The issue of nasal resonance and the raising of the soft palate have always been amusing and curious topic discussed in singing. It is well accepted and documented that in phonation (singing and speaking) that any coupling with the nasal cavities produces nasality and not nasal resonance.
The two are being confused in my opinion. Ringing, buzzing in the nasal area is a byproduct of a certain posturing of the folds and coupling with the vocal tract. The attempt to direct sensation there is mistaken, when in fact it is the byproduct of other factors. It will most likely lead the student to create tensions to drive the sound there.
Those that insist of raising the soft palate also make me scratch my head. If the tone is not nasal, the velum is raised. Therefore, why even discuss it except that a certain faction insists on making it a categorical issue regardless if velopharyngeal incompetence exists or does not exist.
So I guess the question should be raised, "Why even bother if it is truly not an issue?" I think the answer is that this group needs to focus on something which is obviously under control. They can look in a mirror, see the result, or feel the resonance, or tension created by hypertonicity of the velum muscles.
Instead the focus should be on efficient adduction, bridging the register, and the vocal tract adjustments that produce healthy phonation. This is a little more ambiguous except that exercises exist that produce certain actions that affect these events in a positive manner. The student then becomes aware with the sensations that are a byproduct without directly trying to create these byproducts. They instead focusing on the means therein and avoid endgaining.
Randy Buescher
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