“Head” voice is a term used to describe the type of voice that creates a ringing sensation in singer’s head, as opposed to the “chest” voice, which causes the vibrations to be felt mainly in the chest. The difference results from the alteration in the shape and the thickness of the vocal folds, specific to these two voices. Head voice should not be confused with falsetto, the highest register of the male voice. Falsetto is not used in classical singing; it may be used in humorous imitation of the female voice, and in certain range-extension drills.
Head voice occurs over a series of pitches where the vocal folds are stretched and thin. This thinning is a result of the increased activity of the cricothyroid (CT) muscle (vocal fold lengthener) and decreased activity of the thyroarytenoid (TA), or vocalis muscle (vocal fold tightener), which is the muscular body of the vocal folds. Head voice is sometimes referred to as the “lighter mechanism” of the voice because there is less vocal fold mass involved in its production. Head voice is usually described as bright and ringing.
The two muscle groups described above are used by classical singers to vary the pitch of the sound they produce. The singer can tighten/shorten the TA muscle, which raises the pitch; he can also stretch/thin the vocal folds by using the CT muscle, which does so by tilting the thyroid cartilage (the Adam’s apple). Trained singers use both these mechanisms, as well as the mix of the two, in order to access and acoustically equalise and smoothen their entire vocal range.
For various reasons, including social habits, the male voice has a chest-dominant quality to its speaking voice, while the female voice has a head-dominant quality. It stands to reason that over the years, the dominant register of the two voices will be the one that is most developed. As a result, men seldom have a well-developed head voice without having specifically trained it. The consequence is a limited vocal range and no access to high notes.
While the chest voice is resonant, warm and masculine, it can only take the singer up to his 1st passaggio, an important pivotal point in every voice where the switch from “chest” to “head” must begin. Baritones can find it hard to sing above C# or D, and tenors above E or F by using the chest voice only. If they continue to ascend in the chest mode beyond the 1st passaggio they will strain the voice, forcibly raise the larynx and turn the voice into a yell and eventually break into the comedic falsetto. Note that raising the larynx is an alternative (the third) pitch changing mechanism, and undesirable in elite classical singing.
It is worth noting that many female singers, even operatic professionals, can sing their entire range in the head voice. However, while not needing the chest voice that much, sopranos would benefit from having a well-developed chest voice. While the “chest” may not be used directly by a female singer, having it gives depth and fullness to her head voice.
In summary, female singers can live without the chest voice, while male singers must develop the head voice and use it in addition to their obligatory chest voice. When training male singers, the voice teacher must intervene to identify and develop the “unused” head register. Many young male singers attempt to sing classical repertoire using the only voice that they know, the chest voice. Their attempts result in a severely strained, uncontrolled, and spread sound as they ascend.
Male singers must understand how to relax the TA muscle and activate the CT muscles of the larynx as they approach the pivotal point called the 1st passaggio, enabling the voice to “turn”. To some readers this change may be known as “covering” the voice.
It is highly desirable that the head voice is demonstrated to the untrained singer, who may even be unaware of its existence. Many examples are available online. It does not take long to get the hang of the head voice, and it opens up a whole new world to a bass, baritone or tenor.
There are several approaches to teaching the head voice, depending on how developed the voice is – existent but undeveloped, or the student has no access to it at all.

Finding the Head Voice
Without a vocal instructor, finding the head voice requires some vocal exploration. Here are a few ideas.
·         For those males who have no access to it the first step is usually to learn to speak in head voice, imitating storytelling speech practiced by storytellers that use head voice for young characters in the story. 
·         Yawn sighs are the next step between speaking in head voice and singing in it: slur from the very top of the vocal range to the bottom and keep the voice light and airy.
·         Next, try an exaggerated, voiced sigh. Slide as slowly as possible, noting all the variations in the voice. Men have a natural break between their falsetto (highest notes) and head voice (next highest).
The next step is to sing in head voice.
·      Start with a yawn sigh and stop somewhere in the top of the voice and hold the note. If volume is added, the singer should suddenly find himself singing in the head voice. At first the brighter vocal sound may not be favourite to a male singer, but he will soon realise that it leads to greater vocal freedom as the singer learn to mix in the warmer sound of chest voice.
·    Sing “miaouw” in comfortable vocal range. The combination of vowels with encourage a high larynx position; while a high larynx is not a goal itself in classical singing, it facilitates finding the head voice.

​   Note: while singing with a low larynx and relaxed throat is a major training goal for every voice, it will take many years of vocal training to achieve that throughout the whole range. Baritones will generally not be able to sing above D (tenors above F) with a low larynx, and the upper limit of the relaxed classically produced sound would be around the middle C for baritones (D# for tenors) until well into their careers, when baritones will extend the relaxed, classically produced sound to E and above, and tenors to G and above.
By completing and repeating the above exercises, a male singer should have discovered the head voice and hopefully realised that high pitches are more easily accessed by its use. The next section concerns further development of the head voice and contains a slightly more advanced material.


Closing the Vowels
Eventually, the singer should be taught that the head voice will occur when he learns to close and darken the vowels as he approaches the breaking point of the 1st passaggio. As a result of this “closing”, vowels will migrate towards their neighbouring vowels: [a] will migrate towards [o], [o] towards [u], etc.
Certain vowels are already calling on the activation and coordination of the cricothyroid (CT) muscles, guaranteeing a balanced mix of adjustments that is necessary as singer ascends, as is the case in [a] to [o] transition used in the next exercise.
The singer begins on an open [a] vowel. On the third note of the exercise, he changes to the [o] vowel and then cadences on the last note on [a].

The singer should feel the voice transitioning from chest to head as he closes the [a] vowel changing to [o].
Strengthening the Head Voice
Many exercises that start on the top and move down develops the head voice.
Using the ‘w’ also helps lengthen the vocal cords before starting singing, setting the singer up for a cleaner sound.
One much used exercise combines the two:
·         Sing ‘we-e-e-ah’ on a simple arpeggio 1-5-3-1. That would be C-G-E-C in a C-major scale. Make sure to connect each note. Sing up the scale as high as possible without hurting the voice.
·         Once the simple arpeggio is mastered, the singer may try a 5-note scale beginning with ‘w,’ as in ‘we-e-e-e-e,’ on 5-4-3-2-1 or G-F-E-D-C in a C-major scale. The key is to really close the lips when producing the ‘wuh’ sound.
Another exercise involves the use of falsetto.
·         The singer starts singing [i] or [u] on a mid-range note, say F for a baritone or G# for a tenor, in piano falsetto. He then crescendos to the full voice and back to falsetto. The full voice produced by transitioning from falsetto will be the head voice.
·         Taking a new breath, the singer then sings on the same pitch in the same full voice. He then progresses by half steps over a period of weeks or months through to the upper limit of his head voice, which can be around E for baritones and G for tenors.
Getting to this pivotal point called the 2nd passaggio is a major event for a male singer. The next steps in his singing career are learning how to produce a uniform sound when approaching the 2nd passaggio and then singing above it. These two developments require major additions to the singing technique and involve year of practice to master.

