound is to be heard at a distance and
have consistent vowel formation, is the pharynx. Observe where your vowels originate as you
sing. Our director has asked that vowels be based on an ur feeling. One should be able to
move from one vowel to another without loss of the tall feeling of ur as in purr.
When the pharynx is properly opened, a space extends three to four inches upward from
the vocal cords. The sound waves are reinforced more efficiently than if they were
required to travel into the oral cavity before being resonated. The mouth can then be

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adjusted into the shape of an effective megaphone rather than a resonator. The sum of
both of these advantages generates greater volume and more carrying power.

The back and sidewalls of the pharyngeal cavity are relatively fixed. The tongue, and
only the tongue, can shape the pharynx. It can be called the steering apparatus of the
voice. When the tongue lies flat (as commonly practiced), it leans back into the throat
and the pharynx narrows. (Shown in the illustration labeled A. ) In order for the
pharyngeal cavity to be oriented for proper resonance (shown in the illustration labeled

B ), the tongue must extend upward as when you yawn, thus producing a yawn in the
sound. (Something to note is how noisy inhalation can be. Breaths should be as
inaudible as possible. Tension and a closed throat cause very audible breaths.)
This position of the tongue can also be observed if you look into a mirror while forming
the vowel a as in say (not ah as in saw) or e as in seen with a wide-open
mouth. A tight jaw is a symptom of a tight throat. (Please remember the exercise of
holding your jaw all the way down with your chin in your palm and fingers and thumb
along the jaw line and singing a full sounding yo - yo from the in-class discussion. This
demonstrates the correct understanding of how to form vowels with an open throat and
maintain the constant feeling of having an ur in the sound.)
It may take a lot of practice to fully control your tongue in this manner. The tongue really
needs to move very little to shift from any one vowel to another. Consequently, when the
singer finds that one vowel carries well, and another vowel on the same pitch fails in its
carrying power, he knows that his immediate source of trouble is the tongue.

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