Tougas- McCoy- Ch.4

 To quote my dad from a couple of weeks ago: “so  starting to realize that singing is really hard!” This chapter is all about the larynx and how your vocal cords stretch and contract in order to create just the right sound. Something that really impacted me in this chapter was the amount of times McCoy uses phrases such as, “perfectly synchronized” and “constant interplay”. I am continually amazed by how difficult singing truly is, just the act by itself, never mind the added anxiousness, stress, and rush of performing. 

This is particularly noted when McCoy is discussing the change in range that occurs through the TA and CT muscles. He discusses that if they do not align absolutely perfectly, there is a break or crack. I have been working a lot on broadening that range and I am constantly adjusting the way these two muscles work with each other over each note till it is seamless, yet I didn’t realize this is what I was doing. I also think this plays into how he discusses ‘intuition’. There really is more a time when I was working through those notes that I considered the TA and CT muscles individually, rather I did what my body instructed me to. 

However this makes me consider something I might call ‘false’ intuition. The concept is that we get nervous and we do something that we think our body is telling us to, when really it is the inverse. For example: we have a high note in a song and so we subconsciously push all of the air out to get to the note that when we arrive at it we have no more air left due to our premature usage of it. I think understanding the way your body functions, especially in the context of your voice, helps us to utilize real intuition instead of a false one. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tougas- Voice Overview- 11/9

 This week in Voice Recital Hour, Kate Wilson performed L-Invitación a Voyage. Something that was really awesome was the placement remained the same through out each note. Every word was in the shape of an “ah” just with different lip shape to round out the desired vowel. This gave great resonance and each note could springboard off of the hard palate! Also, Kate usually takes a stance of putting one hand on the piano which in turn expands the area for the diaphragm and deeper breaths. One thing I noticed was that depending on high notes or low notes, Kate would move her head slightly in the same direction. This probably is more a psychological effect but leads to out of alignment breathing, actually making it more difficult to sing. I noticed this in particular because it is exactly what I worked on in my lesson this week. We had an awesome break through where I realized I had root tension due to moving my head up for high notes and so Laurie and I worked on singing an Ah then to ...
Read more

Dombroski-McCoy-Ch. 4

 I think reading about how stuff works inside our body is interesting. The fact that my vocal folds are 18 millimeters is crazy! I wonder if that’s why men sing lower, because their folds are slightly larger? It’s also wild that our folds oscillate hundreds of times per second when we sing. I was amazed to read that the when singing the F6 in Queen of the Night, the vocal folds vibrate 1400 times. I don’t feel the vibrations when singing so it’s strange to think about. I think it’s amazing the sounds we can make through the larynx, which is only the small size of a walnut/pecan.  It’s important as teachers to consider onset and phonation. If our students are singing with excess breath, we can know one of the reasons might be their vocal folds aren’t completely closed. It’s also important to consider the difference between adduction and abduction, and basically what the body requires for the voice to sound balanced. 
Read more

Camryn-McCoy Chapter 4

 There were a lot of things in this chapter I thought were surprising and interesting! First, the vocal folds are SO SMALL. Literally the size of a DIME in women and a QUARTER for men?! I don't know why I thought they'd be bigger than that, but still! The vocal folds are responsible for sound production, and can produce a sound loud enough to be heard over a symphony orchestra. That is insane to know just a tiny portion of our vocal folds create such a strong, powerful sound. Another subject I want to touch on is the glottal onset. Listening to the example given, the attack of the note sounds really harsh. When reading about this, I was surprised to see that these onsets can lead to vocal nodules. On the opposite side, an aspirate onset lacks energy, and sounds airy/breathy. There's little no none air support and flow in the voice. In doing this an excessive amount, it can also lead to voice problems, such as "chronic incomplete glottal closure and muscular tension dys...
Read more