​As I mentioned last week, I think that both poetry and music can have a great effect on our moods.  In fact I believe that music has an even greater effect on our moods than poetry, partly because much of it – and certainly the music that I enjoy most – is made by lots of people working together.
I think that if I had to choose eight discs to take to a desert island (I still think of pieces of music on discs – “Desert Island mp3s” doesn’t have quite the same alliterative ring to it!) many of the pieces of music would be from 100 years ago and further back.  That’s not because I don’t like modern music – I do – but because most pieces of music written these days are short and generally focused on one emotion – love, longing, anger, hope – so to get all those emotions in popular music written since the 1960s I would have to choose four “discs”.  However, if I were to choose “Messiah” (just to take one example of an older work) I would have all those emotions and more on one “disc”. 
​
I don’t want this note to be longer than about 10 pages (I’ll bet some of you just skipped to the bottom to see if it IS that long! :-)) so I am only going to write about music that helps me to feel better if I’m fed up.   I won’t include music that might be helpful in other stressful situations – for example, if I had a job interview coming up, or if I had a difficult decision to make; if I were ill or if I needed to focus for the day ahead – though of course some of the music I listen to if I’m fed up can also be helpful in these situations.

First and foremost, I love the music of J. S. Bach – his music for ensembles, his choral music and even his music for single instruments – the whole of human life is there.  Its form and structure remind me of the constant rhythms of life and that all will be well.  Bach is generally my “go to” composer if I am feeling fed up – I love his empathy.  Here is part of his double violin concerto – recorded during lock-down by members of the orchestra of the Royal Opera House:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJQNl7D0AbQ

Baroque composers such as Bach, Handel and Vivaldi are really good to listen to if one is fed up.  And for me (going back even further to a time when music was even more carefully structured) so are the composers of the Renaissance – for example, Tallis, Palestrina, Byrd and Dowland.  There is an apparent simplicity in their music that appeals to me and helps to clear my brain.  Of course the apparent simplicity is cleverly constructed – Tallis’ “Spem in Alium” (he was referring to hope in God but it’s uplifting music whatever one’s beliefs) has 40 parts!  Here is a recording made by Stile Antico during lock-down, cleverly produced to show us the eight choirs of 5 singers who sing those 40 parts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfnEbwcLq0E

​
Moving forward several hundred years, if I were to be cast away on a desert island (and who wouldn’t wish for that, occasionally, in the current epidemic) I would take masses of Tchaikovsky’s ballet music – I cannot listen to the finale of Swan Lake, for example, without experiencing enough uplifting thoughts to enable me to fly off the island and back to those I love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXJawzOLS3k
​
Before coming almost up-to-date (and thereby glossing quickly over almost all the other wonderful composers of the “classical” and “romantic” periods) I will just mention that the “disc I would save from the waves” is a gorgeous recording of Elgar’s “Dream of Gerontius”, together with his “Sea Pictures”.  In these wonderful works is sufficient exuberance, excitement, uplifting thoughts, introspection and, of course, despair, for a lifetime.

Staying with the sea, another wonderfully uplifting work is Vaughan Williams’ “A Sea Symphony”.  Some people find the words (by Walt Whitman) rather strange, but the music is sublime, and, again, runs through the whole gamut of emotions.  Here is the first few minutes of the symphony.  It’s wonderful, and in my view the music gets better the further into it you go:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPeW9NY5n8s
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Many of you will be wondering if I can get to the end of this without mentioning handbells…..No, I can’t :-)  The energy of Celtic Praise by Rolf Lovland always lifts my spirits.  Do listen and I am sure that it will lift yours too, if only because of the excitement of a fast piece in 5/8 time!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zgzDoE1HxQ


In addition to its excitement, Celtic Praise brings back great memories for me, and I’m sure that there will be some pieces that do that for you, too.  Do tell us about them!  As I mentioned last week, it would be great if, as a result of reading this, some of you felt that you would like to share music that you find uplifting.   Other pieces, for me, are Bob Thiele and George David Weiss’ song “What a Wonderful World”, Cole Porter’s “I Love You, Samantha”, and even Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Poppa’s Blues”, from Starlight Express (of all the pieces I am mentioning here this probably brings the biggest smile to my face).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3TH9ik-8IM

Also, I can’t help smiling when I hear Mike Oldfield’s “In Dulci Jubilo”, perhaps because of its association with Christmas, but more likely just because it’s such a catchy and uplifting tune.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VCvz7uflMIU

________________________________
And what about the music that makes me actually laugh?  Of course, some music was written to do that, and succeeds brilliantly.  For me, one example is Eric Idle’s “Always Look On The Bright Side of Life”:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_-q9xeOgG4

And, looking backwards a few more years, the less edgy humour of Flanders and Swann:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYZyipx01tc

Or, coming up to date again, Paul Drayton’s “Masterpiece”:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXhAz0DOpMU
​
There were other composers who couldn’t set out to deliberately make their audiences laugh, so had to resort to irony.  Here is an example from Shostakovitch, who was not only a wonderful composer in romantic style, and a superb orchestrator, but so clever in his work that he could write an ironic piece such as “The Assault on Beautiful Gorky” (actually named “The Assault on Krasnaya Gorka”) and have it accepted by the Soviet authorities.  The irony and overstated drama always make me laugh.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg9mmalMwgs
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Finally, and coming full circle, here is another wonderfully heartwarming (and deliberately funny) clip of the Bach Double Violin Concerto which reminds us of what we have been missing and will be able to do again soon!  Please do watch it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNZKwKRUb7U
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I hope you’ve found something in this blog that is new – and uplifting – for you.  Look out for Johnny’s blog on uplifting choral music, coming soon J  It would be fascinating to find out more about your favourite music – what do you listen to when you are sad, or when you are joyful.  Do let us know! 

​​Dear Friends
​
This is the first in a series of three or four linked contributions to the blog from Johnny and me.  In this first one, I have written about how poetry helps me feel better.  In the next two Johnny and I will write about music.  As you read, you may like to think about music that helps you feel better, and please do share that with us if you can.  Problems can make you feel lonely, but sharing ideas helps us to feel connected again. 

