Sound producing mechanism of the human voice
Sound producing mechanism of the human voice
The voice is the only instrument that can produce words.The equipment necessary to produce soundmuscle, cartilage and boneis common to man and manyotherorganisms, but only man has the intellect and physical mobility necessary to communicate through a spokenlanguage. Although other animals make soundsbirds chirp or whistle, dogs bark or growl, horses whinny and soontheir level of communication is most elementary compared to the infinite variety of thoughts, emotions andimagery the human voice can convey through words. Just a slight change in pitch introduces subtle variations inmeaning and reflects the subtle change in the thought of the speaker.In the remote past our ancestors communicated with only grunts. It took a very long time for the human species todevelop a spoken language. Singingsustaining pleasing sounds on varying but precise pitches for varying butprecise lengths of time while mouthing words simultaneouslyis the evolutionary extension of language and thehuman voice.What Are the Problems?
The voice is the only instrument that is capable of developing either good or bad habits.Unlike any other instrument, a very large percentage of the material of which the voice is constructed is muscle.Muscles can develop habitsrepeat certain idiosyncratic actions over and over. Why do certain habits develop?Can they be changed? Which of these habits relate to the voice? These questions can be answered only within thecontext of the following fact:The voice is the only instrument whose muscular components react to theirenvironment.Because humans are complex and highly developed, we have profound mental and physical reactions to thepressures of life that are constantly around us. These reactions to pressures and problems, left unchanged orunresolved, make their appearance in the individual as tensions. Muscles in various parts of the body tighten. Thethroat area, where sound begins, reacts immediately to emotional experiences. The movable components in thehuman vocal equipment change positionse.g., the muscles in the throat tighten corresponding to the intensityof the experience. And that response is remembered. If the original experience, or a similar experience, happensmore than once (it usually does), the sensation of tightening muscles becomes familiar and that action becomesrepetitivea habit. Eventually the tightening of these particular muscles is unrelated to the original experience.SPEECH LEVEL SINGING
There are many of these muscular habits, or vocal instrument inhibitors, that are common to most potentialsingers. We are all the products of our conditioning and have become slaves to our habits, particularly those we arenot even aware of. It is therefore very important for the student to become aware of these bad habits. It can mean thedifference between struggling long and arduously to overcome some vocal defect "in the dark," or discoveringvery preciselymentally and physicallywhere the cause and cure of the particular problem lies.Did you ever hear anyone who was highly exhilarated and excited speak softly, slowly and calmly? I doubt it. Didyou ever listen to someone who has just caused an automobile accident, someone terribly fearful that he may haveinjured another person, speak with a happy, controlled sound? The various kinds of sounds we use in differentcircumstances are a very accurate reflection of our emotional state in a particular environment.
What makes an individual's tone of voice consonant with a given situation?
the change in pitchhigher or lower than usualthe change in volumelouder or softer than usualthe change in intensitytighter or more relaxed than usualAll of these changes are affected by changes in the muscular components before the sound is heard. The quality ofthe sound is pre-determined by changes in the positions of the muscles in the throat. It is our intention to do awaywith certain symptomatic muscle tensions and replace them with correct muscle actions that can be controlled andused in practically any environment.
The voice is the only instrument that is directly connected to a brain.A violin sounds like a violin because it is shaped like a violin. A piano sounds like a piano because it is shaped likea piano and not like a violin. These observations may appear to be self-evident until we ask, "A voice is shaped likea voice. Why then, in singing, don't all voices sound good?" Why is it we can all use the vocal instrument forspeaking and find it more or less adequate, and yet when some people try to sustain a musical sound, their vocalequipment produces tight, non-musical and unattractive sounds? It is because the voice is the only instrument that ispartially constructed of movable muscle, and these muscles are also connected to a brain. The brain is influenced,as I have said, by its environment emotionally, socially, economically and culturallyand it (the brain)determines what positions the muscles in the vocal instrument will take. Those muscular positions, in turn, willdetermine the kind of musical sound the vocal instrument will produce.s I have said, by its environmentemotionally, socially, economically and culturallyand it (the brain)determines what positions the muscles in the vocal instrument will take. Those muscular positions, in turn, willdetermine the kind of musical sound the vocal instrument will produce.
