- Here on the Voice Essentials Channel,
you'll often hear me talk about
the difference between energy and effort.
And how the distinction can be the difference
between a voice that is free and agile
and a voice that is tight and constricted.
Today we're going to learn to detect between the two
so that your voice remains free from tension while you sing.
(crowd cheering) - Sound check.
- Good day, welcome back to Voice Essentials
where everybody sings.
My name is Dr. Dan,
and I'm a contemporary singing voice specialist.
We singing teachers,
do fall foul of using language and terminology
that can sometimes leave the uninitiated
feeling confused and excluded.
So, today I want to try to resolve
at least one area of confusion
around my use of the two terms, effort and energy.
You could be forgiven for thinking that
this is a play on semantics
with both words being closely aligned.
And in one sense, they are similar.
But when I use the terms in my teaching studio,
I load the term effort with a negative connotation.
And in contrast, I use the word energy
to represent a positive outcome for the voice.
As we move forward, you may have heard
these two words used differently by other singing teachers,
even in an opposite manner
to how we'll be applying them in this video.
And that's okay.
Unfortunately, in the world of teaching singing,
we still don't have a codified
and universally agreed upon glossary of terms.
So, as long as you learn
how your teacher uses specific terms
in their teaching, it's all good.
We'll be doing an exercise together in a moment
so that you can experience
the difference between effort and energy in your own voice.
But before we do,
I want us to understand,
what is happening in your instrument
when the voice moves between energy and effort.
We're able to observe these two opposing points of balance
more readily, when the voice changes it's dynamic output.
While outlining laryngeal function during phonation,
Ronald.C.Scherer writes,
"The loudness of sounds is related
"to their acoustic intensity and loudness
"during speech is primarily dependent
"on sub glottal pressure.
"An increase in sub glottal pressure changes,
"the characteristics of the airflow
"that exits the glottis, the glottal flow,
"during vocal fold vibration,
"creating an increase in acoustic intensity."
As it often is in life,
we are in search of the Goldilocks point.
An optimal point of balance
that is not too hot, not too cold.
You see while it's possible
to apply too much sub glottal pressure,
it's equally possible to use too little.
"Phonation requires a certain minimal amount
"of sub glottal air pressure to set the vocal folds
"into vibration and then to maintain phonation
"the phonation threshold pressure [PTP]."
Scherer further explains that,
"Another related concept to PTP is
"the phonation threshold flow [PTF].
"The minimum value of the mean airflow
"that is associated with the initiation of
"the vocal fold vibration.
"At the moment PTP is obtained,
"there also is a mean flow present.
"PTF is also affected by numerous variables.
"It should reduce in value
"when the tissue viscosity is reduced,
"fundamental frequency is lowered,
"vertical glottal depth is increased,
"or glottal adduction is increased."
So here is the thing,
you need to achieve a certain level of subglottal pressure,
PTP, to start and maintain sound.
But to truly achieve vocal balance
and efficient singing,
we need to learn to measure and adjust our PTF,
our phonation threshold flow.
In our layman's terms,
if you apply too much push to your sound
especially at the start of a phrase,
the vocal effort you will need to sustain
that phrase will be high
and therefore cost you more vocally.
But if you can learn to initiate
your sound with vocal onset
that is balanced with good energy,
the outcome is likely to be more sustainable all the time.
Jonas Rubin, when writing about subglottic pressure
notes that, "Phonation requires close coordination
"between two mechanical processes,
"number one:Movement of the chest wall and diaphragm.
"This determines air flow and subglottic pressure.
"Number two:Movement of the vocal folds
"and the mucosal walls of the pharynx and mouth.
"This determines pitch, loudness and quality of sound."
The challenge here is our bodies
don't always cooperate nicely.
When learning to sing a lot of the most students,
particularly beginner students will find themselves
pushing harder especially when notes get high.
So as the subglottal pressure increases
so does the breath flow.
And the result is the voice that gets tighter and tighter
and tighter which generally has the singer
applying more, and more effort
for less and less result.
As Rubin writes, "Sustaining a tone
"at constant air pressure and intensity,
"and varying the pitch for the duration
"of the musical phrase,
"is clearly fundamental to singing."
So if the answer is less effort and consistent energy,
what does that look and sound like?
Well, it's at this point
that I want to get practical with you.
It's really easy for you to do this at home
because we're going to be singing this activity
starting on a single note.
Now importantly, I don't want you to approach this activity
as an exercise that you would do over and over again,
it's just kind of a one-off activity for you to experience,
and see what you feel and here in your own voice.
Now to start, I want you to choose a comfortable note
in the middle of your vocal range.
For me, that's gonna be an F3.
(plays piano)
(sings)
Now firstly, let's play with the phonation threshold flow,
the PTF, to experience how breath flow interacts
with how our vocal folds create sound.
Here is it with the reduction in the flow.
(sings)
That is how any outvert reduction in flow
causes the voice to go to air, just goes breathy.
Now let's play with the PTP,
the phonatory threshold pressure and sing the same note
but increase the volume or ,in this case, the air push.
(sings)
When I do this, I feel constriction in my throat
as the pressure increases
and you would have heard how the sound level
ultimately compresses to give me less volume
in the long run.
We're going do this, the same two activities,
but we're going to just slightly change it
by going from an effort and then
now doing it on an energy.
Let's see if that makes any difference,
(plays piano)
(sings)
That's interesting...(sings)
My vocal folds as I reduced the PTF,
my vocal folds are able to maintain oscillation,
they sound a little bit longer.
Let's do the increase in PTP,
the increase in pressure and see if we can form more volume.
(sings)
When you do it, what do you notice?
In my voice, I noticed that the energy
maintained phonatory output for longer,
when I reduced flow.
And I was able to increase my volume a little bit,
at least maintain it before the voice reached
to point of constriction, when I did it on the energy.
So, what's going on here?
Well, here we are noticing that
due to the semi-occluded posture of the energy sound,
the PTP, the phonatory threshold pressure,
has a wider range of application from soft to loud.
It requires far less PTF than the open vowel
especially when I sing louder.
Well, try to sing louder.
To turn this all back into the title of the video,
singing with effort means over-driving
the voice with too much pressure,
whereas singing with energy means the voice
has achieved phonatory balance
which empowers healthy and sustainable acoustic values.
Activities like this help us to experience variations
in the voice and also train the voice
to coordinate differently.
You have noticed that,
on depending all of what we have looked at today,
when comparing effort and energy, is your breathing.
Click on this video and I'll continue to teach you
in detail about how to develop better breath management
for singing.
I'll see you soon.
I'm Dr.Dan,sing well.