Véu Palatino

CHAPTER 2
GOOD VIBRATIONS:
VOCAL RESONANCE IN CHORAL SINGING
Kathy Kessler Price

Artistry begins when we can be heard.

-attributed to Oren Brown,
voice pedagogue ( 1909-2004)

ingers invest their voices, energies, time, and treasure to become

..r-~11:C""--,f
the best singers they can be. Those who seek the art of singing
' , fas a profession spend countless hours and dollars in lessons,
t.__~=-_,i coaching, practice sessions, and rehearsals to explore and imprint
the tethniques that unlock their expressive capabilities. Singers who are more
avocational might also study with private teachers to improve their "solo" voices,
but often they do so to simply and unselfishly become better "choral" singers.
Certainly, they also expend hours pf their lives in "choir practice," where they
not only sing and listen but also wait patiently while the other voices rehearse
their parts. Whether solo or choral or both, vocal musicians have a passion for
their art and craft that is built on the most human of all arts-singing.
With so much time and effort given, it is only fitting that singers are
rewarded with the joyful knowledge that their best efforts have been heard in
the ways they have prepared for and expect. Singers should be able to count on
the fact that their voice teachers, coaches, and conductors are their partners in
seeking optimum acoustical approaches to ensure just that. Those approaches
include each singer's individual resonant capabilities, fully realized, and the
advantageous use of the acoustical venue. Assuming the singers have vocally
 The Anatomy of TONE
JORDAN • MCCARTHER • KESSLER PRICE

·ece to be as resonant as possible, they shoul d be able

prepared t he performance p1
how often
to depend on that preparation wherever the performance occurs. Yet,
exqms · 1y prepareda pi·ece only to have to throw. out ali nuanc es. when
· 1te
h ave we
d1fferent
we get to the stage because the acoustical environment 1s c~m~letely
loudly as
than where we rehearsed? How frustrating it is to resort to smgmg as
that
possible or with unrehearsed detachment for each pitch to produ ce sound
no one
is audible and clean! And how much worse to sing an entice conce rt that
adequately hears!
are
What knowledge can save us from these situations? Are there areas that
a perio d
often not considered when we study, rehearse, and then move from
are. This
of intense preparation to anticipating a performance? I believe there
forgo tten
knowledge has severa! comp onent s-man y well know n, but sometimes
of this
in the last-minute rush to the finish line of the performance date. Some
be easily
knowledge is scientific and may not be familiar to everyone, but it can
intern et,
disseminated and understood via today's many resources (e.g., the
of vocal
journals, books, etc.). The next few chapters are devoted to the topic
make the
acoustics (both solo and chorai) and how singers and conductors can
most of them.

VOCAL RESONANCE
opera
Clearly there is something quite unusual about the voice of a first-class
quality of such a voice can have a
singer: Quite apart from the music, the intrinsic
produc es sounds
forceful impact on the listener: Moreover, a well-trained singer
of sound
that can be heard distinctly in a large opera house even over a high levei
second-
from the orchestra, and can do so week after week, year after year. lf a
be heard over an orches tra,
rate singer or a completely untrained one tried to
the result would be a scream and the singer's voice would soon fail.
-Joha n Sundberg,
The Acoustics of the Singing Voice ( 1977)

r" as
We may or may not possess the voice of a "first-class opera singe
above , but
Sundberg (b. 1936), musicologist and musical acoustician, describes
b ·
the very resonant nature he describes can be a part of what every singer nngs
· kº · ,
to dmus1c ma .mg. Resonance is part and pareei of timbr e , beaut y, power, d.1ct1on
.
ance it is
an even aud1bdity for every voice. To under stand how to attain reson
builds, into
n~bcessary to take ª glimpse into how vocal sound begins and how it
v1 rant tone.

