Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Folio Vocal
Folio Vocal
Folio
As a pianist with no prior vocal training, taking vocal study was a positive learning
experience in terms of understanding new vocal concepts and techniques. It has been a huge
body. Through understanding and readings on vocal concepts I now have improved
mindfulness towards melodic line, breathing and the different functions of the body as a
musical instrument. I have also discovered areas of tension which I had not realised before
One of the most important aspects learnt from vocal study was the importance of
warming up the whole body in preparation for singing. This is because when we sing we use
the vocal cords (soft tissue) and the inner muscles of the larynx (muscles that control the
closing of our cords). These are delicate so they need to be stretched and relaxed before
singing. I saw this as similar to going to the gym and warming up or stretching before
exercise which reduces the risk of injury. I observed in class and during practice that doing a
proper warmup beforehand for 10-20 minutes improved the quality of my voice as well as the
tone. This was also observed in my other classmates who also improved their tone quality and
colour of sound visibly when they went through different exercises for a proper warmup.
Examples of warmup exercises that I learnt over the course of the semester included:
Whole Body
Purposes of the following exercises are to get the energy going in the body as well as
- Lunges
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
- Jumping
- Relaxing the throat, face and mouth and engaging in chewing, yawning, dropping of
the jaw and different expressions to warm up the muscles of the face.
Physical Posture
pianist we are often sitting for many hours during practice and unknowingly develop bad
- Have firmly grounded feet. Feel the connection with the ground after rocking from the
- Feeling the chest and having an open ribcage when walking. Awareness of the open
- Head exercise. Imagining myself as a puppet, head curling inwards and feeling the
back vertebrae. Then slowly being lifted up in a upwards, backwards motion to create
space. This was especially important for me as I find with piano playing my neck
likes to tense and come forward too much. This is not positive for a good singing
- Bubble trills
- Tongue twisters
Breathing was a crucial aspect of my learning during this semester. I learned that
without good breath support, intonation and tone quality could not be sustained properly. One
point was the idea of the ‘fat/engaged tummy’ (Miller, 1996) where during class the teacher
modelled for us the differences in breathing and its effect on sound. Classmates were
observed and as everyone engaged in this activity, it was clear that everyone’s voice gained
This was arpoggio (Italian for support or lean) technique where the diaphragm is
contracted during inhale and in a relaxed posture during exhale (Miller, 1996). This is instead
of the expansion and contraction of the ribs and chest during regular breathing. The whole
exercise was challenging as it required you to coordinate your muscles by making the abs and
other intercostal muscles remain relaxed while the lower half of the ‘kick out’ muscle (lower
half of the rectus abdominis) engages (Chapman, 2016). The teacher at first showed us how
to find the ‘kick out’ muscle by introducing the idea of natural things we could all do like
giggling or coughing to feel this muscle and how it interacted with the muscles around it.
This was a source of great interest, as I had been told to breathe like this before but did not
fully understand the concept or reasons behind it until after this class.
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
singing. This included vowel shaping with the tongue for singing rather than how we
articulate in speech. I learnt that the tongue contains intrinsic and extrinsic muscles used for
shaping speech (McCoy, 2004). By observing my classmates who had different accents and
native tongues it was interesting to see how the approach to consonant sounds would change.
For example, for Asian speakers it was common to see how classmates struggled with ends of
words which ended with consonants such as the letter ‘r’. They would often miss them out or
replace with a vowel sound. The voiced consonant ‘th’ was also hard for one of my
classmates where this involves pushing the tongue against the front teeth and it usually ended
Many other concepts were learnt over the semester which greatly improved my
understanding of the complexity of classical singing and all the underlying physical motions.
A short aria from the ballad opera ‘The Bohemian Girl’ composed by Michael
William Balfe.
- Suitable for beginners as the melody is memorable, repetitive and has simple intervals
for practice. The story behind the opera is expressive and the song reflects that
- Technical challenges include two areas, the ornamented notes which appear twice in
the first phrase and throughout the piece as well as pronunciation of lyrics. For
- Practising ornaments can be done through intervallic practice and choosing a vowel
such as ‘I’ and practising with faster rhythms each time by increasing the tempo. This
is to increase the accuracy of intonation when moving quickly between two notes.
- Practising pronunciation of clear vowel sounds away from the music and practising
Scarborough Fair
A timeless folk song from England which has a very famous melody.
- Folk songs in general are good places for beginners to start as in this case the range is
very manageable. This work has a nine-note range which is approachable for girls and
boys.
