Singing With An ‘Open Throat’: Vocal Tract Shaping (Page 2 of 3)
Vocal Tract Shaping: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly Of Vocal
Posture It doesn’t make any pedagogic sense to attempt to teach
the nuances of tone while glossing over the intricacies of
articulation. How a singer shapes his or her vocal tract while
singing will directly affect the quality of tone that is
produced. It is also futile for the student of voice wishing to
perfect tone, master registration, improve breath management,
increase range and develop agility to avoid addressing how he or
she uses and shapes his or her vocal tract. A singer needs to
find the configurations of the vocal tract (the resonator) that
produce the exact acoustic characteristics dictated by the
phonemes being sung. Because the entire vocal tract is
relatively compact, any change among its components (lips,
tongue, jaw, velum and larynx) has a direct effect on resonance
balance. In the following sections, I have attempted to address
both the ideal and the incorrect shap