Dear Mike:
On 21-Jan-01, you wrote:
> gillyanne kayes, in her book 'singing and the actor', says that
> opening the nasal port can be used, in non-classical singing, as a way to
> decrescendo. it just occured to me that she never said why (btw, she is a
> jo estill disciple).
>
> as i experiment with opening and closing the nasal port (going back
> and forth from 'uh' to 'uh-huh', non nasal to nasalized) it seems that
> there is a corresponding reduction in sub-glottal pressure when opening
> the nasal port.
> that would certainly explain the classical singer's need to avoid
> nasalizing a french vowel until the very last moment and it might also
> explain why opening the nasal port could be used to aid a decrescendo. i
> suppose one could retain sub-glottal pressure while keeping the nasal port
> open but, it seems to me to be unnatural (except for yelling in french).
Adding nasality by opening the nasal port as a device to assist in
decrescendo is not necessary if the singer has learned to manage the breath
correctly for singing. Control of descrescendo is control of the breath
pressure and flow and this is a function of the breath management system,
not of the vocal folds nor resonance areas.
Your self experiments with opening and closing the nasal port and your
noticed effect on sub-glottal pressure indicates that you are controling
breath pressure more with your vocal folds than with your breath management
system.
If breath is managed through the balance of the muscles of inhalation and
exhalation the vocal folds will never have to become a primary valve in
control of breath but can function more freely as an oscillation source
that is energized by the breath.
Adding nasality to the tone as a means of creating a different tonal quality
is heard more in non-classical singing than in classical singing. And
doing so is not a sign of poor technique in itself. But if adding nasality
creates major changes in breath control or if it is necessary to add
nasality to achieve a descrescendo, then basic breath management issues are
in need of correction.
Regards
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011
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