Your ideas and suggestions will be drawn together into the fourth (and maybe fifth and sixth) contribution to this blog.  Or, of course, you could just write a contribution to the blog yourself :-)

Either way, please do tell us all about music and poetry that helps you at difficult times!  
​
Best wishes,

Tim

A few years ago I was given a delightful book – “The Poetry Pharmacy”.  The author suggested that poetry is a powerful mood influencer and that it can (for example) help us to feel calmer if we are frustrated, happier if we are sad, and more determined if we are unsure.
​
I really liked this idea, as it reflected my own experience, both with poetry and with music.  I mentioned this idea to Johnny a little while ago and he suggested that we write this blog.  Please do share your ideas…..are there special “go to” poems or pieces of music that really help you?​

Before getting to the music I’m going to mention a few poems and poets that help me to feel better.  I really like John Betjeman’s rhythmical, often musical delivery of his own poems, and it always makes me smile.  Many years ago I was given a recording called “Banana Blush” which set some of his delightful poetry to music – do any of you know it?  More specifically, reading Edward Thomas’s “Addlestrop” – a poem that I read during one of this choir’s concerts a few years ago – lifts me when I am feeling down and reminds me that we have a strong link with the natural world.  It’s probably short enough to reproduce in full here.

Yes, I remember Adlestrop -- 
The name, because one afternoon 
Of heat the express-train drew up there 
Unwontedly. It was late June. 

The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. 
No one left and no one came 
On the bare platform. What I saw 
Was Adlestrop -- only the name 

And willows, willow-herb, and grass, 
And meadowsweet, and haycocks dry, 
No whit less still and lonely fair 
Than the high cloudlets in the sky. 

And for that minute a blackbird sang 
Close by, and round him, mistier, 
Farther and farther, all the birds 
Of Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire. 

A poem that always makes me cry (in a good way) and re-affirms my faith in the power of love, to such an extent that I always feel better when I read it, is “Small Incident In Library” by David Sutton – also short enough to reproduce in full.

The little girl is lost among the books.
Two years old maybe, in bobble cap,
White lacy tights, red coat.  She stands and looks,
“Can’t see you Mummy,” Mummy, next row up,
Intent on reading answers absently:
“I’m here, love.” Child calls out again “Can’t see.”
 
A large man, his intentions of the best,
Stoops; “Where’s Mummy then?” Child backs away.
Now the tall shelves threaten like a forest.
She toddles fast between them, starts to cry,
Takes the next aisle down and as her mother
Rounds one end disappears behind the other.
 
I catch the woman’s tired-eyed prettiness,
We smile, shake heads.  The child comes back in sight,
Hurtles to her laughing, hugs her knees:
“Found you!” in such ringing pure delight
It fills the room, there’s no-one left who’s reading.
The mother looks down, blinking.  “Great soft thing.”
 
Most poets seem to write about sad things more than happy things – just think of Philip Larkin!  Of course this must be because there are so many happy things in the world that poets feel we don’t need to be reminded!!  A few poets do make me laugh out loud.  Ogden Nash, for example:-

To keep your marriage brimming
With love in the loving cup,
Whenever you're wrong, admit it;
Whenever you're right, shut up.
or
Children aren’t happy with nothing to ignore,
And that’s what parents were created for.
 
And I love Mandy Coe’s “Go To Bed With A Cheese And Pickle Sandwich”.  I realise that the subject matter might be sensitive for some people, but I do believe that her intention in writing this was to highlight an important issue in an amusing way, so it’s OK to laugh – or perhaps smile wryly anyway.

Go to bed with a cheese and pickle sandwich
- it is life enhancing.
It doesn’t chat you up
- you have to make it.
 
A cheese and pickle sandwich
is never disappointing.
You don’t lie there thinking:
Am I too fat?
Too insecure?
Too fertile?
 
Your thoughts are clear
- your choices simple:
To cut it in half,
or not to cut it in half.
how thin to slice the cheese,
and where you should place the pickle.
 
From a cheese and pickle sandwich
You do not expect flowers,
poems, words of love and acts of adoration.
You expect what you get
- cheese…….and pickle.
 
You want, you eat,
and afterwards – you have eaten.
No lying awake resentful
listening to it snore.
 
Safe snacks.
It comes
recommended.


Like many of us, I guess, I remember snippets of poems for various reasons.  When I was young one of these was by John Masefield which spoke to me of exploring, challenging myself and even being useful.  It was the quote at the beginning of a book by Neville Shute called “No Highway”.  It still exerts a powerful force on me whenever I read it.

“Therefore go forth, companion: when you find
no highway more, no track, all being blind,
the way to go shall glimmer in the mind.
 
Though you have conquered earth and charted sea
and planned the courses of all stars that be,
adventure on, more wonders are in thee.
 
Adventure on, for from the littlest clue
has come whatever worth man ever knew;
the next to lighten all men may be you!”
 
At the time (and even now, when one searches for it on Google) it’s said to be from “The Wanderer”.  However, when I once read the whole of that (long) poem.  I couldn’t find it, and I have checked again whilst writing this, with no success.  Can anyone tell me, please, the source of these lines?

Finally, my favourite snippet is from “Finis Exoptatus” by Australian poet Adam Lindsay Gorden.  Towards the end of this long poem appear the following lines – good advice for all time.

“Life is mostly froth and bubble;
Two things stand like stone:
Kindness in another’s trouble,
Courage in your own.”
 
Of course, music is even better at affecting our moods, in part because much of it – and certainly the music that I enjoy most – is made by lots of people working together……. (to be continued)

For a budding singer there are several milestone events that mark a break-through in vocal technique and lead to a noticeable improvement in his/her vocalism. There are, of course the essential prerequisites: proper posture, breathing and breath support, and the concept of deep (beginning-of-a-yawn) inhalation, that all singers start from, but for many the really momentous experiences are:

• Realisation that singing is actually prolonged speaking, and adopting that concept.
• Discovery of the “head voice” for male singers
• Having said the above, realisation that the “chest voice” has to be further strengthen, because it will greatly assist the head voice, and the production of a consistently resonant sound throughout the vocal range; in short: finding resonance in voice.
  • Female voices experience a similar kind of step change once they find the way to produce a full, resonant voice in their high middle range and upwards ( from E5 up).

All of the above starts with a proper tone onset.

Tone onset (sometimes called “attack”) designates the beginning of phonation – setting the vocal folds in vibratory motion and thus initiating the sound.

The singing voice can only be as good, as good the tone onset is. In the well-regulated and balanced tone onset lies the germ of all good vocalism, and preparatory to it is the proper, deep inhalation.

Nothing in technical accomplishment in singing is more beneficial to the vocal instrument than the proper positioning of the vocal folds for a clean tone onset. The combination of laryngeal muscle action and exact degree of lung pressure and air flow provides the basis for good singing.
Many singing errors are corrected by going back to and practicing the clean attack.

If you can commit to only a few minutes on vocalising daily, the time best spent may well be to practice the balanced tone onset.

But before we consider the production of proper onset, let us first clarify what kind of voice will we use for that? We can sing a note in several ways, using different vocal positions, resulting in very different timbres.

Most schools of singing agree that teaching proper vocalism has to start from the speaking voice. But then, teaching singing via speaking voice requires to start from a proper tone onset. So, the two topics are inter-related, and I will cover them in a single article, starting with the description of how “singing is prolonged speaking”.

