♪ ♫ ♪
Hi everybody!
My name is Justin Stoney and I'm the founder of
New York Vocal Coaching here in New York City.
Welcome to episode 60 of Voice Lessons To The World.
Today we're going to be talking about raising the soft palate.
Oh! [chaotic noises]
Sorry about that.
Uh, anyway, today's question comes from
Mariella C. in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
And Mariella writes, "Dear Justin my voice teacher says I need to
raise the soft palate in order to hit higher notes.
Is this true?"
Well Mariella, I do have some thoughts on this particular topic.
But the answer is so important that it's truly... epic.
♪ ♫ ♪
The world has changed, I feel it in the water. [ ♪ ]
I feel it in the earth. [ ♪ ]
I smell it in the air. [ ♪ ]
Much that once was is now lost, [ ♪ ]
for few now live who remember it. [ ♪ ]
It began with the forging of the great vocal technique. [ ♪ ]
Techniques passed down by voice teachers. [ ♪ ]
Immortal, wisest, and fairest of all beings. [ ♪ ]
Pedagogues who knew the value of nasal resonance and ring. [ ♪ ]
One ring to rule them all. [ ♪ ]
[Voice echoes]
History became legend, legend became myth, [ ♪ ]
and some things that should not have been forgotten were lost. [ ♪ ]
For the hearts of voice teachers are easily corrupted. [ ♪ ]
For voice teachers above all else desire power. [ ♪ ]
And thus something happened that the ring did not intend. [ ♪ ]
In the back of the pharynx, in the pillars of the fauces [ ♪ ]
the soft palate forged in secret a master plan to rise up. [ ♪ ]
Blocking the nasal cavity, he poured his cruelty, [ ♪ ]
his malice, and his will to dominate all voices. [ ♪ ]
One by one the free and healthy voices of the earth [ ♪ ]
fell victim to power instead of ring. [ ♪ ]
And for two and a half ages ring passed out of all knowledge. [ ♪ ]
But there were some who resisted. [ ♪ ]
For ring has a will all its own. [ ♪ ]
And the time will soon come when nasal resonance [ ♪ ]
will shape the fortunes of all singers. [ ♪ ]
For within ring is the strength to govern the mix. [ ♪ ]
Now come the days of the ring. [ ♪ ]
May they be blessed. [ ♪ ]
♪ ♫ ♪
Uh...yeah...
So Justin tell us how you really feel
about the soft palate.
Now obviously that's just for fun.
But this issue of the soft palate is so important
and so misunderstood that it's truly epic
in its proportions.
In fact most voice teachers are probably going to tell you
that you need to lift the soft palate
in order to hit higher notes.
When in fact this is not true.
So today we're going to finally put this mystery to rest.
And also learn why it's not necessary
to raise the soft palate.
Oh! [chaotic noises]
Sorry about that.
So, what is the soft palate?
The soft palate is essentially the back top of your mouth.
If you take your tongue and put it in the roof of your mouth
you feel something hard, a boney surface.
That's your hard palate, but if you slide
your tongue to the back you feel it start
to get soft and fleshy.
That's your soft palate.
Now your soft palate essentially is a nasal cavity blocker.
When you raise it up you block your nasal cavity.
The purpose of the soft palate is for swallowing
and things like yawning.
When you swallow the soft palate lifts up
so that food can travel into your esophagus
and not get into the nasal cavity.
If you've ever laughed before while drinking some water
you know that it comes out your nose.
That's when the soft palate didn't do its job.
So that's really the purpose of the soft palate.
To block the nasal cavity from things that should
not be getting into the nasal cavity.
But here's where the epic misunderstanding came in.
Singers often have a problem sounding nasal.
And voice teachers want to address that issue
of sounding nasal.
But now we already talked about this a bit.
If you remember in episode 2, what is it that
produces a nasally sounding sound?
Is it the nasal cavity or is it the larynx and the cords?
And in fact it's the second!
It's the larynx and cords that causes the nasal sound
that people don't like.
And it's not the head resonance
that comes from the nasal cavity.
So this is where all the problems started.
Singers, when they go to high notes,
tend to raise the larynx too much
and squeeze the vocal cords.
I'm going to show you how
this works again with a sound demo.
Let me first raise my soft palate.
Right now my soft palate is raised.
And you can hear that the sound is in
my mouth and in my pharynx.
Now what if I raise up my larynx
and also pinch my vocal cords.
My soft palate is still raised I have no nasal resonance
in my voice right now.
But I sound very, very nasal.
