Vocalist.org archive


From:  "Lloyd W. Hanson" <lloyd.hanson@n...>
Date:  Mon Sep 25, 2000  4:58 am
Subject:  Re: low palate: was vibrato


Hello Caio and fellow Vocalisters:

The concept of raising or lower the soft palate has been around for many,
many years. These two concepts are diametrically opposed to each other yet
they claim the same benefits for the singer. This is not possible.

The act of attempting to raise the soft palate is usually not effective
because the attempt itself tends to tense the muscle in the region of the
soft palate. This tension is counterproductive to any attempt to improve
the tone quality of the singing. It tends to produce either a very hard
tone quality or a tone quality that sounds excessively swallowed.

the act of lowering the soft palate usually will open the velum which will
allow air to pass through the nose during singing. Any time air passes
through he nose during singing the tone will be nasal in quality. Nasal
quality tone is not desired In most singing in the Western world.

What the singer needs is a resonating space that is easily adjustable such
that it can match the resonance demands of the phonated pitch. Any system
of teaching which encourages a set position of the resonating space will
only match the resonance demands of the phonated pitch on a very few
selected pitches. However, a flexible resonating space is capable of
making whatever adjustment is needed for any pitch that is being sung.

A flexible resonating space is achieved only through a practice regimen that
examines each vowel with each phonated pitch until the maximum resonance
for each vowel is achieved. The physics of sound requires a resonating
space that is very flexible and in the total control of the singer.


Regards
--
Lloyd W. Hanson, DMA
Professor of Voice, Vocal Pedagogy
School of Performing Arts
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ 86011


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