Singing Lesson 3 - Vocal anatomy & Warm Ups

Vocal anatomy

How the voice operates
The diaphragm contracts and releases when breathing in and out. This affects the lungs which expand as they fill up with oxygen. So, the lungs reduce in size as well as the diaphragm relaxing, when exhaling. 

When we breathe out, the air passes through the trachea and vocal chords, which is how we produce speech.

The sound we create can be determined by our certain vocal structures. Factors such as the position of our tongue or larynx, the cheeks, tongue teeth and lips all affect the way our vocal sound is changed. These are the articulators, as they influence the way words can be pronounced etc.. The sinus, chest, laryngeal and pharyngeal cavities act as 'resonating chambers' for the voice.

Voices can be trained by consistently using certain excersises that build up the power in the larynx and diaphragm. The ability to control the muscles in both the diaphragm and vocal area can  strongly act upon vocal projection and tone.

Image source: Openstax Cnx http://cnx.org/contents/df9f91d1-b8aa-45f9-9d13-50913bf95614@7/Systems_of_Gas_Exchange

Accessed: 1st November


Vocal Folds

Vocal chords/vocal folds, have a ligament-like structure that is soft and flexible. These attach to the thyroid cartilage and crycoid cartilage. This is where the folds can move together and apart. This allows us to pass air through and breathe, and to create the vibrations needed for sound. 

Image source : The Singing Voice http://thesingingvoice.com/about/vocal-anatomy

Accessed: 1st November

Larynx

This organ is inside the neck, in which the layers of muscle, cartilage and bone surround it. One of its main functions is producing sound, which works by air travelling from the lungs through the larynx and over the vocal chords, causing vibrations which finally emit sound. 



Vocal Warm-ups

There are many interesting warm ups that can help prepare your voice for further activity. Here are a few I found particularly helpful:

• In the beginning of some lessons with Kim and in earlier lessons with Lena, we did a warm-up which especially helped our pronunciation of words when singing. We need to sing clearly seeing because we're supposedly helping to narrate the production as the lyrics explain the mood and what's happening in that moment. e.g "Into the Woods to get my wish..." - this highlights the characters first venture into the wilderness to each achieve their desire. The warm-up involved us singing all 5 vowels one after the other, but with a different consonant in front after each set, e.g "Te Ta Ti To Tu"

• Another warm-up includes lip trills, involving letting out a long held "brrbrrbrr" type sound, causing the lips to vibrate. Be sure to not tighten your lips and let them naturally sit in a closed position, and to take a deep breath and slowly let the air out. This is a helpful exercise as it relaxes our lips to allow air/sound to easily pass through. Our diaphragm muscles are also loosened up as well as the muscles around, which assists our breath control as you need to gently let out air to produce the trills.

• Massaging below your cheekbones in a clockwise rotation can relax the jaw bone, making it easier to sing louder as you'd be widening your mouth more.

• A warm up I discovered on a site was very intriguing as it really improved my scale range. It involves slowly breathing in from your diaphragm whilst slightly tightening your airways. This causes you to make a croaky-like sound as you inhale. You release your breath. You can improve this by creating the croaky-like sound, but when you exhale. You then gently travel up and down with your voice going high and low, or you can even do this along with a piano scaling up/down. I found this really helped warm up my vocal chords and found it much easier to reach more difficult keys, high and low.

References

Thesingingvoice.com -The Singing Voice

http://www.innerbody.com/anatomy/respiratory/head-neck/larynx - Inner Body