Garden: Voice Mechanics: How Your Instrument Works

Wednesday 21 November 2012

Voice Mechanics: How Your Instrument Works | Onstage & Backstage

Guest Blogger: Joanna Cazden is the author of Everyday Voice Care. Below is an excerpt she wrote for the blog STAGENOTES.NET.

The sound of a human voice is easy to appreciate; we?re wired to respond to both small nuances of tone and to the wide-ranging power of full-throat artistry. But we?re not wired to feelour own voices very well. There are very few sensory nerves inside the voice box, and it?s tucked just out of sight, ?around the corner? below the tongue, so that we can?t see ourselves talk or sing.

Until recent decades, even medical science had only a general idea of how the voice works. Advances in fiberoptic and audio technologies have changed all that. But although everyone can now find online photos and videos of vocal cords in action, it can still be hard to understand what?s really going on.

Try this: think of a hollow tube with a long hole in the side near one end, and at the other end a division or branching into two smaller tubes.? You might imagine a hollow tree with a tall owl nest near the top, and at the bottom, two roots going down, a bigger one in front of a smaller one.

The large open tube represents the throat (pharynx). Its upper opening becomes the nose and mouth; its middle area is half-encircled by the jaw; and at its low end, the front tube (airway, windpipe or trachea) leads to your lungs and the back one (gullet or esophagus) leads to the stomach. Once you?re past that divide, there is very little sensation, because the breathing and digestive tubes do their work unconsciously.

Where then are the vocal cords? Well, a little way down into the airway, there?s a flexible valve that is flat across and can open at the back to create a V shape. The throat structures that surround this valve are known as the voice box (larynx). Its front landmark is the Adam?s Apple and the edges of the V are your vocal cords. ?The cords (also called vocal folds) are made of a layer of muscle, a softer layer of vibrating gel, a stiffer ligament that protects the edge, all wrapped in a mucous membrane as wet as the inside surface of your cheek.

The vocal valve (formally called the glottis) is partly open most of the time, for the breathing that keeps you alive. It opens extra-wide when you gulp in a big breath, or pant heavily during exercise. It closes very tightly to protect your airway when you swallow or cough. All of these positions are controlled by tiny pivoting structures at the back of the larynx, right in front of the valve that leads to the esophagus.

For more please visit STAGENOTES.NET.

Everyday Voice Care

Drawing from her experience as a singer, theater artist, and a licensed speech pathologist who has treated more than 1,000 voice patients, Cazden integrates up-to-date medical information with common-sense suggestions and sympathy for the demands of contemporary life. Chapters on food and drink, cold remedies, loud parties, travel, fitness routines, and when to see a doctor are complemented by notes on alternative health care and the spiritual dimension of vocal rest. This invaluable resource for voice and speech professionals, students, and teachers will answer even the age-old question of whether to put lemon or honey in your tea.