Singing is Prolonged Speaking
“What kind of voice to use when I start singing?” may sound like a funny question, but I cannot emphasise the following strongly enough: to sing by attempting to “sing” will not produce good vocal sound! The brain needs to be retrained to think differently about singing. “Singing” sounds hard, but “prolonged speech” sounds much easier. When you think of singing as “singing” it becomes difficult. This is because as soon as we start to think of singing as anything but prolonged speech, we try to sing, we try to make our voice sound like something it is not. And that is where we go wrong. Instead, we should focus on speaking and just holding the notes for longer. Singing is intensified speaking, elongated and musical, and the same is equally true for a beginner as it is for an international opera star; the latter sing the most demanding arias with conversational smoothness. To achieve it, a singer must have the ear that directs the instrument, and a sensitivity to manage the breath for a prolonged speaking voice. Many pedagogues point this out, but none as succinctly as J.A Cohen in his “Powerhouse Singing” book.

Let us illustrate the speaking-to-singing conversion. Say the word “no”, as if saying no to an unacceptable proposal. Then again so, but holding the “no” a bit longer. Now again but holding it for about 3 seconds; the sound may seem dull to you, but that is absolutely fine, the listener hears it differently. Finally, you say “no” as if calling it out to someone across the street who is about to fall in a ditch. Really give it a go and, while supporting the sound, hold the “no” for 5 seconds and let the voice ring. The two “no” sounds illustrate the kind of voice that you ought to produce when you sing notes in the low and the high registers. In vocal terminology, they roughly correspond to the “chest” and “head” voices. Lower notes are like a conversation with a friend, the high notes are like calling out to a friend across the street.

Starting with the speaking voice leads to mastering the free singing voice - one of the pillars of good singing. In the higher echelons of vocal mastery, freedom of voice ranks above the beauty of voice, because the latter can be fully developed only after the former has been perfected. The freedom must be nurtured from the beginning of vocal training: the singing voice must be taught to be free and unconstrained, and the throat, neck and jaw have to be relaxed at all times, irrespective of the vowel or the pitch sung. – Something hardly conceivable by an amateur singer.

How do we achieve a free voice?
It is essential to remove all constrictions. It is a constriction in the throat what causes the voice to sound poorly, and to feel that the voice is not free. This constriction problem is so important, that it merits an explanation in slightly more technical terms: The bulk of vocal folds consists of the vocalis muscle; it can tighten and loosen the folds, thus changing the pitch of the sung note (one of the three available pitch adjustment mechanisms in singing). However, sitting on top of the vocalis is another muscle whose function is solely to close the glottis when swallowing. We call it “false” vocal folds. We instinctively tend to tighten that muscle, and this creates a constricted larynx. To pass air through a constricted larynx requires an increase in lung air pressure. The true vocal folds consequently face high lung air pressure and must close tightly to control the air flow – causing constriction and the tension in the sound produced. The singer must be trained to retract the false vocal folds at all times. False folds naturally retract during sobbing and laughing. Use laughing to practice retraction; the feeling in the throat is one of width.

Exercise 1: Laugh silently and with energy for 10 seconds and observe and memorise the accompanying muscular activity. Next, voice the laugh, and then turn the laugh into a sung note on a vowel of choice.

Now you need to do this at higher pitches as well; it is trickier and needs practice.
​
Note that even with the false vocal folds retracted, the true vocal folds can still act as constrictors: if you use them to control the air flow while vibrating, the voice will sound squeezed and not free. For the voice to sound free, it is essential that the outward flow of air is controlled by the muscles of breath support system and not by the vocal folds. You may wish to revisit the blog on breath control here.

​From Speaking to Singing Voice
Ross Campbell in his excellent textbook “Singing” (Novordium 2016) proposes following exercises to assist in first moving from speaking to prolonged speaking, and then to singing by using the speaking voice: 

​With the longer phrase and exaggerated pitch change you get close to singing. Perfecting the control over breath and pitch is a basic goal of training the singing voice.

Now let us try to sing a classical song in the “speaking manner” and with the voice that is free.
​
The example is taken from Saint-Saëns’ “Panis Angelicus” for middle voice (sopranos and tenors sing a minor third higher, starting with a C).

If you managed to sing with the “speaking” quality and conversational smoothness as discussed above, and with free voice (the laughing quality), it should be reasonably straightforward to negotiate the first four bars in that manner. However, the following D (or F for high voices) on the word “Dat” while not being a problem to reach for many, will not be that easy to sing in a free speaking voice – the voice may come out squeezed, constricted and with raised larynx, and may require time and practice to master. I would argue that even though the D falls within your reachable range, it does not fall within your actual singing range if you cannot produce it as if speaking and with completely relaxed throat, jaw and neck. I am tempted to redefine “range” as the pitch span that you can sing with a speaking quality and free voice. It is that range which needs to be worked on and extended. Consequently, when you vocalise, you only do that within your comfortable, relaxed range.

It may take a while for you to finally conclude that singing really is just prolonged speech. But once you accept it, if will change your singing forever.
​
Now, with all that was said above, let us turn to the main topic of the article.

Tone Onset
A good onset originates in the mind of the singer before the physical act takes place; it includes preparation for the correct pitch, the correct tone quality, and the correct dynamic level.
The pitch must be attacked cleanly, without scooping up to it or sliding down to it. In order to do so, singers must form a habit of hearing the pitch mentally before the attack, not during it.

A perfect attack occurs when the breath support mechanism and the vocal folds are brought into action simultaneously and efficiently, without unnecessary tension, or wasted breath.
It starts from the “speaking voice” quality, following deep inhalation, and keeping the larynx open, and the throat jaw and neck completely relaxed.

There are three different kinds of tone onsets that singers can produce: (1) soft or aspirated onset, (2) glottal attack, and (3) balanced onset.

The glottal (hard) attack happens when the vocal folds are adducted (approximated) prior to phonation. Because the glottis firmly closes, there is a greater degree of pressure below the folds. When phonation begins, the suddenness of the release of this pressure produces the audible catch, the glottal plosive, a grunt, usually denoted by [?]. It is not endorsed as pedagogical practice for standard use.

The soft (aspirated) onset happens when a singer consciously feels the flow of breath before the vocal sound. The onset is breathy and is preceded by a sound of whispering [h]. It is seldom used in classical singing.

The balanced onset happens when, following deep inhalation, the exhaling action and the lung pressure build-up are well synchronised with the closure of the vocal folds prior to phonation. It can happen only when the glottis has been fully opened with the preceding inhalation, carried out as the “beginning-of-a-yawn” action. The full abduction of the vocal folds is followed by clean and precise closure. A partially open glottis, as in normal breathing (i.e. not deep) does not produce subsequent clean onset required for skilful singing.

