Dear Randy and Vocalisters:
You wrote:
>To believe that focusing on breathing without focusing on the prephonatory
>tuning of the folds is one of the most misguided aspects of the vast majority
>of teachers. While too much airflow can cause the folds to blow open to
>ameliorate the pressure or lead to recruitment of extrinsic musculature to
>resisist it, the narrowness of the gap before the breath is released will
>almost universally dictate how much air is needed to induce the Bernoulli
>effect using intrinsic muscles. For a good example of this access the
>article on postoperative posture memory on my website at <A
>HREF="www.speechlevelvoice.com">
>www.speechlevelvoice.com</A>
COMMENT: I agree wholeheartedly with this concept. Pre-phonatory
tuning (pre-phonatory adjustments) of the vocal folds IS the key to
achieving the correct breath pressure for healthy and accurate
phonation. The easiest way to achieve correct pre-phonatory tuning
for singing is primarily through the practice of balanced onset
exercises.
Onset exercises, correctly done, involve the inhalation process in an
easy and natural way if the inhale is silent and little attempt is
made to inhale more than is needed. If the singer does not lift
the shoulder during this inhalation process he/she will usually
inhale correctly for singing. It is as easy as that!
In the process of preparing for an accurate, clear beginning of tone
(onset) the singer instinctively and accurately will prepare the
vocal folds for oscillation, closing them the correct amount
(adduction) automatically as the onset is begun. There is no need
for the singer to be concerned with how the exhale of breath is
achieved for this onset because the body system will do this
automatically. It is as if the vocal folds are able to have
independent control over the exhaling mechanism but, in reality, it
is the preparation for the onset of tone that has achieved the
equilibrium of body parts necessary to balance breath and vocal fold
oscillation.
In my opinion, breath teaching systems that involve practice regimens
which exclude phonation are a waste of time because they omit the
primary agent for the automatic control of breath, namely the vocal
folds themselves. Exercises that involve holding the breath or
require controlled exhale of breath to achieve longer and longer
exhale times may make the singer aware of the breathing mechanism
and how it works but these exercises do not relate very directly with
how the breath mechanism actually functions during phonation.
In the same manner, inhalation exercises which encourage the singer
to release the abdomen muscles such that the lower abdomen drops or
"sacks out" are of little help to the singer because these exercises
do not relate to how the inhalation process occurs just before onset
of tone. The amount of air inhaled has less relation to the
potential for singing a long phrase than does the efficiency of how
the air is used during that phrase. And the efficiency of phonation
is almost completely controlled by the singer's pre-phonatory
adjustments of the vocal folds. Onset exercises automatically teach
these correct pre-phonatory adjustments (tuning).
--
Lloyd W. Hanson
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