A violin has no brain. A piano is mindless. These instruments are pre-structured, and the students approach themwith no prejudices; no pre-judgment as to their tone quality and no pre-existing bad habits. The voice student comesto his instrument fully prejudiced: all three of the voice's mechanismssound support, sound production and wordproduction-are governed by reflex actions; past experiences now become habits. Through constant repetition thevoice student is locked into the present quality of his sound, and, although he may not like the sound, he can'tconceive of himself sounding otherwise. He is completely unaware of the kind of sound his instrument is potentiallycapable of producing if it were properly structured.Another very important consequence of the voice's direct connection to the brain is the response of the muscles inall three mechanisms to various emotional experiences. The muscles react (even if we consciously try to preventthem) to fear, grief, happiness, depression, exhilaration, love, hate, desire, anxiety, jealousy, disappointment,contentment. For example, fear and anxiety induce "knots" in the stomach; during times of stress our mouths canbecome dry (the muscles around the salivary glands tighten); some people begin to stutter; when we cry ourthroats ache.
The brain remembers things we don't consciously remember, and these unconscious memories influence the wayour muscles react. A large percentage of our past freezes into our vocal apparatus. This means that we carrytensions around in us long after the initial tension-producing experiences have been forgotten consciously. And wecan become so accustomed to these feelings of tension we hardly know we have them.The brain's ability to repeat certain muscle activities over and over, like a broken record, starts very early in life.What is the very first use of the vocal apparatus? Crying at the moment of birth. Crying is always accompanied bya tightness in the throat. By chance, the positions the muscles in the throat took making those first sounds mayhave been extraordinarily tight. In some people a minute fraction of that initial crying-tension may yet exist astightness in the throat.I'd like to list, in the form of questions, some other situations that may have imprintedthemselves on the brain, which in turn may have become vocal inhibitors. The student should become aware of thepossibility that his own muscle systems may have reacted to certain experiences.
As a very young child: What were the conditions at home? For that matter, was there a home? Was it tranquil,quiet? Or tense, noisy? Perhaps it was quiet and yet had an atmosphere of tension? Were you scolded during toilettraining? Were you scolded if you vomited? (The process of inhibiting certain natural childish behavior can at thesame time activate constrictor muscles in unrelated parts of the body.) Were there sisters or brothers to fight with aswell as play with? (The tensions created by sibling rivalry are well documented.) Were you lonely? Did youhave nightmares? Were you afraid of the dark? Were there any accidents or deaths? (Adults have a difficultenough time coping with tragedy. Imagine the tensions a child experiences when exposed to tragedy.) Were youallowed to express yourself freely? Was your point of viewright or wrongreceived respectfully? ("Children are tobe seen and not heard" is a common attitude among many adults. Also, in the process of getting through aharrowing day, parents can be short of patience and frustrate a child's sometimes justifiable assertions. Calamitiesand forcefully imposed inhibitions can be too much for a child to cope with. Unconscious and chronic musculartensions result as a child attempts to "hold back." Any of these experiences, and almost everybody has had someof them, can set up habits of muscular tension.)
The voice is the only instrument that is naturally imitative in the sense that, with the aid of hearing, the voice willrespond culturally in a recognizable fashion both in speech and song.Children imitate: What kinds of sounds were you accustomed to hearing? Arguing or shouting? Did yourmother or father sing? Did your sisters or brothers sing? Did they sing well or poorly? (Whatever you heard youimitated.) In what part of the country did you grow up? (Each section has its own peculiar accents andpronunciations that are not necessarily helpful for good singing. And children imitate what they hear.)
