Vocal technique
Renee Fleming
Almost anyone can learn to sing better. A very few people, about 4%, have a condition called amusia, a neurological condition that makes it hard for them to distinguish between musical tones. I don’t like the phrase “tone deaf,” because in my experience as a music educator, even people who don’t match pitch well can learn to be more sensitive. By working in a choir or in a group of singers, they become more sensitive to the musical pitches—and to their fellow singers. Others, who match pitch fairly well at the outset, can learn to be even more precise.
In this article, I’d like to introduce the idea of vocal technique. Technique on any instrument, including the voice, is physical coordination resulting in varying tone quality. Most teachers of singing will agree that at the basic level, the five principles of effective vocal technique include:
Support: use of the diaphragm and other parts of the singing mechanism
Proper room in the mouth: opening the front and inside of the mouth to provide room for beautiful sound
Vowel color: choosing from the nearly infinitely many shades of sound for any given sung vowel
Resonance: using the singing mechanism air cavities to enhance the intensification of sung tone
Relaxed jaw and tongue: releasing added tension in the jaw and tongue to remove unnecessary tension in the vocal mechanism
The goal of effective vocal technique is to create a sound that is both powerful and beautiful. The five principles above, when properly employed, will improve any singer’s ability to produce a powerful and beautiful sound.
A choir that has learned to employ vocal technique to produce a powerful and beautiful sound is a real joy to hear!
This blog article is taken from my book, Music Theory for Choral Singers.