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 CHAPTER 2
GOOD YIBRATIONS: VOCAL RESONANC E IN C HORAL SING ING

CREATINGVOCAL SOUND
For a sound to start, the brain, breath, and muscles get to work to create
vibration. The brain sends a signal to the intrinsic (inner) muscles of the
larynx, and they respond by closing the vocal folds (cords) after inhaling. ln
other words, the first thing that happens after taking in a breath is the vocal
folds meet at the mid-line of the glottis (space between folds) and gently touch
down the length of each fold. A simpler description would be of two narrow,
three-dimensional, horizontal bands meeting each other down their full length.
Virtually simultaneously, breath pressure begins to build below the closed folds.
When that pressure reaches a certain threshold (needed to produce the pitch
and dynamic the singer intends), the folds part in an undulating fashion, bottom
to top, known as the mucosa/ wave. The air pressure beneath the folds then
becomes less as it moves past and between the open folds until it needs to be
renewed to keep up this process. Therefore, the folds dose again via muscles,
inertia, and the Bernoulli Effect to build air pressure, and the cycle repeats. All
these activities occur within fractions of a second. For instance, at the pitch A440
(what we comrnonly tune to) the folds are oscillating 440 times per second!
As these vibrating folds and air pressure combine, pitch is created-whatever
the ear and brain have coordinated beforehand-as the folds are contracted or
stretched for lower or higher pitches.
Without making this too much of an anatomy lesson, it is also good to
know that two sets of muscles inside the larynx balance each other continually
to govern pitch. They are the thyroarytenoid muscles (TA), which constitute the
main muscle body of the folds themselves and are responsible for lower pitches,
and the cricothyroid muscles (CT), which contract to tilt the thyroid cartilage
(felt as one's Adam's Apple) down and slightly forward toward the base of the
larynx (cricoid cartilage), thereby stretching the folds for higher pitches. These
two muscle groups are in constant cooperation with each other to finely tune the
folds to produce the frequency and degree of loudness the singer is requesting.
Indeed, the TA muscles also increase the bulk of the folds for louder sounds, and
the CT muscles help thin for softer sounds. For lower pitches, the TA muscles
are dominant; for higher pitches, the CT muscles may become dominam,
especially for women. Indeed, when sopranos and altos (chorai designations)
sing in "head" voice, they are CT dominam, and when they are in "chest" voice,
they are TA dominant. Tenors, baritones, and basses sing in TA dominance
throughout their ranges, unless they move into falsetto, which is CT dominam.

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 The Anatomy of TONE
JORDAN• MCCARTHER • KESSLER PRICE

The often difficult "mix" for men (some call this head voice) is tricky because
of the need to maintain TA dominance when the voice would innately prefer to
switch to CT dominance. This adjustment is similar to "belt" for female singers
in contemporary commercial music (CCM). Western Classical music culture
has decided, roughly over the last century anda half, that men maintaining TA
dominance in their higher pitches is exciting and visceral-and preferred. So
men (singing as tenors, baritones, and basses) must do it orbe pioneers and start
a new trend. However, for absolutely everyone, both muscle groups are at work
ali the time to create pitch and the nuance of dynamics (soft to loud) without our
direct awareness. How amazing the vocal instrument is!
Pitch, or frequency, for singing is never a simple, single sound wave. It is
a complex sound, nota sine wave alone, made up of a fundamental frequency
(abbreviated as Fo-that which we hear as the actual pitch) and its accompanying
harmonics or overtones. The vocal folds produce many harmonics as well as the
fundamental pitch. (To be precise, the fundamental frequency is considered the
first harmonic. The second harmonic, however, is considered the first overtone.)
All these frequencies-fu ndamental and harmonics (overtones)-em it from the
vocal folds themselves. There is not a beauty of tone yet, but the actual pitch
with harmonics is present thanks to these vibrating wonders. The vocal folds,
then, are considered the "source" of the sung tone.
To become enriched, resonant, and colorful, these frequencies have to
travei through a filter known as the vocal tract (the spaces above the folds)
until the singing tone exits the lips. Indeed, the unique shape of each person's
vocal tract creates that individuaPs personal vocal color. That color or timbre
is what identifies your voice-why friends recognize you on the phone, or why
you can identify a famous singer's voice on a recording. Resonance is primarily
enhanced, however, by the way each person shapes his/her vocal tract (position
of the larynx, pharynx, and mouth/tongue/palate/lips) to form words and tone.
The vocal tract is primarily the spaces in the pharynx (throat) and mouth with
all the accompanying inhabitants, especially the tongue, the lips, and the degree
of jaw release controlling the shaping of those spaces to various degrees. As the
frequencies travei through this tract, some sound waves are selected for success
and some fail to make the entire trip. If the tract is well shaped for the desired
vowel and vocal color, and the vocal folds are doing their job of clean closure in
vibratory mode, then sound waves will become reverberant. If not, those waves
not matching the vocal tract shape will either die off or be heard as noise in the
vocal sound.