Exercises for finding the balanced muscle co-ordination of artistic tone onset:
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Exercise 6: Repeat the spoken sequence: “ha, ha, ha, ha, ha” several times. Slowly and deliberately, lingering over the initial aspirated [h] of each syllable. You should be able to sense when breath passing over the vocal folds is followed by sound that results from closing of the folds (feeling “breath before tone”).

Now repeat the following (different) spoken sequence: “ah, ah, ah, ah, ah” several times, lingering over the initial glottal plosive [?]. You should be able to sense the moment at which the glottis is sufficiently released to produce phonation.
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Now repeat the spoken sequence “ah, ah, ah, ah, ah” several times, imagining a brief [h] before each syllable, but not allowing it to become audible. There should be no sensation of breath expulsion as there is with “ah”, and no sensation of breath moving before tone.

Compared with the above exercises, this short excerpt is harder to sing in a free, unconstrained conversational voice with a clean onset. The single bar will expose all your weaknesses, should you have them. The opening Bꚝ is especially testing for middle voices. It requires skill to make it sound clear, un-constricted, free and beautiful, and the subsequent notes are not any easier either – long, low, quiet, and hard to sustain in uniform timbre. I can happily recommend the excerpt to be included in the daily routine of practicing the free speaking-singing voice with balanced onset, and to be used to monitor your singing progress through repeated recording of the resulting sound.

Summary of the practice of good sound initiation. Use this routine:

• Breath in as if beginning a yawn.
• Feel your body expand around the middle.
• Suspend your breath just as you are comfortably full of air.
• Start the sound by merely thinking to do, and letting it happen, without conscious physical effort.

It is not necessary to use any local effort, such as pulling or pushing the upper abdomen, to start a sound well. With good breath and posture all that is necessary is there, without any conscious adjustment.
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The singer needs the correct mental image of the pitch, tone quality and dynamic level desired, and let the reflex action take place. Think about the kind of sound you want to produce, while directing your attention away from the voice box. As the old saying goes - “A good singer is a head and a chest and nothing in between!”

Note that in normal breathing inhalation occurs via an active (albeit subconscious) contraction of muscles – such as the diaphragm – whereas exhalation tends to be passive, initiated by relaxation of the inspiratory muscles - unless we purposefully force it (e.g. when singing or blowing a candle).
When the inspiratory muscles, such as rib’s intercostals and the diaphragm, are relaxed for exhaling, the elastic recoil of the lung tissue allows the lungs to return to their original size and expel the air.

But when we sing, our breathing is not “normal”, it is forced: we force our lungs to inhale in a certain way, we hold the breath briefly after inhalation to prepare the body for the “breath support”, and we force the expiration to follow the music’s tempo and to have a defined, desired breath energy, which is going to vary depending on what we sing - forte or piano, high or low notes.
Therefore, during vocalisation, both the inhalation and the exhalation muscles are active. When we take the air into the lungs and are about to breath out, the tendency of air to rush out of the lungs is so great that, in order to counterbalance this force, to hold the breath for a moment, and to produce a controlled flow of air suitable for singing, the inspiratory forces must actively counterbalance the passive recoil forces. To accomplish this, the internal intercostal muscles and diaphragm remain active and recoil slowly to their resting state in order to control the outflow of air.

Singers take breath predominantly by using the abdominal breathing mechanism, whereby the breath is taken low in the lungs. The inhale is quiet, through the nose, and is deep, but without overcrowding the lungs. In singer’s breathing the chest does not move perceptibly; it retains its high, slightly protruded position. Most of the expansion and movement on inhalation are observed in the middle abdominal region.

Abdominal breathing enables the singer to subsequently push the air out by using the abdominal muscles. That is a much more precise and controlled mechanism for exhaling and singing than pushing the air by contracting the rib’s intercostal muscles.
Breath intake must be deep; this is essential as it places the larynx in optimal position for singing (lowering it, and also slightly widening the throat). A deep breath also forces the two vocal folds to move wide apart, so that the whole mass of the two vocalis muscles moves out, away from each other, and is subsequently broth together in a manner that the whole mass of vocal fold vibrates, creating a rich sound. A shallow breath does not result in wide opening of the vocal fold on inhalation, and they cannot be brought together in a way that enables “good vibrations”. It is true that singers must occasionally take a very short breath between phrases; trained singers can do that and still keep the throat fully open as they learned to assume the “noble” throat position even without taking a breath.

There are two basic kinds of abdominal breathing.

• Belly stick-out,
• lateral expansion of the middle abdominal area.

Belly stick-out is the simpler method, often practiced in choral singing and some older schools of solo singing (e.g. German). It involves relaxing the lower abdominal muscles, whereby the lower belly descends, sticks out and pulls the internal organs down and the diaphragm with it. While working reasonably well, this breathing technique is not part of the classical singing of today for several reasons: (a) the bely dropping down also pulls the chest down and causes it to somewhat collapse, thus distorting the optimal position of the chest/larynx assumed at inhalation; (b) The abdomen is relaxed on inhalation with this method, so the singer needs to perform an active muscle action to re-tighten the abdomen and prepare it for the subsequent holding of the breath and supporting the breath on exhalation; (c) it restricts the upward movement of the diaphragm during phonation and limits the breath support for the upper voice. Although the belly stick-out method may be considered adequate in choral singing, I would encourage mastering the abdominal inhalation where the lower abdomen remains tucked in, and expansion is observed mainly in the middle abdominal region, then at the sides and perhaps a little in the back.
 
Holding the Breath (Suspension)
Breath suspension does not occur in natural breathing where exhalation immediately follows inhalation. In singing, however, the breath is held for a moment just as inhale is completed. The purpose of this suspension is to prepare the breath support mechanism for phonation (the making of the sound) that follows.

The key to good suspension is to keep the throat open while holding the breath, and keeping the inhaling muscles engaged, the whole body thus staying in a position as if still inhaling. The open throat ensures that the larynx closes only at the onset of the tone; it does so by a skilful and measured closure of the vocal folds, synchronised with a timely and measured abdominal exhaling action. Such tone onset is called the “balanced attack”. The opposite would be to close the larynx while holding the breath, relaxing the inhaling muscles and letting the lung tissue elasticity build pressure in the lungs before the sound is made. The subsequent tone onset would in that case be through a release of air over vocal folds, caused by sudden opening of the larynx – the air rushing out due to lung pressure build-up and its sudden release. The resulting tone onset would be a “hard attack”, and is not part of classical singing technique. The singer wants to effectively control the breath pressure and the air flow, not to let the lung pressure suddenly drop and the air rush out uncontrollably.