At school: Were you embarrassed if you were called upon to sing? Were you labeled a monotone or non-singerby an impatient or unsympathetic teacher? Did you get along with other children? Were you left out of variousactivities? Were you comfortable at school? Were you unsure of your learning capacities? Did anyone laugh if yousang alone? Did you listen to much music at that time? Did you listen to classical music? Pop? Western? Rock?Rhythm and blues? Did you watch lots of television? Listen much to disc jockey shows? Imitate what you heard?(Yes you did!) Did you imitate well? Was what you were imitating any good in the first place? Did you go toconcerts? Musicals? Plays? Could you afford to even if you wanted to? Did you grow up in a small town wherethese activities were nonexistent? Do you think you had a happy or unhappy childhood?
Are your memoriespleasant or unpleasant? Were you discriminated against because of your religion, color or minority status?(Childrenand adultscan be very cruel to each other, often without realizing the lasting damage they cause.)by an impatient or unsympathetic teacher? Did you get along with other children? Were you left out of variousactivities? Were you comfortable at school? Were you unsure of your learning capacities? Did anyone laugh if yousang alone? Did you listen to much music at that time? Did you listen to classical music? Pop? Western? Rock?Rhythm and blues? Did you watch lots of television? Listen much to disc jockey shows? Imitate what you heard?(Yes you did!) Did you imitate well? Was what you were imitating any good in the first place? Did you go toconcerts? Musicals? Plays? Could you afford to even if you wanted to? Did you grow up in a small town wherethese activities were nonexistent? Do you think you had a happy or unhappy childhood? Are your memoriespleasant or unpleasant? Were you discriminated against because of your religion, color or minority status?(Childrenand adultscan be very cruel to each other, often without realizing the lasting damage they cause.)
When did you seriously become interested in singing? Did you want to study singing but were laughed at by yourparents or friends? What percentage of you says "I can do it?" What percentage says "I can't do it?" (The attitudes offriends and relatives can bebut very often shouldn't bevery influential.)
As you got older: What were your romantic experiences? What were your sexualexperiences? Do you feel adequate as a love interest? Do you feel attractive? (I did not say look attractiveI didmean feel attractive.) Do you think that right now you're a great singer? A great performer? A great lover? (Veryoften an over-estimation of one's abilities can be a vocal inhibitor. An over-estimation can actually be a defenseagainst a deep-down feeling of under-estimation.) Are you happy with: Your job? Your home life? The activities youindulge in? Your friends? Your wife or husband? (Your immediate environment can influence your approach tothe discipline and concentration required for successful development.)Have you ever studied singing before? Who was your teacher? Was your teacher such a likable person that yourrelationship was pleasant but your development suffered? When you sing, do you fully, technically, know what youare doing? Or is your technique a vague kind of guesswork based on, "If I like what I hear, it's good"? (If that is your"technique," you're really singing "by ear.")What do you really think of singing? A way to become a millionaire? A way to romance? A way to become a starand "get even," or "show them who you really are"? (A person should desire to become a singer because of his orher love for the art of singing. Any other motive could in itself be a cause of tension and emotional stress.)
Are you in awe of singing? Is it some wonderful, mysterious endowment given to a select few? Do you think you'renot endowed but inwardly hope you are? Do you do a lot of singing? Or do you think you sound so terrible yourarely sing at all? When you hear a recording or watch someone sing do you say to yourself, "they're not that good. Ican do just as well." And yet, why don't you? (An individual can possess many contradictory feelings and attitudesabout so emotional a subject as singing. The only stabilizing influence for the potential singer is to concentrate onobjective technical development so that the mysteries and fantasies are replaced by concrete facts and realisticthinking.)This is an incomplete listing of experiences and socio-cultural phenomena by which people are conditioned andthrough which they reflect that conditioning. Think back. Try to remember your own personal experiences that mayhave influenced your singing. They are there. Your emotional, social, economic and cultural experiences are thesum-total of you. The brain remembers. These experiences have had their effect on the way you sound and perform.But any vocal problems you may have acquired as a result of your past can be undone. Maybe you're not a "naturalborn"singer, but neither are you a "natural-born" non-singer. You have a set of pre-existing muscular vocalinhibitors. Any bad habits you learned unconsciously can be unlearned and replaced by correct muscular habitsconsciously.
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