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 CHAPTER2
GOOD YIBRATIONS: VOCAL RESONANC E 1N CHORAL SINGING

The most influential shaper in the tract is the tongue; hence, that is why
voice teachers continually admonish singers to find tongue release, ensure the tip
is gently touching, when possible, the front, lower teeth, and on and on. I call
the tongue "The Beast" with good reason! lt is difficult to know what it is doing
unless we feel the tip touching the gum line or teeth and/or we look in a mirror as
we sing. Once singers discover what it feels like to have a freely released tongue,
they can replicate it. However, singers must constantly be aware of its role to
keep it in good order. The tongue seems to have a mind of its own.
As we begin exploring resonance through the vocal tract, it is important to
understand a bit more about perceived resonance. We singers are often led astray,
as we hear ourselves differently than does the rest of the world. Almost everyone
has experienced hearing one's own voice on a recording and being astonished
that we sound differently than we thought. We share that first disbelief when
we exclaim, "That's not how I sound, is it?" Our primary sense of resonance
comes from the connection between the vibrating instrument (the vocal folds in
the somewhat mobile larynx) and the rest of our body. We feel that sensation as
forced resonance (bone and tissue vibrating), and it is audible to us. Everyone
else hears us through free resonance, or sound waves traveling through air in
our vocal tracts and then out into the surrounding space. Of course, our ears
as singers inform our perception of our voices as well, particularly in areas of
intonation, loudness, diction, and timbre. This mode of assessment is called the
auditory feedback loop, and it is criticai to singing success. However, for reliable
vocal production, singers must depend on the sensations of sound for feedback
while understanding that the timbre others hear is somewhat different from their
own perceptions.

FORMANTS
When I was a child, Mama had the best voice of all the members of the church.
She had loved to sing. Her words had soared like an angel's over the swells of the
organ.
-Siri Mitchell,
She Walks in Beauty

ln the quote above, "Mama" definitely had a good grasp of resonance and
understood instinctively something voice science calls formants. A formant for
singing is an area in the vocal tract that holds potential for resonance. The shapes

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 ----
ofTONE
The AnatomY THER • KESSLER PRICE
~N
JICO~R~DA AR
~ • ~M=C=C~ ~------------------
-

h e areas of resonant energy that love certain frequen .

f the tract create t es . c1es,
° F
but not others. orm
ants "like" the range of frequenc1 es that correspon d
to
. h When the frequencif s (sound waves) that a particular forma
their s apes. r • nt
es
through it those frequenc1 . . meet a welcome environme
area accepts pass ' . nt
e way to eventually ex1t as smgmg sound. When frequencie
and trave I aII th s
h formant areas that are not compatib le, they are usually dampened
pass th roug . •
Though there are many potential formants, sm~ers have only five useful formant
areas (abbreviated as F1, F2, F3, F4, and F5) m the vocal tract. If we travei up
the vocal tract, beginning with the larynx, we can visualize where each of these
formants resides.
The areas of the epilarynx (between the vocal folds and the epiglottis)
support higher overtones, which voice science labels formants 4 and 5 (F4, F5).
The upper pharynx and back of the oral cavity (mouth) support the first formant
(Fl), which is the home of warmer, rounder, more vertical sound, especially if
the soft palate is raised. The mid to front of the mouth supports formant 2 (F2),
which is the zone of more brilliant, brighter sound. From the tip of the tongue
forward to the teeth is the third formant (F3 ). Since this is such a small space,
we generally say that F3 contributes to overall resonance, much like F4 and
FS. Indeed, the combination of these three formants (F3, F4, and F5) are often
referred to as the Singer's Formant (more about that in a coming paragraph).
Formants 1 and 2 are responsible for the color, distinction, and intelligibility
of vowels. Ali vowels consist of a mixture of these two formant frequencies.
A vowel high in Fl value will have a warmer, darker, rounder timbre-su ch
as /a/ or /A/. A vowel rich in F2 value will have a brighter, more forward,
edgier timbre-su ch as /i/ or /e/. Practically speaking, the longer the vocal tract
(consisting of a lowered larynx, a tall pharynx, a lowered jaw, and slightly
protruding lips) the more Fl value there will be. A slightly higher larynx, a
smaller mouth opening, and perhaps slightly spread lips will raise F2 with its
bright, ringing, and sometimes brassier tone.
Formants 3-5 enhance resonance generally (rather than defining vowels)
and form what is known as the Singer's Formant. Many singers who otherwise
may not he aware of formants have, nonetheless, heard of this impressive term.
· ·
·
. Singer's Formant 1·s what g1ves
The a professional singer's voice its charactenstic
nng ªnd power. lt is often described as the resonance that enables a singer to be
heard over an orchest ra. sorne ehora1conductors are concerne d that t h e s·mger's
· wou ld create a chorus of solo singers, not the cohesiv
Formant' given free reign, · e

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 CHAPTER2
GOOD YIBRATIONS: VOCAL RESONANC E IN CHORAL SINGING

sound they might prefer. However, recent research (examined in Chapter 6:

