Vocal anatomy project!
The anatomy of the voice
The anatomy of the voice is the basic human skills that allows us to sing from our diaphragms, projecting our voices to an audience.
This is a simple explanation of the human voice system.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3S2dD9BrSY
It is important that when singing, you use your diaphragm and lungs to control the sound you're creating. It is needless to say that when singing, your aim is to project your voice to its maximum however at the same time, you want your voice to sound at its best. This can become a difficult task when thinking about all of these techniques at once. To help, breathing from your diaphragm and not straining your vocals, improves the overall sound of your vocals.
This is the structure of the top half of the human body, all organs and parts shown here, help in making the anatomy of the human voice.
Types of common singing exercises and games to improve your vocal technique
Probably the most common singing exercise to do to improve your vocal technique before singing, is scales. A musical scale is
a series of notes differing in pitch according to a specific scheme,
within an octave. These help to improve your vocal chords, over time building up muscle memory in the diaphragm. By doing this, over time your vocal range will increase and improve both in the short term, hence why you are warming up your vocals in the first place, and in the long term also.
My personal favourite singing game to practise to improve my vocal technique is a song called 'One Bottle of Pop.' This song is best sang in rounds of three, done in larger groups to achieve the best results the song can produce. Split a larger group of vocalists into smaller groups of three, the first group starting off with the first verse. When this group are moving onto the second verse, the second group of vocalists commence to the first verse. This continues until the group decide to finish the round. This exercise helps to improve your vocals by pushing your range due to some high notes in the song. Also, this song, when being played becomes a game/competition of which group can project their vocals over the others. This helps improve confidence in singing louder and also, influences team effort into your voice control. You wish to work as a team to achieve the best round, making you work and singing improve due to pressure.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-TdsmPHjo0
Vocal techniques definition
Intonation- this is the rise and fall of the voice in speaking.
An exercise for this would be practicing scales, this improves the voices' intonation and how well a person is able to do this.
Flexibility- reaching from one note in an octave to a higher note. how your voice can jump to different notes.
An exercise for this is choosing an octave to focus on and jumping between notes in the octave. For example, singing notes 1, 3, 5 and 7 in the scale. this improves how you jump between notes and therefore your flexibility.
Range- your personal lowest note to your highest note. The range as to which your vocal chords can produce notes to and from.
An example of an exercise technique to improve range is simply singing scales and increasing the octave one by one. This will stretch your vocal chords and improve muscle memory in the diaphragm and chords.
Diction- how you pronounce notes and words when singing. An example of good diction would be received pronunciation and bad would be London commoner's accent.
An exercise you can use to improve diction is repeating vowel sounds such as 'p, p, p, p'. This improves the way you pronounce your notes and therefore, your vocal diction.
Articulation (legato and staccato)- how you sing notes and how they sound. For example, legato notes flow in to one another whereas staccato notes are individual, short and snappy sounding.
An example of vocal exercise you can use to improve articulation is singing notes which are flowing in a scale, legato and notes which are separate in a scale, staccato.
Projection- this is the strength of your voice when singing, the louder you make your voice, the better your projection becomes. loud and clear notes make good projection.
To improve projection, you can chose a verse of a song to sing and each time, increase the strength you sing it at.
Breath control- the intake and expulsion of air during respiration.
For improving breathe control, you can do an exercise which involves breathing in for 4, and finding a note you are comfortable with and holding it for 10 seconds. this improves how you control and distribute the breathe you have. Each time you do this, you should improve the way you control your breathe and the way you put this in to practice.
Group work presentation on the anatomy of the voice
The vocal chords
The official definition of the vocal
cords are the folds
of membranous tissue which project inwards from the sides of the larynx to form
a slit across the glottis in the throat, and whose edges vibrate in the
airstream to produce the voice.
In simple terms, the cords in your vocal
box vibrate and crash together to create the sound you hear when one speaks or
sings.
The Larynx
The larynx is the hollow muscular organ
forming an air passage to the lungs and holding the vocal cords in humans and
other mammals; the voice box.
The vocal cords, are located within the
larynx at the top of the trachea. They are open during inhalation and come
together to close during swallowing and phonation. When closed, the vocal folds
vibrate to produce speech and singing.
The Diaphragm
The diaphragm is the dome-shaped sheet of
muscle and tendon that serves as the main muscle of respiration and plays a
vital role in the breathing process. Also known as the thoracic diaphragm, it
serves as an important part in separating the thorax, or chest, from the
abdomen. The origins of the diaphragm are found along the lumbar vertebrae of
the spine and the inferior border of the ribs and sternum.
When you breath in your diaphragm drops
(contracts) meaning there is room for your lungs to expand . When it relaxes it
aids in pushing the air out of the lungs.
Importance of vocal warm ups
When you are singing, you use your vocal
chords which is soft tissue and the inner muscles of the larynx. Before we
sing, we need to stretch our diaphragm as it’s a muscle and our singing
muscles. We do this like we would as if we were about to part take in exercises
such as lifting weights and running. This reduces the risk of injury to the
muscles.
Here is the link to my vocal techniques chart which I have been updating on a weekly basis of exercises I have been doing to develop my vocal ability.
VOCAL TECHNIQUES CHART
