Do you know the basic anatomy of singing?
June 15, 2010 • Questions for Carolyn • Comments
“Questions for Carolyn”
Welcome, fellow singers! As a Vocal Instructor and Coach who finds the Karaoke scene a wonderful venue for practice and genuine fun, I would like to discuss a bit about the basics of singing and tone production in this first column. From now on, though, this is YOUR column. Ask whatever vocal questions you wish by contacting me: Melohawk@aol.com (or sending your questions to: San Diego Scene Magazine) and I will answer them in this column.
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*Do you know the basic anatomy of singing? Are you aware that YOU are the instrument? How you are, physically, will determine how well YOU the instrument perform.
The larynx, our “voice box,” is simply a valve that keeps us from choking and allows us to breathe freely. Its job is to keep food from going down into our lungs. When you suddenly have a fit of coughing because “something went down the wrong way” it’s because the larynx is doing its job. Something you swallowed went into the larynx instead of down the esophagus and into the stomach. So, the vocal folds (chords) snapped shut and sent a message to your “cough control” to expel the invading agent - RIGHT NOW! Of course, being that we are noisy, curious, human animals, we found out we could make sounds with this “voice box” and we started to use these sounds for primitive songs and communication.
The vocal folds are commonly called the vocal chords. However, that misnomer suggests they are individual strips of tissue, somewhat like rubber bands . they are not. The vocal folds are two very flexible pieces of muscle tissue attached to the cartilage box we call the larynx which is part of the esophagus. These folds come together and vibrate with the least puff of air coming from our lungs. This vibration is what makes the sounds we call singing and speech.
Since these folds can’t produce a sound without the air from our lungs, we need to look at the way we breathe. Between the lungs and the stomach is a muscle called the diaphragm. It is a wide band of tissue that curves downward towards the stomach when we breathe and pushes up against the lungs when we exhale. It is our control valve and allows us to ration how much air we want to use when we sing.
The intake of air is governed by the amount of pounds per square inch is pushing on the outside of your body at any given time. When you inhale, you allow the diaphragm to curve downward towards the stomach, creating a vacuum inside your body, and air RUSHES in. When you exhale, you use the diaphragm to push the air out of your lungs. We can use this knowledge to increase our air capacity and to use the air wisely in our singing.
Look for Carolyn Hawks’ column again soon.
