- It's been said that the human voice is the most complex
instrument known to exist
and therefore, arguably,
the most difficult instrument to learn to master.
But what makes singing so challenging to learn?
Well, in this video,
we're going to look at how your voice works
so you can achieve better results with your singing voice.
Let's get started. (upbeat music)
- [Voice Over] Sound check. (people applauding)
- When it comes to singing,
most people start off by opening the mouth
and hoping for the best.
A lot of singers really don't understand
how their voice works and more importantly,
how to get the most out of their voice through singing.
For instance, did you know
that the human voice is the only instrument on the planet
with two points of tuning?
It's true, but more about that soon,
because singing is not just about learning to sing in tune.
Developing the singing voice requires the voice user
to cultivate the management
of four separate interconnected biomechanical systems.
Each of these systems is complex in its own right.
Still, it's only when the four components work together,
interdependently, that we can create musical sounds.
Actually, most instruments work in this way.
Scott McCoy explains that, "All musical instruments,
including the human voice, have at least four things
in common, consisting of the power source, sound source,
resonator, and system for articulation."
When applied to the human voice,
the power source is the breath.
The sound source is the vocal folds,
the resonator is the vocal tract,
and the articulation system
consists primarily of the tongue and lips.
To understand how these four distinct systems interrelate,
we need to look at each one separately.
Don't worry, I won't let this get too nerdy,
but I do want to equip you with the knowledge that I know
will empower your vocal development.
So, let's look at the power source first, your breath.
There are numerous misconceptions around breathing
for singing, many of which stem from an era
when we didn't know a lot about human anatomy
and biomechanics.
A simple way to think about how breath fuels the voice,
is to think about a party balloon, a bit like this one.
(Dr Dan blowing air into balloon)
So, here we have our blown up balloon,
and we can think of this as one lung,
but in fact, our lungs are made up
of millions of little balloons called alveoli.
Those little sacks all collectively make up the lung,
and what we have here,
let's go back to thinking about this as just one lung.
Obviously, the balloon is made of a latex rubber,
and when I blow into it,
I'm actually forcing that pressure internally to increase.
There is an external pressure from the elastic response
of the latex, and all of that wants to cause the air
to leave the balloon, and reenter the pressure in the room,
which is lower.
And so what we get, you know I'm gonna do it.
(balloon wheezing)
When the air is released,
let's say this is our vocal tract.
When the air is released through the vocal tract,
up through the larynx, out past the vocal folds,
(balloon wheezing)
in this case,
our vocal folds are two pieces of latex
on either edge of the balloon, we get that really high buzz.
(balloon wheezing)
But what will happen is, if we get to a point
where there's no longer any exerted pressure
from underneath those two points,
(balloon wheezing)
we start to lose. (balloon wheezing continues)
Can you hear how the pressure is dying off?
And so the sound (balloon wheezing)
is starting to die off also.
And that's what we're doing with our breath
when we create sound.
Our lungs fill with air,
the air then travels through the larynx,
the vocal folds come together in a high oscillation,
and form a rudimentary buzz,
and then exit into the vocal tract.
And that, (chuckles)
in very, very simple terms,
is how our breath is working to fuel the voice.
And this brings us to the second component
of the sound source, often referred to as "the vibrator".
And instead of latex edges coming together,
like we saw with the balloon,
the human voice has two complex structures
called vocal folds.
And these two vocal folds are housed within the larynx,
which sits in the middle of your neck,
just right about here.
Now, remember how I said earlier
that the human voice has two points of tuning?
Well, the first point of tuning occurs
at the point of the vocal folds.
For example, for me to tune (orchestral music begins)
my voice to the same note as the orchestra uses
to tune before a symphony,
I would need to sing an A4, this note here.
(piano chimes)
The frequency of A4 is 440 Hertz.
For my voice to sing A4,
(piano chimes)
(Dr Dan sings)
my vocal folds need to oscillate 440 times per second.
(piano chimes)
(Dr Dan sings)
Now, we don't have time in this video to unpack
and fully explain the complexity of vocal fold motion,
but for now, it's enough to know
that when the vocal folds create
the desired fundamental frequency,
the sound leaves the vocal folds
as a raw and rudimentary buzz,
not unlike the harsh sound we made with the balloon earlier.
To make that buzz into a beautiful sounding voice,
it has to be tuned a second time,
and we do this using the third component, the resonator.
Julianne Kayes notes that, "By manipulating the tongue,
the lips and the jaw, you can tune the oral cavity
to enhance specific resonances."
You see, embedded in the raw vocal fold buzz,
are additional frequencies known as overtones.
When combined with the target frequency,
the fundamental pitch and overtones,
also known as harmonics, form a complex sound.
Here, we see the overtone series of an A4.
In this graphic, we can see 16 harmonics,
including the fundamental frequency, the first harmonic.
Now, depending on how the overtone series is managed,
human beings, using our malleable vocal tracts,
can shape and filter the overtone series,
which in turn, generates formants.
The vocal tract is capable of producing many formants,
which are labeled sequentially by ascending pitch.
The first two, F1 and F2, are used to create vowels;
higher formants contribute to the overall timbre
and individual characteristics of the voice.
So, as singers, we must first accurately generate pitch,
the first point of tuning,
then we also need to tune the pitch as it is resonated
through the vocal tract.
And this resonance pitch, our second point of tuning,
is in a constant state of flux
due to the ever-changing shapes of the vocal tract.
Johan Sundberg gives us another way to think about it,
writing, "One could also say that a resonator resonates
at certain frequencies, or that it possesses resonances,
formants in the case of the vocal tract,
at certain frequencies,
thus, the ability of the vocal tract to transmit sound
is greatest at the formant frequencies." (laughs)
I won't boggle your mind any further we talk of resonance,
because we have one more voice component to consider;
Articulators.
"Articulation is the name for the maneuvers
made in order to adjust the shape of the vocal tract
during phonation.
This is achieved by means of the articulators;
the lips, the tongue, the jaw, the velum, and the larynx."
As we've already seen,
the vocal tract plays a significant role
in shaping resonant vowels.
But we need more than vowels to communicate.
You see, your vocal tract isn't just a tube
with an opening at each end.
In fact, the vocal tract has a single starting point,
the glottis, and branches into two stems,
one stem going into the mouth and ending at the lips,
while the other moves into the nasal passages
ending at the outer edges of the nostrils.
And along the way, the resonance is shaped
not only into vowels, but into consonants also.
The primary articulators, the tongue and the lips,
interact with other articulatory points,
the teeth, hard and soft palates,
to form intelligible sound.
And we also use our articulators
to assist with things like dynamics and musical expression.
Interestingly, we can even think about breath management
as playing a role in articulation
when we consider the interplay
between airflow and the activity of the glottis.
And this is because the four components of the vocal system
are non linear.
That is, each component
(bright upbeat music) is interacting
with the other three components continually.
Of course, it all starts with the air.
So if you'd like to learn more about managing your breath
for better singing, you can click on this video,
and I'll show you how to develop the first component,
your vocal power source.
I'll see you again soon,
I'm Dr. Dan, sing well.