Vocal Ped Final

Breathing for Singers

• Diaphragm-biggest breathing muscle

• Epigastric muscle- upper central region of the diaphragm

• Appoggio- breathing technique that comes from the italian school of singing

  • Appoggiarsi a means to lean against

  • Type of diaphragmatic breathing where one sings on the “inspiratory gesture”

• Costal Breathing- rib breathing

  • Ribs are consistently held high when singing 

• Pancostal breathing- chest breathing

  • Breathing with the chest-also sucking in the epigastric region while singing/phonation as opposed to remaining in an outward position

• Belly Breathing- breathing with the belly

• Back breathing- breathing with the back… can be used as an aid to diaphragmatic breathing

• Diaphragmatic breathing- similar to appoggio where one remains in the inspiratory gesture while phonating/singing

• External intercostal muscles- aid in inhalation 

• Internal intercostals- aid in exhalation

Phonation

• Phonation-sound produced by vocal folds

• Phonatory Dimension- entire range of how you can phonate

  • Hypofunctional- breathy phonation (not providing minimal amt. Of pressure necessary for adduction of vocal folds) (soft attack)

  • Hyperfunctional- pressed phonation (strong adduction, high subglottic pressure or force) (hard attack)

  • Flow- balanced (correct amt. of subglottic pressure)

• Phonation threshold- minimum amt. Of pressure required to initiate phonation at a given fundamental frequency (note)

• Bernoulli Effect- when the air is moving through the vocal folds, it draws the together until enough pressure is built up underneath the folds to burst through the closed glottis and then close the glottis as the supraglottal pressure becomes higher than the subglottic pressure (singing sucks)

• Subglottic pressure- pressure below glottis

• Supraglottic pressure- above glottis

• Onset- attack, when cords come together to make sound

Resonance

• Vibrato- A pitch variant produced as a result of neurological impulses that occur when proper coordination exists between the breath mechanism and the phonatory mechanism; a natural result of the dynamic balancing of airflow and vocal fold approximation

  • Most classical singing is vibrancy on every note

  • Musical theater→ mixed feelings

• Overtones-Integer multiples of the fundamental pitches

• Chiaroscuro tone- the “dark-light” tone which characterizes well-balanced resonance in the singing voice

• Cover- A term often used as a description of excessive vowel modification that produces darkened vocal timbre; exact def. not possible

• Tremolo- Too fast vibrato (snow white)

• Wobble- undesirable oscillation of singing voice, wide vibrato