First things first. Let’s have a look at the vibrating mechanism that our voices use to make sounds. It may appear simple, but a deeper understanding can clear out many uncertainties and improve our confidence.
All the singing magic really happens with the cooperation of a few elements we are describing in this exercise. Don’t be shy to explore and don’t get frustrated if you don’t succeed on your first try. Remember, good singing takes time, and we all have a different pace.
The vibrating mechanism
Step 1. Blow air gently through your almost closed lips. The result will be an airy sound with no perceptible sound.
Step 2. Start blowing the air a little harder just as you sometimes do when you are bored or exasperated. Regulate the pressure until you manage to produce a lip trill (again, without actual sound). This movement of the lips is similar to how the vocal folds repeatedly close and open to create the sound signal. This signal will afterwards be shaped and amplified by the vocal tract, which acts as the voice resonator (next on step 3).
Let’s analyze what happened.
– We needed something that could vibrate, in our case the lips – the vibration source;
– To produce the vibration of the lips we used our breath – the fuel;
– For more effective vibrations, you had to regulate the breath pressure using your torso muscles – the regulator;
Step 3. Now let’s add sound to our experiment. Make the lip trill again but add voice to it (think about humming behind the lip trill). You can feel the vocal folds’ movement by softly touching your larynx.
Let’s analyze what happened.
– The vocal folds acted as a vibrator source as well (when we started the hum).
– The signal produced by the vocal folds was shaped and amplified by our vocal tract – the resonator;
Conclusion
For effective sound production, one needs controlled airflow, an optimal vibration source and a resonator to amplify the sound.
If you have any questions or something to share with everyone, feel free to leave a comment below.