Exhaling
Exhaling is seen as continuation of holding the breath in that the abdominal inhaling muscles retain their inhaling position and tension. Actually, all singing should feel as if you sing on the inhaling breath – the inhaling muscles are still engaged, and the belly is still expanded around the middle. The throat of course remains open, in the same position that it assumed during the phase of holding the breath. Most importantly, the larynx does not move up as you start exhaling, and it must not move when you stop. This larynx stability should be practiced - keeping the larynx in a stable position at the tone onset and during singing is an essential skill for every classical singer.
In normal breathing there is a relatively long “recovery” phase: at the end of each breath there is a moment when all the muscles associated with breathing relax. In singing, this moment is shortened, but must not be omitted, as inexperienced singers often do, causing fatigue and accumulated tension. 
 
Support (appoggio)
As soon you take a breath, you will feel an urge (automatically created) for the expiration muscles to expel the air. “Support” in singing refers to the muscular tension that maintains a desired pressure inside the lungs and a controlled air flow during singing, essentially by maintaining for as long as possible the posture assumed at inhalation, retaining the air in the lungs and opposing the action of the exhalation muscles to expel the air quickly.
Some schools of singing actively teach appoggio, and the other do not teach it explicitly, but guide the inhalation process and tone onset so that the support happens spontaneously.
For a choral singer, as long as breathing is abdominal (“diaphragmatic”) and the lungs are not overcrowded, some appoggio will be appropriately applied as soon as the singer has learned the balanced tone onset and aims for sustained notes with consistent sound quality.

Exercises

Breathing 1 – In, hold, out, with open throat
Inhale low in your abdomen for 5, hold for 5, exhale quietly for 5 seconds. Then repat it, holding for 6 seconds each, and continue increasing the count for as long as you are comfortable, aiming for 10 seconds each. Make sure the larynx remains open and does not move throughout this exercise.

Breathing 2 - Quick exhales
On a single breath exhale as quickly and vigorously as you can on “hu-hu-hu” for 5 seconds (about 15 quick exhales), then continue to do the same through the nose, and finish with a long “hmmm”. Inhale and repeat three more times. (Note how hard is this to do with overcrowded lungs). This exercise is borrowed from the excellent set of warmup drills by Canadian baritone Lucas Meachem (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyMb-hNYxh4)

Breathing 3 – Lip Trill
This is also an exercise for building breath support, because there is no lip trill without support. Start at a comfortable pitch and do the trill - “bhrrrrr” on a series mi-re-do-re-mi-re-do-re-mi-re-do three times. If the voice sounds well, continue upwards. If the voice does not feel quite warmed up, go down in pitch. Note that a lip trill can be overly supported and under-supported. You want to be in between, lips relaxed, air flow stream steady and not too forced. The sound should “go out”, not be kept back in the throat.

Continue with octave arpeggios: do-mi-sol-do-sol-mi-do three times, keeping the sound in the same space throughout the arpeggio. Make sure that you go over the top note without accenting it and without making it louder. The destination in the phrase is the note you started at, not the top note.
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Breathing 4 - Breath Support
This exercise is borrowed from our own guest conductor Christopher Goldsack’s fabulous set of exercises created for his Promenade Choir (http://www.promenade.org.uk/warmups.html).

​Support each note to the end of its duration. Let the release of support initiate the next breath. Let the new support come elastically from the previous. The “v” consonant will engage your abdominal muscles. The exercise is shown for high female voice, it starts at C and goes higher. For other voices please adapt accordingly.

The above four exercises are likely to make part of your daily regimen that I am going to propose later, once we have covered other essential topics of good voice production.
In the next post I will discuss the ever so important topic of tone onset.

The large topic of Copertura is at the root of the characteristic operatic vocal timbre, and takes many years of vocal training to master. The meaning of the word is “voice covering”, but the term encompasses a much broader range of techniques than what is normally associated with “covering” in English or “Deckung” in German, which signify the timbre and voice changes around the zone of passaggio.

The “legato” and “sostenuto/agility” marks are shown at the top of the chart to indicate their supreme importance, although it is impossible to separate the above topics from one another. There is no legato nor sostenuto without agility, there is no agility without a firm tone onset, which is non-existent without adequate breath control, etc. Pavarotti once said something on these lines: “The instruments like piano or violine are easily made available to you but are difficult to learn how to play. The instrument “voice” is difficult to make available, but once you have it, it is very easy to play”.

And how do good singers achieve all that? Well, by starting from the basic principles: good breathing, good support, a feeling of forward clarity and lightness in the voice, a loose throat, a healthy tone onset and understanding and having an imaginative picture of the vocal space, and … many years of structured vocal training.

Si Canta Come Si Parla (one sings as one speaks) is a famous adage of the old Italian school, but often misunderstood. Certainly, speaking and singing are not the same thing, but the expression has another, more profound meaning. In the first year of your singing lessons, a competent teacher will develop your instrument by starting from the speaking voice, gradually transitioning it into the singing voice. But that is not what the expression refers to – the true meaning is that after many years of classical training, and achieving a flexible vocal position that allows for modification of the vowels when acoustically necessary, premier singers complete the cycle and return to “speaking” the song. To premier singers singing feels as if they do some kind of prolonged speaking. There is no great singing without that transformation. We will tackle this in more detail in one of subsequent posts.
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To finish this article, let me return to that greatest asset in singing – the pitch control and the ability to stay in tune. Even without vocal training, some fortunate individuals possess excellent pitching ability, and those less fortunate find it difficult, even impossible, and view the talent of the former with amazement and incredulity, especially watching them sight-singing. People belonging to the second category may call themselves tone deaf. However, true tone deafness occurs only in a tiny percentage of population. Those who think that they cannot pitch notes will often find that they can actually detect if someone else’s singing is out of tune. Their actual “problem” comes from an apparent difficulty to properly connect the brain and larynx and issue instructions for the vocal folds to produce the correct pitch, a neural wiring malfunction that is correctable by vocal training. These “untalented” individuals can become great singers, albeit they  may find that it takes them a bit longer to gain firm enough command of a song or a melody, sufficient for the intonation to be excellent, be it in a solo, or even more so in ensemble singing.

In my previous article (here) I discussed the options for improving an amateur singer’s voice. In the few next articles, I will propose a series of exercises that will help in achieving this, but before we go deeper into the singing technique, I would first like to discuss how the vocal mechanism actually works.

All sounds that we hear are produced by oscillating pressure waves of the surrounding air. Therefore, to make a sound, we need (1) a vibrator - something that oscillates (the “source”), (2) a motor – the energy input that moves the source and causes it to vibrate, and (3) a resonator - something that converts those oscillations into an audible air wave. Examples of motors are the drummer’s hand, the breath energy in singing or blowing a woodwind instrument, the guitarist’s finger action, etc. Musial instruments’ oscillators are usually either the strings (violin, guitar, harp) or reeds/mouthpieces (clarinet, trumpet). For human voice it is the vocal folds inside the larynx that oscillate, and it is the vocal tract (the throat, the mouth) that acts as the resonator. Without the resonator the raw source sound would be little more than a quack. It is the resonator upon which depends the beauty of the musical sound, and so is true for the singing voice. The vocal tract is a Stradivarius hidden inside an elite singer’s body.