- Difficulties lie in the changing rhythm of lyrics for each verse. Each verse and the
Folk song of Scottish origin based on lyrics that may date back to 1600s.
- Stays within its chord group (tonic, dominant) harmonies which is good for practising
- Educational values or technical aspects include small interval leaps such as opening
fourth.
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
- Control of breath over long notes and not going flat. This can be helped by
specifically practising certain points of the work on consecutive long notes to train the
- Musical aspects include shaping of the melody and the lyrics to suit the yearning
Waltzing Matilda
- Has a beautiful melody which is memorable for beginners to pick up fast. Good for
teaching younger students as well due to the upbeat mood of the song.
- Very good chord training song. The piano part for Waltzing Matilda encompasses
chords that range over I, ii, iii, IV, V and vi in every key. Due to this fact it could also
- Remains within an octave range, with mostly stepwise intervals for early intonation
training.
- Contains reasonable challenges with language and diction including long notes over
the lyrics such as ‘swag -man’, ‘cool-i-bah’, waltz-ing’ which require delaying the
consonants.
- The song is a ballad so it has story-telling elements. Students will need to practice
reading the text and understand the meanings of some slang words such as ‘jumbuck’
- Practising certain parts which have larger interval leaps such as a fourth or a sixth.
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
Welsh folk song with first published version in 1802. Melody has been set to a
variety of other sets of lyrics. The first English version was by Thomas Oliphant during the
19th century.
- Good for beginners or inexperienced singers as it contains certain features which are
good for practising vocal technique. Decent range which is slightly over an octave
(10th).
- Contains key intervals for harmony and intonation such as thirds, fourths and sixths.
- Technical difficulties could arise in long phrases in the first half of the song where
beginners may want to take lots of breaths. In many cases from studying this
semester, breathing is a ‘mind over matter’ concept where you have to push students
to make their air last to the end of the phrase. “Breathing for singing’ and practising to
make the air last until ‘meander’ and again until ‘rove’ in the first half.
- Contains word painting which occurs in the second page where ‘joy of my heart’ is
highlighted by a large interval of a minor sixth leading back to a long high note. The
singer should capture the energy of the voice and surge through.
- The song can be planned and transposed for singers of different ranges.
Just like with the previous folk songs mentioned different verses have different
syllables therefore accents and emphasis will shift about. This will challenge beginner singers
to adjust accordingly rather than only singing regular, metrical phrases. In order to sing
convincingly, students will need to practice each verse separately to match the emphasis of
Comparison of two documents related to Health, the Voice and the Singer.
2) NCVS The National Center for Voice & Speech. (2018). Vocal Health. Retrieved
from http://www.ncvs.org/index.html
Both documents contain valuable resources which cover topics regarding health, the
voice and the singer. In both cases the information compiled is credible as both authors are
recognised professionals in the music field. Janice Chapman writes from a pedagogue
perspective as a singer, educator and researcher who has worked with some of the world’s
leading operas during her performing career. In contrast, The National Center for Voice and
Speech (NCVS) is a website dedicated to vocal health and research. It is co-authored and
managed by several vocal experts and researchers such as Ingo Titze, PhD a professional
singer and researcher in the vocal field. The website provides in-depth information regarding
the medical side of vocal health as well as vocal health journal articles as well as educational
Chapman’s book contains very detailed and holistic approaches to the teaching and
development of singing which is organised into detailed chapters. Some chapters are co-
written with other professionals and the book begins with her pedagogical philosophy which
is split into three facets: Holistic, Physiological and Incremental. Holistic deals with singing
and the whole person, physiological stresses anatomy, muscular function while incremental
deals with the micro-components of singing and ways to deal with them (Chapman, 2016).
In contrast, while Chapman’s book targets specifically singers, performance and the
learning process NCVS is relevant to both singers and medical researchers in the field of the
voice. Apart from vocal health articles it also contains anatomy information and the latest
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
findings in voice and speech research. Chapman deals with similar topics in Chapter 9 ‘Voice
and the Heart’, Chapter 12 ‘Vocal and Respiratory Anatomy and Physiology’ and Chapter 16
Chapman’.
Both documents are useful resources to teachers, students, educators and researchers
in studying the intricacies of vocal performance and health and the role of the singer.
MUSI90155 Second instrument/vocal study Sophia F. Y. Lai ID: 936611 Word count : 2100
Bibliography
Cole, W. (1992). Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Alfred Music.
singers/
McCoy, S. J. (2004). Your voice, an inside view: Multimedia voice science and
NCVS The National Center for Voice & Speech. (2018). Vocal Health. Retrieved
from http://www.ncvs.org/index.html