Good Vibrations: Chorai Spacing) reveals that this fear may be a needless worry.
Singers continually mold these various formant areas (potential resonance)
by the way they position the tongue, lips, jaw, etc., yet they are generally unaware
of their acoustical properties. lt is an intuitive process. We singers respond to
auditory and sensory feedback and, of course, sing through muscle memory as
we have practiced. Because tenors, baritones, and basses, and to a lesser degree
lower alto voices, have many more audible harmonics than higher treble voices
(because they start out lower), they can use more of the sensory perception of
the Singer's Formant. Sopranos' fundamental frequencies begin much higher,
thereby shifting their audible overtones beyond the useful range of the Singer's
Formant. Sopranos of all sorts must try a different strategy. This strategy is
called formant tuning or vowel modification. All singers can and should avail
themselves of this strategy, but higher treble voices must do so to avoid shrill,
piercing sounds that also feel uncomfortable to the singers.
Formant tuning implies that singers have changed the frequency range of a
formant area to bring it closer to a nearby harmonic. Singers accomplish this task
by changing the vocal tract shape. When the formant area is in dose proximity to
the harmonic's frequency, the harmonic is boosted and a more resonant sound is
produced
With sopranos, formant tuning often involves tuning more to the fundamental
frequency (Fo) since it is already a high pitch, rather than even higher harmonics.
Chorai conductors often support this technique, as they want the audience to
hear the melodie pitch clearly. To achieve this tuning, sopranos must release
their jaws, create more space, and open the vowels (vowel modification) as their
singing moves to GS and above. Vowel modification is the name of the game,
whether singers are consciously aware of the progression of vowel adjustments
or they are merely releasing the jaw more and more. The effect is the sarne.
This technique enables the soprano voice to have greater resonant power, even
without the aid of the Singer's Formant. However, when the mouth is more open
and the jaw fully released in a soprano's head voice, there is not as much internai
feedback provided to the singer. The sensory perception of bone conduction and
vibrations within the pharynx and mouth are not as great as for lower voices.
Therefore, sopranos, in particular, must have space outside themselves in which
to hear their voices reflected back clearly or they will push, thereby creating a
harsh, shrill, or possibly out of tune sound.

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 fTONE
The AnatomY o THER • KESSLER PRICE
JORDAN • MCCAR

. roach a bit more, let's continue thinking about how

To break down t h is app . .
. k We already know that treble v01ces, part1cularly, adjust
formant tunmg wor s. 1f d .
smgers
ore resonant focus and voca ree om. These .
their vowels to create m .
• the progression of the /i/ vowel to IIJ, for mstance, but
may not be focusmg 00
. · the need for more jaw release to free the sound. Changed.
they w111 recogruze . .
. · gers must employ a shghtly d1fferent approach , as they retam their
v01ce ma1e sm .
"chest" voices into their upper ranges. To achieve that m1x, they must initially
modify vowels (often using mixed vowels, like a German /õ/), until they move
beyond the passaggio.
A more familiar term for this methodol ogy is cover. ln general, solo singers
modify by singing "purer" vowels in their lower registers and more openly
modified vowels in their upper registers. To do this, they not only think of the
vowel they wish to produce, but they also conscious ly or unconscio usly adjust
their vocal tracts to achieve the desired vocal ring. Formant tuning is an acoustical
explanation for resonance changes, whereas vowel modifica tion is a more singer-
friendly explanation of the sarne thing. Diction has to change as pitches change.

DICTION ANDVO WEL MODIF ICATIO N

IN CHORAL SINGING
Chorai singers have the added challenge of employin g these resonance
strategies while producing diction that is understan dable as an ensemble. You
now know that diction and resonance are strongly related. Diction needs to be
as clear as possible with a pleasing timbre. Usually, choirs are populated with
people f~om a particular geographic area for convenience, so they share a similar
pron~c•~tion. With the help of the conductor, the individual singers make slight
modifications to satisfy the tonal ideal the conducto r may have. If an international
pronunciat ion of English (or any oth er 1anguage) 1s .
. desrred, then 1t · very heIPful
• 1s
if b
· members know the Internatio nal Ph onet1c ·
AI hth the conductor and t he eh orr
0
.
P abet. Th1s shorthand codifi.cat1on· of language which -has been used m · th'18
ehapter when namin v 1 ' .
u· d g owe s, helps unify diction. However, most choirs m the
rute States are not co 1 1 f . . th
cond , . mp ete Y amihar with this tool and it often becomes · e
uctor s Job to hel th '
acousticall fi p em create vowels that will work together rather than
. y ght each otheL U d st din difi .
m highe · h n er an g both the need for vowel mo cauon
r p1tc es for all sin e .
shaping to g rs (especially for sopranos) and the role of vocal tract
create vocal color d .
an clanty of text is vital.

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 CHAPTER2
GOOD YIBRATIONS: VOCAL RESONANCf. IN CHORAL SINGING

CHAPTER REFERENCES
Mitchell, S. She Walks in Beauty. New York: Bethany House (2010).
Sundberg, J. The Acoustics of the Singing Voice (1977).
http://www.zainea.com/voices.htm

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