​A music line consists of series of notes of varied pitches. There are two ways of producing a specific pitch in music:

• The string instruments (guitar, violin, piano) produce sound and pitch by vibrating strings of different or changeable lengths and therefore different speeds (frequencies), and then using a solid, UNCHANGING acoustic chamber, to amplify those vibrations.
• Woodwinds, on the other hand, produce sound and pitch differently: they have a constant vibration speed (frequency) of the read, and this vibration resonates in the instrument’s chamber. As a larger chamber vibrates more slowly than a smaller chamber, so by unplugging the holes the player reduces the size of the chamber, which makes the notes sound higher.

The voice should work as the string instruments work, but not entirely: because in addition to changing the length/thickness of the vocal fold, singers can also change the shape of the resonator (i.e. the vocal tract).

In order to produce a higher pitch, singers have three basic mechanisms at their disposal, all producing slightly different voice qualities. The mechanisms are:

1. Tightening the vocal fold muscle – most men apply this technique when trying to raise the pitch of their speaking voices. This is the basic mechanism of a singer’s chest voice.
2. Stretching the vocal folds by tilting the thyroid cartilage (the Adam’s apple) forward – this is how most women raise the pitch of their speaking voices. Most men need to learn the technique. It is the basic mechanism of the tilted, or head voice.
3. Raising the larynx to shorten the resonator – untrained singers do this instinctively, and certainly upon reaching the upper limit of heir speaking voices. This technique is not part of classical singing but with proper crafting it is extensively used in musical theatre and popular music (“belting”).

Raising the larynx is easy for us. We use the muscles that move the larynx up and down very often: when we swallow, they pull the larynx up, then down. When we yawn, they pull it down. On the other hand, the muscles that control the vocal folds are harder to consciously manipulate. Therefor many untrained singers will attempt to produce higher pitched notes in a way that feels more familiar to them, i.e. by raising the larynx. You can do a lot of beautiful singing with a conscious and controlled raising of the larynx, but not with the emergency and panicky tightening of the throat as you approach the upper limit of your range. Trained singers however do not allow the larynx to raise, unless for stylistic purpose (for example in the so called voce finta).
In order to prevent the larynx from raising when singing, singers need to re-train the brain so that it allows the larynx to remain stable at the tone onset. Namely, the main purpose of the vocal folds is to close when swallowing, thus preventing accidental choking by inhaling food or liquid. There are two additional mechanisms for more anti-choke safety (the larynx goes up to close the trachea, and the epiglottis flap closes for the same purpose). After repeating the swallowing routine millions of times “close the folds, raise the larynx”, this becomes automatic. Hence, as soon as the vocal folds are adducted for singing (as opposed to breathing when they are abducted), the brain automatically raises the larynx, in its reflex action, thinking that you may be about to swallow something. Appropriate training is needed to prevent this action and stabilise the larynx at the tone onset.
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All three pitch-changing mechanisms mentioned above are used in classical singing – there is a place and the appropriate use for each of them, as I will cover in subsequent articles.

Types of Singing Voices 
In singing we can produce three distinct voice types (voice qualities). They all sound slightly different, and which one will the singer will use depends on the pitch range, the character of the song and the artist’s esthetical intention. In vocal teaching literature they are given various names, but I will use the denominations proposed by Prof. Ross Campbell of RAM in his excellent book “Singing, an Extensive Handbook for All Singers and Their Teachers”; they are:

• Speaking voice – vocal apparatus positioned as if speaking, with no thyroid tilt (also known in pedagogy as the chest voice, modal voice, open voice, TA dominant voice etc.)
• Tilted voices (a.k.a. head voice, CT dominant voice), of which there are two:
  1. Cry-tilt voice – tilted thyroid cartilage, larynx in neutral position or slightly elevated
  2. Sob-tilt voice – tilted thyroid cartilage, larynx lower than neutral position

When singing in the lower registers, most men use their speaking voices (the chest voice), in which increasing the pitch is simple – by tightening the vocal fold muscle, as men usually do. However, on reaching the upper pitch limit of the chest voice (at the “lower passaggio”, see Table) untrained singers instinctively raise the larynx (shortening he resonator) in order to sing higher, and attempt to further tighten the vocal fold in an unhealthy (yelling) manner. That is the only mechanism known to an untrained singer, as discussed above. This “technique” will not take you far in extending the vocal range, it will produce an unpleasant sound, it is unhealthy, and it makes intonation and pitch accuracy difficult (because you use simultaneously two mechanisms for pitch control).

​As mentioned above, trained singers do not move the larynx as they ascend in pitch, unless they deliberately chose to do so for stylistic purposes. On crossing the first passaggio, trained singers start to tilt the larynx, and gradually introduce the head voice. Above the first passaggio they sing in the so called “mixed voice” (a mix of the speaking and the tilted voices, the contribution of the tilted increasing as the pitch increases). The elite singers almost exclusively stay with a low larynx (sob-tilt) and raise larynx only for effect, while average and amateur singers may find it easier not to the use the sob-tilt voice at all.
In subsequent articles, I will describe the techniques that produce various voice qualities in more detail.

The prime and the most coveted skill for any singer is, of course, musicality, and the foremost are the ability to pitch the notes and the intervals correctly, to sight-read, and to memorise tunes easily. Armed with those skills, you can confidently sing in almost any choir, save the very elite ones. But there is also the issue of voice quality, and improvements in that department can offer you (a) more joy, (b) entry into the elite choirs, and (c) even a soloist status if you so desire.

So, how can a (male) singer improve his voice quality? (I address the “male” because: (a) men face tougher challenges, (b) I do not have sufficient knowledge of female voices; however, much of what is outlined here applies to the ladies as well).

But first: You will not want to sing opera? Right! This means that you will not need to project in a large hall and over an orchestra. And you will not need the stratospherically high notes, the elite voice’s sustainment and singing stamina. That greatly simplifies the task of making improvements to your voice. Singing opera is a tour de force, a singing equivalent of running a marathon with climbing, sprinting and weightlifting on the way. This is true for all voices, but operatic tenors exhibit almost superhuman ability when singing Belcanto, Verdi, Verismo repertoire (e.g. Puccini) or Wagner.