So that proves it, I can make a
nasally sounding sound with zero nasal resonance
and my soft palate completely up.
And that's the whole misunderstanding right here.
We want independent larynx and cord control from the soft palate.
Now, yes raising the soft palate can encourage
a lower larynx and looser cords.
But really it's a separate thing.
So we can actually keep the soft palate
a little bit down and not sound nasal.
And in fact we don't want to have
to raise the soft palate.
Oh! [chaotic noises]
Sorry about that.
That keeps happening.
So let's talk about the costs of raising the soft palate.
Usually when we raise the soft palate
we end up with a depressed larynx
and a larynx that can't move.
That's from over emphasizing this space down here
and raising the soft palate encourages that.
So we end up pushing the larynx down and not
allowing it the freedom to move
when we're thinking too hard about raising the soft palate.
The next thing is we're blocking one of our
critical resonators when we lift the soft palate.
The pharynx has three spaces.
The laryngopharynx, the oropharynx and the nasopharynx.
This resonator and these resonators are great.
But the nasal cavity itself is also an awesome resonator.
and an awesome sounding resonator.
When you lift the soft palate up
you block your nasal resonance completely.
Often voice teachers will say to singers,
"put the sound in the mask" or "bring the sound forward",
but also will say to "lift the soft palate".
This is impossible.
The only way to get the sound in here somewhat is
by having the soft palate moderately lifted or slightly down.
The last thing is, with the soft palate up
people tend to retract their tongues and jam their tongues back.
This is another limitation for the voice.
To always have the tongue back.
But by thinking of the soft palate up
we tend to jam the tongue back.
So those are the costs of raising the soft palate.
[Chiming]
Some of the benefits include, first of all, higher notes.
With the sound allowed into the nasal resonance
and into the nasal cavity we're inviting greater flexibility,
greater agility, and just an easier time
stretching the voice up to higher notes.
So actually by keeping a moderate lift or a slight drop
to the soft palate, high notes become even easier.
The next thing you get is greater laryngeal variety.
Which means that you have a freer larynx
and also you can sing more styles.
When you have access to these resonators
the larynx will have more possibilities,
more possibilities for a free larynx equals more styles of singing.
And then finally that quality of ring that we're talking about.
Alright.
When you have the sound up into the nasal resonance
that ringing quality that we love so much in voices,
that's the only way that that's possible.
You hear this sound in every style.
It's a balance of the pharynx resonance, (the throat resonance)
and the nasal cavity resonance.
Those sounds blended together just sound absolutely fantastic.
So those are some benefits to keeping the soft palate slightly down
so that you can have nasal resonance.
But now, are you ready to go?
We're going to really slay the soft palate here with an exercise.
[Sounds of victory]
An exercise as simple as a hum.
That's right, when you hum or when you do an M sound,
the sound must be in the nasal resonance.
There's no other way to do it.
If the soft palate is up you cannot hum and you cannot do an M.
So today we're going to feel what it's like to have the sound
in the nasal resonance and you guys are going to feel
actually how good it feels to sing with nasal resonance involved.
So here we go, guys down here...
♪ Hmm ♪
And ladies up here...
♪ Hmm ♪
And here we go together...
♪
Correct!
♪
So nice.
♪ Hmm ♪
Yes...
♪
Good.
♪
That's it!
♪ Hmm ♪
Yes!
♪
Good for you!
♪ Hmm ♪
Right.
♪
♪ Hmm ♪
Good job.
♪
Keep it up!
♪ Hmm ♪
Yes.
♪
That's right.
♪ Hmm ♪
Good.
♪
A few more...
♪ Hmm ♪
Nice.
♪
♪ Hmm ♪
And last one...
♪ Hmm ♪
♪
Fantastic.
So now you guys have seen what it's like to
slay the soft palate and have the sound resonating
in the nasal cavity.
So, Mariella and all, I hope that this has finally dispelled
some mysteries about the voice and about the soft palate's lifting.
And I thank you so much for joining me on a quest
that has truly been... epic.
Singers... [♪]
Classical, contemporary, my brothers, my sisters, [♪]
a day may come when the soft palate will rise again. [♪]
When we forsake all head resonance and break all vocal registration, [♪]
but it is not this day. [♪]
An hour of jammed tongues and bewildered larynxes [♪]
when all high notes come crashing down, [♪]
but it is not this day. [♪]
If by my life and death I can protect you, I will. [♪]
Soft palate, I will bring you down... [♪]
For singers. [♪]
HYAH!
♪ ♫ ♪