​For choral singing only (including being a choir soloist) you can afford not to master the following complex technical issues (but I list them nevertheless for information and insight):

• Vowel modification, formant tuning and finding the singer’s formant.
• Singing those very high notes (that would be a high C for an elite tenor or an A for a baritone). The manipulation and tilting of your throat cartilages, necessary for the extreme stretching of the vocal folds and reaching the highest notes, will be simplified (you will tilt one instead of three).
• Singing with a low larynx. Virtually all schools of classical singing teach the singers to keep their larynxes low, even on high notes. That gives them larger resonators and more vocal volume. Lowering and keeping the larynx low is a skill in itself, but it also requires a specific breath support and elite breathing technique and posture. I will make a statement here that for a choral singer it is perfectly adequate NOT to lower the larynx, but rather keep it in a kind of neutral (speaking) position. By doing so, you will enjoy the comfort of singing with a lower lung pressure (again, to be fair, you will lose some of the timbre, depth, projection and volume of low larynx technique).
• Throat widening. You will not need to stretch your pharynx (to create additional resonator space), but you will still need to keep the walls of your pharynx stable and well-toned (firm).
• Tight closure of the vocal folds (which produces the high harmonics that in turn provides the material from which elite singers produce their fantastic resonance and “ring”). Controlling breath flow, higher lung pressure, and high degree of vocal folds’ closure simultaneously is a great skill.
• You will seldom, if at all, need to sing more than a semitone above your second passaggio (which is at about F# for tenor and D# for baritone). Operatic tenors need to extend by 5-6 semitones above their passaggios. You will therefore avoid the intense training of passaggio-crossing, and your register equalisation will be simpler than for an operatic voice.
• (If any of the above sounds a little too technical, please do ask me for more clarification.)

But as a choral singer you will still want to master:

• Basic breathing technique and breath control.
  • The fact that you will not lower your larynx (as the elite singers do), will make things easier and enable you to sing with a relatively low lung pressure.
  • Breath support will still be needed, but not in its extreme form as for operatic singing. The breathing technique is simplified – you just need to make sure that you take the breath low in the lungs (i.e. not in the chest). It is less critical how you breath in, whether by sticking out your lower abdomen, or by a lateral expansion of the lower rib cage. (The elite tenors breath differently from the rest, expanding into the lower back, keeping the sternum high, and with the breath support/appoggio feeling higher up in the body).
• Holding the breath before tone onset. This is done by continuing to keep the inhaling muscles engaged and the throat open, as if still inhaling. A deep breath places your larynx in the optimum singing position, slightly widens the throat, and opens the vocal folds wide.
  • Only wide-open vocal folds can then be brought together at the tone onset so that the whole mass of the folds vibrates. With a shallow breath, vocal folds remain close to each other on inhalation, and cannot be brought back together in the way you want them for singing. Elite singers can get away with a short breath intake, but they know how to assume the “noble position” even without taking a breath.
  • Note that the old school’s “yawning” breath intake is now universally taken to be detrimental to good singing technique.
• Breath support (“appoggio”) for non-elite singing tends to be self-regulatory; once you aim for a certain, desired voice quality, your body will support it.
  • You can make a beautiful sound without any appoggio at all (actually by applying only the “throat appoggio”), but in that case you will find it hard to to sustain the notes, and therefore will be unable to sing musical phrases well.
  • Therefore, you will want some support, as it would enable you to sing sostenuto, and phrase beautifully.
  • Those abdominal muscles that provide support will need to be trained for the job.
• Essential: You will need to develop (or improve) your singing voice by starting from your speaking voice. That is expected to reduce potential tensions when singing, and lead to an easily produced and beautiful voice. You need to get rid of the tensions in the jaw, throat, and tongue. Beautiful voice is buried under all sorts of tensions.
  • Singing should feel easy and without strain, even when singing the high notes.
• You will need to master a “balanced” tone onset (and stay away from the “glottal” attack at the start of your singing tone).
• Keep a relatively firm pharynx (throat) wall. With perhaps some small throat widening (above and below the larynx), that you obtain from deep inhalation. Certain neck muscles are used to stabilise the larynx.
• Essential: Head voice - in much of your vocal range you will want to sing by using the head voice.
  • Head voice is produced by relaxing the mass of the vocal fold muscle (muscle vocalis), and stretching the folds by tilting the thyroid cartilage (Adam’s apple) for pitching.
  • The opposite to this is the chest voice, similar to the speaking voice, used in the lower register. The pitch adjustment is produced by tightening or loosening the fold’s muscle vocalis. You can do this up to a point (the first passaggio, laying between A and F above the middle C for tenors, depending on the vowel sung; for baritones about a minor third lower), above which you must give up that mechanism, and gradually switch to the head voice.
  • Up to your second passaggio you can mix the chest and the head voices, with the head voice becoming predominant as you go higher. However, your highest notes must be produced using the head voice with no extension of the chest voice upward of the second passaggio (otherwise singing becomes yelling, or at best belting, which untrained males instinctively try to do even as soon as they reach their first passaggio). But then, going lower in the pitch, below your first passaggio, you may, and will in fact want to extend your head voice down, well into the chest register. (These last few points are awkward to describe and should be demonstrated in vivo).
  • Many novice male singers never experienced the head voice, so they have to learn it (for many females it is the natural way of speaking; sopranos may have the opposite problem - finding their chest voices).
• Essential: Finding voice resonance. This is done by “forward placement” of the sound (easily done when starting vocal training from the speaking voice), adding some nasality to the tone, raising the soft palate, and introducing the vocal “twang” (a ring in the voice produced by squeezing the epiglottis sphincter, not as difficult as it sounds).
  • As a side observation and for information, the elite singers go a few steps further:
    • They match the harmonics of the sung note with the natural resonances of their vocal tracts (“formants”).
    • They modify the vowels to improve that match (almost at every note). They reshape the vocal tract to change the formant frequencies and “track” the harmonics of the note that they sing, mainly by changing mouth shape/opening and the position of the lips.
    • Opening the mouth is soprano’s key strategy for producing full resonant sound in the high register. Men open the mouth on high notes to provide more space for keeping the larynx low, and to make the larynx tilting easier.
    • They further squeeze the epiglottis (space above the larynx) to find the singer’s formant, which gives them the brilliance and power (something like adding a “treble” speaker to your hi-fi).
• Learn to sustain the notes, without ever letting down the breath energy (the sound remains “energized” throughout). Intuitively, that does not seem hard to do, but is very unnatural compared to our “normal” way of speaking and singing, so it must be learned and practiced.

Conclusion
Almost all singers have the high notes and the resonant voices in their throats. All necessary ingredients are there in their anatomies, but it takes a lot of (non-intuitive) manipulation of the various parts of the vocal tract to produce low and high notes, and a beautiful, resonant and steady voice.
How long should your practice session last? I would say 15-30 minutes daily, 5-6 times per week. However high your ambition may be, singing for more than 60 minutes per day would probably be counterproductive.
In the next several posts I will suggest some exercises that can create your 30-min daily regimen that will help in developing your voice. These exercises will aim at following:

• Strengthening of the breathing muscles, enabling effective breath support
• Production of balanced tone onset
• Laryngeal tilt (enabling the head voice)
• Moving from speaking voice to singing voice
• Resonance, nasality and soft palate, twang
• Introduction to passaggios and negotiating the lower passaggio (switching from chest to head voices).